Taiwan Day 2

First day of school today! We didn't actually have classes, only our placement tests. I still have no idea where anything is. I think if Connor and Charlotte just ran off and left me in the middle of Gongguan, which is like one block of our house, I would get lost TT___TT Registered and got our ID cards, which are really cool and official-looking.

However, am not happy with the actual picture -__-

Waited around in the student lounge which had a sign that said "请说中文" (Please speak Chinese) which we abided by for like a whole minute. The lounge is cute, and has cups for each of the students and teachers, in their own personalized cubbies!! 太可爱了。

Met some new students, one of which is Daniel, who is a music major from UChicago and says he sometimes narrates his friends' lives in song. So I hope we become good friends. Another is Shawn, who is a Yale grad student and speaks like 7 languages...Both of their Chinese is really good. They also said that I should write the Chinese parts of my blog in traditional characters...but I can't figure out how to get the right keyboard on my computer for that. So I guess 没有办法 mwahah. (But if either of you are reading this, help me haha). So hung around for a while waiting for our oral exams.

Look at these cuties ^__^

The oral exams were very very chill, it was pretty much chatting with two of the teachers about pretty simple things. Then they gave me my results in a secret envelope which I was not allowed to look inside of because “有很多秘密" (had a lot of secrets :P) The teacher I had to deliver the secret envelope to knows Gu laoshi and Ni laoshi! So I am now convinced of ICLP's awesomeness. I guess I placed well enough that I actually got a choice in what culture classes I wanted to take, so she asked me my interests, which I said were art and IR, but she said those were too advanced for me :'( tear tear.

Went to get some cold noodles, thanks to Shawn who can actually read the shop signs, which was great, cause we actually got to pick what we were eating, and it was delicious. Ate at this really nice park, which is a great thing about Taiwan, there are so many trees everywhere! And they are all really pretty or just look really old and cool.

朋友们！<3

很好吃 :D

Also two more observations about Taiwan:

• There are no garbage cans ANYWHERE! Therefore, everywhere you go gives you a plastic bag (but not really gives it to you, cause they charge you -__-) to carry your trash around in.
• The smell of stinky tofu is everywhereeeee in areas where there is food. It is really really stinky. 对我不满意 (probably used that word incorrectly. oh well.)

I wanted to check out the library, of course, which I'm glad we did, because it was so nice! And it was HUGE. Why don't we have a library like this at Williams :( 

"Yor" lol

So studious

Had to go back to school for the reading and listening test, which was basically.... ridiculous. I thought it was going to build up from easy to difficult, but it was basically like two questions I could answer and then just like a bunch of characters I have NEVER SEEN BEFORE. Q___Q Didn't answer so many questions. Idioms sections? ALL BLANK. Reading comprehension sections 6 and 7? ALL BLANK. Vocab? I knew like three questions. Grammar structures? Guessed, even though they told us not to, because it would be a little absurd to hand in a completely empty test. So that was super encouraging. I also spaced out on a bunch of listening sections cause I couldn't answer anything so was kinda just like mehhhh. So just gave up and left before time ran out XD

A lot of the students who were taking the test were in the lounge talking pretty loudly afterwards, and this laoshi comes in super sternly and is like,  "说中文"！(Speak Chinese!)

and we're all just like...*silence*

she leaves and we all start talking super loudly in English again HAHA.

We haven't technically signed any language contract yet .__. Also we're all still getting to know each other. Though at some point Charlotte, Connor, and I should start speaking Chinese to each other, even if we live together.

Charlotte and I went back to the apartment and met our landlady Shui. SHE IS SUPER NICE and energetic! She took us and her son to go eat dumplings which were really really good. She is really into health stuff, and is really smart. She has a degree in like Physics + Business Management + Something health related, and owns a bunch of apartments in different countries, and speaks three or four languages. She says my blood is acidic, which is why bugs like to bite me LOL

Afterwards, she took us to this AMAZING STATIONERY SHOP where I got like 15 SUPER CUTE NOTEBOOKS for like 10 dollars.

I literally didnt know what to do with myself in the store there was so much to look at AHHH. Probably could've stayed there for an hour or two, but I didn't want to take too long. So I will definitely be going back there by myself at some point.... kekeke.

So motivational XD

Adventure Time is really popular in Taiwan!

Came back and was really tired but Connor convinced Charlotte and me to go hang out with some other ICLP students at the seating area outside of the 7-11 near our house. Yay new friends~

Chinese language update: Telling people "对不起我的中文不好" (sorry, my Chinese isn't good) is generally pretty effective, because then people are just like awww and are super helpful and speak slower. HA.

And I leave you with this picture in case you ever want to find the best place on earth:

The place where dreams are made. Stationery 4ever <3