D0 & D1

hi everyone! welcome to my blog! i’ve never blogged before, so please bear with me and enjoy the ride.

travel day! SEA -> SFO -> TPE

my connecting flight to SFO to meet the other capstone students was early. not to mention i had to bring half a million documents to get through traveling during covid. naturally, that meant i didn’t get too much sleep with my mind running through all the lists for the nth time.

on the big day, i woke up to chai (my favorite) and a breakfast sandwich to start the fuel for a ~20 hr travel day. the whole squad headed up to seatac and with the six of us, i managed to show all the correct documents, rearrange suitcases to meet weight restrictions and get checked in.

security was a breeze and i got to my gate with plenty of time to spare. i updated the group chat with the 老師們 (teachers) and 同學們 (other students) and one 老師 really wanted a selfie – documentation of the journey i guess. i’m was just waiting to board when someone approached and asked “sophia, right?” even though we’d never met before, we recognized each other as fellow classmates. he’s from UW and didn’t expect anyone else out of seatac. we chatted for a bit and after a smooth, and really full flight, we meet up again to find our next flight in SFO's international terminal.

we walked the length of SFO to the international terminal and found two other students who are also in the program. with ~4 hours to fill, we chat (english and chinese), search for food and snacks for the next ~14 hr leg of the journey. eventually, all 12 of us arrive at SFO and after showing another combination of documents, we are allowed to board the flight to taiwan. it was quite empty and many of us had entire rows to ourselves.

besides being the longest flight i've been on, the flight was pretty generic. we did hit turbulence a number of times. the kind that feels a bit like a rollercoaster and your stomach drops. the kind that mom especially doesn’t like 😂 but i kind of enjoy. some other students also enjoy it, while others said it never crossed their minds. i slept early in the flight which translates to morning taiwan time and stayed up the rest of the flight. hopefully that will help me avoid jet lag. unfortunately, the cabin lights were left low and windows were encouraged to be closed. i did sneak a few peeks and for a long time, the view from the was just a wash of clouds but later, i caught sunset and a beautiful, clear night peppered with stars. if i had a nickel for every time i wished my iphone camera could capture stars, i’d be rich!

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touching down to a rainy and foggy/cloudy taoyuan international airport. we were directed to an empty gate waiting area and greeted by many people in full on white PPE, masks, face shields, blue booties. truly a sight to see. were called up by passport number for a covid testing number and they efficiently got samples for the entire plane. it was the worst kind – the one that feels like they hit brain. we then wait about 30 mins for our results. once the results were in, we were collected by airport personnel who walked us through the rest of the process. despite their help, the airport was very chaotic, so i can only imagine how it would have been if we were left to do it alone. finally, after SIM cards, filling out another entry form, declaring that we don't have meat and customs, we were led to waiting taxis.

the taxis system was like a well oiled machine. thanks to all the information we provided earlier, they already new our destination. a set of 5 or so taxis would pull up and their drivers grabbed their "assignments" and disinfected us and our luggage (even the bottom of our shoes!). on the taxi ride from taoyuan to taipei, i caught glimpses of the city and forest. i can't wait to see it in the daylight!

arriving at the hotel, the scanned our entry form again, remotely opened our door and sent us up. as soon as i got in, i just wanted to go to bed, but i had yet to check in with the group chat and gather online to go through how to do the self health reporting. there was some internet issues, so sleep didn't come for another two hour or so. at least dinner was waiting for me :)

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i woke up this morning all ready to do my self reporting but somebody sent our information to the wrong place, so the chats were buzzing all morning trying to resolve that. finally, we are getting much needed down time before official meetings and class start tomorrow. i am appreciating the break now, but lets see how quickly this room gets old. especially with the lack of lighting in the room and the view being an apartment building only an alley away.

unexpected things so far: - full on PPE for airport workers and taxi drivers

- no one other than passengers on our plane and airport workers in the airport

- full jetted tub, heated toilet seat and bidet, but a cold hotel room

- landline phone right next to the toilet

- all electronics i might touch in the hotel are wrapped in plastic

thanks ya'll for reading ～

♡蘇晨

sunrise on the way to SFO

taiwan spring cohort

on the way over the pacific

coming into TPE

coming into TPE

dinner waiting for me!

my view for 14 days

lunch day 1