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Instagram Mentality

  • I usually smile in all of my pictures bc my mom paid my orthodontist a lot of money for my teeth to look good.
  • But if I’m being honest, even with all the places I’ve been privileged enough to go and all the things I’ve been able to do, I’m not always happy and I’ve been having a pretty rough semester. Traveling has been my biggest- and best distraction.
  • I struggle with medium general anxiety. My biggest goal for the last 2 years has been self-awareness and actively working on the things I struggle with. In social situations my general anxiety is exacerbated and it can get really hard for me to communicate effectively. It’s always manageable but at home it’s easier because I have a support system of people that love, and guide me.
  • Going abroad with a relatively unknown program and a group of people from entirely different states was one of the hardest decisions I’d ever made. I was going to be REALLY far from home and there was no one coming with me that even knew the atmosphere that I was coming from. One of my specific study abroad goals was to make friends with my new group and hopefully build a support system that was a little more accessible.
  • Unfortunately the opposite of this happened and I actually ended up being outcasted from the rest of the Americans in my program with very few of them even bothering to say hello.
  • I didn’t want to let this define me but it’s also hard to constantly be around triggers that make you feel bad about yourself when you’re supposed to be having the time of your life.
  • My solution is to travel. I distract myself with greenery, beaches and lots of animals. I usually spend more money than I’d like to but it’s always worth it.
  • I love to travel and share my experiences with my friends and family on social media. I’m told “You look so happy!” Which I am, but just not all the time- which is what everyone deduces from me smiling on my Instagram page.
  • I love my adventures and the joy they bring me but it’s important to recognize that people have more going on in their lives than what they show you.
  • But my mom paid good money for these teeth so catch me smiling even when I’m alone 🤟🏾

Moalboal, Cebu Travel Guide

Hi Friends! My posts are all over the place I know, but I recently went to Cebu in the Philippines and this guide was actually requested so I’m just going to do a nice short travel guide so it’s not too detailed but has all the important stuff!

How to get to Cebu?

This is pretty easy! There’s only one airport on the island: Mactan–Cebu International Airport. As always, I just get my tickets from google flights because the usually have the cheapest prices and they actually tell you which airlines they aren’t showing prices for, that way you can check that airline’s ticket offerings individually to see if it’s cheaper. I booked a little over a month in advance and got roundtrip tickets for about $160 roundtrip including all of the booking and card fees that the airlines surprise you with at the end.

Note: When you leave Cebu, if you are flying internationally through Mactan–Cebu International Airport, there is an $850 Philippine peso ($16 USD) terminal fee. This isn’t a scam. It’s basically a tax issued by the Filipino government and you won’t be able to get through security until you pay. Make sure to bring enough cash for this.

There are lots of places on the island that you can go to for your vacation. If you want history and good nightlife, stay in Cebu City. If you’ve got money money and are into luxury and resorts, then the northern islands, such as
Mactan, Bantayan, Badian, Malapascua and Camotes are where you should head. If you don’t have money money but are in a bigger group or generally just want higher end accommodations, consider staying in Lapu Lapu city. If you’re like me and if you are travelling alone or in a small group and want to be off the beaten track around the locals, but also in an area that is tourist accessible, Moalboal is the place for you. Now this guide is primarily about Moalboal since that’s where I went and can speak on, but some stuff can be generally applied to other parts of Cebu.

How to get to Moalboal?

The great news about Cebu is that it’s fairly cheap and easy to get around the island! You can take a metered cab, tricycle, or Ceres Bus just about anywhere. I don’t know any of the in-depth details for getting to the north of the island or Lapu Lapu so if you’re going to Moalboal, keep reading! If not, you should probably try to find another blog with that information.

More good news! Ceres buses run 24/7 so this information can be applied no matter what time you get to Cebu.

From Airport to Moalboal by Bus: Once you get through immigration and the baggage claim, follow signs for the taxi counter. You’ll also see a bunch of other people heading that way. You can also just ask someone who works there because most everyone in the Philippines speaks English in general, especially airport employees. They’ll point you to the taxi stand. Grab a taxi. They’re metered which is nice and there is a clerk that stands near all the departing cabs and gives you a slip of paper with numbers and stuff on it fir like a review or if anything goes wrong. It was very professional. I was impressed. Tell the clerk and your taxi driver that you want to go to the South Bus Terminal. The cab should cost you about $250 php at most ($4.77 USD) which can be split between up to 4 people so try to find other people (tourists and locals) that are going to the South Bus terminal. It costs and extra 5 or 10 pesos for the taxi driver to drop you off inside the actual terminal but there’s a gas station across the street. Just tell them to drop you there. This way you don’t have to pay extra for literally crossing the street, and you can go inside the gas station to grab some snacks or beverages for the bus ride. Cross the street into the terminal, there’s a mini security screening but it’s the same as going in like a government building. nothing too serious. You can’t tell the guards that you’re going to Moalboal and ask them which direction to go in. It’s literally just straight and then you turn right at the end but it’s nicer to have them tell and point it out to you. There’s also signs that tells you where the buses are going. Look for signs that say Moalboal, or simply ask someone working the buses if they don’t ask you first. I think I arrived right when the previous bus had left because I was one of the first people on my bus, and we didn’t leave until it was almost completely full which took about 30 mins.

There are buses with and without AC. Luckily, I got an AC bus on my way to and from Moalboal. The price for an AC bus is 156 php. ($3 USD) The non-ac bus is about 120 php. ($2.30 USD) The AC is really worth the 70 cents. The ride is 3-4 hours depending on the traffic. There’s a man on the bus that will issue you a ticket and take your money when he’s ready, so just wait for him and maybe he’ll not notice you and you won’t have to pay. (This won’t happen, he scans the bus with utter focus.) The view is great and there was TV/ a movie playing on the bus screens on both of my journeys which is nice if you don’t have anything else to do. The bus stops frequently as many locals use it, but it’s so quick you barely feel it. We stopped once for a bathroom break, but it wasn’t until we were already like 2-2.5 hours in so definitely use that restroom before you get on the bus! There’s also a mini bakery and some snacks at the same place you can take your bathroom break.
When you arrive in Moalboal, the man that you paid will announce that you’re there, and if he remembers you, he’ll tell you personally. When you get off, it’s going to be a little confusing at first because the stop is in the middle of a busy intersection. Just grab your bags and look toward the market. There will be plenty of trike drivers willing to take you to your accommodation. If you’re staying by Panagsama Beach (more likely) expect to pay about 100 php for your ride. Anything more is a rip off. If you’re going to White Beach, 150 php is a fair price. They will suggest higher prices at first, but just be firm on the 100 php. If they say you have to wait for more people or they can’t do that price, just be willing to walk away and find someone else. Most of the drivers will know exactly where your accommodation is since there aren’t too many of them, but just in case, make sure you can whip out the location on a map. So, if you don’t have a roaming data plan, make sure to get the map before you leave the airport!

View from the Bus

From Airport to Moalboal by Taxi: This way is a lot more expensive and only about an hour faster than the buses. Most taxi drivers don’t go as far south as Moalboal very often so you definitely need to have a map and the address of your accommodation, so they’ll know where to go. An alternative to an airport taxi is arranged transportation through your accommodation. With either of these methods it takes about 2-3 hrs to get there depending on traffic but could cost you from 2000-3500 php ($40- 58 USD) depending on your bargaining skills and what time you’d be leaving.

What to do in Moalboal

  • Canyoneering- This is the biggest tourist attraction in all of Southern Cebu. And for good reason. Canyoneering is the technical adventure sport of traveling down steep and narrow canyons using a variety of techniques that may include hiking, scrambling, rock climbing, jumping, wading, swimming, often over waterfalls. In Moalboal all Canyoneering adventures start at the top of a mountain in Badian (the municipality right next to Moalboal) where you are jumping off of lots of cliffs and wading in beautiful turquoise water for about 5-6 hours. You are given a life vest and a helmet. They sell waterproof phone cases and drinking water at the office that you sign your waivers. They also rent out lockers and sneakers for those who didn’t come in suitable shoes. Canyoneering should be 1500 php. This is the standard price for all of the canyoneering companies, so anything higher should be avoided. It’s easiest if you book through your accommodation. They all offer it since it’s such a popular activity and you can pay before you even leave.

Canyoneering tips:

  1. Don’t wear crocs! I loooove my crocs as anyone person who has ever met me knows, but they are so slippery and had no place on these rocks. I definitely improved my balance this day but also came out with some scratches and bruises because I’d slip and bang one body part or another. Sneakers or textured water shoes are your best bet. You can always rent from the company but why do that when you can bring your own? No flip flops either! There is a pretty rigid 30 min hike before you get into the water and after you want something that’s gonna hold on when you hit the water and instead of flying off to who knows where.
  2. DO NOT BRING A BAG. It’s just going to slow you down and be something that you have to worry about. You literally don’t need anything other than your phone, gopro (but the battery will die less than halfway through) and key if you rented a locker. All of these things can fit in the little zip net pocket in the front of your life vest. You return to the same spot you started from at the end of your adventure so your towel, drinking water, and wallet will be waiting when you get back.
  3. Get a waterproof phone case/pouch. As I said before, the company sells waterproof phone pouches, but one of the girls on the trip broke and the guide had to hold it for her the whole time. I’d be terrified because it’s literally almost impossible to do this without getting wet, but I suppose the guides know all the nooks, crannies, and neat tricks. I have my own waterproof phone pouch (with a lanyard so no worries about it sinking if I wasn’t holding it) before I arrived in Cebu. I have the iPhone 8+ which is huge and there’s still a little wiggle room. It came in a set of 2 and was only $9 USD. I use it for underwater videos when I’m snorkeling too, and it works perfectly! Click here to check it and other similar products out on amazon.
  4. If you’re using a gopro, bring like 2 extra batteries. Everyone who didn’t bring their phone was so mad because they didn’t have anything to film with after their first battery died. I’d recommend putting the extra batteries in a waterproof phone pouch and just putting that in the pocket of your life vest 🙂
  5. Are you healthy enough for this? This is not for those who are loooong out of shape, recovering from an injury, or have general back problems. This excursion is extremely physically demanding and if you can’t hop, climb, jump (without hesitating) wade (the life vests are super effective so you don’t need to know how to swim, just be comfortable in water) hike, and all the other stuff that canyoneering involves, then you probably shouldn’t participate. There’s no stopping halfway through this. You have to finish and even the easiest way still isn’t easy! That being said its super fun and if you’re scared of heights, there’s an alternative route for all of the jumps.
  6. Ask for pics and make friends! There’s a million people that do this all at the same time. It’s a long activity and you’re jumping off of cliffs which can be scary. The fun thing is that it’s scary for other people too so you can’t bask in your fear while also encouraging each other to do the jumps. Don’t be afraid to ask other people or the guides for pictures and videos. The guides know all the good angles and will even get a good slow-mo video for you. Other people in your group never mind taking a picture, especially if you’re rolling solo.
  7. Don’t wear anything valuable. It’s going to fall off. Period. I was wearing forever 21 earrings when I went, so not valuable, but my ears were naked by the time I finished which means they were naked for the rest of the trip. Don’t be like me and have naked ears. Or be without your expensive sunglasses/earrings/ necklace/bracelet. You will be mad that you lost it and mad that you wore it in the first place even though they told you to take it off. Just don’t wear it morning.
  8. Follow Directions and don’t hesitate. If you’re like me and logic is how your mind works, then the pure thought that “every person that is in front of you and has jumped is fine so you will be too” will work and you will jump off that cliff without hesitating and have very videos to send to your mom later. If you’re a little different a pure money is your motivator: “if you don’t jump off of this cliff you basically paid to have people show you around to hike and swim” If you’re a positive reinforcement person just ask the people around you to cheer you on. No matter what kind of jumper you are or motivation you need, just jump! It’s so much fun and as long as you stand and jump where the guide tells you to, you’ll be fine other than some sore aches and pains in the morning.

  • Oslob Whale Sharks- This is an extremely controversial topic. Whale sharks are a very docile species of shark that migrate in areas around the Philippines. In Oslob, the sharks are fed so that tourists can snorkel and take pictures with them up close. After reading up a little more on the topic I decided against the Whale shark excursion in Oslob, however I still want to see them! Someday in the future, when I return to the Philippines, I’ll try to find a boat to take me to see them in the wild, but I just didn’t agree with the artificial environment that has been created in Oslob. Here are two posts that really helped with my decision: WHY WE CHOOSE NOT TO SWIM WITH WHALE SHARKS IN CEBU & WHY WE DO NOT SWIM WITH WHALE SHARKS IN OSLOB. I’m not telling anyone not to do it, I just wanted to make it clear why I chose not to do it and also exaggerate that there’s other, more natural ways of seeing these beautiful creatures. Animal conservation is one of my lowkey passions and before I do any activity involving animals, I do extensive research to make sure that it is ethical, and the animals are being treated well. If you do choose to do the whale sharks as a day trip, it can be arranged with most accommodations and costs 2000 php. It’s about a 2 hr drive to Oslob so you will be picked up around 7 am so be ready for an early morning! The good news is that you’re only snorkeling for about 15 min with the sharks and then you’re headed back to Moalboal. Most Whale Shark day trippers are back by 12 or 1 so they have plenty to do for the rest of the day!
  • Osmena Peak- This is a hiking trip up to the highest point in all of Cebu. I didn’t go to an island with a bunch of beautiful beaches to hike, but some people are into that! I know that the peak is in Dalaguete (municipality next to Badian) so you’d have to pay for transport there and back and a guide if you’re not too experienced with hiking. Lots of people like to go here for sunrise and sunset (mostly sunrise before it gets too hot.) I can’t provide too much info about this trip but if you’re interested in a pretty sunrise hike at Osmena peak, the front desk or travel office at your accommodation will know all about it.
  • Lambug Beach- I personally haven’t gone to this beach but I heard it was very similar to White Beach. It’s just less crowded and has less garbage/sea gunk. It’s in south in Badian which is about a 35 min drive away from Panagsama.
  • Kawasan Falls- There is where you end up at the end of your canyoneering adventure, but you can go to the falls just to swim and picnic like most of the locals if you don’t feel like or physically can’t go canyoneering. There are lots of little BBQ stands and snack counters if you don’t bring your own food and they offer life vest rentals at the entrance because there are some spots at the falls that you aren’t allowed to swim in without a vest.
  • I’m sure there’s plenty of other fun stuff to do. This is just the stuff I’ve experienced or heard about from other backpackers. Ask around with the locals, your accommodation’s owner or front desk, or even other backpackers.

How to get around Moalboal

The easiest and most common way of getting around Moalboal and its surrounding municipalities is by tricycle. It’s basically a motorcycle or bike (don’t get on one with a bike) and a little carriage that can hold 2-6 people. It’s not the cheapest option if you’re travelling a lot over the course of the day, but if you’re just taking a short trip to the main street from the beach or maybe a roundtrip from Panagsama to White Beach, taking a strike is your best bet. Make sure to try and haggle down the drivers because they’re going to start with a really high price. Stay firm on a price that you think is fair, and if they don’t like it, find someone else. There are a million trikes in Moalboal. From the bus stop in Moalboal to Panagsama is about 100 pesos and to White Beach it’s about 150 pesos. If you’re trips are longer than this, measure the distance and compare it to come up with a price that you think is fair, or just ask someone what the price should be.

The other main way of getting around Moalboal is by scooter. This is a huge mode of transportation in all of Asia, but in many other destinations, it’s very dangerous to be on a scooter because of the amount of traffic and the aggressive drivers. Surprisingly, it’s not like this in Moalboal. The traffic is pretty chill and definitely manageable. When you get to the side streets, there are very few other cars and some scooters, so even a beginner like me was absolutely fine. There’s definitely a learning curve, so I’d recommend looking up some videos on how to ride a scooter before you try it yourself, but if you plan to take longer trips like a visit to Lambug beach or Kawasan falls, or visiting multiple destinations in one day, a scooter is going to be a lot cheaper. Renting a scooter in Moalboal should be about 200-300 pesos a day. If you’re accommodation doesn’t rent them out, try to find someone on the street that does. If you can’t find anyone on the street, just ask other hotels and hostels nearby to ask if they rent out scooters to non-guests.

Food & Nightlife in Moalboal

As with any tourist destination, there are many restaurants in Moalboal (primarily on Panagsama beach) that serve both traditional Filipino food as well as western food. You’ll see lots of grilled seafood. Fresh fruit juice/shakes are also a big thing in Moalboal. There’s lots of pasta/pizza. If you just want traditional Filipino food to get the full experience (like me) they of course have that too, but it’s actually kind of hard to find, and is the same price as the western food. Most dishes in Moalboal range from 150-350 pesos depending on the restaurant you got to. Finding anything under 200 is a bit of a challenge. While 200 is still less than $4 USD, I hate spending more than $10 USD a day (I do have a budget ya know) and I like to try different things for variety and I usually eat twice a day. There’s a few restaurants and food shops on Moalboal’s main street near where the market is but I didn’t make it to any of those. At the market a half kilogram of Mangos (about 3 small mangos) was 50 pesos (96 cents!)

There are a few small bars in Panagsama but there’s one notable one where most of the tourists and some locals go for a good night. It’s called Chili’s. It’s just down the road with the rest of the restaurants. You can basically ask anyone in Panagsama where it is, and they’ll point you to it. The night I went here the music was really good! Unfortunately, cigarette smoke makes the place reek and the drinks we American prices, so I only got one. It was still fun because I went with some friends, I’d met that day and ran into both the people that treated me to lunch that day as well as they guys, I went canyoneering with. It was a great night!

Where to stay in Moalboal

As previously mentioned, Moalboal is where people on a budget go, so you’re not going to find too many luxury resorts down here. There are some cottages and inns that you can look into depending on how many people are in your group, but the cheapest option is always going to be in a hostel.

Booking.com and Hostelworld.com are great tools for finding good hostels, but they feature hotels and resorts as well. Airbnb is always a viable option as well. I’d say my most valuable tips would be to

  1. Book a refundable accommodation as far in advance if you can because a lot of this places fill up to a month in advance!
  2. If you are comparting the number ratings on these websites, you need to do a relative comparison. A lot of places in Moalboal don’t have higher than an 8.5 rating which compared to other destinations can be considered low. Decide what features (Wi-Fi, cleanliness, A/C etc.) are important to you and find the place with as much of these features as possible.
  3. READ THE REVIEWS! Reviews are so important and can really prepare you for any things about the place that you might not like, or something that it doesn’t list that you might love.

I personally stayed at Moho hostel near Panagsama beach. My stay wasn’t bad at all. There were pros and cons like everything and overall I’d give it a 7.5/10 stay, but I will warn that even though I didn’t see or get bit by any, they do have a bed bug problem in one of their rooms, and have had the problem for a few months.

Getting Back to the Airport

Getting back to the airport is basically the same as leaving it but in reverse. I had an early 8 am flight on Tuesday morning. I booked a hostel in Cebu city for Monday night so that I wouldn’t have to get on a 3-hour bus ride at 2 am then go straight to the airport. If you’re not in Moalboal, take a trike or cab to the closest bus stop, then just tell the bus attendant that you want to go to Cebu city/Airport and go wherever he tells you.

If you are in Moalboal then basically do the same thing (ask), but you might be led astray as I was. The bus stop for arriving Moalboal and leaving Moalboal are different! To go back to Cebu city on the Ceres bus, take a trike back to the bus stop. When you arrive, pass the stop that you arrived to, and keep walking on straight on Panagsama road. It’s only about a block up but there is a little stop with an awning and some chairs. You can also ask the locals if you’re in the right place. I guarantee at least one person nearby will speak English. The bus should be going NORTH. When back to the city at the south bus terminal, there will be cabs that are waiting as soon as you get off of the bus. If you are going to the airport, just tell them the airport, but if you are going to a hotel/other hostel, make sure to have the address and map location of your accommodation pulled up and ready! I didn’t do this, and my hostel was in the cut, so I definitely ended up paying like 30 extra php because my driver was driving around aimlessly trying to find this place before eventually asking someone if they knew where it was because my google maps was acting up. When you have Wi-Fi (preferably before you even get to Cebu) download GRAB which is basically Uber for SE Asia, but you can pay in cash. In the morning another girl that was leaving for the airport at the same time and I shared a GRAB to get to the airport and its was about a 25-30 min drive because there wasn’t that much traffic at 5 am but if you leave midday, allow for 1 hour of travel time in the city.

There’s also public transport and tuk tuks that you can take if you’re travelling in the city midday, but they’re not much cheaper and much less reliable so I’d definitely recommend a cab in Cebu. If you can get a white one, those are much cheaper than the yellow ones.

Planning for Bali

A fun guide for a short trip to Bali!

Ticket Planning

If you are new to the blog, I am a student currently studying abroad in Taiwan. Since that was my beginning destination, flights might vary depending on your country of origin.

I started planning this trip almost as soon as I got to Taiwan. I knew that I would have quite a few weekends to go to different places so the best tool for my situation was google maps. There are several different features to help you choose when/ where you want to go. For Bali specifically- I knew the exact weekend I wanted to go because of my school’s spring break. I just put into google flights the dates and airport that I was leaving from and google flights shows you several nearby destinations and their prices for your dates. If the prices for a destination are cheaper than usual for your dates google flights puts them at the top of the list.

Denpasar happened to be one of these destinations for my dates. I didn’t know what Denpasar was, so I looked it up and it turned out to be Bali! At this point I was sold because I’d already seen so many amazing pictures of Bali and people are always talking about how it’s “goals” and on their bucket lists. I’m pretty sure I’d said this myself at some point, so after about a week of research for flights and exacting my dates I decided to use google flights and book my round-trip flight with Scoot.

I can’t stress this enough! Scoot and google flights have a partnership so that some tickets are cheaper if you use google flights to find them rather than going straight onto the Scoot website. Make sure to click the link on google flights so you can get the best price.

My flight was $8,601 TWD which is about $287 USD. I was provided 10kg (~22 lbs) of combined carry-on baggage (a big bag and a personal bag). Scoot is a budget airline, so any more carry-on weight, any check-in bags, seat selection, and food are all extra. I departed on a Thursday and would be returning on a Tuesday (cheapest days to fly) This is a little expensive compared to some other destinations in SE Asia, but both the price and the time of this flight were amazing when compared to America, so I was content. Both of my flights included layovers in Singapore. There first was a 2.5 layover (10 hr trip in total.) For my trip back to Taiwan I paid a little extra to have a 11 hr layover in Singapore from noon-midnight. This gave me a chance to use my layover time to explore Singapore and enjoy the city! I arrived back in Taipei at 6 am on Tuesday which gave me plenty of time to get back to campus, shower, and nap before my 1 pm Tuesday class.

Picking a Place to Stay in Bali

I did not enjoy my experience at all with my hotel. It was actually an Airbnb. A lot of hotels and hostels are beginning to do this- list their rooms on Airbnb. I chose to stay at Bisma Suites in Legian. Here were my biggest problems on the Airbnb side of things: 1. The suite is actually listed as a guesthouse. This isn’t true. It was what you would expect in a regular hotel room- minus and mini-fridge and microwave. 2. The pictures are not at all what was actually provided, and Airbnb should be more on top of this 3. The suite is listed to be in Kuta in Airbnb’s website, but it is actually in Legian which is about 4 km (2 mi) away, making it hard to enjoy any of the Kuta food or nightlife unless you’d like to pay for transportation. In total I paid $89.5 for 5 nights, 4 of which I split with a friend. There were plenty of other, more specific problems that I had with this accommodation, but those will be detailed in my Week 7/ Bali post.

I am not recommending completely passing over Airbnb. There are plenty of properties that are worth the money. Here are some tips on finding a good place on Airbnb:

  1. Only choose properties with a good cancellation policy! You can reserve far in advance for security but cancel if you find somewhere you like better.
  2. Read the reviews (especially the most recent ones very carefully.) If the same problem is mention in numerous reviews, you can assume that it’ll be your problem too. Also, if it’s bad enough for them to mention in the review, it’s probably something that’s also going to bother you while you’re there.
  3. Do not rely on ratings. Of course, you’re going to want to only look at properties with a larger amount of higher ratings, but some people just put 5 stars to get it over with. The ratings are definitely skewed.
  4. Be prepared for mediocre or even bad English. Hotels and resorts purposefully hire people who can speak English because they are in the international business and have more at stake compared regarding customer service and experience. Many Airbnb accommodations are family owned or are very small businesses. It’s a little easier to get away with things for them, and they don’t usual hire outside of family or friends even if the people working can’t speak English. There’s definitely going to be lots of talking with your hands.
  5. Try to find a property with a super host or Airbnb plus status. These are the most reliable accommodations as they have been thoroughly vetted by Airbnb.

If you’re going to Bali alone the sad truth that no backpacker ever wants to hear is that: there aren’t that many hostels. Bali is a huge tourist destination and is jam packed with hotels and resorts. Like my Airbnb, many of these places are $25-40 USD a night. You can go anywhere from these low budget (but still good quality) inns to the luxury resorts. There really is one thing for everybody in Bali. My tip is to at least have your own room (even if you stay in a hostel.) Days in Bali are long and tiring so you’re going to want to have air conditioning, a personal bathroom, and a nice bed with privacy at the very least.

My preferences when looking for a place to stay in general:

  1. A pool- There are several beach clubs in Bali where you can pay to spend the day there, but if you’re already paying for accommodations, why not kill two birds with one stone?
  2. A bar- This is actually a tricky one in Bali. For some reason real alcohol in Bali is outrageously expensive and hard to get your hands on. Many bars and restaurants use fake alcohol in their drink specials. If a bar is usually a criterion for your accommodation, I would think about forgoing it this time and just buying something at Duty Free so you can have your own party without spending too much.
  3. Housekeeping- My suite was supposed to be cleaned everyday with fresh towels (as listed on the Airbnb description) but this wasn’t the case at all. My towels were actually stained, and they didn’t even have enough towels to change ours out until two days after we asked for new ones. This is a primary reason I’d recommend a private suite in a larger hotel. There’s going to be sand and dirt everywhere (and you’ll probably smell like cigarette smoke) from being out all day. You’re going to want to be in a clean environment when you get back to your room. If you stay somewhere smaller take a close look at the reviews and even, ask the management about the cleanliness of the accommodation.
  4. Location- I don’t mind walking and I don’t like paying for transportation, so I usually try to find accommodations close enough to the beach/ city center where I’m comfortable getting there alone any time of day but far enough out so that the buzz of it all doesn’t disturb me. While Legian was decent in this aspect, all the food that was close by was touristy and expensive compared to the traditional Indonesian restaurants that are more common in Kuta. Before you book or at least are no longer able to cancel, I’d ask the management of your accommodation how long it takes to get to popular beaches/restaurants/venues by foot and how much it’d be for transportation.
  5. Air conditioning- I mentioned this before, and it seems like a given, but you’d be surprised at how many places don’t have it! You’re not going to want to suffer in that Bali heat without some help.
  6. Laundry- If you plan on staying in Bali for longer than a week but plan to only bring carry-on luggage, you’re probably going to need to do laundry at some point. At some accommodations it’s self-service, and at other places they’ll do it for you. Either way, make sure they at least have a washer machine and you’ll be fine. If they don’t have a dryer, they’ll have a drying rack/ hanging lines. This method is more common among the local Balinese anyways.

Where in Bali should you stay? What should you do?

  • That’s a great question. There are so many options. The answer really depends on how long you’re going to be in Bali. I’d say a good way to split it up is two different locations for every week you’re there. The most popular destinations are Kuta, Ubud, Seminyak, Legian, Uluwatu, Nusa Dua, and the Gili islands. Of course. there’s a bunch of other places too but these are where everything is happening.
  • You should choose your place to stay depending on what your activities are going to be. Bali is very hectic, and everything starts super early in the morning, so it’s best to plan all of your excursions before you get there. This helps because 1. You avoid getting scammed which is a prevalent pattern in Bali 2. It’s easy to avoid transport fees if your accommodation is near your excursion. I highly recommend Airbnb experiences for this. It is very easy, organized, and you can pay with USD to avoid nasty bank fees and using up all the money you got from the ATM when leaving the airport. You can also use TripAdvisor to find some notable companies with good reviews. Sometimes you can book on their website, sometimes you just give them your details, show up, and pay upon arrival. It depends on the company. However planning in advance is always better in Bali because the prices are set online (no bargaining with a local that’s trying to rip you off), you can do currency conversions and budgeting before you even book, you can your whole day rather than walking around trying to google what to do next.
  • For a short trip (1 week) I recommend staying in Kuta and Ubud. For my trip I went surfing in Kuta, did a Nusa Penida snorkeling tour, batik class, Temple tour, and finally a wood carving class. While I did plan all of my experiences in advance, I didn’t plan my transport, nor did I change the location of my accommodation. This caused a lot of grief and if I’d known what I’m telling you all my life would’ve been much easier. A sample itinerary of what I should’ve done (with the activities and accommodations I actually had booked.
  • Wednesday Morning arrival in Bali
    • Local Taxi to Legian-10:30 am ($80,000 IDR) -MAKE SURE that you have change i.e. bills smaller than 50,000 IDR because drivers notoriously never have change!
    • Bag drop off at hotel- 11 am- Check-in wasn’t until 2 so I booked my surf lesson for 11:30
    • Surf lesson– 11:30-2- I went to U2PU Surf School (Airbnb) for my 2 hr surf lesson. It was only $11, and the instructors are awesome. Water and free pictures are provided
    • Lunch- 2-3 pm- There’s of course a bunch of restaurants near the beach. Most of them have western food with almost western prices. They had a buy one get one specialty drink happy hour but that’s when I learned that the alcohol was bad.
    • Check-in & Chill out- 3:15 until the end of the day- I was super tired because I had literally finished 12 hrs of traveling then went straight to a surf lesson so I took a nap by the pool, but I also could’ve gone back to the beach to chill there. After my nap I decided to walk on the beach for awhile. There aren’t many Warungs (local restaurants) in Legian, but once you get to the edge of Kuta (about 1 mi. away) you’ll start getting to the cheaper food. Many of these restaurants have live music as well.
  • Thursday
    • Nusa Penida Trip– $107 All day- This was also booked on Airbnb. It included an optional breakfast, free sea sickness pills, boat trip to manta bay, crystal bay, and a coral reef for snorkeling, land trip to Kelingking beach, and lunch. We finished around 5 pm and were returned to our respective accommodations. Since I was staying in Legian, transportation was included, but there’s an extra charge for those staying in northern Bali such as Ubud.
    • Shower & Comfort- 6pm- I got cozy! All I was gonna do was eat dinner and sleep, so I made sure I was clean then I walked to dinner, back home, and slept!
  • Friday- This is where I am changing from what I did to what I should’ve done
    • Morning- Taken a Kura Kura bus to Ubud. The ride on the bus from Kuta to Bali is about 2 hrs. (1-way trip is 80,000 but I recommend a 3-day pass which is 150,000) You have to buy these tickets online before you get to the bus. I recommend screenshotting you ticket, or day pass so that if you don’t have internet, you won’t have a problem getting on the bus.
    • Drop my bags off at my chosen hotel/hostel. Depending on how far it was I’d probably walk. If it’s too far, try your best to hassle an ojek (street motorbike) down to a reasonable price. Don’t be afraid to walk away if they’re trying to scam you. There’s always another one.  It’d be a little early for me to check-in, but most accommodations let you store your bags so that you can still be out and about without your luggage holding you back.
    • Afternoon- Grab another ojek to take me to my Balinese Batik class. The location of this class is actually outside of central Ubud so there’s no way to casually catch a taxi or ojek. Ask your rider to come back for you about 30 mins. after the scheduled ending time of your class.
    • Go back to your hotel & check-in. If it’s in central Ubud then you can walk around and check out the temples and even the Monkey Forest (80,000 IDR) or the Tegenungan Waterfall (15.000 IDR)
    • Eat Dinner! Chill out! Have a good time for your first night in Ubud.
  • Saturday
    • Culture Walk! – This will be a 13 hr tour with pickup at 6:30 am. You wander all around Bali’s most picturesque landscapes. A lunch buffet is included in the price. There are lots of tours like this all throughout Bali, but this tour has consistently great reviews for all of the guides and a great value.
    • Dinner- Try something you haven’t had before! Listen to the abundance of live music that is offered all around Ubud and Bali itself.
  • Sunday
    • Morning/Early afternoon- Grab a taxi or Ojek to get to the Art Studio. The ride is a little over 15 min and anything over $140,000 IDR roundtrip (because you have to ask them to come back) is a scam. Again, tell the driver to come back about 30 mins after your scheduled ending time so you have some wiggle room.
    • Wood Carving– Make your own personal wood carving. You can choose from a turtle, different types of masks, or different types of flowers. It’s a lot of work in the first place, but for this class specifically, the teacher does a lot of carving for you. If you like to be independent (even if your work is trash) I’d recommend looking into other classes but if you know you’ll be worn out because chopping at wood is intense, then this is the class for you!
    • Make sure your driver came back! If they didn’t, the studio is actually right outside of Ubud so you can call a gojek. The only problem with this is that some drivers are afraid to go into the city (since it’s not allowed.) You might have to have them take you as far as they can and either grab an ojek or taxi to take you to your next destination.
    • Spa day– Book this as far in advance as you can because it fills up quickly. If you interested in a flower bath but don’t need anything too fancy, Karsa spa is the place to go! Everyone says that a massage followed by a flower bath is amazing. Karsa has several spa packages that manicure/pedicure, different kinds of massages, body scrubs, facials, hair treatments, healing practices, and more! The Saraswati package includes either a manicure or pedicure, a 75 min intuitive heart massage, followed by a body scrub & bath combination, and the either a facial or hair treatment. This package lasts 4 hours and is $850,000 IDR. (~$60 USD)
    • Whoever dropped you off, make sure you tell them to come back again! Karsa is a little bit in the cut so you’re not going to easily find someone to take you back to central Ubud. The trip is only about 10 mins though so don’t pay more than $50,000 IDR.
    • It’s dinner time! You know what to do. Walk and eat. Just walk then eat. Take a dip in the pool when you get back to your accommodation if it has one!
  • Monday
    • Go home. That’s it. That’s the whole bullet.
      • Jkjk, for my social media aficionados, I hope you got that. If not, it’s not the end of the world but just know it’s a thing.
    • Anyways, it’s time to get back to the airport! Depending on what time your flight is there are a few different options.
    • Leaving before 2 pm–
      • Check out about 3 hours before you flight leaves. I don’t recommend getting a super early morning flight (Before 10) because the prices to get to the airport are going to be outrageous.
      • If you have a 10 am flight, be packed up and ready to go by 7. You’ll have time for a quick breakfast and should be leaving Ubud by 7:30. It takes an hour to get to the airport by ojek, maybe allot 15 extra minutes for taxi. You should be at the airport no later than 8:45.
      • The drop-off is actually somewhat far from the airport, but there are lots of signs in English that will tell you where to go from there, or just follow the other people that are walking there. After that, you’re on your way home!
    • Leaving after 2 pm– Leaving after 2 pm allows for a little more flexibility with getting to the airport.
      • 1. The easiest way is by Kura Kura bus. If you bought the 3-day pass and are still within 72 hrs of when you first used it, you should be fine. If you’re not within the 72 hrs you can either buy a new one-way ticket for $80,000 IDR or use a different method. If you are taking the Kura Kura bus, you should be on the bus 4 hours before your flight leaves. Check the timetable on their website because there’s only 4 buses from Ubud to Kuta a day. From the DFS bus bay, just take a gojek, or a taxi (bluebird if your bargaining skills are weak) to get to the airport. Another 20 min ride. Dropoff rules are the same as the leaving Before 2 pm.
      • 2. Another method is the easiest but also most expensive method. You can pre-arrange transportation which will usually run you about $200,000+ IDR if you book with your accommodation. You could also just get a taxi/ojek on the street which would be about the same or a little let that the cheapest private transport. If you’re doing this, you should leave about 3 hrs before your flight leaves.
      • 3. The most difficult but also the cheapest option to get to the airport is for stubborn and frugal people like me who like to scam the scammers. For this option you should be travelling alone and travelling light. From your accommodation take an ojek to the Bali zoo. From the zoo just call a gojek to the airport. It’s not too difficult but may take up a bit of time since you have to haggle down the ojek driver, then wait for the gojek driver to arrive once you get to the zoo. By doing this, you can get to the airport for as low as $80,000 IDR. The zoo is only about 15 mins outside of Ubud so it’s close but gojeks are allowed there. If you’re doing this leave about 3.5 hrs before your flight leaves. There’s a good chance you’d get to the airport early, but you want to allot time in case something doesn’t go to plan. You’ll go straight to the airport, and again, drop-off is the same.

There are lots of other things to do in Bali that weren’t included in my itinerary! Feel free to search both Airbnb, Tripadvisor, and other blogs for excursions if you just want to get a feel of what Bali has to offer, or if you’d prefer booking them online. If you like to go with the flow, you can always book in person when you get to Bali or just wait until last minute because some activities online don’t actually fill up. Other than the activities that I name, other popular Bali activities include: spending a few days in the Gili islands, cooking classes, Mount Batur hike, white water rafting, waterfall tours, ATV rides, pretty much any water sport, and so much more!

Budgeting and Money exchange

If you ain’t talkin money I don’t wanna talk.

-Young Dolph
  • Roundtrip flight from Taiwan- $287 USD
  • 5 nights at shared Airbnb- $85.5 USD
  • Excursions- If you do everything, I included from the sample itinerary, it should set you back about $290 USD
  • Spending money- For 6 days a 5 nights in Bali, I’d recommend bring about $250-$300 USD in spending money. In all actuality I only spent about $200, but my itinerary was different, I am very good at haggling, I didn’t buy too things while I was there, and I tried to not spend that much on food!

I was being conscientious of money because I only withdrew $200 USD worth of IDR at the airport and wanted it to last me the entire time I was there. I did a lot of walking instead of transport and was very selective with the things I spent money on. If you want a genuine vacation where you don’t want to have to worry about funds, I recommend just bringing the $300 (if travelling alone, less if you’re travelling with others.) You’ll probably have some left over anyways if you’re not frivolous.

All in all, for a low-budget, but action-packed Bali trip (from Taiwan), plan to spend about $965 USD.

Best Way to Get/ Exchange Money in Bali– is in the airport!

If you’re coming from the country where your debit card was issued, I’d suggest taking your money out at an ATM before you leave. Then exchanging your currency at the airport. There are a ton of money changers in Bali but they’re all trying to scam you. The best rates are in the airport and this is probably where it’s easiest so you can just change your money right after you get out of customs.

If you’re coming from a different country than where your debit card was issued, like me, I’d recommend bring a bit of cash with you to use in the airports. Then, when you arrive in Bali, withdraw your desired ($300) from an ATM over there. Yes, there are fees, but you already knew that. Everything in SE Asia is cash based so it’s necessary. If you’re going to be abroad for a long period of time, try to find a bank that will reimburse your international ATM fees. With PNC’s student account, I am charged $5 every time I make an international withdrawal, but I am refunded for two of those fees at the end of my period. So, I always withdraw big amounts at the ATM, so I only have to use it twice a month and don’t incur any extra fees.

There’s also ATMs all over Bali. If you go this route, just make sure to always pull on the card reader to prevent credit-card theft. It’s a thing no matter where you go.

Phew!

All in all, this is the meat of what you need to know while planning your Bali trip! What to expect when you actually get there, and the chronicles of my individual adventure are going to be in two separate posts that are coming in the near future.

If you have any questions, think I missed anything, or enjoyed this post, feel free to comment on this post or send me a message using the toolbar. I love hearing from you all!

Status

Sorry!

Hello! Yes! I love you all! Please don’t hate me for not staying consistent with posts. I’m new to this whole thing and between all of these trips, schoolwork, and Game of Thrones, I am so busy! I haven’t even been to the gym in 3 weeks. I’m working on (now) 4 different posts all at the same time because I like to put in details but then they get too long! Don’t worry! I’ve got material coming for you guys, it just takes a long time to write and edit. Love you lots. Especially if you read (and don’t secretly throw shade or nag me about) this blog!

Day 1 in Bali

Bali, wow what a week. Overall, I loved the island. Its natural beauty is truly unmatched even with the huge tourist industry. There were some bumps along the way during my trip, but it was an experience that I am grateful to have had and I’m so excited to tell you all about my first day!

Thursday- Thursday is kind of cont. from Week 6! I hopped on the Roosevelt bus to go from NCCU to Taipei Main station. There are other buses that you can take but those require transfers (more money) and the Roosevelt is not only direct but comes fairly often. The bus drops you off about 3 or 4 blocks away from Taipei main station. While it doesn’t sound like a lot, I was hauling a 20 lb. duffel bag, so I was struggling a little bit. Of course, I got lost and went into the wrong entrance because I have the worst sense of direction, so I had to walk a little extra. I went down into the underground Taipei main station mall which was just had some little food stands and souvenir shops. It smelled pretty bad and I don’t like touristy stuff, so I tried to get out of there asap. When I got to the actual station it was straight forward like any other MRT. There’s and express train to the airport and a commuter train that makes a million stops but still goes to the airport. I went to the side with the express train and luckily as soon as I got down the escalator it was waiting there for me. In Taiwan there’s actually free wifi on the MRT (the subway) ad I actually happened to think that the airport MRT wifi was better than the regular city one. It was only about a half hour on the express train to Terminal 1 which is where I was going. To find out the terminal of your airline just google it. I went through customs, check-in, security and got to my gate all within 45 mins, so I had about 1.5 hrs to wait at my gate until my flight was supposed to start boarding.

If any of my other posts of not taught you by now, I truly value frugality. As a result, I booked my flights with Scoot- an Asian budget airline. as is true with most budget airlines they suck. We didn’t end up boarding until an hour after we supposed to. Then after I finally board the plane, I found out that it’s not only a flight with 3 rows of 3, but I have an aisle seat in the middle and a smooth 5 in of leg room and a crying baby about 2 rows away. The flight was about 4 hours, and a rough flight it was. I also remembered that I had a neck pillow…. that I forgot in my dorm room. We get to Singapore at around 7 am (on FRIDAY) or some ridiculous hour like that and whew, let me TELL you, that Singapore airport is NOICE.

Friday- So yeah, the airport had like a garden just in the middle right as I was walking by, they have nice seats with different countries’ outlets everywhere, designer stores, convenience stores, a food court, budget food, honestly everything for everyone. My favorite part was their surplus of carts that you can use between the gates that don’t require you to push down to release the break and brake your thumbs. It made the burden of my unnecessarily heavy bag much lighter. Now this is just the stuff I saw however, I also heard that they had an outdoor pool/jacuzzi as well as a movie theater somewhere else in the airport. It really was popping, but this time my layover was fairly short, so I didn’t get that much time to explore. I grabbed some water from the convenience store because I was thirsty but I found out that I had to drink the whole bottle before I got on the plane, because at the Changgi Airport, instead of doing security before you get to your gate, they do it after! I had to go through security to get on the plane, which wasn’t awful, but security always gives me anxiety, so I wasn’t really excited about it.

I got on the flight, and some girl was in my seat, so I was confused but she wanted to sit with her friends and I really didn’t care so I switched with her. Turns out she had a window seat! Woo! Excitement! Until I learned that it was two rows from the very back of the plane and I smelled the bathroom the whole flight. Luckily this flight was only a little more than 2 hrs and I slept most of the way. I was finally in Bali.

So now that I’m off the plane I’m trying to get out of this airport, quick! My surfing lesson got moved to 11:10 so I really wanted to get there on time. I grabbed a cart threw my bag on and started to speed walk toward customs. The line for customs was long which was sad, but right as I got in line, they opened up another booth and the man took from the end of the line, so I basically got to skip everyone. This was going well. I got through, went to the ATM to get some moolah. I withdrew 2,500,000 IDR which is about $180 USD. I was going to be there for almost a week and Bali is a huge tourist destination, so I knew it wasn’t going to be Taiwan cheap, but boy was I in for a doozy. I finally get outside. I almost died. It was SO hot and humid. I was wearing leggings. As soon I get out, there’s the usual people with signs waiting for their people, but there were also lots of local taxi drivers who basically attacked me as soon as they realized I didn’t have a personal driver. They kept asking me where I was going and while I didn’t want to go with them anyways because I don’t like being harassed, I didn’t know where I was going! I’d completely forgotten the name of my Airbnb, and I was struggling to find it because the WiFi in the airport was trash and my data was not working for some mysterious reason. After about 5 mins of trying to find it with a slew of drivers asking me where I was going (and offering outrageous prices to take me) while I was still looking for it, I walked away. There were really stressing me out and their prices were too much anyways so I went back into the airport to see if I could get a better signal (which I did) and got all of my Airbnb info.

I then went back out and told the drivers where I was going. They kept trying to tell me “No, it’s not there… it’s here” aka a more expensive place to get to. They were quoting me like 160,000 IDR even though the sign told me 150,000 and the internet told me 80,000. As everyone knows I’m always gonna go with the cheaper option and/or what the internet says, which just happened to be the same thing this time. I tried to haggle with some of the drives but there were telling me 120,000 lowest and I’m stubborn so I was like… naw. After I walked away from like 3 different drivers, I finally found one that would take me. Woop! So, we take a little walk, I get in his car hoping to goodness that I wouldn’t be kidnapped, but his car seemed legit, so I was feeling ok. It was like a 20 min drive and then we the street turns into a one way. He tells me that I can get out there and walk 10 mins to my hotel or he can go around and drop me off there for 20,000 more. I said:

HUH? EXCUSE ME?

Whew Chile, you gots the wrong one! I said “No. You’re going to take me to my hotel, and you’re going to take me there for the agreed upon $80,000. He tried to argue with me by saying he had to go around the whole thing so that would be extra, and I was like you knew this was here when you agreed to take me and I got into this car, so you’re going to take me there and I’m not giving you anything extra.” So, he did this very aggressive U turn and grunted real loud like I would care. He took me to my hotel and when I started getting out, he was like “So you’re giving me a tip, right?” Whew this man y’all. Mind you I just got off the plane an hour ago and that’s already how my trip was going. I said yes so, I wouldn’t have to hear his mouth move anymore but I told him I needed change to give him a tip, but of course, “he didn’t have any.” Which I knew even at the time that was a dead lie, so I went up to the front desk at my hotel and asked if they had change (which I later learned to also be a lie.) I really didn’t feel like dealing with him anymore, so I gave him a 100,000 IDR as a result of no change and sent him on his way.

Some tips:

  • Research Transportation before you get to Bali! Make sure you know the difference between a fair price and a scam no matter where you’re going in Bali. Airport prices are always going to cost a little more though.
  • Try going up to arrivals to catch a cab/ ojek (scooter cab)/ gojek (uber for ojeks, download the app, pay in cash) There’s a good chance that you’ll get better prices if you catch someone that has just dropped someone off than you would in departures.
  • Don’t be afraid to walk away. In Bali, if you walk away it’s likely that whoever you’re trying to bargain with will let you go (unlike in other SE countries) because there’s going to be a tourist right behind you that will agree to their ridiculous prices. As soon as you walk away there will be someone else waiting to sell you something so just keep walking until you get a fair price.
  • Never tell any local that it’s your first time in Bali.

After they guy left and the lady at the front desk got on my nerves because she said she didn’t have change (not having change at the front desk of an accommodation meant she was either 1. lying or 2. providing bad customer service) I asked her where the bathroom was so I could change. It was like 11 am and check-in wasn’t until 2 so I quickly change in the nasty outhouse (it had a toilet but idek if it worked) that was located at the front of the grounds, about 25 ft away from the front desk. I left my bag and all of my stuff by the bar because they didn’t really have anywhere else to put it so I just had to hope that she was watching my stuff, and no one would want to take it. I google where the surf shop was, and speed walked there. I stopped on the way to buy a towel. Since I was in a rush, I think I overpaid (no time to walk away and start over) but that’s all in the past. I was like a 15 min walk from Bisma Suites (my accommodation/ fake hotel) to the beach/surf shop. I got there and they weren’t expecting me because I asked if I could reschedule (wasn’t sure if I was going to get there in time) but they checked me in real quick and then I was off to surf!

I booked by surf trip through Airbnb with a school called UP2U surf school in Legian. It was only $11 for a 2.5 hr lesson. It’s also mostly inclusive! They provide surfing equipment, rash guards, drinking water, lockers, showers bathrooms, online surf tutorials, pictures, and wifi!

My lesson was going really well at first! We learned safety rules and form the we got into the water. Disclaimer: Surfing is really really hard. I had several attempts in my 2 hours in the water, but I think it’d be safe to say that I only stood upon the board (for a decent amount of time) about 5 times. Now my lesson was actually supposed to be at 12 but got moved up to 11:30 because the tide was going to come in while we were surfing and would’ve become pretty rough for beginners. The indeed come in as we were surfing the waves got a lot rougher. My wig kept falling over. I had salt water all in my eyes, my throat was starting to hurt from all the salt. It was ROUGH. but I paid for it, so I went through it. By the end I could stood up 3 times in a row! Now by this time other people were paddling and standing up but ya know I’m going to take my wins as they come and not compare myself to others. Bad news is that my wig cap floated away in the ocean, so I proved myself to once again be a contributor to trash in our oceans, but I also just didn’t have a wig cap for the rest of the week. sighs heavily Anyways, all the instructors at this school are great! I highly recommend them.

When I was done surfing, I walk about 1.5 blocks away to grab lunch. I went to a restaurant named Fatbowl. There were having a buy 1 get 1 free drink special so I was in there like swimwear. It was mostly western food a lil expensive, so I just bought a chicken quesadilla, chips & guac, and my drinks! The food was good, not actually Mexican because I was in Indonesia, but it tasted good, nonetheless. The drinks were trash. They barely had any alcohol. I later learned that liquor imports into Indonesia are extremely expensive so most of the time, restaurants use some sort of fake alcohol and not even a lot of it. That’s why there are a bunch of BOGO drink deals throughout the island. It’s not even real!

“It’s fake. The Guacamole. The Alcohol. The Burgers. All of it. Don’t be Fooled. I was sad too.”

-Brittany Royes

Anyways, after I ate, I just went back to my “suite” and checked in. It took like 10 mins because the people at the front desk didn’t speak that much English and also couldn’t find my reservation at first. Eventually they found it and showed me to my room. It was janky. There were stains on the sheets, the mirror was dirty, the bathroom smelled awful. the toilet was 6 inches away from a cabinet (and barely even worked), and you had to pay to use the refrigerator! I was not a fan, but I’d already paid so I was still going to try to enjoy myself.

I was exhausted from travelling and the sun was still out so once I was all settled, I just went out next to the pool and took a fairly long nap. After my nap, I went and let the suite and went to explore. I walked about a mile closer to Kuta and found this cute little restaurant in an alley. As with many other places in Bali, there was live music, but unlike many places in Bali, there was no one in this place other than one other family. I know the general rule is that if no one is there, then it’s probably not a good place to eat, but since Bali is so touristy, most people go to Western food places and I wanted authenticity. I settled on some seafood and fresh mango juice and I think I paid around 100,000 IDR maybe 120,000 IDR for the whole meal, which is around $7-8 USD.

Once I got back to the suite, I took a shower and got in the bed. However, I couldn’t go to sleep yet, because Maddie was on her way. I said I would arrange transport for her, but I actually got my days completely mixed up so when she was like “I’m here!” I was def about to go to sleep. I was lowkey panicking because I didn’t want her to go through what I had to go through at the airport, that late at night, especially since they were probably hiking prices since it was midnight. It was definitely a buttface move on my part, but she didn’t really seem bothered by it which was nice because I would’ve been mad if it were me. Sorry again Maddie 🙂 Anyways once she actually got to our little hotel thingymcjigger, I told her to go to the wrong room on accident (smh) and she woke someone up all because I didn’t want to get out of bed.

It’d been a long day! Once we finally got her in the room and settled, I went to sleep. I had an early morning and a very long day ahead of me.

Week 6

Party people! This week was much better than Week 5. Week 6 overall is still pretty boring, but my weekly post is more for me to keep track of my progress and my mother who wants to know every detail of what I’m doing at all times. I also had the Two Day Trip over the weekend which was a blast! Made lots of friends and memories but you’ll see all that if you just read. WOop woOP

Sunday- I felt slightly better after posting my How am I doing (Week 5 post) but not as good as I thought I would. Not as many people reached out as I expected, and I hurt some people in the process. In many ways it was a cry for attention more than for help, but I wasn’t quite sure how else to do it. I’d been reaching out and felt like I wasn’t being received. So I used this platform. It is something that is accessible to all, but takes time and effort to go on the site and read. I thought that only the people that care would read it, and they’d see how I was really feeling. The people that don’t care, would just go about their day. This is somewhat what happened. Sunday night, Maddie came to my room and we talked everything out. She told me that she (and apparently other people?) read the blog too. I’m not really sure why I was surprised, because I sent the link to everyone a few weeks back. I guess I just wondered why you would want to read the daily life of someone you don’t like. idk idk. Anyways Maddie told me nothing she did was malicious, and she wishes I’d came to her privately so that we could’ve talked it out. Our bridge hasn’t been burned and she wants to help me in my quest for friends! I apologized for hurting her feelings, as that wasn’t my intention, I’m just speaking my truth. Sometimes my truth involves being scared to have a face to face conversation about ~feelings~ as I am a person that doesn’t like ~feelings~. I was also made aware that I can come off as aggressive (I think a better word is blunt) which might be part of what is making my friend quest so difficult, but that’s really just the basis of my whole personality and not really anything I plan or even want to change. I think that one is kind of take it or leave it. Oh! I was also told that apparently part of my exclusion is because I am late everywhere which makes people think I don’t care. While that’s fair because I AM late everywhere, I run on CPT so even when I try my hardest to be on time, I am late. I could literally leave an hour earlier than I need to and still somehow be late because the world is against me. I’d like to make it clear to everyone that I do care about the program and CIEE, it’s just that Black culture in America is polychronic and it just be like that. I thought asian cultures were polychronic too but apparently not. Anyways, this talk was the highlight of my Sunday. I got some feedback and communicated in a positive manner. Woop! Shoutout to Maddie because she came to me in a calm manner to tell me how she felt and wanted to know how she could help me. (Also please recall Maddie’s part in the uber situation) That’s some good communication. GOALS

Monday- No class on Mondays, but I teach an English language corner at the NCCU affiliated high school. Now I left, on time, fairly early even, but the bus I was supposed to take never came. I didn’t want to be late, so I looked up the high school again on google maps. It said that it was only a 15 min walk which is fairly strange considering the bus ride is usually like 7 mins, but I just went with it. Mind you it’s super gross outside. It’s lightly raining but also like 68 degrees and I had my heavy jacket on so I was sweaTING. After a smooth 600 m I arrived at what google said was my destination. However it wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s actually the affiliated elementary school instead of the affiliated high school. I take a lap around the block just to double check and make sure I was in the wrong place. I was. So I google the high school’s name in Chinese and found it on google maps. Guess what? It was an additional 23 min walk. It was also all uphill. Eventually I got there, but not before seeing one of my students walk by me and we kind of both awkwardly put our heads down and kept walking. Right before walking into the school, I saw another one of my students. There only would’ve been 15 mins left in the class anyways so I assumed the just let the students go home. I get into the school and this was, in fact, the case. They still let me sign my attendance sheet (so I could get my transportation reimbursement even though I walked the whole friggin’way. I waited the 15 minutes because Maddie and I were going to go to 公館 （gongguan) to grab dinner and do some work. Thus bus ride is about 30-40 mins depending on traffic. We walked around for a really long time because we couldn’t decide where we wanted to go so I just pointed to a little restaurant on the street and that’s where we went. The food was good, it was just fish, rice, and an array of veggies as many Taiwanese meals are. We looked for a cafe for a while but lots of them were pricey (compared to the rest of Taiwanese things but in general still fairly cheap) so we settled on Starbucks. They didn’t have chai and nothing else was worth paying a bunch of money for so I just got some water. It took me forever to figure out how to connect to the wifi because it’s different here, but eventually I figured it out and didn’t even get that much actual work done in the 1.5 hours that we were there. It’s fine. I went home and watched GOT until an ungodly hour. (I’m trying to rewatch the entire series before the new season premiere)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday- I really ain’t do nothing but go to class eat food, and watch Games of Thrones. At this point I’m fairly addicted to GOT and I’m going to sleepat 4-5 am and waking up at like 1-2 pm. Except for Thursday where I really struggled to wake up at 9 am. I also went to the gym on a Tuesday and Thursday if that is of any interest whatsoever.

Friday- I went on a mini hike! I decided that I need to get out of my dark room and see more of Taiwan. I still woke up pretty late (Around 12) but I didn’t have to be anywhere until 5:35 so I decided to hike up one of the mountains near campus. There are several, including the one that I live on. I went up to Zhinan temple. It’s about 30 mins. away from my dorm and a 20 min walk away from the where the actual trail begins. It wasn’t really difficult as far as hiking goes because it’s paved the entire way and there’s even some benches on the flatter parts of the trail. The most difficult part is that most of the climb is purely stairs. It’s a lot of stairs for 20 mins straight and can be a little difficult for those who haven’t been to the gym in awhile… or ever. When I got to the top, an older chinese couple started talking to me, and I was answering. There were surprised at how well I spoke, and honestly I was surprised myself. I was having a whole conversation with native speakers without any especially long pauses to try and translate in my head. It was coming natural. When the couple went on their way I kind of just sat on the stairs of the temple and took in the view. It was cloudy, but I could still see a great skyline and most if not all of Muzha. (木柵）(The suburb that my school is in.) I was really proud of myself for the conversation I’d just had. While it was simple, it was still the first time I’d ever experienced speaking fluently, so it was something of which I could be proud. After reflecting on my conversation I still sat on the stairs of the temple and began to go through my social media. I was tired from the hike and didn’t have anywhere else to pass the time, so temple stairs were just fine for the time being. I thought about getting some tea because the temple offers it for free. However, they only use cups that were brought in as donations and I also just theard that the tea was gross so I took a pass on that one.

After a little while I decided to make the trek back down the mountain. I just went to my room, cleaned up a little bit and the took a shower. Since I was already bored and was making a point of being on time (since my chronic lateness is so matic here) I left 20 minutes early. I get to the meet up spot early so I wait until 5:35 to text anybody. I texted the ambassador that invited and he told me that he had class but everyone else would be there soon. Finally 10 mins. later I see one of the ambassadors that was also going to dinner. We talk while everyone else trickles in. FINALLY, at 5:55 the last person gets there and we go to dinner. I’d realized that I’d been duped. The ambassador that invited me to come 10 minutes early probably did so so that I’d end up getting there on time. Now don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t really be mad because I did deserve it. However it was irritating that I sat there for 30 mins. doing nothing. I also had nothing else to do which is another reason I wasn’t even mad. We went to dinner about 2 blocks away and I had some grilled fish! It was a nice change up because there’s so much red meat in Taiwan. Whenever I happen to find anywhere with fish, it’s usually fried and even though I haven’t even been here that long I am starting to hear my liver groan. We ate, we talked, we left to go to Mahjong. We were running a little late so some people started to run but I was not that pressed so I just picked up to a quick walk. We got to our Mahjong room and everyone was already in there and some people had already started to play!

Now for my Americans reading this, the mahjong that we usually think of is the matching game that we can play online or on our phones. This is not the same thing. This is traditional Chinese Mahjong （麻將） that I’m talking about. It looks like this:

Image result for traditional mahjong

It’s not difficult to play and is a lot of fun. I think I’m gonna ask my mom for a set. They’re a little pricey but they last forever and the whole family can play. While the whole event was fun and were trying to have a competition, there was a problem. We didn’t really have a consistent winner at our table that we could send to the “Mahjong Championship.” Not really because people were tied in their number of wins or there was suspicion of cheating, BUT RATHER, it was the chair. The chair kept winning. We probably play somewhere between 7-9 games of Mahjong. For every, single one of these games, whoever was sitting in this chair won. There were 3-4 people that sat in the chair. We shuffled. We moved the tile around. I even switched other variables including the tile pushers, but no! The chair was either magical or cheating somehow I literally have no clue, but it was creepy. Anyways, the chair was the winner at our table, I got to share the prize (a desert soup) with another CIEE student. I didn’t really like the soup anyways so I ate a little but just to try it but not much after that. I had a great time at Mahjong but I was mad that I never won because I happened to be at the table with the magical chair. Yes, I could’ve moved but I wanted to be there when the chair finally lost. But the chair never lost. I did. I took several L’s that night. After Mahjong I just went back to my dorm, and guess what I did? Yes I watched GOT to yet another ungodly hour even though I had to be somewhere at 7:30 am.

Saturday- As a result of staying up until the ungodly hour I had a hard time getting up in the morning. I think I got like 3 or 4 hrs of sleep. As a result I was like 15 mins late getting to the bus for the International Youth trip. However, they called me while I was walking there and I told them I was on my way so they waited for me. They rock. Anyways I get on the bus with my super bulky bag, sit in the only free seat next to who I’d soon learn to be a Japanese exchange student then we were on our way to Yilan! The bus ride is 1-2 hrs. I have transportation induced narcolepsy and was also just exhausted so I slept almost the whole way. The primary reason I didn’t sleep the “entire” way is because we were having bus karaoke. One of these songs included the native singing of “Finlandia.” Finlandia is a very famous, very traditional and very long song that is recognized as the unofficial Finnish national anthem. While I was amuse because they guy that was singing it was very invested, I was also very tired and would have loved to sleep in peace. Our first stop was the 林美石磐 trail (mu mei shi pan) It was nice. Lots of green which is the usual in Taiwan. There were some streams and a nice waterfall. Overall it was a nice little trail. It was fairly short, but nice nonetheless.

After the trail we went to Yilan’s very own National Center for Traditional Arts. As implied by the title it’s basically a huge DIY museum for Taiwanese traditional arts. There’s a bunch of stuff to see, do, and buy here, but our International Youth group had prepared for us to do the Indigo Blue Dye activity. This is basically dyeing a cloth, but traditionally from the dye created by indigo leaves. WARNING: This dye smells like fish. Not terrible for me but I loooove fish and seafood and even the smell, but some people were not happy to say the least. I made a cloth, which I will use as a bandana/extremely small tapestry. The process is very similar to ti-dying. First, you get your cloth and choose the design you want. I chose a star design with a few little bullseyes on the outside for a little bit of extra flavour. For the star design, there’s a special way of folding , then you use popsicle sticks and rubber bands to place the design. You just need rubber bands for the bullseye. After you’re done designing you got to the dyeing area where you will be constructed to soak your cloth in a solution to prepare it for dyeing. Mine only sat in the for about 3 minutes. After that, you’re ready to dye. Throw on your apron and your gloves and get to the dying pots.

Once you get to the pots, you spend about five minutes submerging your cloth in the dye and massaging it paying special attention to to displace any popsicle sticks or rubber bands. After the nice massage, the cloth should be blue and green. Mostly green since this is only the first round. You are then instructed to proceed over to the sinks so you can wash out the cloth. Again, you’re massaging you cloth, but this time under water and there might be some scrubbing involved. Over at the sinks, the objective is to wash out the cloth until there’s no more green. Boom. No more green. You go back to the pots and repeat this process two more times. When all the green is finally out, one of the nice ladies working the will but your creation in the spinner to dry it out. Then you can go over to a little table with scissors so you can take off all the rubber bands and popsicle sticks to see your creation! Mine turned out pretty dang nifty in my opinion, but I ti-dye all the time so I’d be disappointed if it was looking rachet.

After Blue Dye we got a chance to walk around the center and do whatever while the other groups dyed. I went off on my own because I’m too impatient to wait for other people so I trekked around, stopped in the Chinese medicine store to see if I could ask some questions because ya know research and all that jazz, but it was pretty crowded and the nobody spoke English so I just moved on. I was walking around trying to find another DIY because that’s my jam but apparently you have to sign up for everything in advance but we didn’t do that so no DIY for me. The only thing you didn’t have to sign up in advance for was the stone work, but all you really did was polish a piece of black jade. It started at about 300 NT$ ($10 USD) for a small rock and you can make it into a necklace or something else, but I knew I wasn’t going to wear a bulky rock everyday and I didn’t want to pay to polish a small rock that I wasn’t going to wear. The cool thing about black jade though, is that it is green under a flashlight! (Again, when would i ever be under a flashlight? I wasn’t going to spend money on this, but it was cool.) There was a play being performed on the stage in the middle of the center. I didn’t really know what was going on because I went mid-way through but the amount of makeup that everyone (including men) as well as the extremely dramatic actors were funny so I enjoyed it for the short time I watched. After a little while it was time to go, so myself as well as the other people in my group that were also watching the play made our way to the front gate. I stopped for some soft serve ice cream because I saw other people around the grounds eating it. The first little stand I stopped at only had milk flavor. Now I don’t even really drink milk like that, so why in the world would would I not only eat something that is milk/cream based but the flavor is purely milk! No thanks man. Thankfully, about 3 feet away was a little shop and they had peanut flavored soft serve! I am absolutely a fan of peanut butter soft serve but I wasn’t too sure about peanut, but I took a chance. It was actually really tasty and not as creamy as peanut butter but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

We left the center, went to our hotel, spent a little while there. Then it was night market time! I had Yilan night market’s famous scallion pancake which is literally just fried dough with scallions in it but it was yummy. I also had so chicken wings, and fresh watermelon juice because I am a simple lady. By the time we got back it was Saturday night which means partay! I’ not going to go into the details because it was a relatively wild night but it was the first night that I was able to drink with friends in a long time and we were dancing in that tiny hotel room. I had a really great time and am thankful for that experience, especially since don’t know the next time it’s going to happen. After our mini-party had died down I went on a little walk outside with one of my American friends and one of my new Taiwanese friends that was apart of International Youth. We weren’t out for that long but we were just talking, laughing and I was messing with this super weird guy from tinder. It was a good time.

Fast Forward to the next morning, a day night of only 3-4 hours of sleep but I didn’t want to hold anybody up again so I got my booty up, got dressed because I’d showered the night before and went to the lobby for breakfast. It was McDonald’s 😦 I ate it though cuz ya girl was not tryna starve. It was just a chicken sandwich and I paid for it later but it did its job when it was supposed to. We had a decently long bus ride to our first destination of the day- the rice farm! The farm’s owner brought us all in, gave us this really long speech on what I think was the history but it was really early in the morning, I was tired, and he was just talking a lot so I am not going to lie and say I paid attention. Anyways after a long talk inside then a long talk outside, we got to doing! We got a feel of what it was like to carry the rice plants (technically a really farmer would’ve been carrying 3 times the weight but we are students, not farmers.) Then like 4 different people tried to fire up the rice wagon and all brutally failed, even the manly men that thought they could do it even though the previous person could not. The farmer did it and made it look easy. He asked for volunteers to hop on the rice wagon so I did! Then some of my amigos hopped on as well and we rode about 50 feet away at a slower rate than the people walking. It was fun though! We were in a little grassy area so the farmer showed us how to walk and plant the rice seeds then we made our way to ….. mud. I really don’t what I was expecting, but I utterly hate mud and only have about 2 minutes to mentally prepare for 1/3 of my legs to be completely submerged in it. Just walking over there was dangerous. I think I almost slipped like 3 times. Anyways I pulled my pant legs all the way up and got to work!

When we finished the farmer washed our legs off with a power washer which was unexpectedly painful but it did the job. We then started to put some already harvested rice in what seems to be a drainer? I’m not quite sure, but you got to spin a thingy and it was fun. After that we started to make the rice noodles that we were going to eat. We put the rice in the grinder/noodle maker , pushed the little lever and out came noodles into the boiling water! When they were ready we at them with some premade savory soup and then some cold sweet soup! There were super tasty.

After our soup, we had a catered lunch that wasn’t that great but ya girl was hungry so I ate it. We then went to a beer factory that wasn’t really interesting at all and I just sat and chilled on my phone until we left. After that we went to the beach because it stopped raining but the beach was rocky, it was still cold, and I was super tired so I sat in the little cafe that overlooked the beach, ordered a pizza to share with a friend and once again lollygagged on my phone. When it was finally time to go I was excited because again, I was tired. We finally got home around 7 and by this time y’all should know what I did when I got back. If you don’t I watched GOT. That’s is my life as of right now.

Monday- I wake up at some outrageously late hour and then just started watching GOT again. I’m in Season 4 or 5 so getting close to the end. I don’t have class on Monday, but I did have teaching which I completely forgot about. They called me and asked me if I forgot and I told the that I surely did. They just moved my kids to a different class and I felt bad because I missed last week because I was late, missed this week because I forgot and was missing the next week because I’d be on vacation. Wow, I’m the worst. Anyways, I just continued on my little GOT binge for the rest of the day.

Tuesday- I went to my Chinese class in the morning. It was good as usual. I got to speak conversationally, talk about things that I enjoyed talking about and practice the things that I have trouble with. After that I actually didn’t have my usual Lit class, so I went back to my room took a shower and a little nap. After my nap, I decided to pack! I was leaving later that night for Bali and I didn’t want to be packing last minute. It actually took a long time to pack because I had to pack up all my toiletries and stuff like that but I’ll put packing details in my Bali post. Anyways when I was done, I didn’t really have time to go down to the main street and look for/buy a selfie stick like I wanted to so I put on my travel clothes, grabbed some quick dumplings and bubble tea and headed for the bus to take me to the airport!

I’ll detail getting to the airport in my Bali post too, but while Saturday/ Sunday was technically the conclusion of Week 6 and Monday/Tuesday are Week 7, most of Week 7 is going to be the fun Bali stuff which is going to be split into 2 posts. A actual Bali guide on how I packed, got to/from the airport,what I did, where I stayed, how I got around, and all that fun travel stuff. The other post is just going to be my thoughts/opinions and some extra details of my excursions. Sorry this post took so long to come out but GOT took over my life and I’m finally caught up so the blog is definitely going to be the focus now. Can’t wait for you guys to see what I put out in the next few weeks. 🙂

How am I Really doing?

Technically this is Week 5. However, yet again, I haven’t done anything of interest this week. So instead of talking about what I’ve done, I’m going to talk about how I feel and where my mental health stands at the current moment.

I’m going to be completely honest here y’all, I’m not doing the best. That’s actually why I wanted to write this post today (end of Saturday) instead of a little later in the week. Usually when I write my blog posts, I try to make them sound like I am speaking as much as possible. Of course, my lisp, exaggerated intonations, and switching of words can’t be conveyed in writing, but I try my best. When I write I feel like I am speaking to my family, friends, and whoever cares about me enough to read these. It reminds me that people care about me, which I seem to have to remind myself of quite often these days. Sometimes after I write, people check up on me, or they say it helped them in their own way, or they just reach out to say they love me or support me which is enough.

You’ll all be glad to know that it’s not anxiety or depression that’s got me hurting these days. It’s really the loneliness. Don’t get me wrong. I am a person who thoroughly enjoys her alone time. The only problem is that that’s all I’ve seemed to have for the last 2 weeks. It’s not even like I haven’t tried to reach out to people. I’ve been pushing myself to socialize with other people: 1- because I said I was going to work on my social anxiety and relationship building where I had plenty of time to do so in Taiwan 2- because I recognize that I can’t spend the whole 19 weeks that I’m here, alone. Even after Jiufen and shopping, I’ve tried to reach out to the 3 girls from week 3 that I met after the mysteriously cancelled class, but I get left on read or left with “I’ll let you know” every time. I try to give them the reasonable doubt. We don’t live anywhere near each other, so they probably don’t think of me or just forgot to let me know.” I’m not quite sure what it is, but they don’t owe me anything. It’s just hard to see them all hanging out on social media while I sit in my dorm alone, but I didn’t meet them until we had already been in Taiwan for 3 weeks. I’m guessing they’d already formed their circle, and I just wasn’t in it. I don’t know, but it makes me sad.

I’m not really sure what’s going on with everyone else in CIEE. I will tell you I’m not enjoying it and I’ve begun to regret choosing this program. The money that they gave me is great. April (our coordinator) is great. Nothing else is really that great. I’ve tried to reach out in our group chats, the ones with ambassadors and just the exchange students. The first time, I knew no one would answer me so I decided to be dramatic. I asked in the group chat with exchange students and ambassadors if anyone would want to go to dinner with me. I accompanied it with, “if no one answers this I’m going to assume everyone hates me.” After that I got some concerned messages from ambassadors saying that they didn’t hate me, but they just couldn’t go to dinner. I then realized that sarcasm is already hard to read over text and it’s probably even more difficult if it’s not your first language, so I told them that I was just messing around. However, there’s some truth in every joke. I eventually went to dinner with two ambassadors. We didn’t really talk that much, but it’s just nice to be around people, ya know?

I reached out in the solely exchange student group chat with only one reply. I had dinner with the only black male student in the program. He was supposed to go see Captain Marvel later that night with some of the other exchange students… but they left him without telling him. He still wanted to go, and I’d already seen it but, again, I’m desperate at this point so I offered to see it with him. It was nice.

Other than those two times, I hadn’t really reached out much in the last two weeks, but only because I felt as if I was not welcome. It was not uncommon for me to walk by the common room and see several of them hanging out together, or ass by a restaurant and see some of the ambassadors with some of the other exchange students. The walls in the dorms are thin and all of the girls are line up in a row. I can hear everyone in my neighbor’s rooms or they’re in the hallway going from room to room giggling. All of this while most of them don’t even say hello to me. I feel like I’m that weird girl at the end of the hall that nobody likes. I’m not sure what they say about me. I don’t regret what I said in the uber situation at all. I have plenty of ideas in my head about what they say or why I’m excluded, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m the one that literally said I didn’t want to hang out with these people because they only care about themselves. I still find this to be true. I don’t really want to hang out with them, but other than the one message that I sent 2 weeks ago, I’m not quite sure why I’ve been excluded from almost everything. I don’t want to hang out with them, but it gets really hard when you watch everyone at a club or exploring the city, but you’re sitting in your room in the dark. I don’t really want to hang out with them, but who else am I going to hang out with?

I haven’t given up on tinder, but a lot of the people I talk to can only speak Chinese. It’s easy for me to read and write Chinese, especially with the help of translating apps if I don’t know a word or two, but it’s a much different situation if I were to ever meet up with them. The same goes with all the NCCU clubs I wanted to go to. It’d be nice to go and meet people, but my Chinese isn’t fluent enough to actually do or understand anything. It’s really hard being an international student at a small school.

On Monday I was going to go to these hot springs with a group of people in the I house group that said they were going. Now I had only gotten like 4 hours of sleep, but I really wanted to go to the hot springs, and I wanted to make new friends, so I got up at 7:15 and was at the front gate at 8 am on the dot. 10 mins passes by and still no one shows up. So, I send a message to the guy that mentioned the hot springs and asked in the general I house group chat if we were still going. 5 more mins passes by and I get no answer. I realized that I’d been stood up, so I grabbed some breakfast and retreated to my room. About an hour later, he texted me back saying they weren’t going anymore. Thanks dude. You were such a big help in preventing me from getting up at 7:15, rushing to get dressed, trekking down the mountain and waiting at the front gate for 15 mins. I took a nap at 9 am which further messed up my sleep schedule. Anyways he hmu again on Wednesday asking if I wanted to go to some watering hole with them. I had class on Wednesday but told him that I’d want to tag along next time. He added me to this adventure group that he was in. Yay! I was excited.

Friday rolls around and one of the other CIEE exchange students, Maddie (the one I’m going to Bali with) asks in the big group chat if anyone would want to watch a movie with her tonight- she wanted to get “crunk”- is the word I believe she used. This peaked my interest. I wasn’t doing anything else and I really wanted to go to a club in Taipei since I still hadn’t been. We had a mini conversation about it, but I told her I would do a little research and we could talk about it more, later, when we met up to watch the movie. I called one of my friends and we were on the phone for almost 2 hours and I lost track of time. It was almost time for the movie, and I hadn’t eaten. I took a shower and got my life together; went to the common room and told Maddie I was going to grab dinner really quick and be back to watch the movie. She said it was cool and that she would probably want to watch a thriller or something. “Annihilation.” I didn’t know what that was, but I told her that I can’t watch any kind of scary, thriller or horror movie because I get nightmares. Yes people. I am that person. I don’t like spicy food or scary movies. I do, however, like roller coasters. She laughed it off and I went to grab dinner to go. By the time I got back, there were two ambassadors, and 4 other exchange students in the room (including Georgetown boy) crowded on 2 small couches and 2 fold up chairs. (I know this is detailed but it’s recent and it really bothered me so bear with me) I was a little taken aback because virtually no one said anything in the group chat but told myself that it was fine. We all had a little small talk and I began to eat my dinner which was lowkey nasty because they gave me some weird noodles that I hadn’t gotten the last time I ordered that dish. Anyways, they started the movie on Maddie’s laptop. #1 there was no space to watch it since the whole couch was now occupied and #2, she decided to watch annihilation anyways. So, I’m just sitting in my chair with my nasty noodles and am ready to leave since I wasn’t watching the movie, and no one was recalling talking to me anymore. Earlier in the day Maddie mentioned going to the trampoline park. I told her I wanted to go and asked what time we were leaving. She said 12. I was like “ok cool, I’m gonna go watch Game of Thrones, but I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I got a goodbye or two, who knows?

I get back to my room and I get a message from the adventure guy about going to the hot springs on Saturday (the next day.) I told him I couldn’t because it was going to be cold, raining, and I’d also made other plans. He actually tried to convince me, but I thought I was going to the trampoline park, so it ended in a no. I was up until like 5 am from Friday night into Saturday for like no reason, so I didn’t wake up until 1:15 pm on Saturday. I look at my phone but see no notifications, so I didn’t know what was going on with the trampoline park. I texted Maddie if we were still going and her exact words were “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I completely forgot you wanted to go last night, I have already left but you could meet up! You could meet up or shopping!….” Now I am irritated. My day has been wasted yet again. The trampoline park was an hour away which is why she suggested I just meet up for shopping, because by the time I got there, they’d be done. Shopping was a completely different event with different people later on in the day that I hadn’t planned on attending. Mostly because I really don’t need to be spending money on more clothes or useless things when I could be spending my money on things that are worth it when I go on my trips. At this point, I’m pretty upset, because I just could’ve gone to the hot springs, but I was left, excluded, whatever you want to call it. I wasted an hour on social media and contemplated going shopping. I kind of want to go shopping so that I could get out of the darkness and loneliness of my room, but I didn’t have that much time to get ready, wasn’t mentally prepared, and was still upset. I kind of felt like I was being rebellious to Maddie by not going shopping even though it didn’t affect her in any way whatsoever. I just sat in my room, as usual, but instead of watching Game of Thrones, I decided to watch a movie. (Jurassic Kingdom: Fallen World was pretty good if anyone cares.) As I do with most of my days I just sat here and wasted it away.

I knew I wanted to go to dinner around 7 so I just asked in the big group chat at 6 if anyone wanted to go. Took a shower. Got dressed. Hadn’t heard a peep, which was expected. So, I just went a found a restaurant that I hadn’t been to yet. It was a pasta place! I’ve been craving it so bad. I got some seafood pesto for 170 NT$ and I must say it was the highlight of my food. Even though it’s only a little over 6 USD for literal shrimp, clams, and squid pesto, that’s on the pricy side for Taiwanese food. I didn’t eat anything else today and I wasn’t having the best of days though, so I decided to treat myself. Around 9, some of the other girls came in to from shopping. Apparently, they were going out. Again, all of them saw me, none of them said hello, they were getting and giving advice on what to wear. This kind of hit a nerve because I was literally doing research the night before on where Maddie and the clubs that Maddie and I could go to for free. We had a whole conversation about it. But we had a whole conversation about the trampoline park too. I just retreated back to my room to go talk on my blog about how I am upset that the girls that I don’t like are going to the club without me.

One of the biggest problems that I have with always being alone is that there are some things that I want to do that I simply cannot. One of these things is going to a bar or a club. I’m not going to bar because I of course don’t want to pay for my drinks and not too many guys are jumping off their horses to buy me one. I can’t go to the club alone because I am too cautious, even in Taiwan. I’d love to get drunk one of these days. I know my limits, so I wouldn’t even get sick but I’m not comfortable enough to be even slightly incapacitated unless I knew I was either in a safe place or with safe people. Bars and clubs aren’t exactly safe, and I definitely don’t have people that I trust to take care of me (or even would want to take care of me for that matter.) So, it looks like I’m going to be sober until I can find one of those things, which is just find because I’m not an alcoholic and don’t need poison to have fun!!!

This is just where my head is right now at 1:39 am on 3/24/2019. I started writing this at like 10 pm lol these things take forever. Next week I’m going on a 2-day excursion with other international students so maybe I’ll meet people there. Even if I don’t, I have Bali the weekend after that so I should be ok. As of right now, I’m not angry. I’m not depressed. I’m not anxious. I’m just lonely and homesick, but I know people at home love me, and I love all of you. I have the document the good times and the bad. Lots of kisses to all of my readers from Taiwan.

xoxo

-Brit
Me alone in room at 2 am everyday

Week 3 Pt. 2 & Week 4


Friday and Saturday of week 3 and all of week 4 weren’t too exciting so, we’re just going to put everything together!

Week 3 Friday: I may or may not have the best temper, and I don’t let things go too easy. As a result of this, I’m still very upset in the morning. My roommate said nothing to me, so I said nothing to her. I just spend the day trying to figure out my current class schedule, planning classes at Pitt next semester, working on my Chinese homework, and exploring google flights for more places to go (my favorite past time.) I really just got a lot of work done on Friday. Since I had just made some new friends the same day, I had lost some, I decided to reach out. I asked my new friends if they were doing anything fun on Saturday and if I could come. They said yes. They were going to Jiufen. I got excited to go out with my new friends and explore a new part of Taiwan.

Week 3 Saturday: I went to Jiufen! It was raining that day, but also hot. I was a little late going down the mountain. I knew I’d probably be taking pictures, so I wanted to make sure I was practical and cute. Had to make sure to hit the double whammy. It took a while to get there. We had to take a public bus, then the train. then another public bus (but it looked a felt like a charter bus.) It took about 2 hrs. to get there by public transportation. and was a little less than 150 NT$ which is about $5 USD. I’m going to be honest and say that I thought I was going to die a few times, but I have what I like to call transportation-induced narcolepsy. I always get so tired when someone is driving me around. The roads were slippery, we were up on the mountains, and they bus we were on was big and had to make some sharp turns. I was fine though. Thank goodness for sleep. I think it solves all problems. When we got there, we didn’t do anything other than eat, drink, and walk around, but that’s all you really do anywhere in Taiwan. It was extremely foggy, but the scenery was still breathtaking. There is so much greenery and fresh air in Taiwan because of the lack of development on the island. I have a Taiwanese friend who would vehemently disagree with that statement, but he’s a whole other story. I drank so tasty Jasmine tea right out of a teapot, ate yummy Taro Balls (get the hot ones not the cold ones), had some good 小笼包, tasted a mountain of ice cream and you guys….. I did it. I ate a piece of intestines. I already don’t like spicy food and don’t drink milk tea. I really don’t like being THAT American that’s not open to trying new things, so I tried the intestines just like I tried the stinky tofu. As I suspected, I didn’t like it, so at least I can say I’ve tried it and don’t like it as opposed to me refusing to eat it. We sat and ate some other stuff, took more pictures, and waited a lot. There were a million Japanese and Korean tourists there so we would all me walking in these narrow outdoor stairwells and streets, but people would stop to take a picture every 10 steps, and there’s no room to go around them, so it took forever to get any one place. One of the friends I made is actually going to Bali the same time I am so we’re going to meet up and hang out. I’m excited! Over all, I had a great time and was excited to meet some new people!

Week 4 Sunday: I went on a date with two tinder guys. FYI: Hookup culture is very different in Taiwan and Tinder works differently. While some people are on there for the traditional purposes of the app, several Taiwanese people are on there to meet foreigners and make friends: which is why I downloaded it again. I met this one Taiwanese guy that lived in Seattle for a while. His English is really good, and while he’s a character, he’s cool for the most part. This is the guy that thinks Taiwanese air quality is bad, smh. However, he did take me to this amazing Beef Noodle Shop: 老外一品牛肉面 in the Zhongshan district. It’s Taiwanese beef noodles cooked by a Persian chef who came to Taiwan a brick ago, speaks perfect Chinese and is married to a Taiwanese woman. When I tell those noodles were BIG POPPIN! Whew Chile, it was like it wasn’t spicy, but it was spiced, and I felt like the beef was so fresh, the owner had a butcher shop in the back. Those noodles, and his bone soup, and his dumplings are all so delicious. This man has cultural appreciation down to a TEE. It’s also super affordable, only around 135 NT$. The closest MRT station is the Xingtian temple station. Go go go!!! After we were done eating, he drove me to my next stop for date #2. Hehehe yes, I am a finesser like that. The other guy confused me and is boring so we’re not even going to talk about that one. I will say that I had to buy my own drink and it was like 200 NT$ for a lemon drop that tasted like lemonade with no alcohol. A LEMON DROP IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SHOT. At least I learned not to go back to that bar or text that guy again. Neither of them is worth my time. We love a good learning experience. Still haven’t spoken to my roommate and I just leave the room because #1 when I’m mad, I try to remove myself from the situation because that person’s presence just makes me madder and #2, I never get any work done in my room.

The rest of the week: I don’t remember what happened on what day and it doesn’t really matter so I’m just gonna word vomit here. I went to one of the cultural ambassador’s hip hop dance class. I can’t hip hop dance for my life, however it was fun to watch everyone else get really into it.

I got a ton of fricking mosquito bites in the two days that it was really warm, and the sun was out. Surprisingly none on my arms, but ya girl decided to wear a dress and shorts so there were 29 in total on my legs.

My roommate and I didn’t talk the entire week until Thursday when she said she was moving out, but she wanted us to be cool. At this point I wasn’t made anymore so I was super open when she asked to talk, because I was going to ask her the same thing the next day. She said she didn’t really realize what happened, just that I wasn’t in the room and wasn’t talking to her, so she felt the tension. (I also did something else that was slightly petty. We all have minor slip-ups that resemble to our younger, less-wise selves) Now mind you, she hadn’t said anything to me either, but this was forgiveness time, not argument time. I told her the situation through my eyes, and she told me her side- where she basically said that she didn’t know what was going on, which is dumb because she was standing there the whole time and she could’ve asked me at any point buuuuuuut NO DRAMA. I have a class with this girl 6 hours a week and we’re going to be the only ones that are here in June. (Even though that won’t make a difference for me because everyone has already been excluding me from everything for the last week) Ok! I’m done being shady! Sometimes you just gotta get these things out ya know. Also, this is a personal blog, not a super professional one. I make lots of mistakes, and I’m documenting them all here, so I learn from them. One of my biggest goals over the past year and a half and for this trip has been self-growth especially regarding communication and destructive behaviors. My current me is less shady and less petty that previous me and hopefully future me can cut all of that bad stuff out in due time, but for now a bit of shade might be thrown out here and there.

My old roomie moved in down the hall with one of the CIEE ICLC girls. She is doing the academic year program instead of the semester program. I don’t know if that has anything to do with her not getting a roommate at first, but it might. Apparently, she was getting a roommate soon, so now I’m just getting whatever roommate she was going to get. I’m nervous because, this person could be any student at NCCU. I highly doubt that it’s an international student, because the majority of international students have their housing situation settled long before they even come to Taiwan. It’s most likely going to be a Taiwanese (or maybe another nationality) girl that straight up attends NCCU. The nervousness stems from the possibility that this person might not speak English. I’m sure you can imagine possible problems that might arise when you and the person you’re sharing a room and bathroom with can’t even speak the same language. I went to April to ask if I could move to I-house or possibly get a single room. I knew both of them were long shots, but it never hurts to ask. I-house was full with an already long waitlist as expected, and apparently single rooms are only for Doctoral Students. The doctoral student thing doesn’t make any sense to me because why would a person in the late twenties want to be living in a college dorm, but NCCU is far from everything. I still don’t get it, but alas, it is a battle that I am not equipped nor willing to fight. I also don’t get why someone would be moving in a dorm 1 month after school starts but apparently there’s a long waiting list. That doesn’t make any sense to me either though, because if there’s a long waiting list for the dorms too, then why didn’t the other CIEE girl from before not have a roommate? This are all questions I have and have thought about, but I just take everything day by day and hope that I won’t get another roommate. For some reason, I have a gut feeling that that’s not gonna happen and I will get another one, so I’m keeping all of my stuff in my closet and on my side. Whether I do or don’t get another roommate I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, and if it has to end, I’ll try to be friends with her and make the best out of the situation.

Saturday was our Scavenger hunt! We went around the city and solved little puzzles and ate famous food and got good bubble tea. Ngl, I was lowkey tired and hangry the whole time, but I was putting in SO much effort to be happy and have a good time because one of the ambassadors, Ian worked really hard to put it all together and I didn’t want to bring anyone else down just because I was a grump. Fun fact: It rained basically all of weeks 3 & 4, so it was real gloomy which I think contributed to my grouchiness in these weeks. I do, however, feel like I am more naturally grouchy than most people. I do not know why. Maybe I watch too many Oscar the grouch scenes from Sesame street and also The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland was one of lil’ Brit’s favorite movies. I dare you to ask my mother how many times she’s seen that movie. If you triple it, that’s probably my watch number. Watch your children watch people, it could model their whole life. Anyways, we went to 3 different places: Gongguan (which I’ve been to quite a few times), Dongmen, and Raohe night market. I’ll detail all of my awesome food in my food post that will be coming in the next week or two so stay tuned. It was beautiful, again I had fun. It was a really good ending to a mediocre week.

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My Terrible Awful Thursday


Thursday of Week 3 needs its own post! It was a VERY long day to say the least.

This day was never going to be good. I could feel it in my bones. I have to tell you some background. So, the enrollment system here is weird and confusing. I’d already be registered for 2 of my classes but I was still waiting to get into one of them. If I’d gotten into that class everything would work out fine. I’d have 2 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 class on Wednesday and no class on Mondays or Fridays. The only problem was that the class that I wanted to get into was full. I was number 41 on the waitlist (waitlist here works differently, but why in the world are there so many spots?) and I’d emailed the professor about getting added into the class manually but never got a reply. At NCCU if you aren’t added to a class through normal means, you can just show up and have the teacher sign a form that says you can manually add the class. So, this is what I did. However, since I didn’t receive and email from that professor, I had a contingency plan in place. I usually have contingency plans for things that are important to me. Things never go right the first time so, PLAN, PLAN AGAIN.

The specifics of my contingency plan are confusing so I won’t detail the whole process, but I will tell you the SLEW of extra classes that I had to attend this week. I went to that class on Wednesday that I mentioned. It’s a southeastern religion class. It was in the morning, which of course was not ideal since I had to go to the gym before. I went to that class and it was boring as heck. #1 Nothing I am studying has anything to do with southern Asia. I’m definitely an eastern Asia kind of gyal. #2 There were lots of grad students in this class which means lots of work. #3 Everything was basically discussion, based on the reading that I knew nothing about. It was also just discussion for 3 hours straight. Can you pay attention to people flat out talking for 3 hours? (with only a 7 min. break halfway through) Because I most certainly cannot. I was just on my laptop for most of the class doing who knows what. I asked her to sign my add form (just as a precaution) but she almost didn’t sign it! She said there were lots of people in the class and her feedback wouldn’t be as valuable if she had a million papers to grade. While I understand this, I’m also like “LET ME IN YOUR CLASS.” I didn’t actually say that, I kind of just stared at her until she agreed to sign my paper. I told her that I wasn’t absolutely sure if I was joining in the first place. She’s also the one that decided to make the class write those long papers. Don’t punish me because you played yourself! Jkjk, she’s the one that set the limit for the amount of people that could be in the class because she knew her limits but nevertheless decided to sign my paper. Even though I’m not taking your class Dr. Work- you da bomb! So that was a contingency class on Wednesday. I had 2 of them on Thursday.

So, my first dilemma of day occurred at approximately 9:10 am on that rainy Thursday morning. Now one of the classes that I am already registered for was at 9 am on Thursday morning. It was actually what I predicted to the favorite of my 4 classes: Popular religion in Taiwan. This would also be the first week of Thursday and Friday classes since there was a holiday on Thursday and Friday of the previous week/ first week of classes. I had to forgo my Popular Religion class for a contingency class: Globalization and Public Policy. Now, I didn’t want to take this class at all, but I was panicking in case I didn’t get into the class I was waitlisted for. (Art, Society & Popular Culture) I woke up at 7:30 to go to this 9:00 class and see what it was about. So, I get to the building it is in, but whoops. For some reason, someone decided to create 2 different buildings, but join them together for 7 of the like 18 something floors and call them both the General Studies building. One is just the “north building” and the other is the “south building.” This is where I really got screwed over y’all. If you know me, you know that I have an utterly disastrous sense of direction. If you don’t know me, my sense of direction is TERRIBLE, as is both my short term and long-term memory. Please don’t say that I’m too young to have memory problems. I’ve heard it all before. Just add it on to my short list of developmental defects. (lisp, duck feet, misaligned knees, double hand tremor… etc.) (All of these things are super minor and I’ve learned to live/ hide all of them, so I feel like defect is a bit strong of a word) I’d already attended 2 classes in the north building while I’d never had any in the south so you’d think I’d go to the north building. Even though it was against my better judgement and experience, I went to the south building. I went to the floor it was supposed to be on, but the majority of the floor was dark. I started walking around like a dummy, still not getting the picture, until 2 ladies stopped me and flat out told me I was in the wrong place. I knew where to go from there but one of the ladies gave me directions and I just let her talk because I didn’t want to be rude. So, I take the elevator down a few floors, cross the bridge, then take the elevator back up. I finally get to the classroom, about 10 minutes late. There’s only like 4 students in this tiny classroom. Granted, it was a class for master’s students, but still tiny. I sit at the first chair when I get in and am handed a syllabus. I start reading through it. It says the final paper needs to be 15-20 pages. I sat there for about 2 minutes solely trying to decide if I wanted to be safe and just stay for the rest of the class in case I had to take it because of lack of a better option -or if there was no point in staying because there was no way I am writing a 20 page paper on something that I couldn’t care less about.

After spending a whole 4 minutes in that classroom, I announced that I came to the wrong class and skkrt skrrrted my way right out of there. I had already told the professor of Popular Religion in Taiwan (the class that I was missing), that I was not going to be able to make it, but since I wasn’t going to do anything better with my time, and it’s a class I was interested in, I decided to go. It’s far from my first class so it took me about 15 minutes to get there. I was like 30 minutes late, but the professor was excited to see me. Technically Popular Religion in Taiwan is a grad-level class as well put there were much more people in this room. Our professor lectured on Chinese zodiac and some related subjects for about an hour. After the short lecture, we took a field trip! We went to a temple that was only about a 12-minute walk away from campus. I actually talked to my professor the entire time there. I told him about my research proposal. He thought it was very interesting and mentioned that we were going to cover a Chinese medicine unit in class, so he’d try to expand on that. He also told me that if I needed any help or guidance to ask him! This just got me more excited to potentially do my Chinese medicine research. We got to the temple and it was beautiful. There was actually a celebration going on because the following day would’ve been one of the deity’s birthdays. There was a decent amount of people at the temple as well as special decorations, music, and singing!

After finishing up at the temple, I went to grab a quick lunch. I was going to go with some other CIEE people, but I needed something quick because I had less than an hour before my class…. which was also up the horrendous mountain. This is the class that I was afraid that I wasn’t going to get into. You better believe that I was in that building 20 mins. before the class was even supposed to start, I WAS NOT going to be late, which is out of character for me. About 5 minutes before class was going to start, I made my way to the classroom. It was FULL. Granted, it was another small conference room, but all 25 people that were registered for the class showed up and then some. There were only like 3 chairs available in the whole room, so I snagged one and my stuff down. I am what my mother calls a bag lady, so my backpack is always super heavy, and I can be seen carrying 10,000 things in my hands at all times. I went up to the professor and introduced myself. Y’all want to know what this man said to me? “No.” He straight up said no even though I tried to bargain with him. The class was already to full and he wasn’t going to be manually adding any students. While I was disappointed, I fully expected and mentally prepared for this, so I just went back to my room to strategize. My schedule was really riding on the class from this morning or the class that was full so of course I was frustrated. However, I’d been frustrated all week, so I was tired of stressing. I decided to just chill out until my next potential class later that day and I’d plan after I’d attended that class. So, I chill out for 4 hours, don’t even remember what I was doing. I know what I wasn’t doing. Stressing!

Boom. 3 pm hits. The contingency class is at 4. I start moving my booty getting ready to trek back down the mountain. I go to the classroom that the class is supposed to be in. I’m there like a half hour early, so I just go to the back because that’s where the only visible outlet is, and it seems like my laptop is constantly on 20%. After about 20 minutes I’m like “ok, class is starting soon, people should start showing up.” There was a sign on the door and from my rough translation- it didn’t seem like it had anything to do with my class, but I sent it to April, the CIEE coordinator anyways just to check. She confirmed that it did not, in fact, have anything to do with my class. 5 more minutes goes by and I start to panic. It’s now 5 mins. until class is supposed to start and there still wasn’t a single other soul in the room. At this point I get up, go to the hallway and start looking around. That’s when this girl comes up to me. She asks me about the class, and I tell her that we have the same questions. 5 more minutes of us trying to figure out what the heck is going on leads to nothing and now it’s technically time for class to start. Still, no one else has shown up. At this point I’m still very confused but feel better in knowing that I’m not the only dummy that showed up. I pack up my stuff and we go to the first floor to try and see if there’s anyone we can ask that knows what is going on. We can’t find anyone so, at this point, I am messaging April to see if she can find out what’s going on, and the girl I was with, Tina, is messaging her friends that were also taking the class. April finds out that the class was just straight up cancelled. She didn’t say why but I am assuming because there might have been a lack of enrollment. Anyways, Tina’s friends went up to the classroom anyways, so we went up there to meet them. One of the girls, Mae confirmed that she got an email saying the class was cancelled. However, it got sent to her NCCU email which no one checks which is why she didn’t know. I didn’t know because technically I wasn’t in the class yet so I couldn’t have gotten the email.

The 4 of us, Tina, Mae, myself, and the other girl, Monica, are all sitting in this room talking about classes and potential new choices, since we all needed to find one that would replace the one that got cancelled. I’m super hype because I just made 3 NEW FRIENDS. For some people, making new friends is a daily occurrence, but for me, it’s something that I really struggle with, so this, my friends, was a big deal. Anyways we talked about classes and where we’re from and other random stuff. I’m not going to put everyone’s business on MY blog, but I will say that Tina and Mae are both American, and Monica is from Singapore. They all live in I-house which is like a dorm for international students on lower campus. It’s nice and convenient unlike my MOUNTAIN dorm that doesn’t have a mini fridge or an included mattress. I-house has a lottery and is competitive, and my luck sucks, so I didn’t get in. After talking and them telling me about a bunch of fun I-house stuff they do and other aid for international students we parted ways. They had another class to go to, and I just went back to my room. I was so happy! Again, FRIENDS! YAY!

I get back to my dorm and do nothing for a little while, but tonight is the night. KTV! We were going back, but this time with some of the other CIEE students and more ambassadors. There were 10 of us in total this time compared to last time’s 5. There were actually supposed to be more, but we all know how people love to bail. We take the bus there around 9:30. The bus ride wasn’t too long but it was drizzling and the walk after the bus was fairly far. We get there start singing and ordering beer. As a part of going to KTV they give you a minimum amount that you have to spend on food & beverage which amounted to 100 NT$ per person. I wasn’t upset because I was going to need alcohol to drown out my lack of pitch. In the end I ended up ordering 1 regular can of beer and 2 mango beers. Now I definitely am not a beer person, but regular Taiwanese beer is better than American beer and the liquor was EXPENSIVE, so I just went with it. However, I will tell you that the mango beer I ordered was shabangin’. I was pleasantly surprised and will be taking several of them home with me when I leave this country. We were all singing, dancing, having a great time. Around 11 I got some wonderfully wonderful absolutely amazing fantastic news.

I got an email from Patrick (Director of Pitt’s Office of Undergraduate Research/ my mentor & boss) offering me a 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research award. Can y’all say BOOOOOOOYAH?? It’s actually funny because I am writing this before I’ve even formally accepted the award. I have to print out the form and sign it and scan it back to him. It’s a whole process that’ll most likely be done on Sunday. Never mind that, PATRICK I ACCEPT!!!! I was so worried what I was going to be doing over the summer because I don’t get back until June 28th which is mid-summer in college time. Most internships and jobs start at the beginning of June and I’m a junior who really needs something to look good on my resume. With this grant, I’m going to be conducting research on the cultural and religious aspects of Chinese medicine while I’m in Taiwan and while I’m back in America. I’ve done research in the past, but never anything having to do with a social science, never anything where I came up with the research idea, and nothing where I am the FIRST AND ONLY AUTHOR. GO ME!!! My research is starting at the beginning of May and ends in the beginning of August. As of right now I’ll most likely be writing a comprehensive article detailing all of my findings but that might change depending on what I find. Stay tuned chickas! This is also very exciting because the award also comes with a class over the summer so I’m getting credit, interacting with other awardees and hearing about their projects and it gives me much more flexibility for the summer. As of right now the plan is to stay in MD when I get home, work on my research project, shadow my doctor, drive for uber, study for ochem in the fall and the MCAT whenever I decide to take it, and take care of my lil PUPPY. I am so excited for Wes! This paragraph wasn’t actually supposed to be this long but excitement, amirite??? After I got the email I was in real disbelief because I always doubt myself. A bad habit yes, but I was on a cloud for the rest of the night! I shouted out that I got it and everyone said congratulations and we sang Allstar. Truly iconic.

12:30 rolls around a we realize that we should probably go home. Buses and the train stop running at 12 so we all decided earlier that we were going to have to take cabs or ubers back to the dorms. 2 of our ambassadors didn’t live on campus so they took separate modes of transportation home, but the rest of us all live in the same place, so we were carpooling. This is where things went downhill. We leave the KTV building because we didn’t want to loiter, but it was kind of cold outside, so we were rushing. One of the ICLC kids, let’s call him Craig for the sake of me about to rip him a new one on the worldwide web, calls the first uber. His uber is something like $335 to get to the dorms. There are 8 of us so it is clear that we are going to need another uber. Why we didn’t call a cab when it could’ve possibly been cheaper? I have no idea. This is the American mindset. Anyways, the question of who else has uber pops up. I do not volunteer at all because for some reason I always get screwed over when I call the uber. This was no exception. Eventually after lots of pricing, back and forth, and people’s ubers “not working” I end up calling the other uber. My uber is about 100 NT$ more expensive than Craig’s uber. I’m not too happy about it because we’re coming and going to the same place so we should all pay the same. I come up with a bright idea. Wow! What if we just add the two uber fares together and divide by all 8 people. That is fair. That way, everyone is paying the same thing for doing the same thing. Just as we did with taking the bus to go to KTV and paying for KTV itself. No one pays for how many songs they sang. Everyone was there! So, everyone is paying the same! I apologize readers. This is a topic that still gets me riled up so there might be ranting at some points. Anyways, I suggest this while everyone is still there and no one explicitly says anything, but I was not quiet about it, I said it a few times and I saw nodding as well as eye contact. They knew! Since Craig called his uber first, it came first, and 4 people: him, my roommate, Maddie (my Bali partner) and another CIEE girl hop in. After two mistaken car identities, our uber finally comes, the remaining 4 hop in, and we’re on our way back to the dorms. While in the car I get the final quote for our uber, so I ask in the group chat how much the other uber is so that I can calculate everyone’s fare. At this point, I’m just gonna show you guys the receipts, because, DRAMA. Please excuse my language, but we’re all adults and I need to fully convey the atmosphere in order for future events to make sense. I was also tipsy so don’t mind the typos.

Ok people, first off, I’d like to say that we are literally talk about 50 cents in US dollars. CENTS! Craig here is referring to when I refused to pay for any of his 6 pack because I ordered individual beers and homie was trying to say I took from his six pack even though he was across the table and that wouldn’t have even made a lick of sense. Pay for what you drink Craig. You’re not going to boss this little black girl into doing it. I’d love to get into all the sociological concepts of men, especially white men being at the center of American society, and certain gay men (Craig is gay) thinking that certain rules don’t apply to them because they fit into one minority category, but this is not a sociology class. It’s just a blog about my life in Taiwan. Taiwan- where life does not revolve around the white man. I definitely could have handled this situation better, but I am a hothead who had 3 beers in her system. I am a person that is big on fairness and behavior. I escalated the situation, yes, but that was after I was left on read for 15 minutes because every person in that car knew they were wrong. Then Craig just made it worse my having a temper tantrum, so y’all know I had to check him. This is a battle that some people would decide not to fight, especially because it’s so minor. I didn’t really care about the money, but the concept that Craig, my roommate and the other people in the car knew what was fair but decided to disregard it for their own benefit rubs me the wrong way. I also will never let an individual talk to me that way, especially in front of other people! If you let them get away with it the first time, people will continue to walk right over you. As a young black woman, the first idea is for people to walk all over me. If you can’t tell by all the young girls that go missing in metropolitan areas and are never found because of a lack of police involvement, or the entire R. Kelly situation, people just don’t care about black women. In general, I don’t care if strangers “care” about me, but it is important that I am respected. This is a mindset that I’ve built up over the years and extremely grateful to have especially because I want to get into a career field in which black woman almost cease to exist. I MATTER. That may be a lot to draw from an argument about ubers, but it’s not the situation that matters, it the principle that it came from. Anyways, so yeah. That happened. Eventually our uber pulls up to the gate at the bottom of the mountain, but guess what? It was closed and locked with no attendant. So, we got out and trekked up the freaking mountain at 1 am. I was already mad but at this point I was hangry, mad about the situation, tired, a PLETHORA or negativity. After I had been in my room for about 10 minutes, I received a message from Maddie. She offered to pay the difference in what everyone should have paid and what she actually paid. I told her it wasn’t necessary because everyone in my car had already settled it. She told me that the pennies do add up and she completely understood where I was coming from. No one else in my car was as riled up as I was, but we’re all different. I knew what was right and s/o to my girl Maddie for making sure that I knew I wasn’t crazy or just being dramatic. After talking to her, I just went to bed and my terrible awful Thursday was finally over.

I’d just like to point out that I realize that my entire day wasn’t terrible! There were some good parts too. It was just an extremely long day, and the end of the day’s events affected the entire following week. But that’s all going to be in the Week 3 Pt. 2 and Week 4 post.

Week 3 Pt.1

大家好！(Hello Everyone) So week 3 officially ended on Saturday/Sunday. It was a very long week in which many events occurred, so I’ve decided to split the week in half for time reasons and ease of reading. I’ve only been here for 3 weeks, but the third week, by far was the hardest. Let’s get into itttttttt.

So, at the end of week 2 I said that I couldn’t remember what I did no Sunday and that is was probably lazy. The lie detector determined that: that was a lie. It wasn’t actually a lie, but rather my inconsistent memory derping on me again. Like 2 days after writing that post I remembered that I spent the whole day SHOPPING. Since shopping is clearly a very important aspect to travel and Taiwan in general, I’ going to write a separate post about Taiwan shopping and fashion. For now, just know that I spent 7 hours shopping and I was pooped and broke afterward. That, ladies and gentlemen, was my Sunday.

MONDAY: Again: no classes on Monday. I’m pretty sure I went to the gym (gotta get buff) and then went to go teach some 7th graders English! The university that I attend is named NCCU. There’s also a NCCU affiliated high school. I’m not quite sure what the exact grade range is at this school because schools work a little differently over here, but there’s at least a bunch of 7th graders. There’s only about 10 in my class. 5 girls and 5 boys. The boys are rowdy of course, my compared to some of the other classes, they’re little angels. We played hangman with the words being US states. It was super easy because this one girl’s English is really good and the rest of them have decent English, but it was only for an hour and they seemed to have fun.

TUESDAY: Wow. Week 3 was the hardest week but Tuesday, 3/05/2019 was the hardest day I’ve had in Taiwan, YET. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a pretty mild case of social anxiety. I worry a lot and have a hard time communicating with people. I often worry about many things, not just social interactions. As a pre-med student who attends a very prestigious state-related institution, I have to compete with a lot of people and am often times told that I’m not good enough. In addition to that I am young. I am black. I am a woman. This makes me have to work x3 sometimes x4 times harder than everyone else I am usually pretty good at pushing these bad thoughts out of my head and keeping my eye on the prize. (MY MEDICAL LICENSE WOOP WOOP) But sometimes these doubts and worries get into my mind and I start to worry. At first, I thought that my worrying was fine and that my anxiety was manageable and I could figure it out on my own. This is one of my personal flaws. I think I can do everything alone without help from anyone. (This is partially due to social anxiety and thinking everyone hates me!) However, on Tuesday, I started to worry and I literally could not stop. I don’t even know how it started, but I know what it turned into. I worried about not getting into the class I wanted. I worried about where I was going to work over the summer. I applied for the research award but still hadn’t heard a reply. I wouldn’t be returning until mid-summer so finding a job: especially an internship would be near impossible. I never finished my practical so I’m still not an EMT. I’m going to be a senior and don’t know what I want to do after I graduate. I really want a puppy for graduation, but since I don’t know what I’m doing/living, I can plan for a lil’ baby. If I move away to teach, how long would it be for? Should I consider a Fullbright? My grades suck so should I get a master’s or do a post-bacc program? The MCAT is really hard, I didn’t do well in any of my science classes and I am terrible at standardized testing.

All of these negatives thoughts and more just kept coming. I left my dorm and went down the mountain to eat. Even though this stuff was going through my head I thought I could get over it and get some work done. I went to the library to see the kind of study environment that was there. Nothing I couldn’t use, but there were no outlets for me to plug my laptop into so I knew that I probably wouldn’t be there too long. I tried to get some work done but all I could do was worry about all of these things and I was on the verge of a full-blown anxiety attack. I didn’t want to break down in the middle of the library, so I decided to leave and go back to my dorm and take a nap. Sleep was the only thing that I could think of that would allow me to stop thinking/worrying so I was asleep for 3 hrs. I had Chinese class at 5 so I went to that. It surprisingly went by very quickly even though everything we were doing was review. It was fun, I really like my teacher. It was a good distraction. Afterwards, I just grabbed a quick dinner and went back to my room. I decided to be productive and do what I wanted to do earlier that day; get some work done. While this day sucked, it made me realize that I don’t think that I just have social anxiety, I think it’s just generalized anxiety all around. Part of the productivity of that night was looking into possible English-speaking therapists in Taiwan if it came to that as well as some useful techniques to help with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. (GAD) It was a goal of mine to work on myself and some of the less than pleasant aspects of myself while I am away, so that’s what I’ve been and will continue doing.

•WEDNESDAY: I had a really bad day on Tuesday as a result of me not being able to get out of my bed, I didn’t go to the gym. Since I don’t have class until 4 on Wednesdays, the gym was my #1 priority! I went to grab something small to eat so that I’d be energized for my workout. I lollygagged for about a half hour then went to the gym for 2 hours as usual and had a great workout. Now that I’m talking about, I remember sometime earlier in this week (maybe Monday?) or last week I tried to max out on squats, but again I have a hard time asking for help and I didn’t have a spotter. My legs buckled and I fell backward (you’re supposed to fall forward) so the full 170 lbs. of weight fell on my neck the crashed to the ground. It was really loud, and I just got up super quick because of course everyone was staring, and I wanted to show that I was okay. Despite getting up even though I didn’t know if I was okay, I was, in fact, okay. It was at that time that I learned that if I wanted to get stronger AND be safe, I had to ask a stranger to be my spotter. (which I did later in the week) Sometimes you don’t learn your lesson until your almost paralyze yourself! I would say that’s ok, but it’s not so always asked for a spotter, kiddos. Even strangers in the gym care about your wellbeing. As I said my actual work out on Wednesday was good. I then went back to my dorm took a shower. After that shower I went to a potential class in case the schedule I wanted didn’t work out. There’s no real point into saying much about this class because I didn’t end up actually registering but I thought it was worth a mention. The whole process will be explianed in Week 3 Pt. 2.

• Before the class that I was actually registered for, I decided to check out the activities fair. Unfortunately, the sun was out, and the weather was beautiful on Tuesday- the day that I spent mostly indoors. On Wednesday it was rainy and sad. I decided to check out the activities fair (which as outside) anyways because I’d been talking about potential clubs and activities for weeks because I need something to do with my free time. I looked at cheerleading club, but unfortunately, I had class during practice time, so I didn’t ask for too much information from them. I talked to ballroom dance club, Animal health club, and a children’s camp club. I got some flyers (all in Chinese) that I just sent to my CIEE buddies and they helped to translate them. Ballroom dance is self-explanatory. The Animal Health club goes to veterinary clinics a few times over the course of the semester and helps stray dogs and cats to get neutered and spayed. Help as in actually aid in surgery and recovery. (We love a country that lets untrained students with a simple love of animals, aid in surgical procedures) Their welcome party was next Thursday though, so I had some time for that one. I found out that the kid’s camp club was primarily done over the summer, so I decided to drop that idea because I’m already going to be busy and not even present for the entire summer. I had a good time at the fair and eventually and went to my Social Media and the Digital Narrative class. I didn’t read the reading which actually was not relevant nor necessary to the class that week. We got assigned groups, so I met some people that I haven’t seen outside of class but if I do hopefully I’ll have the guts to say hi. It was boring, I barely paid attention but still rose my hand and said something very general about the one part of the movie that I listened to. This has been working well so far because my professor knows my name (and likes me maybe?) because I participate more than most even though I’m never on task. This trick usually works with most professors in most classes. In my 6 semesters, it has proven to be one of my most useful tools. Wednesday night I went to Ballroom dancing club and had a blast! Took 2.5 hours to learn to short and very simple routines, but idk, you guys might see me on the next season of World of Dance. Derek Hough, I AM COMING FOR YOU.

Me this week as expressed by the one and only: Derek Hough

College tip: DO NOT answer right or wrong questions out loud. (whisper it or tell your friend next to you.) A professor isn’t going to remember that you answered “yes” or a multiple-choice question, or a calculation correctly. If there is a right answer, it is usually expected that you get the right answer. It’s not surprising or impressive. Instead you should participate in discussions: where anything you say will sound insightful. The professor will just build on it or reword it to something similar that makes sense even if what you said had nothing to do with the discussion or is completely incoherent. It’s always a win.

Well this is the end of the beginning of my terrible awful week, but more is on its way!