A week in Taichung!

Flying over Japan

Ah, traveling to Taiwan.  This was my first time on a plane.  It was actually enjoyable, besides the turbulence.  We got into our hostel around 1 in the morning on Thursday the 2nd.  My first taste of Taiwan was when we were looking for the hostel with Dr. Wu in her car.  We were stopped because she wasn't sure which way to turn.  A scooter came around the car and cut right in front of us, turning the opposite way that we were going to.  It scared and surprised me!  The traffic is crazy in Taiwan, scooters everywhere!  I could not get used to it the whole time I was there.  I had a mini heart attack every time I would witness crazy drivers, especially while riding the buses.

The first day we had a welcoming party from Dr. Wu's class.  It was so nice to finally meet everyone and the food was really good- my first taste of Taiwanese food!  We chatted with everyone and discussed the plans we had for the rest of the day.  Some of the students stayed with us the whole day, which was so nice of them, taking us to a mall and the night market.  We were all so tired and overwhelmed so we made it an early night.  The rest of the time in Taichung was a whirlwind- packed full of lectures, trips, and sightseeing.  The first weekend we went to see a monastery, beautiful Sun Moon Lake, and three temples, including a famous one from the movie Din Tao: Leader of the Parade.  It was an eventful day, including me almost passing out from heat and dehydration at the monastery.  Fun times.  Sunday we went to a festival honoring the goddess Mazu.  It was so much fun!  It was kind of like a fireman's festival at home, or a fair.  At the festival, I first tried some kind of sugar candy, which was good, and then I had candied strawberries (like a candied apple), which was amazing.  The Mazu temple was pretty impressive architecturally.  I liked being in the crowd with all the people enjoying the fun.  There were parades and people setting off fireworks.  It was a good first weekend in Taiwan!

Luce Chapel

The next week consisted of various lectures from the architecture, literature, and art departments of Tunghai, including a lecture on the architecture of the campus and the Luce Chapel, which was really interesting!  Some of the other lectures weren't so interesting, unfortunately.  We went to visit the chapel, which was an architectural feat when it was built.  We also visited the home of a close friend of Dr. K and also an adjunct professor from the university, Dr. Hung and his wife.  It was a great experience seeing their apartment, sipping tea, chatting, and seeing how they live in Taiwan, plus all their treasures from their travels around the world!  We ate at a lot of Italian restaurants while in Taiwan, which was okay with me.  I did try some of the local food, but didn't completely love it.  I'm just not an experiential eater.

Dr. Wu's class and Chatham students

For our last day in Taichung we met up with Dr. Wu's class to have dinner.  We each sat with our learning partners to continue our relationships.  It was an emotional evening.  I wrote letters to my leaning partners and they were so excited when I gave the letters to them.  Dr. Wu made a speech just to wrap up the experience and thank everyone for what had happened the past week.  The class loved Dr. Wu for setting this experience up for them; it has touched a lot of their lives, as well as mine.  It was hard to leave the students, but I was excited to get to Taipei, the capital city!