Day 2 :: Kaohsiung

so day two was equally adorable here in taiwan. after waking up around 5:15am for the second time to make mass amounts of tinkle (i don't know where it comes from! i must retain so much during the day) i headed down to check my email finally and get some breakfast.... lots and lots of breakfast! the hotel breakfast was an amazing buffet of steamed bread (so good), croissants, banana bread, rice soup (also yummy... had it on the plane too), yogurt drinks, fruit!, boiled eggs, soy milk, grapefruit tea (delicious!) and all kinds of other fancy taiwanese fixins that i can't remember. i just ate it. and it was good.

so after i was sufficiently stuffed so i wouldn't be hungry for the rest of the day (it's amazing how much you DON'T get hungry here with all the heat/humidity!) i made my way to my room to pack up. while packing, however, i received unexpected visits by arissa and christine. they had some exciting news. apparently they had found a way to the roof top and were very excited to share their adventure. so i quickly finished packing and we three made our way up the roof top. such rebels. it was a pretty spectacular view, as you can see, even if it was a bit cloudy (which was definitely great news for us as it wasn't nearly as hot as it could have been). now that we officially felt adventurous we made our way down to the lobby and awaited our bus.

the bus ride to shu-te university was short and sweet. along the way we even got to see a traditional burial site. someone asked if we could go visit, but apparently it is not acceptable to visit a grave site unless you are family. it's considered disrespectful.

our welcome committee upon arrival was definitely a bit overwhelming. we all were getting butterflies in our stomachs, and apparently the taiwanese students were too. most of us turn out to be on about the same playing field when it comes to our respective english/chinese vocabularies. one girl in my group, however, (shin) knows a good bit of english. makes translating a lot easier. i'm surprised at how much chinese i retained, though, and i'm learning more and more as i go. hopefully i'll be able to carry on conversations by the time i leave!

after presenting me with a very pretty paint brush for writing chinese characters (i feel like it has a special name and i wish i knew it...) we made our way down the hill to the dorms. they're a bit humid during the day when the ac is off, but right now it feels nice. we only stayed long enough to drop off my bags and then made our way out to have a brief tour of the campus before meeting in the classroom for a short introduction. and of course a group picture followed.

next we went to the cafeteria for lunch. i was most certainly not hungry still, but i was very much thirsty so i purchased a milk bubble tea (i've been wanting to try them for so long!) for only $1! and that was one of the more expensive things too! it was delicious! sorry i forgot to take pictures, but with all the commotion i guess i just forgot :(

later all the american students took taxis while the taiwanese students rode their scooters (we're not allowed, but after seeing how people drive here i'm not complaining!) to the supermarket to get supplies/necessities. the supermarket was like a combination of wal-mart, home depot, office depot, and any other random stores you could fit in there. they had EVERYTHING!!! definitely didn't need gum or peanut butter mom ;) i got a couple things, but i wanted sooo much! everything is so adorable!!! i did get this little sunshine flower bobble though... couldn't resist. when the light shines on it it sways back and forth. it makes me happy.

towards the end of our shopping spree i started phasing into zombie mode again. still a little off on my day/night schedule at the time, though i think i may be about right now. so after we heading back and said goodnight to all our new friends i finally unpacked and took a shower. bed quickly ensued following the shower and now here i am in the morning again!