2 Month Report!

My second month has officially come to an end and I have to say, that makes me a little sad. These first two months have gone by so fast, I actually hope time starts to slow down for me. But this last month has been wonderful. With school I have put together a system to get through my classes. Because I do not participate in the majority of them I will alternate studying Chinese, reading my book, writing Chinese characters, and occasionally some SAT studying. Keeping busy really makes the time go by quicker. My class is also participating in a cheer leading competition this Friday. We have been practicing for about 2 weeks now. It is a lot of fun and really nice to be able to hangout with my classmates. They do not usually have very much time due to cram school and studying so the cheer leading has been a really good opportunity for us to bond. The interact club also had another activity this month, bowling! We left school early and took a bus to furniture store that happened to have a bowling alley above it. It was so much fun. It felt very familiar, which was nice. I love Kinmen very much but the highlight of this month was my trip to Taipei. I had a great time seeing the other exchange students. I think because we are all in the same situation we form friendships very fast. After one day I have already made many close friends that I will be able to see each month. This month is also Halloween in the United States, so my teacher asked me to introduce the holiday to my classmates on Monday! I'm very excited! Another amazing month in my new home!

Taipei!

This past weekend I finally got to go to Taipei again! The flight from Kinmen is only about thirty minutes and Naima and I were able to leave school early so we would have more time in the city. We went with my host mom and after we arrived at the hotel we decided to visit an outdoor mall at the Ximen Station. I have to admit the first day was a bit overwhelming. I have become so used to living in tiny Jincheng, where you can safely walk in the streets. Going from that to the insane traffic in Taipei was terrifying. But it was amazing! It was nothing like I have ever experienced before. The next day we went to meet up with all the other inbounds in District 3480 at the train station. We took a train about and hour and a half to the east coast of Taiwan. I was worried at first about not being able to connect with the other exchange students because I am living on Kinmen and not in Taipei. It worked out great though and I met some awesome people. For the first culture class we biked on the coast. It was spectacular with the most unbelievable views! I was sad when I had to say goodbye to my new friends at the end of the day. But I will return in a month! After we arrived back in Taipei, Naima and I decided we would try to find the Shilin Night Market. It was surprisingly easy to find our way there on the MRT, but navigating around the market was a different story. There was a crazy amount of people in the market (it was a Saturday night) and it was difficult to push our way through the crowd. It was worth it! We ate some amazing food, and were able to find really cheap things. We could only make it through a small part of the market, it was huge! On our last day in Taipei we visited Taipei 101. After we exited the MRT station we could see it over the trees.We really wanted to go up to the top, but it was only open up to the 89th floor. It was still quite a view! We were able to see over the city and mountains. It was so beautiful. After a trip to Mc Donald's (how I missed it) we headed back to Kinmen. It's good to be home. <3

Exchange Student Exam Day!

Today the students at school had exams so we got to go sightseeing!

Old elementary school

Picnic in Jincheng

Day in Little Kinmen

Today is Taiwan's birthday!!! So we didn't have school. My host family took Naima and I to Little Kinmen to meet my host grandpa. Little Kinmen is an island even closer to China so many of the tourist attractions are military oriented. Awesome day!

Another Amazing Weekend in Taiwan

We hiked up the mountain again today but used a different path. We also went to a park by the ocean to practice Chinese. What a life! <3