First Day in Taipei

After nearly two days of travel due to flight delays, I arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday (Wednesday) was my first full day in Taipei. I woke up at 5:00am and could not get back to sleep, so I took a short hike up a small mountain next to my apartment. A former Rotary Scholar who just left Taipei told me about the hiking trails. The views were gorgeous. The picture behind the title of this webpage is a view looking over Taipei from the top of this mountain. I will post more pictures later, because there are many trails I have yet to explore.

A Rotarian from District 3460 Cheryl Bain, or BainBain, gave me my first official tour of Taipei. BainBain is a former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar who studied at Ohio State and was hosted by Dr. John Mount. She showed me the metro system, the post office, the bookstore, and where I can find several good restaurants. We stopped by the Roosevelt Center of the Taipei Language Institute, where I will be studying Mandarin from 7:30am-12:30pm Monday through Friday. I met the charismatic director of Roosevelt Center, Eleanor Chang who gave me my study materials and first homework instructions.

BainBain also showed me the campus of National Taiwan University and how to access the campus library. It is a beautiful campus, and I anticipate that I will use the library quite often to study. Finally, on the way back to my apartment, I stopped by the night market to buy some fresh fruit. Taiwan is famous for its night markets, which operate from about 7pm to 11pm and consist of streets full of vendors selling everything from Chinese food and produce to clothing and jewelry. The markets are known for their good food. I have been enjoying the wide variety of inexpensive fresh fruit such as guava, mango, sweetsop, and kiwi.

I want to end this post with a special thank you to BainBain for her patience and gracious hospitality.