Studying abroad put everything into perspective for me. Being in another country reminds me that there is so much more to life than my domestic school, my friends and my home. When we take the time to step out of our comfort zones, we realize that we are a lot more fortunate than many other people in this world. For example, students here in Taiwan can work extremely hard, at school or at work, and not even come close to getting opportunities like the job offers college students get on an everyday basis in America. Americans grow up constantly hearing “you can do whatever you want to do in life”, but in Asia, students lack the capacity to dream because their only opportunity to have a great career would be to move to America. All of this sounds like common knowledge, but it is one thing to read this knowledge in an article and a totally different experience to see it first hand.

Many college graduates say that their biggest regret in college was not studying abroad. Even if you have to take your 5th year to go abroad, I say do it because you probably will never have another chance to live in a different country for a few months before jumping into your career here. Living in another country drastically differs from simply visiting another country. Studying abroad allows an individual to discover more than just tourist attractions; you are given the opportunity to immerse yourself in a culture that strays far away from the lifestyle that you have known all your life.

You can learn different languages, and moreover, meet different people with entirely dissimilar worldly perspectives. Living in Taiwan allows me to interact with Taiwanese locals while practicing Chinese on an everyday basis, which is a great advantage when learning a second language. Being in Taiwan has also given me the opportunity to take a step out of my life back home and reflect on my college experience as a whole; it forces me to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life. The people I met abroad are among the most intelligent, interesting, and inspiring individuals I know. There are many students I met here that are older than me and I feel as if I have so much to learn from them. It is always nice to find people who you look at and think, “I wish I could be as successful as him or her one day.” Not only are you able to learn and experience diverse lifestyles, traveling alone and learning to be independent will help you discover more about yourself as well.

We all have different definitions of success that go hand in hand with our personal philosophies. I believe that it is important to have goals and dreams, and to never lose sight of what is important in life. My definition of being successful is to take full advantage of your opportunities - and studying abroad is an opportunity that definitely should not be missed!

On the upside, I recently started teaching English and I have about 5 students that I teach privately. I’m having a lot of fun with that. I’m still in the process of looking for an internship which is not an easy thing to do since internships are rarely heard of in Taiwan. I have another interview tomorrow. Are you one of those people that get nervous during interviews? I am…until I started doing them in CHINESE! Now that I look back on it, interviews in English are a piece of cake! Wish me luck for tomorrow!

I got an offer for an internship with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) but I can only start working once I get my work permit all figured out. It’s a little complicated to get work permits in Taiwan since the unemployment rate here is so high. I’m really hoping things will work out since being in Taiwan for the next few months with nothing to do would be a bummer. Wish me luck!!!

However, I’m extremely happy to be here. I feel it’s too early to leave Taiwan; there’s still so much more I want to see and want to experience. I’m hoping that before spring semester, which starts in March, I’ll be able to improve my Chinese even more. I’m currently interviewing for internships in Taipei and crossing my fingers that I can find something to do for the next few months.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

We then had dinner at a really nice restaurant with tons of fresh seafood. It seems like I’m always talking about seafood in my blogs but you can probably tell how I could never get sick of the food. I tried alligator meat for the first time…it was delicious! I also tried some Thai desserts which are mainly coconut based and those were great as well. We then headed off to watch The Tiffany’s Show which is a musical performance by men that dress up as women. It was really entertaining and is definitely a show that everyone should watch when visiting Thailand; it’s part of the experience!

The place we stayed at that night was absolutely breathtaking! The balcony of our room overlooked the coast of Pattaya and the view at night was incredible. I’ve honestly never seen anything quite like it. The beach was right underneath us and there was also an enormous swimming pool connected our building. My sister and I decided to go walk out on the beach and go for a swim first thing in the morning the next day. We then spent the day visiting some temples in Pattaya and also went to ride elephants. Riding elephants was the best part of the trip! It was really exciting because our elephant was acting funny and kept trying to walk off the trail. The downhills were the scariest part because our elephant would run fast down the hill to scare us for fun. We then bought some bananas to feed the elephants and headed back to Bangkok.

We spent the next 2 days in Bangkok shopping and eating away. We went to Bangkok Night Market Bazaar which is the largest night market in Bangkok. It’s full of vendors and tourists and the whole night market is full of energy and noise. Overall, I had a wonderful time in Thailand and was really sad to leave since I won’t see my mom and sister until next summer!

I’ve wanted to visit Thailand for years now and I’m so happy I was able to share the experience with my family!

I also realized that once I come back from Thailand, there’ll only be 2 more weeks until the semester is over. This semester flew by so fast! It makes me sad to know that so many people from my program are leaving soon. I’m currently trying to find an internship in Taiwan and if I do, I’ll be staying here until the beginning of March…which would be perfect! Since I’ll be spending next semester at Fudan University in Shanghai, it would be great to stay in Taiwan until that program starts. Alright, so I have to get packing…I’ll let you all know how Thailand is! I hear its ninety something degrees there. Yikes!

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!

So it all started last night when Willy, Angie and I were biking to dinner. I was riding my own bike and Willy was riding his while Angie sat on the back. In Taiwan, it’s very common for people to either attach pegs on each side of their back wheel so they can give a friend a lift, or to attach a small cushion seat right on top of the back wheel, also to give a friend a lift. These are typically the two ways people can give a friend a ride when they’re biking around. Over a month ago, this accident happened to another girl in my program. Her roommate was biking while she was standing on pegs in the back. She was wearing flip-flops and her toes and the front part of her foot got stuck in the spokes. She ended up having to get over 10 stitches and had to use crutches for the next two weeks. I never expected this to happen again, especially to my Angie!

We got to the middle of campus when all of I sudden, I hear flapping coming from Willy’s bike and I hear Angie screaming, “Ow!” As she limped off the bike in pain, we saw blood all over the back of her foot and on her shoes (she was wearing flats). Since this exact situation happened to another girl before, we knew to call the ambulance. A NTU student then stopped and helped us call. I didn’t want to look at the wound because I was scared it was really serious. It seemed like we were waiting forever but Angie remained very composed and the ambulance came in about 10 minutes. The EMTs cleaned her wound and let her know immediately that she’d need stitches. At first, we couldn’t understand because he was speaking in Chinese but we figured it out since the literal meaning of “stitches” in Chinese is “sew”. Willy, Angie, the EMTs and I all got on the ambulance and headed for the closest hospital. This was the first time the three of us were ever in an ambulance with the siren on. Angie was admitted into the hospital and had to wait about an hour for her stitches. Willy and I were allowed to stay with her even when she was getting her stitches. We were probably in the hospital for about 5 hours until Angie was released with a brand new cast. Now we’re back in the dorms and she has a lot of people taking great care of her. What an adventure.

It’s scary how one minute, I was having a good time with my friends getting ready for dinner and the next minute, I’m in an ambulance feeling helpless and watching my friend in pain. But I’m just happy to know what she’s a-ok now and that sometimes, accidents just happen. Just a warning to people who take friends around on their bikes - it’s really dangerous but if you really have to, then make sure the person in the back is wearing real shoes.

Feel better Angie. I <3 you

We took a 6 hour bus ride to Kaohsiung and from there took another 2 hour bus to Kending. After arriving, there were employees standing outside hotels along the strip trying to convince us to stay at their hotel. Since it wasn’t a busy weekend, a lot of the hotels were vacant. We had reservations at Hotel California which was a really cute hotel located on top of a surf shop. I think Kending is as close to America as it gets in Taiwan. We had omelets for brunch the next day and I felt like I was back home! I’ve heard that a lot of Americans actually live and vacation in Kending which is why everything is so Americanized. The restaurants, hotels, and stores all remind me of California!

We spent all afternoon playing in the water! We paid 500NT which is about $15 to go snorkeling, jet skiing, motorboating and banana boating. However, it was a little….uhh…let’s say it’s very different from how people would normally go about doing these activities in Hawaii. First, a van picked us up from the hotel to get to the site where we change into our wet suits. After we got changed, another van took us to the snorkeling site. Now this was an interesting experience. The van (which didn’t have seats or seatbelts) opened from the back and we all hopped in thinking that the driver would close the door. Nope. He just walked over to the driver seat and started driving….with the door wide open! It turns out that the door doesn’t close. The road he was driving on wasn’t even a real road, it was a dirt path with rocks and bumps and I was terrified of falling off. So that was an experience in itself. We got to the snorkeling site, swam around, saw some fish and got on the jet ski! The instructor that drove the jet ski was crazy! He was going so fast I couldn’t even open my eyes! He made a lot of sharp turns and made me feel like I’d go flying off….it was so much fun! We then went for a ride on the motorboat and then got on the banana boat. I’ve actually never heard of a banana boat in America but it’s pretty much a long inflatable boat with about 8 seats. It’s connected to a motorboat which drags the banana boat across the water; we’d go really fast and all of a sudden, the driver would stop and we’d all fall into the water. We did this for about 3 times and finally the driver said, “Do you guys want real excitement?” Of course we do! Why is he asking? He then warns us that on the way back there’s a part of the ocean that had really rough waves. He also said that riding across those waves on a banana boat is harder than riding a bull. I was scared but super excited! The banana boat went flying and so did I! I was bouncing up and down and left and right; it was so hard to just stay on but towards the end, we all went flying off. Since Willy was behind me on the banana boat, his whole body went flying across my face when we got thrown in so I ended up breathing in a lot of water. But it was worth it! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun in my life!

We then headed back to the hotel to rest and shower and went for dinner. We ate at a Thai restaurant and as we were leaving, we met a group of local Taiwanese guys that were also in Kending for the weekend. We decided to meet up after we went shopping at the night market. Later that night, we all met up in their hotel room and started playing drinking games. It was really fun, they taught us a whole bunch of Chinese drinking games that I’ve never even heard of. Taiwan locals are always fun. We headed back to Taipei on Sunday and even though the bus ride back and forth to Kending was long, it was SO worth it! I had an incredible time.

As for the toilet situation, since I’m sure all of you are dying to know…the normal toilet is fixed! There’s still no toilet paper but I’m not complaining. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in Taiwan for the past few months is definitely to appreciate my nice, clean bathroom at home.

Reason #1: I'm going to Kending which is known as the Hawaii of Taiwan! I'll be able to relax by the beach, drive a moped, jet ski and do other FUN THINGS. I love being by the water! And yes, you did read that part about the moped correctly; Kenting allows people to rent mopeds with licenses! Which means me, someone who has driven a car less than 15 times in her life will be handed the keys to a moped. How amazing is this?

Reason #2: I don't have to use the bathroom in my dorm for 2 days. Let me explain why this is such good, I mean great news. I think the janitor on our floor has decided to stop coming altogether. I mean, she used to come twice a week which is definitely not enough, but at least we only had to go 2 days at a time without toilet paper. But now, we’ve had to go more than week without toilet paper. And apparently, the idea of cleaning the bathroom here is to dump a bucket of water across the bathroom floor and leave the water to either evaporate or get mixed with dirt and have it spread around the entire hall. Also, the only normal or "western" toilet on our floor is clogged again! I don't blame the toilet, I really don’t. In fact, I feel very sorry for it. It has to endure 40 girls going #2 in it everyday; I'm actually surprised it doesn't break down more often than it does. However, I do believe that toilets should be fixed as soon as possible and shouldn't be left clogged for days until someone who works here notices. I've gotten so used to the smell of the bathroom that I just naturally hold my breath anytime I walk in or walk by, but I've heard that you can smell the odor from the bathroom even when you're a couple feet away from the door. Now that is bad. You know something has got to be wrong with the bathroom in your dorm when you'd rather wait to use a public restroom than use the one in your own hall.

I’m crossing my fingers for the toilet to be fixed when I come back. Some toilet paper would be nice as well. Mopeds…here I come!!!

There is one main road throughout the park that takes visitors through the mushroom rocks, pot-holes, cliffs, etc. There are rocks shaped like random objects, such as a woman’s head, a sandal, a gorilla, a chess board and more. It was a little windy that day which made me feel as if I could taste the salt since the smell was so strong. This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to, not just in Taiwan but in the world. It’s amazing to visit an area that has existed for millions of years, has gone through many changes and still continues to change even today.

The main attraction at YehLiu is the “Queen’s Head”. Josh’s aunt told us that due to the natural environment at YehLiu, the rocks are continuing to disintegrate meaning that the neck of the “Queen’s Head” will thin out and the head will fall off in 10 years. This was the reason for our visit; we certainly had to see the head before it falls off! There was a line to take a picture with it. YehLiu is a difficult place to describe. Although I feel like I’m just describing a whole bunch of rocks, it’s a place you certainly have to visit yourself in order to appreciate the true beauty of this ever changing geopark.
Ye

I guess I never expected the “Intensive Language Program” here at NTU to be, well….THIS INTENSIVE. On weekdays, I have class all afternoon, grab some dinner and come back to my room to study. Chinese teachers are really strict! Since our classes here are really small (only about 5-8 students per class), they’ll know if you haven’t prepared…trust me. On top of preparing for the next day’s lessons, we have to study for tests and quizzes which makes week days reserved for studying only. However, there are some students that barely need to study at all, it depends on how fast one can learn the material. Even though the program I’m currently in is purely academic, most study abroad programs are focused on learning about the culture of that country (which means fun trips!). I chose this program because my goal here is to improve my Chinese and its working! I’ve learned more in the 2 months that I’ve been here than in the 2 years I took Chinese classes back home.

The thing I miss most about the Bay Area? Fresh air! I’m looking forward to the day I arrive in San Francisco (I’ve been calculating and its 10 months away), step out of the airport and just take a nice deeeeep breath. I’m sure my lungs would thank me. People ask why the sky is grey all the time in Taipei. It’s not fog…it’s the smog. Every time a motorcycle or vehicle of any kind with black smoke coming out of it drives past me, the fumes makes me feel like my lungs are immediately starting to blacken like those images from Health Ed classes. Remember the pictures that threatened us not to smoke in high school? Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating but I know at least a couple brain cells are dying. I think I’m just venting right now because I’m missing home! I love Taiwan though despite the smog, I’ll be so sad to leave! I mean, what would I eat???

I have good news though! My mom and sister are coming to visit me in a week! That’ll cure my homesickness for sure. We’ll be traveling to Thailand with a couple friends at the end of November. Another great thing about studying abroad…you get to do even more traveling!

There is a large tourist area at Puli which means, lots of shopping. Since Puli has a very famous wine/beer factory, lots of the food there is made with some kind of alcohol. I had a red bean popsicle which tasted more like beer than red bean. Another popular attraction is the Liquor Urn Tunnel which teaches the history of how Chinese people used to make alcohol. The tunnel is made up of traditional wine barrels and looks somewhat like a maze. There were many pictures on display there that portrayed the aftermath of earthquakes in Puli and the kind of damages the residents of Puli were faced with. There are also a lot of Chinese antiques such as old bikes, barrel carts, movie ticket booths, and convenient stores which they displayed to portray the everyday life of residents years ago.

We briefly visited Wen Wu Temple which is the largest temple I’ve seen in Taiwan since I’ve been here. The temple receives donations from multiple organizations; it also receives donations from Japan which is why there is some Japanese influence in the architecture of the temple. We then went sightseeing at Sun Moon Bay which is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in Taiwan. The sun was glistening across the bay and the blue water looked crystal clear. The lake was named Sun Moon Bay because half the lake looks round like a sun and the other half of the lake is crescent shaped, like a moon. We drove around the entire lake and stopped at the pier which also had a beautiful view. The tourist shops there sold traditional Chinese raincoats, spoons and mugs, all which were handmade from scratch. We spent the entire night shopping and eating (my 2 favorite things to do in Taiwan!) at a popular night market in TaiZhong.

The next day, we headed out for Lukang which is an area near TaiZhong with a lot of historic buildings and of course, good food! Since Lukang is right by the ocean, it was really windy but had a lot of great seafood. We first had Lukang’s famous oyster pancakes, which I’m not really a fan of but others seem to love it. A lot of the houses in Lukang were built during the Ching dynasty and not only are they still in existence, people still live in them! Some houses are in better condition than others but most of the houses are pretty run down. We then took a stroll down Nine-Turns Lane. Since Lukang is really windy, the architects who built Nine-Turns Lane thought of building a residential area with tall walls and small streets to prevent the wind from coming in. The area is somewhat lke a maze and guess what? The plan worked! You can walk through Nine-Turns Lane feeling nothing but a gentle breeze every once in a while. We continued to walk around Lukang, checking out the tourist shops (there seems to be tourist shops everywhere you go in Taiwan) and appreciating the history and beauty of these traditional Chinese homes. This is where my weekend came to a close. I am back in Taipei studying for a midterm that’s coming up. Wish me luck!

This day trip was planned especially for international students and it started at 6:30AM. We all got into charter buses and our first stop was a train station where we took small traditional trains to Neiwan. Neiwan is a small Hakka village that currently sells a lot of food and tourist souvenirs. 70 years ago however, it was where all the Hakka lumber people and coal miners lived. The lumber people used to travel up into the mountains, cut down wood, pile the chopped wood on top of something that looks similar to a snow sled and slide it back down the mountains. A married couple would typically work as a team with the husband pushing the front of the sled and the wife pulling from the back of the sled to make sure it doesn’t slide too fast down the hill destroying the wood. In many instances, the sled would be too heavy and end up crushing the husband in the front. The sled is also made of wood, it’s really heavy and we were able to see the last sled that remains in all of Taiwan at Neiwan. The first Taiwan police station ever built is in Neiwan and sits on top of a small mountain so police officers can overlook all the activity going on in the city. There was also a large theater in the village. Since the lumber people and coal miners didn’t have anything to do after work, they opened up a large theater in the city. Although it is no longer being used as a theater it has been turned into a popular restaurant and it’s actually where we had our lunch.

We then traveled to Beipu which is known for having traditional Hakka houses; there are only 21 Hakka houses that remain standing in Taiwan today. It’s rare for Taiwan to have authentic traditional buildings that still remain since so much of Taiwan has been renovated and modernized. Therefore, these houses are precious to the Hakka people. Beipu is also known for producing a very special tea. The tea is a combination of tea leaves, white/black sesame, and nuts. We had the chance to make our own tea, which was really fun. Something really interesting happened at this village. Neiwan and Beipu are obviously smaller cities in the countryside; people are not as educated and are very different from people in Taipei. So as we were walking along the streets of Beipu, two local girls started running around asking all the Caucasian people in our group if they could take a picture with them. They were so excited and I think it’s because they’ve never seen a Westerner or someone who isn’t Chinese. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen locals behave like that because there are quite a few Caucasians that live in Taipei so locals there are used to it. Everyone in our group definitely got a kick out of that.

Our last stop was at a persimmon factory. They taught us the process of using persimmons to make dried snacks. We were in a classroom type setting and a worker at the factory was showing us a slideshow on how to turn fresh persimmons into dried fruit. He then started showing us random pictures of bugs and rock which I thought was really funny because it had nothing to do with what he was teaching us. But overall, I had a fun day learning all about Hakka culture.

We started off by taking the MRT to Taipei Main Station, which is pretty much the heart of Taiwan transportation; it’s where everything connects. We then took about a one hour bus ride to the mountain and had to take another bus to the top of the mountain. The ride was really turny and twisty but it offered a beautiful sight of the city. The highest point of Yang Ming Shan is one of the highest peaks in all of Taiwan. There are many different stops around the mountain and we got off at a stop that had sulfur springs. When right we got off the bus, I smelled rotten eggs and I thought someone threw a stink bomb or something. And when I asked what it was, my friend said, “It’s the sulfur.” I then said, “Oh yes, that’s right.” I didn’t know sulfur smelled like rotten eggs!

As we walked further down, there were little boiling puddles of water on the floor. Apparently people tried to boil eggs in it because there were some cooked eggs lying next to the puddle. Not only was it really foggy that day, which could’ve been because we were so high in altitude, there was a lot of steam coming from the sulfur. There was sulfur spread out in blotches all over that part of the mountain and it smelled really bad! We then walked around the rest of that part of the mountain and saw some beautiful scenery. It’s always nice to be able to get out of the city and remember that I am indeed on a tropical island.

Angie and I hopped on the bus on Friday at noon and arrived at Kaohsiung around 7PM. There was a lot of traffic since everyone was traveling during the long weekend. Jean and her brother then drove us up to Tainan where her grandma and the rest of her relatives live. Although we spent the night at her grandma’s house, we had the barbeque at Jean’s uncle’s house. The house was completely empty and only had concrete walls since it was in the process of being built from the ground up. We had the barbeque inside the house of concrete walls which was better than having it on the sidewalk like most other Taiwanese families had theirs. While on the bus ride to Kaohsiung, we saw a lot of families having their barbeques in their garages or out on the sidewalks. They would squat or sit on small chairs around the grill while eating. It’s so different from the barbeques I’m used to in America with huge barbeque grills in huge backyards with comfortable lawn chairs.

While the adults were inside eating and chatting, the children were outside playing with fireworks. Fireworks became illegal recently in Taiwan, but for some reason, they were legalized again this year so we heard fireworks all weekend long. I played with fireworks for the first time and had a lot of fun with the kids. We drove back to Kaohsiung the next day and spent the rest of the weekend eating and shopping. I also watched TV for the first time since I’ve been to Taiwan and I’m now hooked on Taiwan’s MTV.

Everything in Kaohsiung is cheaper than in Taipei. Just like New York City or San Francisco for example, living standards in big cities are always higher so I bought a lot of clothes at Kaohsiung! That alone made my weekend! It was also nice to spend Moon Festival traditionally with a Taiwanese family. It made me really homesick. People in Taiwanese families have really close relationships with one another and it’s very important for them to get together during holidays. It wouldn’t surprise me if four generations in one family live under the same roof.

Well now I’m back in my dorm and I have a test and a quiz tomorrow so I have to get studying! Take care!