first year ✅
- sophia bird
- Jun 9, 2025
- 4 min read
there's really not much to tell but finals is stacked this term – there's a presentation and a paper for each class😭
that being said, i've had some other things happening this last month or so let's get into it
part one: 6 months
we each planned half the date and then played the guessing game the morning of. still bad at ice skating haha. Indian food is becoming a sort of special occasion cuisine and i win with a live jazz bar. they were redoing their website so i couldn't see who was playing but no worries. the bad that night was so goodddd.
part two: job searching
i had gone throuh the application process for a certain english teaching assitant role and got an interview! sadly, after the interview (about 2 weeks), i got rejected. it doesn't make sense to me because i have arguably no accent and I'M A NATIVE SPEAKER. i guess i didn't do well in the interview but who does in a group interview?! i was in a group online meeting with four other applicants and since my designated number was last, i was left with the only question left after the others answered. but twist! they decide near the end that they'll go in reverse order, so i was first. and then no time allotted for questions. just bye and the meeting was closed. they didn't even say when to expect a response.
it's ok tho because my department's coordinator offered me basically social media lead for the department. i'll start after i get back from korea!
part three: traveling
mom and bro are coming to taiwan!! my aunt and cousin are too a few days later! (trying to finish finals soon so i can show them around!)
they've been warned lol
but after...my cousin and i are going to koreaaaaaaa. jeju first for those beach summer vibes and then seoul. i cannot freaking wait!
part four: sport
my school, nccu, had our anniversary and also sports day which both are days off hurray! they had people running in like 33º C weather, direct sun the whole thing tho.
and then sport of my own sort of. i tried squash! seems kinda random, i know, but my bf plays and it's a good workout (2hrs) especially because i don't do a lot of cardio (oops). the courts are like an hour away and i don't totally suck...just can't follow the court line rules right now and to be fair i've only been the once so far. hopefully we'll make it weekly or biweekly
part five: summer of '25
starting in sun moon lake!
so i only have one more class session left and my bf is already finished so we celebrated with a trip to sun moon lake. this lake is in basically geographically in the center of taiwan. afterthought: we thought the weather was going to be so bad but it was wonderful and it was so worse the day we left.
day 1: travel and explore
we took the HSR (high speed rail) to taichung and then took the sun moon lake bus for like an hour and a half. after figuring out the hotel and translating a bunch with the hotel boss, we finally got into the cutest totoro themed room. after we rested a bit, we walked around the left side of the lake and a bunch of stairs up to wenwu temple which honestly is one of the best temple (and gosh i've seen so many). after, we grabbed dinner at the nearby hotel and walked back to get ready for another long day.
day 2: xuanguang wharf, ci'en padogda and yidashao
we got free boat tickets from the hotel (big win) and we took it from the shuishe wharf south to the xuanguang wharf and hiked so far uphill to ci'en pagoda. not sure it was totally the payoff i wanted but it was my pick. sidequest: xuanguang temple and xuanzang temple. i'll just say, i think this trip makes up for skipping leg day hahah.
after, we were starving and grabbed food in yidashao. it's definitely the most tourist wharf and there's a day market that is just a night market vibe because apparently sun moon lake dies after sunset basically. but....we grabbed drinks and went to the hotel terrace where we chatted with other hotel visitors. specifically, tour bus drivers and they were so cute. three friends and they were super excited to chat with foreigners. one even pulled out his phone to do chinese to dutch while i was gone. the weather was only bad this night but the terrace was covered and it was super fun to see the night take over.
day 3: aboriginal village
unfortunately the thao indigenous "had to tourize" their culture and land (presumably to get money. but also to get there we have to ride the beautiful cable cars so yeah we went and wow children are not fazed at all by the rollercoasters and other rides. this is how i feel old.
day 4: travel home (so tireddddd)
we grabbed brekkie and just travel basically all day to find tapei in a freaking storm. all my stuff got soaked despite my umbrella 😭
random stuff: ATM warning, full? moon, a guest speaker, korean food before Sinners, cooking pannenkoeken in another dorm with a slightly functional kitchen, beef curry and SE asian style noodles (reminded me of singapore), lightning and thunderstorm from the roof of my dorm
♡蘇晨
The lake looks so beautiful - another spot I'd love to visit. sounds like such a fun trip for you two! Food looks delicious. Nice green vest ha ha. Love you - Mom.