This post has been a long time coming. Really I’ve only been here a few days, but as I’m sure is understandable, it feels much longer.
I got in about 10:30pm on Tuesday night. This means I’ve had three days’ worth of classes, and had my ass handed to me in every one of them. The instructors really are great, but I have a lot of studying to do to bring my Mandarin up to par.
Upon getting to the dormitory where I’ll be staying and meeting my roommates, I realized I wouldn’t be able to sleep. It took 23 hours to get from Philadelphia to Taipei, and I’d slept for most of it. Also, given the timezone difference (GMT +7 or EST +12), my body just wasn’t feeling it needed a nap.
So I decided to go for a walk around campus and the city. One of my roommates with whom I had a good vibe offered to tag along, and it seemed genuine, so I accepted. I reasoned that I would be able to wander much farther if I had a guide, and hopefully he could point out some places of interest which I could revisit later in the week.
The plan worked marvellously. Max and I walked and talked for an hour or two, I overstimulated myself, and even snapped some great pics.
There are many more great pictures to come. The upstream bandwidth I’m allotted here is abysmal, so I’ll have to start uploads before I go to bed, and make posts in the morning. I’ll try to do that soon.
On Sunday I’ll be going to Taipei by train.
More details to come.
Studying in Mandarin?
Whole new level of respect.
Awaiting the pics bro, have an awesome time!
Great photo. I’m so looking forward to seeing more photos and hearing your adventures. You really know how to live!
take care of you…! Have fun
I think this style of picture will get old fast, because I take similar ones every freaking night. It’ll be difficult, but fun, to keep the night market pictures interesting.
@Imposcillator: It depends. My hardest courses are actually the ones for Mandarin. On top of that I have some courses where profs mix in a lot of English, but expect students to be able to at the very least read characters, if not debate in class. Then I have one, maybe two (still deliberating), courses that are 100% Mandarin and as of yet way, way over my head.
Although I did get asked in one of my classes to read a quote in English aloud! And everyone in the room was STUNNED, like it was magic or something.
That is a really cool pic. good shot! I really like the scooter movement.
Thanks! As I’m sure is no surprise to you, I had about five of that some shot and it took me a good ten minutes to decide on this one as the keeper. It was indeed the scooter movement that did it.
I got a shot similar in composition to this in Taipei, and kept the version that had a guy in a bike blurred across the bottom of frame. I’ll probably use it in an upcoming post, if I still like it that much then.