Days 26-End

Days 26 - 29.  These days are all grouped together due to the small amount of activities done during them.  Day 26 began with research in the labs at Academia Sinica.  The entire rest of the day was spent in my room writing both a paper and the final presentation for the study abroad experience.  The presentation was a combination of our research experiences and our cultural experiences while abroad.  Day 27 was spent presenting our final work in the morning, at an amazing buffet in the evening, and waiting around the hotel for our new rooms in the middle.  The evening buffet dinner was the formal end of program dinner.  It was in a shopping complex on the 12th floor.  The buffet itself was filled with wonderful foods of all different varieties.  Both Western style and Eastern style foods, drinks, and desserts were all available.  The wait staff and cooks made the experience highly enjoyable with their quick and efficient work, and skill and performance on the part of the cooks.  The dinner was a wonderful capstone to an incredible trip.  Day 28 was our final free day before flying home on day 29.  I spent the day shopping near Taipei 101, and was able to find a large assortment of stores both familiar and unfamiliar.  I had a great time exploring the area on my own and made many satisfying purchases. My evening was spent packing and preparing for the long flights home.  I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, as well as beginning the Spring semester in just a few days.  As amazing as this experience has been for me, it was strange to be traveling and not share the experience with my family.  I was able to find them all some great gifts and am very excited to see them all again.

Days 24 & 25 ~ Free Time and National Taiwan University

After arriving in back in Taipei the night before, day 24 was spent resting and catching up on papers and other projects that had been put off during our travels around the island.  I only left my room to order and pick up pizza from Pizza Hut.  Day 25, the beginning of our final week in Taiwan was spent at National Taiwan University listening to research seminars given by graduate students and our program instructor.  We then had a tour of the research labs and went to dinner with the grad students.  A heaping plate of stir fried cabbage and two veggie and pork buns later the group split and a few of us headed back to Shilin Night Market to do some shopping to try and find a few final gifts for friends and family.

Days 22 & 23 ~ More Chemistry, Culture Park, Sun Moon Lake, Taipei

Day 22 was our last day in Taichung.  The entire day was spent in the research labs finishing up the last touches on our chemistry experiments in order to bring them back to Taipei with us.  After saying goodbye to the friends we made in the grad students we worked with, we spent the evening on our own, packing, shopping, and eating at the night market near Tunghai University Campus.  That evening I found a fruit stand loaded with fresh local fruits, and had a great dinner of that only.  On this trip I have had a surprising lack of fruit, especially considering that Taiwan is a tropical island.  After satisfying my fruit cravings, it was a relaxing evening spent packing and preparing for a busy day the next day.  Day 23 was spent traveling back towards Taipei.  On the way we stopped at Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village.  This is the largest Indigenous culture theme park in Taiwan.  We spent a few hours eating food and riding the roller coasters at the park on our way up to the top of the park.  Gondola rides take visitors from the top of the park down to a small lake resort town on Sun Moon Lake.  This is one of the few natural lakes in Taiwan, and was very beautiful.  The lake itself wasn't overly large, and was filled with large boats giving tours and rides to tourists.  The shops surrounding the lake area were the same type of touristy shops seen all over the tourist sites we've previously been to, but it was fun to look and compare prices with the stands in the larger cities.  After a boat tour and American style lunch we were back in the vans for the long drive back to Taipei.  We made one unexpected stop at a large Buddhist temple off the highway on the way to Taipei, but arrived back at our hotel late in the evening, and ended the day with a quick bit of research in the zebrafish labs with our purified and separated chemical extracts.

Days 20 & 21 ~ Chemistry, Night Market, and Acupuncture

The majority of days 20 and 21 were spent in the chemistry labs at China Medical University working to separate and purify fractions of a Chinese herbal extract to be used in later experimentation at the lab back in Taipei at Academia Sinica.  The notable exceptions are the evening of day 20 spent at the night market with students from Tunghai University, as well as an afternoon of acupuncture on day 21.  The night market we went to in Tunghai was less crowded and filled with more food varieties than we saw in Taipei.  Octopus, frozen banana sundaes, and avocado milk were just a few of the many different foods available.  After finding a delicious supper in the night market, many of the students split off to go to a Taiwanese night club.  Instead of going clubbing, I went off with some of the Tunghai students to a popular shopping area closer to campus for some fun conversation and clothes shopping.  The acupuncture on day 21 was a wholly unique experience for me.  Because traditional Chinese medicine is a large part of the culture here, acupuncture therapy had its own bay in the major hospital, something I've never seen before.  Our doctor was able to give us both an overview and demonstration of the specific acupuncture points he would use for specific ailments.  Afterwards he worked with each one of us individually, targeting specific areas of stress or pain.  I suffer from severe and frequent migraines, so I ended up with three acupuncture needles in my head, two in my neck, and one in my arm.  The placement of each of these needles is precise and careful.  I was surprised at the distinct lack of pain I felt.  From watching other students I could see that the needles he used were extremely small, thin, and sharp.  This allowed for needles to be inserted quite far into the body without causing any pain or severe discomfort.  I only felt pressure with the needles in my body.  And while I am often skeptical of traditional medicines and favor Western medicine, I must admit that after the acupuncture therapy, the targeted areas felt significantly less tense and stressed.  Overall my first experience with acupuncture proved to be an interesting and enlightening one, and I will definitely consider it in the future for potential ways to avoid a migraine.

Days 18 & 19 ~ China Medical University, Tea, and Calligraphy

Day 18 began with a visit to China Medical University (CMU) about an hour bus ride from Tungahi University in Taichung.  We were introduced to the instructors and graduate students we would be doing research with, as well as were given an introduction into Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) through both one of the professors at the university and through the TCM museum on the campus.  After an extensive tour of the museum, we had dim sum dinner with the professors from CMU.  Dim sum is a meal style involving many small dishes and finger foods served with tea.  Everything from meat buns to chicken feet were placed on our table.  With excellent service and savory dishes, my first dim sum experience was a very pleasant one.  The next day began with tea and calligraphy classes taught by an instructor at Tunghai U.  Our instructor made the whole experience a very calming and relaxing one with both his quiet demeanor and deliberate actions as well as the incense burning and music playing in the room.  We tried three different varieties of Oolong tea grown in Taiwan all steeped and poured in the traditional style.  After we drank the tea, the calligraphy demonstration began.  Our instructor started by demonstrating how to hold the brush and create the different brush strokes.  He then set us free to try it on our own.  Calligraphy was very difficult for all of us, our writings looking like a child's first attempt.  The brush was surprisingly difficult to use, and the different stroke styles were difficult to create.  None of us had the spatial awareness required to write a balanced character.  The entire afternoon and evening was spent in the labs at CMU working on chemistry experiments.  We worked with Linda, a student studying cosmetic chemistry.  

Days 16 and 17 ~ Kenting National Park, Ocean, Tunghai

Day 16 began with a guided tour of Kenting National Park in the very southernmost tip of Taiwan.  We made various stops along the way to see famous geological landmarks and historical sites within the park.  Because the national park has been established only recently, there are small villages and even a nuclear power plant within the park boundaries.  At the very southernmost tip of the island stands a bright white lighthouse surrounded by walls and a steep ditch.  This is the only guarded lighthouse in the world, and was established in 1883 by the Qing Dynasty.  The walls were built to prevent raids by local aboriginal tribes. After our tour of the park, we went snorkeling at a local reef.  I have never been snorkeling, but the experience was definitely something I would do again.  The fish were beautiful, darting in and out of small tunnels in the reef.  We even saw an octopus sleeping in its hole.  After snorkeling, we headed to the local beach for some time in the sand.  Its winter in Taiwan right now, but our whole group was so excited to see the ocean that we jumped right in.  We were the only people in the water. After watching the sunset on the beach, we stopped by a local fruit stand for coconut juice straight from the fruit, and then we were off to dinner at a wonderful restaurant called Bossa Nova.  The food and atmosphere were both excellent.  Day 17 was spent driving north to Taichung city, specifically Tunghai University.  That evening we met the students in the Zebrafish lab our instructor has connections to, and had dinner at a hot pot restaurant with them.

Day 15 ~ Research Aquarium Tour, Paintball, and Hotspring

Day 15 began with a tour of the research facility and specimen library at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium near Pingtung.  We were able to go behind the scenes and view the coral-growing tanks and strategies, as well as the different animals studied by the scientists at the aquarium.  We were able to see three different sea turtles of varying age being held in the aquarium for medical purposes, as well as surgeon fish and grouper being studied for research purposes.  We were also able to view the coral dividing and growing sections of the aquarium.  We then moved to the specimen library portion of the aquarium tour.  The building was filled with all varieties of rare and exotic sea life.  With the afternoon free, we spent a few hours playing paintball before heading to a hot spring in the area.  This hot spring had three special pools, two filled with Chinese medicinal herbal extracts, and the third filled with small pedicure fish.  This pool was kept colder than the others to allow the fish to thrive.  The fish would swarm any feet that were placed in the pool, rushing to dinner.  Their mouths felt like rough patches of sandpaper gently and quickly tickled against your feet.