Last Tuesday was really busy. We started out the day with I-House Orientation, basically having the ground rules reinforced. A bunch of us exchange students then went to Taipei Zoo and saw the animals and got to know each other. Later that day, we decided to go to a hot spring near Beitou; because I don't know the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion off the top of my head, I ended up in the hottest pool of 45 degrees Celsius (I later realized that was 113 degrees Fahrenheit). Funny thing is, I kind of went numb during the 5 minutes that I was in that pool so it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Still, the hot spring was sooo relaxing and just what I needed after a long day of walking around. After the hot spring, we all went to a small pub called Roxy where we pretty much had their downstairs room to ourselves. I enjoyed a delicious fruit tea while we all danced, belted out Oasis' Wonderwall, and played foosball. Tons of fun :]
On Wednesday, we spent the majority of the day at International Student Orientation. It was alright but it felt like forever. The nice part was our tour of campus and having my first bubble tea (apparently Taiwan is famous for it and now I see why). After orientation, we all relaxed for a little while and then a bunch of us went to Ladies Night at one of the local dance clubs. It was quite fun seeing that the majority of the people there were exchange students.
Thursday, I again went to the Shi-Lin night market, this time, with a huge group of exchange students. Although the thirty of us tried our best to stay together on the way there, we ended up separating into groups as soon as we got there haha. The food was interesting, as night market food tends to be, but it was fun just walking around and taking it all in.
Friday, we went to go do KTV (karaoke). We had heard that it's a famous pasttime of the Taiwanese people and we wanted to try it. The first group (the one I went with) was in a small, private room where we had our own TV and karaoke machine. We also had access to a buffet of different finger foods and snacks. A bigger group came later and they were in a larger room down the hall. Still, it was really fun belting out classic karaoke songs and listening to some friends sing Chinese and Taiwanese songs as well.
Everyone singing "I Believe I Can Fly" :]
Saturday, we went by Taipei 101 and had a light lunch. Some of them went to this cafe named, Drizzle, while the rest of us walked around the shopping district and saw Taipei City Hall.
Sunday, I went to church. As some of you know, it was quite an adventure getting there. I first took the bus to the MRT station. I got off a few stops later and I actually found the church on the map at the station. Before I left, I had asked the reception desk to write down the address to the church in Chinese for me to give to the taxi driver. Upon leaving the station, I gave the taxi driver the address but he stopped a few minutes later because he didn't know where to go. I then had to walk back into the station where I found this nice boy around Jeremy's age. He didn't understand me when I asked him to write down the intersection near the church, so he instead accompanied me to the Information Desk where he translated what the operator was saying. Just as I was prepared to walk to church which was to start in about 10 minutes (in super cute heels, mind you) I saw an Elder. Words cannot express the relief I felt upon seeing him. He and his companion then eagerly got me into a taxi where they told the driver exactly where to go and a few minutes later, we arrived at the church building. To my surprise, the Taipei Temple was right next door! Anyway, I met some other exchange students from Utah in addition to other YSAs and the ward was so warm and friendly. After church, I grabbed a late lunch with my other buddy, Yu-Hsuan. She is so sweet and was actually an exchange student in Ireland last year!
Yesterday was the first day of classes for most people; since the part-time Mandarin class doesn't start until March, my classes didn't start until today. Even though I only attended two classes that were two hours each, it was still exhausting! Hopefully I get used to this "going to and sitting in class" thing before things really pick up. If all goes well, I'll be taking Mandarin on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Journey to the World of Chinese Opera, Art in Taiwan, Elections and Democratization in Taiwan, Land Use and Development, and American Sports History. Although the courses themselves don't seem terribly difficult on their own, all of them together are getting to sound overwheming. I guess we'll just have to see and find out.
We don't have classes on Monday and Tuesday so it looks like a 5 day weekend for me! I'm thinking about taking a trip somewhere with some other students so I'll keep you all posted :]
Thanks for reading!
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