Summer 2012

After two exciting months in Taiwan, I am now finally back in Cornell, and my summer has officially ended. I moved in to my apartment a week ago, but have been pretty busy settling in and getting back into school mode. It was great seeing all my Cornell friends and being back in Ithaca, where it's not always 90+ degrees and super humid.

So I will end my Summer 2012 blog here. It's been an amazing experience and I had a lot of fun keeping track of what I did and where I visited. I'm sure I'll look back to this blog some time in the future and relive all the memories I made in the past few months. Perhaps next summer I will continue where I left off.

Farewell

Friday was the Academic Conference at the National Science Council building. It was boring sitting through so many presentations, but it was nice spending time with TTT-ers. My session ended early, so I joined my friends at the humanities presentation after. Those were so much more interesting and laid back than the engineering ones, but I was still with my friends on the side of the room, just taking photos, chatting, and hanging out.  At night, a bunch of the interns, and some counselors, went to Luxy and all partied together. It was nice seeing everyone together on one of the last nights we'll spend together in Taiwan.

Saturday night was the Awards Night Banquet, also the final time all the interns will be together. The dinner wasn't that great, the performances were okay, the award offerings were boring, but spending time with everyone I met during orientation and during the internship period was great. I felt like throughout the entire night, we all avoided thinking about how it's the final time we'll be together, and just tried to enjoy our time together. It wasn't until the very end, when everyone got up and started taking photos with everyone else, that the thought of not seeing each other again for a long time hit us. I'm definitely gonna miss a lot of the interns I met this summer. From now until the next time we meet again, we will just have to resort to Facebook to stay in touch and reminisce about the times we spent together. Thankfully we all took so many photos this summer and have the TTT DVD to look back on. I believe some day, we will have a reunion again, either back in Taiwan, or elsewhere in the world.

In three more hours I will be on my way to Taoyuan Airport to catch my flight at 8am. I can't believe it's already time to leave Taiwan, and that I've been here for two full months. It feels like orientation was just last week, and that I've only met all these people not too long ago. Today I met up with the handful of TTT-ers who are still in Taiwan, and we hung out at 士林夜市 soaking up our last time seeing each other. We will all be flying to different places, China, the U.S., England, and who knows when is the next time we'll all be together again. It was sad hugging everyone, saying farewells, but I don't believe this is the last time we will all be seeing each other. At least now I know that there's a possibility of having a friend back in Taiwan the next time I come back. So glad I made friends with these wonderful people this summer.

The so-called 'bro' group. Love you guys. 

My ghetto cardboard box. At least it'll be easy to recognize. 

Here's to an Amazing Summer

I am entering the final week of my Taiwan Tech Trek internship, and also the final week staying here in Taiwan. To say the least, my experience in Taiwan this summer has been amazing, made possible by the new places I’ve seen, different lifestyle I’ve experienced, and most importantly, the new friends I’ve met.  My journey in Taiwan started after I left San Francisco on June 20^th. I looked forward to my internship program and the fellow TTT-ers I’ve yet to meet, but I had no idea what was in stored for me. Now after living nearly two months in Taiwan and hanging out with people from all over the world, I can say that this summer has definitely exceeded my expectations.

When I decided to participate in TTT, I was a little indifferent towards the program. I didn’t think it would be very exciting since I have been back to Taiwan so many times before. The week-long orientation kick started this whole program with carefully planned schedules for us. Time flew by too quickly that week. We were too busy making new friends before we all left for different internships in different parts of Taiwan. The long hours on the bus were spent singing karaoke, watching movies, telling first love stories, and chatting with our bus buddies. It was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to all the new friends I met during that week. That goodbye was only temporary. Afterall, we knew we would have a last get-together at the Awards Night Banquet, where the goodbyes will be more permanent.

In a week, we will all be done with our internships, and one by one, we will be flying out of Taiwan back to our respective homes. After eight weeks in the same program, we will finally be returning to our ordinary and routinely lives – college, grad school, or work. The Awards Night Banquet will most likely be the last time all 297 TTT 2012 interns are gathered together. On that night, many tears will be shed, hugs will be given, photos will be taken and emails and phone numbers will be exchanged. It will be a celebration of the all the memories made and friendships formed, and an effort to stay in touch once we are immersed in our busy lives back at home.

It feels like my trip to Taiwan this summer has been a get-away from the busy and hectic life back in New York and at Cornell. Here in Taiwan, I can forget the stress from school and the expensiveness of everything in New York, and just enjoy my summer in a country that has everything. I am excited to get back on campus and catch up with my college friends, but at the same time I don’t quite feel ready to leave Taiwan yet. There are so many things I need to buy, places I hope to visit, and people I wish to see. With such a limited time, I can only do so much, and whatever I cannot finish will have to wait until the next time I come back to Taiwan.

Thank you to all the people who have made this summer an amazing and unforgettable summer for me. I hope we will all stay in touch after the program is over and when we are back at home. Perhaps our lives will cross again some time in the future.

Far East Movement and 萬里

Friday night was Far East Movement's concert at Luxy. They performed for about an hour, and sang most of their hit songs. I was at the front right, at the foot of the stage, so I got a pretty good view of them. I thought they were pretty good, and I liked the order they played their songs. Unlike some bands, Far East Movement live was pretty much like their recordings. After the concert, I sat on the street corner and chatted with a friend until sunrise. I've always liked late-night conversations because they are more meaningful, and this was no different.

Saturday morning, seven of us left Taipei for 萬里 for a friend's beach house. It was an apartment complex overlooking the northern coast of Taiwan. The apartment was small but cozy, and we all hung out comfortably in the air-conditioned room. We went to the ourdoor pool for about two hours, chatting, playing games and just fooling around. Then we took the bus to 金山老街 and walked around there and ate lunch. There's actually not much to see and do, but there wasn't much to do in the area to begin with. At night, some people went back to Taipei and there were only four of us left. We went to this recreational area where our friend's uncle brought us dinner, and we bowled and played ping pong. My bowling skills have gotten a lot worse since I took bowling gym a year ago.

Sunday, we woke up early, relatively, to go to 女皇頭 in 野柳. The place wasn't all that different from 和平島, except it was larger and had much more tourists. Just from walking in the sun for a few hours, I got a lot darker. Afterwards, we rested at the apartment for a bit and then headed to the beach. Right when we got to the beachfront, it started raining. Since we had to pay to go in, we decided to not go, since it probably wouldn't be as fun anyway. Instead, we went back to the recreational area and played there for another two hours.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. Sadly, this will be the last weekend I will be free in Taiwan. Next weekend is the Awards Night Banquet and Sunday will probably be spent packing for the U.S.

Far East Movement at Luxy.

Far East Movement.

Sandy area at 野柳.

The famous 女皇頭, the rock that's in the shape of a queen's head.

Pavilion of Dreams

I went to the Flower Expo (花博公園) today with seven other people. Specifically, we went to the Pavilion of Dreams (夢想管). The exhibition was near Yuan Shan, and it's part of a large expo with multiple smaller exhibitions. When we first entered, each of us received a "watch" that we can scan at different locations and do interactive activities. First, we scanned our watch at this machine and picked one wish out of five choices: health, education, spiritual, emotion, and career. I chose health, and got to see the flower that resembles me and what I picked. The whole exhibit was pretty dimly lit, and there were a lot of creative stations playing around with lights and shadows. We also entered this 360-degree theater and it showed a film that took us on a journey across the mountains, fields, and finally back to Taipei. I thought the 360-degree view was really cool; everywhere I turned I saw something new. At the end, we got a certificate with our flower on it, one different from the flower at the beginning of the exhibition. It has some Chinese words of wisdom on it, but I've still yet to decipher the Chinese meaning.

After the exhibit, most of us parted ways, and I went to 鼎泰豐 with three other people. I thought it was just alright, but I guess it's a must to try it in Taiwan. 

One of the exhibitions in the Pavilion of Dreams.

Bryan, Amy, Tiffany and I all had different color watches.

My flower resembling health.

Really cool light exhibit.

Group photo outside the Pavilion of Dreams.

鼎泰豐 - 忠孝店.

Waiting to be seated.

小籠包.

平溪放天燈

For last-minute planning, today actually went really well. I met up with a bunch of people from different TTT orientation groups and we took the train to 瑞芳, then a bus to 九份. I've been there before, so I wasn't that excited for it. This time however, I got a rock carved with my name and a fish for Pisces, and I can wear it as a necklace or just hang it up somewhere. We also explored this street off the main 老街, and it was a lot prettier than the more popular street.

Next, we took a cab down to 瑞芳 train station and caught the train to 平溪 to 放天燈 (light lanterns). We first walked around the street area with shops and food stands. The Taiwanese sausage was really good there; the sausage had slits in them and there was garlic in the slits. The fried chicken was also pretty good, but had too many bones. It took forever for the lady to make because there were at least ten different layers of spices, sauces, and toppings. When it got dark, the eight of us got two lanterns, and each of us got to write on one side. The lanterns were wish lanterns. We wrote what we wish for, lit it up, and let it float up into the sky. On mine, I wrote 學習成功 (success in academics), 身體健康 (healthy body), and 天天開心 (happy everyday). We lit both lanterns at the same time and let it float into the night sky. When we looked up a few minutes later, the two of them were still side by side. With ten minutes left until our train, we ran to this store and bought mini lanterns with Chinese sayings on them. We barely caught the train and headed back to Taipei.

It was an eventful day overall with a fun bunch.

My 天燈.

I matched with the 天燈.

Preparing to let it go.

Far East Movement @ Luxy

I'm excited for the Far East Movement at Luxy nightclub next Friday. The ticket was only $1200 NT! From now till Friday, I'll be listening to their music and catch up on their new songs.

Got my tickets at a 7-11.