After Arrival - EAP to do list

Many of the students on EAP are Taiwanese, so there are many-a-relatives to go and see. Personally, my cousin's drove to the airport during the biggest typhoon of the summer to pick me up. If you do not have relatives here, thats ok too!

YOUR NTU BUDDY
NTU assigns a "buddy" or volunteer to help you get things done and even pick you up from TPE airport. If you are lucky, you'll get an incredibly active volunteer who will alway see if you need anything. In some cases (or many cases), the volunteer is very busy and you won't see him/her very often. I actually borrowed someone else's volunteer to get my registration stuff done.

TO DO LIST:

1. Get your room. With the money you were wise enough to get before arriving to Taiwan, $1000 NTD will go to the key deposit. For this process, you need to give the person $1000 NTD, fill out and sign some paperwork, AND give them a passport photo. For girls, the office is on the 9th floor (no guys allowed, not even a dad).

2. Clean your room. The international student dorm is considered the best on campus. Each room has its own air conditioning, so that's incredibly helpful during the humid September. One thing they do not tell you is that when you want to move in... you must clean your own room first. The school does not clean the room for your arrival. In most cases it will be incredibly dusty with some dead/alive bugs because it has not been lived in for 8 months. On average, people spend the first day cleaning.

3. Buy a matress. Yes, you must buy something to put on top of the wood where the bed is. My cousin took me to a supermarket and I spent about $60 US on a very comfortable foam thing. Prices vary and you can get one for as little as $20 US, but remember you'll be sleeping on it for 4 months- a year, so get one you can actually sleep on.

4. Go Register and get your student ID. This is a complicated and tedious process that your volunteer will help you with. It's tedious because you must go to 3 different places, pay for different things, get a stamp at each office, then return to the first one to get your ID. This is when you pay for dorm fees ($7000 NTD), internet fees ($600 NTD), and other misc things you might need to handle. All the forms are in chinese, so if you're like me and can't really read forms, then...again... that's why your volunteer is there. In the end, you need to give the school another passport photo in order to get your ID.
HINT: get registration done on a day when the rest of the regular NTU freshman ARE NOT supposed to come...otherwise...long lines

5. Go out and enjoy Taipei!!! after you get everything done and get unpacked, there is a week of free time before classes start. ENJOY THIS FREEDOM!!! Go everywhere and go crazy. Don't forget to buy a "jie yun" or metro card. Students get a lower rate so flash your ID when you go buy one. It costs $500 NTD (100 for the card, 400 on the card). You'll get the $100 back if you return the metro card before you leave Taiwan. Soooo go out, have fun, and see the sights.

Night Life - clubbing/bars

Clubbing, or going to discos, is a very interesting experience.















1. You're allowed to smoke in the clubs, so by the end of the night you smell HORRIBLE. The stench stays in your hair for 2 days (even with multiple washes).

2. Apparently we americans dance a little differently than the people here. Here everyone dances while facing the stage...even if no one is on the stage... weird, yes. They know you're not from here if you are actually dancing because most of the people I saw weren't moving a ton.

3. The clubs here open til 4ish, so while I'm usually ready to go by 1 or 2 (when US clubs close)... people keep coming in until 2am. If they have a star performance, they usually don't go on until 1am, so be prepared to party.

4. Right now one of the most famous clubs is club Luxy. They're known for their bartenders' performance (fire and all those tricks). Wednesday night is Ladies Night, so girls get in free but you still have to pay for drinks. Guys must pay $600 NTD, or about $18 US, and they get a beer. If you go on a fri or sat, everyone pays $800 NTD, about $25, and you get one drink ticket.
Other clubs to try are Room 18 and Mos...which I'll talk about later.

5. Bars are like clubs except tiny. A 5-10 minute walk from the dorms will get you to VS (Vacuum Space). Its $600 NTD, or $18 US, for all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat. One trick is that they make you use the same cup over and over...so you must finish your previous one or try to find a place to dump it. You need to make reservations if you want a table for the eating...but who wants to eat when there's alcohol and dancing?

6. All bars and clubs have competitions. At Luxy they have a "Hype-the-crowd" type thing where you try to get the most applause. VS has boxing... real genuine go fight someone with gloves boxing... very interesting stuff. I have yet to find out what everyone else does.

7. What to wear - GIRLS - the girls here are tiny, so some of them get pretty scandalous. My definition of scandalous is a bikini top and a very short skirt. Some of my friends wore jeans... bad idea. The clubs are soooo packed and soooo hot that everything'll just stick to you, so wear skirts or something airy. GUYS - they really don't have a dress code. My guy friends wore jeans and tennis shoes and they let them in. (maybe because they're European or maybe because they have no dress code)

Night Life - shopping

Nightlife in Taipei just... ROCKS!!! This is my first time to Taiwan, so I never knew what to expect. Here are some places that are worth going to:
















Xi Men Ding - teenage hangout with a ton of shops/eateries; looks like a mini asian Times Square. You can also take those very very asian booth pictures! It gets crowded around 5pm when all the schools get out, but nevertheless it's worth going to at night.



ShiLing Ye Shi - probably the most famous night market around. I heard it's may be changing locations soon, but wherever it goes, you should follow. This place has it all! if you're looking for cheap anything (except computer stuff) then take some time and "guang" the night markets. They also have little games for kids, but we like to play too. If you want to make your own cd, you can go to a small recording studio, sing, and they'll do the rest (making everything professional looking). Like animals? There's a section just of puppies and etc. Cute but kind of sad.
To eat... there's a ton of those street vendors, but be careful! If you haven't adapted to the food in Taipei, you're basically going to have to rush to the bathroom after every meal. Like my dad says "we americans don't have as strong a stomach as those taiwanese"...

Before departure...

Overpacking is a huge problem for me and for most girls. My friend always says "however much you want to pack, bring half." Unfortunately, I forgot to pay attention to that rule...fortunately Eva Air allows 2 check-ins of 32kg EACH. Go crazy if you like, but since this country has such cheap stuff...spare the big stuff and just buy it over here.

Things you NEED to bring that I personally forgot or didn't bring enough of:

1. MORE passport photos... yes more... and at least 6

2. A pair of close-toed walking shoes for when it rains (I only have my rainbows)

3. Taiwan currency - try to get some beforehand because the airport rips you off

4. "AfterBite" bug medicine - available at REI stores...its a god-send for mosquito bites

5. Bug repellent - make sure you get 23-30% Deet (or higher)...these Taiwanese mosquitoes love american blood

That's what I can think of now, but I'm sure there's more...