ulrichjohannes

Frankfurt, Terminal 2, Sep. 5th — After a little bit of stressful packing in the last days (packing your life into a suitcase can be hard) I’m finally sitting on a plane seat, waiting that the propulsion is pushing me into the seat and into a new chapter of my life. Thoughts of doubt and excitement are fighting against each other, was the decision to leave family and friends behind and move to Taipei for a year really the right decision? But there’s only one way to answer that question and as a science student I know that discovering the unknown is the most fascinating there is. So Now or Never or Cabin crew, prepare for take-off…

Three days later (I stayed two days in the tranquilizing city of Dubai) and 10000km far away from home I arrived completely fatigue with a lot of other exchange students in the capital of Taiwan. We enjoyed a warm welcome at the airport by Taiwanese students, which volunteer at the NTU Student Association. On the way to our new home for the next months, we were able to get the first glances of the multi-million city of Taipei. After the dorm check-in and the first piece of Taiwanese food for dinner, it was finally time to catch some sleep. But sleeping isn’t always as easy as it sounds, especially if you have no mattress or pillow to sleep on except a wooden plank… The next morning we brought our stiff bodies to IKEA and bought all the stuff you need for a comfortable room. Packed like a mule we made our way back to the dorm and were happy that we have a mattress, pillows, towels, etc. now! After a short test of the mattress, we gathered in the area around the dorm and started some socializing.

On the next days things like registration, orientation, a campus tour and a welcome mixer were on our schedule. While registration and orientation weren’t that exciting, the campus tour gave us a nice overview of the huge and beautiful area, where we will spend our next months. The welcome mixer was a nice event with games, different kinds of food and drinks and it ended in a small party.

Besides the activities, which are part of the exchange program, we started of course to explore our new home! Taipei overloads all your senses at the same time. It’s loud, everything is blinking, and there are a lot of new smells, thousands of people and you get lost easily. So in short, it’s a fascinating place.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen that much of Taiwan until now, but I probably had one of the best views on Taipei from the Elephant Mountain already. Getting to the top of the elephant mountain is quite easy, because the beginning of the paved way up to the top is next to a MRT Station (Xiangshan - Red Line) and the way is rather short but still a little sudatory. But the view is worth it!