Taiwan: July 26, 2016

Tuesday 

On Tuesday we had a regular class scheduled day and then I had my own plans that evening to meet up with some friends from Pitt State, Jenny and Laura. Laura was the first close Taiwanese friend that I had and she was even there the first time I met Josh! I left with some friends who were on their way to see the top of Taipei and Laura met me on the train, surprised me actually. When we got to Taipei Laura and I waited for Jenny to meet us in Taipei Main Station for dinner. Jenny arrived a few minutes later and she was very cute in her work clothes. We ate dinner and chatted for a while about the wedding, work and if Josh and I will have babies soon (the answer is maybe in a few years). We had a lot of fun just talking and catching up. Jenny kept saying "wow" because she couldn't believe Josh and I are getting married so soon!

I love these girls so much! So glad I got to meet up with them in Taiwan! :) 

Taiwan: July 25, 2015

Monday

After a busy and tiring weekend, I knew I wasn't going to get to relax on this Monday like I was the Monday before! We had a field trip planned that caused us to leave earlier in the morning than usual and of course that day was the day I woke up late! I was sleepy the whole day and we had quite a bit planned for our field trip. We headed to Hsinchu Science Park to learn about the hi-tech products and scientific research happening in Taiwan.

We saw some products that have not been commercialized yet and some products that have which was cool because we got to see where they came from! We also went to the Industrial Technology Research Insitute and got to look at products that will probably change many lives when they are produced for consumer use. Many of their discoveries have won awards domestically and internationally. This fun tree was in their lobby and I thought it was pretty!

After the science park, we went to Beipu Old Town and shopped for a little while! It was a cute little area where we could look at cute souvenirs and an old temple to walk through.

Taiwan: July 24, 2016

Sunday 

When I started the day on Sunday I knew it was going to be a really wonderful day because I was going to get to see my friend Bruce. Bruce was Josh's roommate last semester and I saw him almost every day! I had tried to connect with Bruce the weekend before when we traveled to Taichung because that's where he lives but he missed my calls and finally got in touch with me as I was leaving on the bus! But we made plans to meet the next weekend, to hopefully go to church with each other and then find something to do for the day.

On Sunday, Bruce drove himself and his girlfriend, Julieann for two hours just to come see me! We were supposed to meet at church but Bruce got lost and didn't make it until the last few minutes, in his defense I wasn't sure where to tell him to go and the church didn't have an address online so he was kind of left to just find his own way! After church we went to lunch with my friend Alice and she took us to a restaurant she knew nearby. Then we met up with my friend from business camp, Raquel, and Bruce drove us (Raquel, me, Alice, himself, and Julieann) all the way to Taipei so that we could save time by not riding the train or the MRT once we were in the city.

So after church I had run back to the dorm really fast to change out my dress, I wasn't sure what we were going to do that day but an intelligent person probably would not have worn FLIP FLOPS! That day we climbed a mountain. And no joke, I did it in flip flops. Now to be fair hiking on this mountain was not like what hiking is like in the US, at least on this mountain it wasn't a rocky path forged in the trees but instead 40 flights of stairs...it was nuts and I definitely got my workout that day! The views from the top were beautiful though and I'm glad that I made it all the way!

The mountain we climbed was called Elephant or Xiangshan Mountain so of course I had to get a picture of the elephant details and in the background is the tallest building in Taiwan, Taipei 101. Here is a picture of me, Bruce, and Julieann!

After climbing the mountain we went to find some food to eat and Bruce and I talked a lot about Josh which mad us both miss him very much! I've told many of my Taiwanese friends this but I plan to return to Taiwan with my soon to be husband and take him all over the country and to meet the people I have met while here!  

Taiwan: July 23, 2016

Saturday 

Saturday was another cultural trip and on this day we got to go to the ocean and I planned to swim for a bit, search for seashells, and play in the waves! We headed towards Yilan which is on the east side of the island. For those who don't know the east side of Taiwan is not as populated as the west side, however, many believe that the east side is more beautiful than the west side. Our first stop was a water park on a river called Dongshan. It was fun to play in a pool and get sprayed by water.

Also sometimes I forget that Taiwan is an island but at all times we are surrounded by water. Last summer I never made it to the ocean but this summer I knew that there would be a trip planned. Before we made it to the ocean we stopped the Lanyang Museum and got our first glimpse of Turtle Island. Lanyang Museum showed us a glimpse of the history of Yilan! The building has a really interesting design to it!

After we went to the museum we got to go to the beach! I did everything I wanted to do and even avoided getting stung by jellyfish and eaten by a shark. It was so fun to be in the ocean for the first time and to play in the waves. I got sand everywhere and I couldn't get the shower at the beach to work so I was really gross for a while. Not to mention it was very black sand not like the pretty white sand beaches we have in the US. The sun was very bright so my eyes are pretty squinty in this next picture! 

Turtle Island is behind me in this picture but is much farther away from where I was than it looks! 

After our beach adventure we went to a restaurant to have a very traditional meal where all the dishes are shared, kind of like Thanksgiving! The meal was very good and I ate some of the best fish I've ever had!

Taiwan: July 22, 2016

Friday 

On Friday, we had our first lecture with Dr. Chin, the professor from CYCU who organizes the business camp. The topic he covered was an introduction of Taiwan's history, trade, and relations with China.

There are so many great things about this program, one of which being that there are students here from China as well. If you don't know much about Taiwan you might not know that there are conflicting opinions regarding who should be in control of China: China or Taiwan. Taiwan's official name is The Republic of China, while China's official name is The People's Republic of China. These names are historically significant. This article I read sums up a lot of what we talked about in class: http://www.cfr.org/china/china-taiwan-relations/p9223, I thought it was pretty accurate to what we talked about in class!

It was a pretty heated discussion at times between the students from Taiwan and China but there were some enlightening comments made by some students that helped to calm the waters a bit. In my opinion, I think the US made a monetary choice when we chose to support the PRC. We chose to support a country that has become a force to be reckoned with, for us and the rest of the world. I love the Chinese people and it saddens me that my country chose to support a government that restricts its people the way that the PRC does. I wish that the leaders before my time had chosen differently, however, I do think that at the time we were looking at two evils; communism and a military government. We chose what we thought was best and now hindsight is 20/20.

After our class, we ate lunch and then met back at campus to go to our field trip. For this field trip, we went to visit a manufacturing plant that produces high-quality fiber textiles. The company is called Libolon and is one of the largest producers of synthetic textiles in the world. We got to tour the plant and see how a fully automatic production system works. Here is a video that will show you a little bit of what I saw while I was there!

After the factory tour we went to Yong-An Fish Harbor and I got my first view of the ocean from ground level!! There was a really cool bridge and I bought some ice cream because it was pretty hot outside! I love my friends here! Enjoy our pictures! 

Taiwan: July 21, 2016

Thursday

Thursday marked one week in Taiwan and in terms of blogging I'm glad I have made it this far! Yes I know, I'm about 10 days behind but at least I'm doing it, right? So the day I'm going to write about was kind of a simple day, we had class in the morning, lunch, and then work time in the afternoon and then Dr. Jih threw a FRUIT PARTY.

Fruit in Taiwan is so so so delicious! I've probably mentioned that before but seriously, it's so good! So anyway, he threw us a fruit party in his apartment's lobby. We played Jenga and ate mango, pineapple, guava, and apples. There was also some watermelon on the table that I had to avoid (I'm allergic). And there was a fruit there that you might not know about called Dragon Fruit which is very yummy and something I have only seen in Taiwan! Do they sell it in the States? I was really happy about all of the delicious fruit and we had fun relaxing with our classmates and playing games. It was a short but relaxing day as we looked to a Friday field trip, and a weekend trip to the beach!

Alice was very focused on her Jenga moves, and when the tower finally fell we screamed really loud and Dr. Jih told us to be quiet... Woops...

So I guess we also had some bananas and oranges as well which are way better in Taiwan! The pink fruit is Dragon Fruit and sometimes it is also white! 

This was another game we played where we took turns to see how fast we could move marbles in a cup of water to a plate only using chopsticks! I didn't even try because I knew it would probably take me 12 hours...lol! I think the shortest time was just over 20 seconds! 

Taiwan: July 20, 2016

Wednesday

Wednesday we had our third lecture with Dr. Jih so we were busy in the morning from 9 am to noon. Everyday our Taiwanese classmates take us out to lunch and help us translate the menus to english and order for us! They show all of us so much patience and I can't thank all of them enough for all of the help they have given us. I hope I can meet them all again the next time I come to Taiwan!

After lunch if we don't have a field trip to go on we will go back to class to work on our blogs and around 4:30 most of us will head back to the dorm to rest and make dinner plans for around 7 pm! On Wednesday, I had my own plans to meet my friends Mini (my Pitt Pal from last semester) and Rebecca. They met me at the 7-11 near my dorm and we walked to a Japanese restaurant where I ate the best food of the whole trip. I had beef with rice, egg, and sauteed vegetables. It was so yummy I finished the entire bowl; which I'm finding is quite hard to do in Taiwan because the food is always hot, like it is outside, and the portions are large.

When we were finished with dinner we walked back to Rebecca's house which is close to CYCU and I got to meet her parents and hang out in her room. The three of us had a great time and enjoyed catching up and talking about Taiwan and how crazy it was that I was there sitting in Rebecca's room with them. Soon it was time to go and Rebecca's family invited me to come over soon for dinner. It was then that I began to realize that I am the international student in Taiwan!

Mini is so cute on her scooter, she kind of made me want one! We also found out that Rebecca doesn't know how to take a selfie so Mini had to show her how! :P

Thank you for spending time with me in Taiwan, girls, it was so good to see you! :)