Day 20: A Day!

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    Today was a day! (I think this is the best way to describe the events of the past 12 hours). It started with a breakfast at 7/11 and a morning of Chinese classes as usual, but today my Chinese class had a special guest – 小卫 (Xiao Wei). Xiao Wei is the newest member of our Dialogue and was won last night by 大卫 (Da Wei - David) in a claw machine game. The claw machines have been a popular topic amongst the group, so hearing that David won something was very exciting!  


    After classes, I went to a small fried chicken stand with Fiona, one of our personal favorites, only to find out it was closed D: We instead went to the stall next door and got scallion pancakes. We decided to add a little bit of spice, but that was a big mistake. For the next two hours my mouth was numb. The pancake was so spicy both Fiona and I were struggling to finish it.

   

    After lunch, the afternoon was study, study, study! All of us are starting our final research projects so the pressure is on. Savannah and I camped out in a classroom the whole afternoon to finish our Chinese homework and project proposals before heading back to our hotel (I took a small break from studying to buy some cute NTHU merch from the bookstore).


    When we got back to the hotel it was laundry time, a very needed activity after our long (and sweaty) weekend in Yilan. On my way back from the Laundromat it started to down pour and of course I didn’t bring my umbrella. The wind was also super strong, so strong to the point of causing me to trip and fall face first on the sidewalk. It wasn’t one of my best moments, but I survived. The downpour was one of the first side effects of the incoming Typhoon Doksuri. We are expecting a lot of rain in the coming days. Luckily, the down pour was short and afterward we were greeted with a pretty rainbow.


    In the evening, some of the students got dinner at a “make your own noodle bowl” place, but Savannah and I decided to get some Korean fried chicken – It was delicious. Afterwards, we went to an award-winning Boba spot. However, Savannah and I had some translation issues when ordering and ended up getting Boba without any actual Boba. The milk tea was still good though :D

    The day ended with me and my roommates having a spa night and doing some facemasks. I’m not sure how effective they will be considering we kept on laughing causing them to fall off. I guess we will have to wait and see until tomorrow for the results. 

    Although today may not have been the most exciting thus far, it was one of the first days where I really felt like a student at Tsinghua and like a local in Hsinchu. Looking forward exploring more tomorrow!

- Sam Kao

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