Day 1

7/12/2017

Day 1 is always and interesting one. We began with a delicious lunch as a local restaurant, and then all of us in our matching blue shirts marched back to campus for orientation. Professors gave their classic introductions, but Dr. Jih's speech stood out because of how genuine and real it was. He said that happiness if derived from living in the moment and that we should seek to gain the most out of this trip as we could. Following the professor introduction, we students as stood up and introduced ourselves as well. I was surprised because our group consisted of majority guys with a total of around 15 and the CYCU students were majority girls with about the same students. After orientation we had a quick lunch and then were free for the day. After a few interactions with the group, I became pretty good buddies with my roommate, and we decided to make our way to the super market to gather some general supplies such as towels and toilet paper. I went to to a boarding school and was around many asian students, so I expected them to be quite shy. It was quite the opposite though, for the Taiwanese student, especially these two girls Sandy and Sunny, were quite friendly and playful. The people of Taiwan were so open and friendly. They would do anything to make us feel at home. After some simple shopping we began walking back to campus. I saw the rec center on the way to the dorm and had to see it. After a quick game of ball, we strolled outside to be welcome by some ominous rain clouds that proceeded to downpour and completely soak us head to toe. At first we all huddled under one umbrella, but then decided to just let the rain do its thing and we scurried on home. We had a group agreement to meet that night at the Starbucks to go out to the night market, but my jet lag was setting in hard. I saw my bed and was pulled in.

Following a quick snooze we headed outside to be greeted by some nice, warm sunshine. The enormous clouds had parted like the red sea allowing us to have a great adventure to the night market. At this point my buddy Trent and I had made pretty good friends with two Sandy and Sunny and they showed us all the good tents and food station. Some people might think I am crazy, but that night I ate quail eggs, sushi, and some other sort of rice dish right off the street. I was delicious! We then parted ways with the big group and headed to the game the board game place. I don't even know where to begin with explaining this oddity, for I absolutely loved it! As a child I was engrossed with these sort of games, so I was in love. We proceeded to play a few but my heavy eye lids were taking over. On the way home the two girls made us stop at the game shop were the arcade games were. Trent tried to get one of the items with the metal grabber and was unsuccessful. On my first attempt I procured a cute yellow elephant and gave it to Sandy. She smiled at me and absolutely loved it. We then stumbled home, and I passed out immediately