Days 2,3,4: Orientation and Adventures!

I have been here for about 7 days in total and I can't say I know everything about my surroundings to perfection quite yet. Nevertheless, I find myself navigating around the university well enough to not lose myself 5 times until I find out where I want to be(here's to some self-confidence woo hoo!!!!). I tend to believe that I have a poor sense of direction because I lost myself trying to find buildings even closest to me at Trinity. I think that after walking around the university about 5-6 times during my first week, things seem to make much more sense than they did when I first entered the university. I have to admit though that I felt very intimidated by the spaciousness of the university when I first saw it on the internet. But as I took a stroll through the university with my fellow CIEE students and student ambassadors, I embraced the spaciousness and the size of the university as it provided an opportunity to explore my surroundings. As a matter of fact, the shuttle buses around campus make it much easier to find what I need. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for orientation, I would not have been able to find my way around.

Day 2: Orientation

After the raucous,loud and exciting welcome party I enjoyed during my first day at the university, loads of information about practical knowledge was poured in my head at a faster pace than my mind could absorb. I found myself in many instances simply tuning in and listening...sometimes nodding my head at unfamiliar terms and asking what they are. Nevertheless, I learned about navigating through the MRT transportation system which is basically a well-maintained, systematically efficient subway system that takes you to various parts of the city such as the city hall and various districts within Taipei. I really love the MRT system because it is cheap and it does a good job in driving the taxi guy out of business (they do tend to rip you off!) In addition, I toured the large campus often wondering how I will adjust to walking 20-30 minutes each day just to get to class. A part of me wonders how the Taiwanese students at NCCU do it too!

ADVENTURE TIME AT LONGSHAN: 

The major highlight of this part of the orientation was the visit to Longshan temple which invited me to explore new religions and inspired me to visit a temple near National Chengchi University. Have a look at all the wonderful things I saw there!

People offering their prayers

Thought I would get the elaborate designing of the temple.

Day 3: Academics and Fire Drill?

^^Pictures of the Fire Drill

So here's to more orientation and this time it was about the headache of class registration and the seemingly amusing but comprehensive fire drill which involved trying to navigate through a room filled with smoke, how to use a fire extinguisher, earthquake simulation based on the varying degrees on the richter scale, and descending down from a tall building on a machine ladder? The fire drill went on for about an hour on how to respond to emergency situations in Taiwan. It wasn't a fire drill in the sense that an alarm would ring and you would evacuate the premises temporarily. It was a session dedicated to helping you understand how one can respond to emergency situations in a location where water systems  housing, and electrical systems are foreign to Americans. How is that for a cultural experience? Then, we enjoyed the delicious Din Tai Feng at Taipei 101.

Day 4: Health Exam

Today I went to the Qixin Clinic to get my health check up which included getting a urine test (yuck), checking my height and weight, a painful blood test (ouch), x-ray, and ears and eye check up. Luckily, we breezed through this quickly before I screamed. After that we went to the Shilin Night Market at which I do not remember doing anything particularly memorable.