#did the free 10x ticket we got + like 2-3 10x after and she was home!!!

[victakestaipei]

WEEK 1 RECAP: drip drying, pot stickers, and hand-sized snails

I’ve realized that during the weeks here, I’m going to be pretty busy. I am trying to keep a schedule (routine) so that I can have some sort of stability/consistency in this still-unfamiliar place. As a result, I will probably stick to blogging on the weekends, because my “me time” isn’t in excess like I’d hoped. So, with that…

Let’s start with Monday/Tuesday:

As you all know from my previous post, I had a bit of a stressful first day. But things definitely started looking up as the week trucked by…

I started taking the bus to class after the first day. As it turns out, the bus is way more convenient than the MRT. It’s less walking (to get to the bus stop) and it arrives to school in like 7min, and drops me off right across the street from the building that all of my classes are in. The bus is also cheaper than the MRT too! It’s just better in all aspects. One thing to note though is that the bus starts and stops pretty abruptly, so if aren’t holding on to something before the doors close, you will definitely lose balance and find yourself stumbling into the poor old asian woman standing next to you, minding her own business, umbrella and shopping bags in hand.

In terms of my class, that’s a long story so I’ll condense it a bit for ya’ll. My teacher’s name is Cheng, or “Cheng Lao Shi” (meaning Teacher Cheng). And it’s interesting to note the different dynamic of the Asian classroom. First off, there are 7 of us in the class.. three Americans, three Indonesians, and one Swiss guy. Our teacher is friendly and charismatic, like I said in my previous post. But now that the week has ended, I can tell she has this sort of dark humor.. and her facial expressions tell you everything you need to know about what she thinks of your horrible Chinese grammar. I try not to be sensitive because I know it’s not personal, but it’s hard when you already feel insecure about speaking Chinese to begin with. She also, like other Asian teachers, is keen on comparing the students… She says how one student in my class has horrible handwriting, and says that she should practice more so that she can write characters beautifully like I do. (which is a nice compliment I must admit, but she really ain’t had to say all that ya feel?) She even asked me (in front of the entire class) if I would help said student write better… It’s just awkward for me ya know? We all sort of joked/laughed about it but I know that if it was me I would have wanted to pop off.

We also have daily quizzes and homework which keeps me busy at night after I have my daily nap (yes you heard that right, daily nap)… And on my second writing quiz I got a 93%!! Hooray for progress!!

After class my friend Jeannie and I headed out to scout out the on-campus gym. Come to find out, since I am an exchange student and technically a student of NTNU, I get free membership! It is a small facility in terms of the weight lifting area, but the building as a whole is huge, and three or four floors. The weight lifting area has some pretty old/dusty machines, but they keep the AC blasting (thank God) and it has all the necessities I need. On Wednesday after class I headed to the gym with Jeannie and did leg day/abs, and then on Thursday I did back day/abs, and Friday I did chest/shoulders/abs. The locker rooms in the gym are also super duper nice. But I always forget that there’s no toilet paper in the bathroom… By Friday I finally got it through my thick skull that I need to bring my own toilet paper to the gym and into the bathroom itself. Drip drying has to be the most uncomfortable thing on Earth… but ya do what ya gotta do I suppose. 

walking around NTNU after learning about my free gym membership^

Wednesday:

On Wednesday I got up a bit later than I wanted to, so I headed straight to the grocery store after leaving the house in the AM so that I could grab some fruit for breakfast and head to the bus stop. I got a bit turned around when trying to find the bus stop, so I was a little stressed about the possiblity of being late to class. I hopped on the bus around 10am, and I still made it to campus by 10:10, giving me 10 minutes to cross the street and head up the elevator to my classroom. Class dragged on, and I found myself looking forward to those little 10minute breaks we get after every 1-hour of class. After class I hit the gym, and then after the gym Jeannie and I were craving smoothies. We found a cheap spot on the street market with fresh mango smoothies for 60NT! ($2 US). That smoothie had to be one of the best smoothies I’ve had. The mangoes here are so sweet and fresh and just bomb. I ended up getting another smoothie the following day (hehe). After the smoothies we hit up this other food stand where we got some really good fried squid and french fries (not your typical post-gym meal, but it was delicious). I definitely can see myself eating tons of calamari while I’m here because they offer it everywhere, so it’s good that I’m working out because all of this fried food can’t be good for my “summer body” lol.

the mango smoothie place ^ and the fried squid/french fries   v

Today was also the deadline to pay my dorm payment, which was 8800NT (around $295 US [for the entire summer]). Not too shabby right?? After lunch I hopped on the bus and headed home. On my way in, I stopped at the nearby 7/11 to use the ATM and make the payment. Here in Taipei you can go to the 7/11 for just about anything:  printing, copy machine, fax, ATM, food, drinks, buying train tickets, making payments, etc). And there’s a 7/11 on just about every street corner, making it all the more handy. However, I had alot of trouble at the ATM, and it was pretty frustrating. I have a Chase bank account that I never really use (not in the past 4 years at least). I definitely prefer to use my Wells Fargo account, but since my mom uses Chase, it’s easier for me to use that card because my mom can just send me money directly from her account and it’s instant. But, with my Chase account, I didn’t tell them about my travel plans so when I was trying to use the ATM (for my second withdrawal of the day), I was flagged and they put a protective block/hold on my account. After inserting my debit card about 5 more times, I finally gave up and went home. I was able to pay my dorm fee because I already had some cash on hand, and also my first withdrawal was a succcess. I called on Thursday and got everything settled, but it still bugged the hell out of me that I stood there at the ATM like a dumbass. 

After I got home my roommate Bunny told me that she bought her ticket for the Phillipines (which we have been talking about/planning for a few days now). I also had trouble purchasing my ticket online at first, so Bunny paid for my flight (which was about $95 roundtrip) and I ended up venmo-ing her the money after getting off the phone with Chase International Customer Service. We leave for our Phillipines trip in two weeks! I’m PUMPED!!! We leave on Friday early AM (like 1:30 AM) and return Monday early AM (between 1-2 AM). Then I have class on the following Monday at 10am, so I’m sure Monday’s class will drag on even more so than this week had.

Bunny and I ordered pizza for dinner after finishing our homework, and the pizza actually wasn’t awful (to my surprise). I ate the whole thing too fast (because I was starving and it was personal-sized), and crawled into my bunk bed to lay on my stomach. I knocked out shortly after that. 

Thursday/Friday:

The end of the week flew by.. Bunny ended up joining our intensive class because her class level was a bit too easy for her, and we had an open seat available (most classes are 8 students). So now Nick, Bunny, Jeannie, and I are all on the same class schedule (10:15am-1:15pm), and Nick/Bunny/I all have the same exact class. It’s definitely a bit more fun now, and Bunny and I sit next to each other so we always share quick glances when the teacher starts to verge on saying inappropriate things (and quite frankly, wildin’ out on our classmates, and us (occasionally)). On Friday I was super sore at the gym from the previous two days, and decided to do a quick chest/shoulder day. Now that it’s Saturday I regret that decision, because now literally every part of my body hurts… from my thighs to my butt, to my back and my chest/arms. I’m a mess. Crawling in and out of my bunk bed is 10x harder and I can’t help but moan in pain everytime I get up. 

For dinner on Thursday, Bunny and I found this hole-in-the-wall potsticker place right by our campus. 

As it turns out, this potsticker place is open from 8pm-3/4am, and they only serve potstickers, soup, and fried chicken. (the fried potstickers and fried chicken are pictured above ^) 

I have to give them a pat on the back though because they have a great location (right next to campus) and their hours of operation are superb. While walking to the potsticker spot, we ran into a couple quite large creatures. Some of them being large flying cockroaches (like thumb sized roaches with wINGS!!!!!) But the one I really want to note is this snail. We found a snail making it’s way across the sidewalk but it was about the length/size from the tip of my pinky to the bottom of my palm (where my palm and wrist connect). It was HUGE. and TERRIFYING!!!  

We had a test on Friday in class, so Bunny and I reviewed a bit before hitting the hay on Thursday… The test proved to be quite easy actually so I feel really good about it (though I don’t have the grade yet.) Friday’s class flew by and after the gym I headed home to shower and lay down. It’s finally the weekend and I can finally relax knowing I have absolutely nothing to do until Monday. Lord knows I won’t do my assigned homework until Sunday night anyway, so I figured I would just enjoy this small break while it lasts. I would’ve blogged yesterday (Friday), but I elected to binge watch Netflix instead and I have no regrets. Last night (Friday night) we headed out around 9:30 to go to the movies! Bunny really wanted to watch the new Spiderman movie and it actually wasn’t bad. Yes the movie was in English (with Chinese subtitles) and the tickets were only 240NT (around $8 US), and for an extra 60NT ($2), we could have gotten popcorn and a drink!! Crazy how cheap everything is… but I decided to just buy the movie ticket because I wasn’t hungry after dinner and I had my hydro with me. Spiderman was definitely a good end to the week, although I wish Zendaya would have been the love interest instead of whoever the hell that other black girl was.