First Impressions

I have been in Taiwan for three days now and have already fallen in love with the place. Sunday was the first day of the program and we introduced ourselves and our colleges to those participating in the program. The best part is that my birthday was Sunday so I can always tell people that I turned 20 in Taiwan! The program directors and NTU students were very nice and inviting and made me feel like I had known them for years. After introductions we headed to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. To get there we had to take the MRT. The MRT is similar to the Metro in Paris, except it is a lot cleaner and does not smell like urine. After visiting the Memorial Hall we passed through 2-28 Peace Park and made our way to National Taiwan Museum. We were able to see exhibits on Aboriginal tribes, flora and fauna, and history of Taiwan. For lunch we headed to the 2nd floor of Taipei Main Station and I had beef noodles, it was delicious, but I had to use a fork to eat it because I did not know how to use chopsticks. After lunch we headed back to NTU and got done early for the day. I was pretty exhausted and went to sleep at 8:45 pm, not the best idea because the next morning I woke up at 4:45 am and could not go back to sleep!

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

 Inside National Taiwan Museum

Delicious Beef Noodles for Lunch

Taipei Main Station

Yesterday was a very long day and by 5:00 pm I wanted to go to sleep. First we headed to the Gallery of NTU History and learned more about how the University came to be what it is today. Next we had a Scavenger Hunt to get to know NTU. We learned about the Fu Bell, Main library, Sports Center, Lu Ming Hall, and Fu Szu-nien Memorial Garden. After lunch we had our first lecture on Fauna of Taiwan and I found it very interesting. Then we had a lecture on Insects of Taiwan and found that there are similar insects in the USA. For dinner we went to a noodle place and had cold noodles with sesame oil and peanut sauce. It was delicious and I was successful in using chopsticks. To top off the evening we had the first Chinese class. I was very nervous when the professor started speaking in Chinese because I had no idea what she was saying. I think the most useful thing she taught us yesterday was number in Chinese and how to ask how much things cost. Today I will hopefully do a lot better.

Outside Gallery of NTU History

Fu Bell

Sports Center

Traditional Lunch Box

Cold Noodle with Sesame oil and Peanut sauce