Taiwan Tech Trek: Group 12

For the past six days I toured around Taiwan as part of the Taiwan Tech Trek orientation. After meeting people on my bus and in my group at the registration place, and after an awkward dinner, Group 12 felt more comfortable together. We had a very diverse group, with people from the States, France and the Netherlands. 

The first two days of orientation consisted of speeches by CEOs of large technology companies and tours of different manufacturing factories. It was the boring parts of orientation. I felt like it was at Feng Jia Night Market where most of our group really bonded. We walked the night market together and shared the food we ordered. Of all the groups I saw, we were the only group that stuck together in the night market. The second half of orientation was mostly visiting touristy locations around Taiwan. We visited Lu Gang and watched Neon Gods danced to Techno music in front of a temple and walked through a historical street. We stayed at Xi Tou Youth Center and took over all the cabins in the area. A few of us stayed up till 2 or 3 in the morning playing Monopoly Deal and watching TV. The next day we toured around the ecological trail around our cabins, made wooden baskets, and visited a pottery factory and made our own cups. At night we had a farewell party event, where all 298 of us and counselors attended a campfire-like event and danced to group dances. We also got glow sticks and had a mini dance party, for like three songs. On the last full day, we visited Sun Moon Lake, but literally just took the ferry across the lake and left and didn't really explore the towns much. At night we had our farewell dinner, and each group presented a 3-minute skit. It was really bittersweet at the end when we all shared candles and shared our thoughts on orientation. We took group photos, celebrated by eating the watermelon we won on the first day, and stayed up till 3:30 in the morning playing games and chatting. All of us were exhausted the next morning, but it was well worth it for the last night. 

I'm glad to meet all the new people in Group 12 and Bus D. It was really nice spending a week with all of them and now I can finally hang out with people my own age in Taiwan. I really look forward to a Group 12 reunion some time in the future and hang out with all of them again. 

Group 12 at West Lake Resortopia with the watermelon we won.

Monopoly Deal gang!

Candle light gathering.