From Sam (MSU student) - June 9

An Adventurous Day

Upon waking up a little early, we decided to walk to school. It took longer than we thought and we were a little late to class. Luckily, our teacher was running a little late also. We took a test in our 8 o’clock class. I had studied the night before so I felt pretty good about it. Despite our doubts, we all made pretty good on the test. After school, we went to get something to eat.

Since we had nothing to do in the afternoon, we decided to eat at this restaurant called Yoshinoya. We all agreed that it was just about the best thing we have eaten this whole trip. When we arrived to the apartment, everyone was feeling tired so we all took a nap. Nonetheless, we all slept for many hours.

After we all woke up, we decided, once again, to take a trip into the city. Our destination was Taipei 101 shopping center. On the way, we met a peculiar fellow from Africa. He asked if we were from America and just what in the world we were doing in Taipei. We told him that we are from America and that we are in Taipei to study Chinese.

In comparison, he also was here to study Chinese, but he has been here for 1 year already and plans to stay for another 3. We were amazed that a fellow from Africa would come to Taiwan for 4 years to study. When we reached Taipei City Hall Station, we all got off the subway and made our way to the shopping center. During the daytime, Taipei looks dull and boring like a normal city, but by night, the city comes alive with lights, signs, and many people like us snapping photos, sight seeing, and shopping. The first store to catch our eyes was New York, New York. As soon as we entered the door, I was approached by three beautiful girls from West Virginia University. After our quick conversation, we found out that they too were here to study Chinese. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up one night to hang out. “Score one for the Gipper,” I said.

Our journey to the city and the shopping had made us very hungry, so we went to the basement of Taipei 101 to eat supper. To our surprise, there was so many restaurants to choose from I had trouble picking which one I wanted to eat at. We all went to separate places, but there was one restaurant that caught my eye- sushi. We finished our supper and decided it was time to head back to the apartment and call it a night. But, we still had one more place to go to; the marketplace. Most of us grabbed some breakfast foods and snacks, but the highlight of that grocery store was that they sold American made Gatorade! We traveled back to the apartment with smiles on our faces and fell asleep fast from the exhaustion of an adventurous day.