woah! i'm in taiwan!

listen, i promise i really tried to put stuff out like 2-3 weeks ago but this whole designing a website thing is no joke. i genuinely still have no idea what i'm doing but i'm going to at least try to put something out there every week or more. anyways, hello! welcome to my blog. i started this because i'm pretty sure that it was required by one of the scholarship that i received for my study abroad in taiwan, but i've decided that i want to make it a little more fun. so here you go, my first blog post:

memories of a day trip with my roommates to Dan Shui <3

20+ hours of traveling

i honestly didn't do much before preparing for my trip, which was ill-thought-out on my part; nevertheless, i made it! i took about three hours to pack all my things to make sure i didn't die in the heat and humidity in taipei. the airport was fine, and my first flight wasn't too bad, but the next fourteen hours from san franscisco to taoyuan were genuinely some of the longest of my entire life. the academic program i'm with wasn't able to pick me up until the next day, so i spent the night in a capsule hotel, and it was honestly really nice. i would 100% recommend it to anybody who is on a tighter budget when solo-traveling or if you don't care for a bunch of amenities. the hotel had a complimentary tea station for you to relax at after getting off your flight. take a peek..

i got settled in after a while but realized how hungry i was, and unfortunately, it was 11:00 PM, and everything at the airport was closed, except a very convenient 7/11. i didn't learn until i moved into my apartment in taipei, but these convenience stores are literally crazy; you can do virtually anything you need to there. and the best part is that you can always find one (honestly within one to two minutes of you stepping out your front door)

things you can do at taiwanese convenience stores:

• buy things to eat, drink, use (household, cosmetic, stationery, games, tech accessories, etc.)

• withdraw money from ATMs and pay for taxes, bills, and any fines you may incur.

• find live events and book tickets for them and their transportation

• get a taxi called for you

• print anything you want and have it mailed right there!

moving to taipei | settling in

i honestly still have so much to write about, and i have to figure out how I'm going to manage fitting it into all of these blog posts, but my experience has been amazing so far, and i'm super excited for everything that's yet to come. taipei feels like such a big city sometimes, and i often feel disconnected from it just because of its vastness at times. however, i don't want that to stop me from exploring the city and trying new things out of fear.

thanks for coming on this journey with me!

sincerely,

celeste