Sup, everyone??!
I can’t believe it. I actually am living in Taiwan!!!! I’m living my dream – despite how cheesy that sounds. I’ve dreamed of living in Taiwan for so long now, and here I am with the opportunity to explore this country and study: two of my favorite activities. I’m a nerd: what can I say? I love to study. It’s been…interesting adjusting to being here.
For one thing: I definitely am one of my generation. Being without Internet and data on my phone just being available was SOOO WEIRD! Of course, now it has been fixed, and that brings relief for so many reasons that aren’t as superficial. Most importantly, I can get in touch with my family! It was rough trying to contact them to tell them that I’m alive and made it to a different continent because I didn’t have a functioning phone. Well, it worked, but only with wifi. Second, trying to get from the airport was a debacle in and of itself because I couldn’t contact my ride. Airport wifi was interesting to say the least. But, that is all in the past and I am happily satisfied with my new phone service and the wifi in my apartment :) Secondly, I can use Google Maps now! I bless Google Map people for keeping the maps up to date because I would totally be lost taking the bus without it.
So, I guess I should start from the beginning. The actual getting here was a bit rough. But the most interesting parts is that my flight out of the country was delayed by an hour! That was nerve wracking because I had to check in at the Hong Kong airport for that boarding pass. However Hong Kong Airport people to the rescue! When I got off the plane, there was a sign with my name on it, my next flight information, and a lovely lady waiting for me. Thanks to her (literal) running skills and the lovely people of DragonAir ๏ผShoutout to DragonAir! I highly recommend them!) for holding the plane for me, I made it to Taichung. I’m happy I made it, though my luggage didn’t. The poor people at customs! No phone, no address for them to send my luggage to or contact me. But, we figured it out. We prayerfully sent it to my apartment, and I gave them my email address. Sure, it showed up later than I needed it to, but it made it!
I haven’t done that much exploring, and what I have seen, it’s hard to say where I was exactly….I know that sounds bad, but I’ll figure it out eventually. I want to say that I was downtown, but that does not seem exactly accurate either. However, I am quite sure of the fact that I did find the Starbucks! After reading this article on City504, I have decided that I must visit all of these special Starbucks because of how Starbucks Taiwan is trying to change their brand and value in the eyes of their consumers. It’s the business woman inside me and not the coffee-crazed lady driving this adventure, I promise!
The one thing that I am convinced of is that I’m really going to like it here. In a new district, city, country, continent, I can just be me, just everything that I am. I get stares no matter where I go and kids yell out when they see me. But, it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Someone even tried to take a stealth photo of me today! But I noticed before she could hide her camera. Might as well make it a cute photo, right? As my sister would say: “2015, no bad pictures.”
But on the real, I’m learning a lot: about my new city and this beautiful culture, and more importantly about myself. I know, I know: how can I possibly be learning so much about myself in only a week? It’s funny, but I am. But I’ll save that for a future post.
It’s been a bit of a post-overload! So sorry! I’ll try to be a bit more organized in the future. It’s funny, but I haven’t taken as many photos as I should. But, I will definitely take more to share!
Thanks for being on this journey with me!
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ๅธไธฝ
Check out the video ^^. I couldn’t have enjoyed going to the supermarket more.
Don’t even have to bring your phone to the restroom because your Line friends are already there!
See you next time!