Last day in Taipei with the group!

Today is my last day in Taiwan with the group! After this I will be on my own! Def. scared and excited about this! =) But our last day we get to meet and hang out with a group of Taiwanese students! The students consist of 5 Taiwanese girls who are amazingly nice =)

They take us on their own tour of Taipei! We go to this old district (Mango?) Where a movie I guess was shot =P We go see a bunch of very odd art! Dinosaurs stuck to electrical sockets…wigs and dead pigs…gummy bear shoes…paintings of ears…lol it was a unique experience! We were all dragging though! Must not have gotten enough sleep last night! So we were all relieved when we stopped in this little restaurant for lunch =) Really great food! And the girls were very helpful in helping us order from a menu in all Chinese =P

Lunch really rejuvenated us and the sun was out finally!!! Since this was our first clear day and well the group’s last we decide to head over to Taipei101 again so Corie and I could go to the top! =D Everyone else decided to hang around the mall not wanting to spend the 400 NTD to go to the top but Corie and I couldn’t resist. So we (one of the Taiwanese girls decided to join us =) Cola) head to the top! A super fast elevator ride later we are at the top! The view was breathtaking! But my favorite part was the coral carvings! The detail and expertise were astounding…so amazingly beautiful! I wish I could have bought them all! And the jewelry shop had affordable Jade and Coral jewelry! I was soooooooooo tempted! I wanted Corie to drag me out of there before I caved! =P I am so glad we decided to go up I def. would have regretted not seeing that site =)

We meet the rest of the grp down in the food court where everyone is enjoying some coldstone ice cream =) We just sit there for like an hour talking about the weirdest things and having a good time. We head out to meet Dr. Chen for dinner…meandering through an outside mall area =) Stopping to watch the street performers and enjoying the nice day…

Dinner was incredible!!! It was our going away dinner so Dr. Chen went all out and took us to an extravagant all you can eat buffet! I can’t even express  how much awesome food there was or how many times I went up for more =P Oh did I mention the free wine/beer as well lol however I preferred the freshly squeezed grapefruit juice! Omg…just so great. Anyways we also got a little crazy at the end and played a rock paper scissors tournament at the end of dinner to see who had to eat the banana =P lol! Very loud, crazy, and American it was very fun! =D Dr. Chen’s team lost by the way =P But Jake and Brandon ate the banana for him lol

So that wraps up our last day in Taipei…the other kids leave tomorrow at 4:30am! I’ll wake up to say goodbye to them but then its back in bed for me =D 

1st day in Taipei!

Whew a good nights sleep! Down to get our complementary breakfast at a café beside the hotel…pretty dang good toast! And then we are off to explore Taipei with Dr. Chen guiding us!

We see some sights. We go to a park dedicated to Taiwan’s first President….He came over from China and declared Taiwan independent and founded the democracy over here…I found it ironic since he ruled god knows how many years till his death and then his son took over which sounds more like a monarchy to me! But his son did actually start the democracy. Sorry after Egypt and the revolution to overthrow their “president” I find politics in other countries rather interesting!

Anyways, the boys leave us to go find swords =P The rest of us head over to the Jade Market under the freeway! Crazy I know! But it is quite the Basey place to shop you know unique partly historical/cultural pieces not stuff I could buy in America! I bought a pair of Jade earrings (life goal complete =)) and a BEAUTIFUL tiger scroll to add to my collection of foreign art! If I had I picture of it I would def. post it! On to Taipei101!

So Taipei101 was the tallest building in the world for a while but now it is just among the tallest. It is pretty cool =) Well it was SUPER hot and humid out so we go inside to find an amazing fashion mall! Poor Corie was in heaven =P We settle down at the food court while Corie and I go shopping! Our first stop is Zara of course! I bought a beautiful new top that I probably shouldn’t have but I couldn’t resist mate =P

We had a nice dinner with a new friend…Taiwan bombed a ton of people everywhere =P Or at least Jake and Brandon did! And had some beer with some more new friends!

It was a good first day in Taipei!

Taipei!

Taipei!

Time to leave Japan after only 2 days! =( We get to wake up again at 6am to catch the bus to take us to the train station to take us to the airport to take us to Taiwan! Whew! Now add all of that to 7 sleep deprived kids who stayed up all night singing karaoke… =P

We got back to the hotel last night at 3am! And had to leave at 6…so I personally decided to just stay awake =P 6am came….and went but we were still missing 2! Dr. Chen went and jolted them awake so they could throw all their stuff into their suitcases in one minute and jump in the taxi! Lol but we made it!

Loooooooooong day. We made it to the airport with time to spare but as we tried to check-in we had a problem! Our panda, Michelle, couldn’t go to Taiwan! She is from China and turns out she needed a special visa to get into Taiwan! I thank god it is so easy for Americans to travel! We really don’t know how easy we have it! She opted to just head home to China and cut her travels short =( We miss her!

A nice and easy 3hr flight later we make it to Taiwan and nobody lost their luggage! =D The difference between Japan and Taiwan was much more tangible then we all thought it would be! Japanese culture is very polite, but Taiwan we were accosted by people and noises! We had grown accustomed to bowing and saying excuse me (sumimasen!) but Taiwan was crowded and loud! And the people would just push by you without a second glance! A little more like America =P

I love traveling but I hate being in the process of traveling if that make sense =P I hate car rides/taxis/buses etc…trains I’m actually enjoying and I have always loved planes! But motion sickness has hindered my love of traveling… =( Turns out the airport is like 2 hours outside Taipei so we needed to take a very sketchy bus for a loooooooooooong time into the city where then we have to walk with all our luggage (I unfortunately packed wayyyyyyyyyyy too much!!!) to the hotel =( I was a little grouchy…

BUT we get to the very nice hotel =) and check in. Mikayla and I are sharing a room. We get a very big room with 2 queen sized beds while the boys all had small rooms with 1 bed and 1 cot =P Off to dinner we go!

This dinner is rather interesting…we go to Dr.Chen’s favorite themed restaurant…a toilet themed restaurant! =D It was so cool! We sat on toilets…ate on a bathtub/shower…drank from urinals…ate from toilets…and ate pooped shaped bread and ice cream! Hahaha it was awesome! Really good food too! That pretty much wrapped up our first night in Taipei! We crashed as soon as we got back so we would be nice and awake to explore Taipei the next morning!

Kyoto!

Day 2 in Japan! And actually my last one! Only 2 days =( But Dr.Chen has been great at making sure I do as much as I possibly can! So earllllllllllllly morning today so we can take the fast bullet train to Kyoto in under 2 hrs!

Kyoto is such a cute place. Very historical and therefore very touristy! We go see some beautiful temples and of course go shopping in all the cute shops!

The first temple we went to was beautiful. Sorry I don't actually know any details or even the name of the temple! lol but I did love it. There were tons of school children jockeying for the best views. People selling charms and fortunes. As we were walking out an older gentleman stopped us and asked us if his schoolchildren could ask us some questions they prepared. It was very adorable. They asked us our names, where we were from, and had their own answers prepared for our questions =) Afterwards they gave us little folded paper gifts (I got a pencil!) and I gave the little girl who interviewed me one of the random bouncy balls I had in my bag =P

We explored Kyoto for a while...ate lunch, got ice cream, shopped (I bought some presents =D), visited another site and after a loooong day in Kyoto we catch the train back to Okayama where the Japanese students had a fun dinner planned for us!






The dinner was amazing! We all sat on the ground on cushions...none of us could sit on our knees very long =P We had fun, ate, drank, and thanked everyone. Sensei Yabe and Dr. Chen thanked the groups and each other. And Charlie even sang for us! =D I think we have like 10 videos of that happening =P The Japanese students presented us all with personalized cards they had decorated and written personal notes on it was very sweet! The Okayama students were just so amazing and really made our trip to Japan great =)

We said goodbye to most of the students but some of us went to Karaoke! =) Wow Karaoke is fun in Japan! We seriously need karaoke like this in the States! We rented a room in this 3 story karaoke place and we drank and sung to our hearts content =) It was an amazing end to my 2 days in Japan =P I got no sleep last night since we had to leave at 6am AGAIN for Taiwan soooo time to go to bed now and I'll fill you in on my time in Taipei tomorrow!

Day 1

I am in Japan! Said goodbye to Boone and ASU forever! Graduation was wonderful with all my family there to see me graduate =) And a trip to Charlotte with my best friend to make everything perfect!

But now I am moving on to my next adventure...Japan! I'm arriving a couple days later than the other kids in my grp since I had to graduate. So they have already gotten to do some really fun things. I need to catch up =P But today we went to the Mitsubishi Factory and JFE Steel Factory! The Steel Factory was actually really cool! Giant RED HOT sheets of metal being pressed/rolled thin and rapidly cooled! I was fascinated!






Long day of factory tours. We head back to Okayama. We are staying right next to campus and are involved with the Japanese students. They come hang out with us and tonight they made us some Japanese street food! Oh and everyone bikes here (thought you would like that mom =P). Maybe cuz its a college area but I pretty sure its all around Japan (and Taiwan!)

Well sorry about the short blog I am beat! And we are going to Kyoto tomorrow! We are going to see beautiful shrines, temples, and gardens! I'm really excited!