Day 130 -- Last Trip to Taipei

Disclaimer: This did not happen in a single day but I'm just going to squeeze in the events into one post because it's going to make life easier.

My first stop was Ximending after settling in Lamb Tour House. I wanted to spend some time at Shihlin initially but I reached the hostel too late to explore 2 places in one night, so I decided to go to Ximending instead. I was practically there just to eat all the good food, things I didn't get to eat in my previous trips to Taipei or food that I missed so much. So if you read my previous post, you would be amazed at the amount I had on top of my dinner.. It was so so much! But so satisfying!

I visited the National Palace Museum the next day and the exhibitions were really nice! It's not common to see stuff that's dated in the 6th century and it really made me wonder how dedicated the craftsmen were to be able to create such delicate pieces. But I wasn't able to enjoy the trip much because my whole body was aching from the race! Thank God I was given free entry because I'm a student in Taiwan!

After visiting and getting some specialties of Taipei, it was time to head back to Kaohsiung. I'm glad that I managed to cover most of the places in Taipei this exchange, but I'm certainly coming back for more Taipei goodness~

Day 129 -- Taiwan Conquered!

Didn't slept a wink after Lamp to prepare for my first ever obstacle 10KM course with the dragon boat friends, Hannah, Arnaud and Sebastian, and also 2 other friends of  Sebastian, Iris and Misa. All of us, other than Sebastian who overslept but still made it in time at Taipei, met up at 6AM to catch the northbound coach. The only rest Hannah, Arnaud and I had was just the few of sleep on the coach because the 3 of us were at the dinner and the after party just a few hours prior to the meeting time!

Before we can even reach the starting pen, we had to go over a piece of wall! And there were 20 other obstacles we had to pass for the remaining 10KM. Some stations were really easy, and some were hard. And the rest were just made harder with the heavy rain. that accompanied us throughout the race. We were so pumped up in the beginning of the race, running from stations to stations, but after a few stations later, we decided to finish the distance by walking. And when the rain started, it was just a legit reason to continue walking.

It was a great experience getting ourselves wet and muddy, and it was a great experience to have with friends, because you need some kind of teamwork for almost all the stations.

On the side note, due to poor baggage management, our bags were drenched from the rain and I meant soaking wet. Thank God we were given a finisher tee so we still had a dry clean top when we went back.

Had dinner with the group before I left for my hostel in Taipei (I'm writing about the trip in the next post), and we were all famished and deadbeat from all the workout and the rain. But it was an awesome experience!

Day 128 -- Farewell was made easier with partying

A few of us surprised Dunia with dinner at Mr. Onion... It was a good mix of her friends from Guatemala  as well as friends made during dragon boat. So guess which one do I belong? (No prizes for the correct guess though :P) It was a great dinner, and perhaps a memorable one I should add. It was the last dinner in Taiwan for Phillippe and many girls were leaving on Monday or Tuesday, so it was really one of the last few moments we can actually sit together for a proper meal. It seemed like time passed so fast with good company. We ate and chatted till the restaurant was closing and it was so hard to say goodbye to some of them. But goodbyes were inevitable and who knows perhaps in the future, our paths may cross.

The after dinner activity was at Lamp and it's more of enjoying the moment with the company than to enjoy ourselves. But nonetheless, we all had our share of fun dancing and drinking together for the last time. But I have a race on the next day (read about it on Day 129!), so I can't party for the whole night with them, and had to leave halfway.

So if the physical goodbyes weren't enough, goodbye my dear friends. Take care and God bless. I certainly hope to meet up with you guys again in the future!

Day 127 -- Finally Finished!

After 2 papers and 1 presentation squeezed in a day, I am finally (unofficially) done with all my papers! Reminiscing the past week, it was crazy! But it is also only in Taiwan can I start studying for my finals just one week prior to the papers and still try to manage it. I can never do this in NTU, never.

Perhaps I looked offended (blame it on my 'default' face) when the teacher or classmates side-tracked to other unrelated topics during class, my drama review teacher actually asked me into her office and apologised (?) to me for side-tracking. I didn't mind because I felt it added life to the classes, but oh wells.

Went for Pavel's rooftop (farewell) BBQ party after lessons and I'm so thankful that I got a free ride to Love River from one of my favourite classmate from creative drama! She was always so helpful, especially when I was struggling with ideas for my assignments she actually helped me with it. Not to mention the free ride from the Fine Arts Building to the Gym every week so that I will not be late for my training every Thursday!

Back to the BBQ, Pavel was a really great host, making sure we had food and was comfortable, which wasn't much of a problem because the people present was either friends or friends of friends. In short, we were all connected. We had a great time eating and hanging out as usual, and I tried this national drink of Czech Republic, Slivovice, for the first time! It was so nice! The alcohol content was really high, and it did burn a little, but the taste and texture was so smooth! I'm certainly going to try more if I ever have the chance to visit the country! 

Day 126 -- Sleep deprived

I concussed last night at 10, and set my alarm to 5am, thinking I will have ample rest before doing another day of revision. But I guess I screwed my body clock, and I only napped for 2 hours before I realised I couldn't sleep anymore! So I mugged till 5 and decided to go for a morning run. It was crazy, but I'm glad I did.. The fresh air and the endorphin my body generated after the run certainly did wonders for my revision afterwards.

After revising for more than half the day, I made an impromptu decision to go to the beach for a short sunset gathering with the other international students! It was great meeting up with some of them because people were leaving, and though we say we will meet again, what's really the chances of us meeting again in such a huge group?

After the short meetup it was mugging again. As usual, I was disgusted by the sight of the books.

Day 125 -- Guardian Angel?

I had lessons till 7PM in the Fine Arts Building and as usual I was just making my way down the hill to get back to the dorm when a bike stopped in front of me out of the blue. Initially I thought the motorist wanted to ask for directions (I get a lot of such questions), but to my surprise, he offered to give me a ride down the hill! And I'd never seen him before! It was very much a blessing because I'd been having so little sleep and at the end of the day I'm so tired that I sometimes wish I don't have to return to my room!

So, whoever you are, I'm really thankful for the ride down the hill! And of course, I also want to thank another classmate of mine, Sylvie, who always asked if I need a ride to the Fine Arts Building or out of that place whenever she saw me! So yup, thank you! And if you are reading this, all the best to your future endeavours and happy graduation!

Day 124 -- Last cross cultural leadership class

This week marks the week of finals... (Note: It's not the final week because I still have one lesson next week -.-) And it's also my last lesson of the cross cultural leadership class. Perhaps the class that I enjoyed most this semester. I'm not sure whether it's because of the weekly presentations or is it because of the professor who is always so filled with positive vibes!

I'm so glad I was introduced to this course under very random circumstances because Ii get to know so many people from different nations and during the whole semester we were introduced to each other's cultures! This is certainly something I loved!

In this final class, I did a presentation on Croatia with 2 Taiwanese and a Croatian group mate. It's a rather dynamic group I must say and I'm really amazed b the effort put in by the Taiwanese! They were really dedicated in trying to do their best in the presentation! Also I got back the grades for my portfolio and dream board. I can say I did a great job (I have no qualms praising myself! LOL), but I decided to pass my dream board to the prof as future teaching material because it's just too bulky for me to bring back to Singapore.

What's last lesson without any pictures taken! Yup, you can guess what we did in the end of the lesson... If not, continue reading~