First week of Taipei: courses, partying and Lihong proving cultural sensitivity

More than one week has already passed since my arrival here in Taiwan and so much has happened since.
I met lots of people - including lots of German guys actually. It seems the Germans are invading something here. But mostly I hang out with my Berliner friends Tanja, Sascha and Anker (Karls new Chinese name - I like to switch between calling him Anker and Kuang), as it is always lots of fun to hang out with them. I didn't get to know too many Taiwanese people yet - but I'm working on it.

Now to some first experiences at my new university:
My universities campus is really pretty - comparable to UC San Diegos - very spacious and lots of palm trees :-) love that!
On the weekend there were many events for the new incoming students including a campus tour, orientation, concert and student club fair. Especially the student club was very interesting: There must be literally hundreds of clubs with the most diverse topics imaginable - fairytale club, cocktail club, military club, meditation club, rockclimbing club, Christian bible club etc. etc. Wanna join them all :D
I also had my first classes this week. In one class on Tuesday we were told that the course would take place on Saturdays instead - awesome! I'll drop that!
I'll probably take courses in Microeconomics, Applied Macroeconomics, Introduction to Eastern Philosophy, Exploring Taiwan: natural environment and resources (we go to te zoo! :D) and of course an intense Chinese class. Hope it's not going to be too much work...

student club fair on the campus

hip hop club performance

On Sunday I have been to a local club with the lovely name babe18 together with some other exchange students. It was quite cool - overall not that different to European clubbing though. However it seems that you often get free drinks after paying a relatively high cover charge here.

partying in Taipei with Tanja and Sascha

I also got a chance to prove my extensive cultural sensitivity: After talking with a Taiwanese girl about stinky tofu ("of course all Taiwanese like stinky tofu - it's so delicious") we went to a nearby convenience store to get something to drink. It was a branch of family mart. At family mart, whenever someone enters or leaves the door, this melody comes up (Listen!). I think it is really really annoying and whenever I hear this melody, I can't get it out of my head for the rest of the day -.-  So I told her that if I had to work as a cashier in one of these, I would go mad after a while and run amok. Aaand that the reason for the Taiwanese people enjoying stinky tofu must be that they got brain damaged from the family mart melody!
After that she seemed a bit distanced and said something about arrogant Germans... whoopsy^^
But if you would smell stinky tofu and get to listen this stupid family mart music all the time - I bet you'd feel the same!

Topic change: It's sooo hot here! I was really looking forward to going here to escape the German winter but these days it's even to much for me. I'm always sweating and not I single time here did I get the usually common Lino-idea "yeah lets go out to enjoy the sunshine!".

you see those wet parts on my shirt? Comes from the strenuous effort of sitting in my room

What doesnt improve matters, is that we have some kind of prepaid electricity card for our dorm room that tells you exactly how much electricity/money you've consumed. So I always feel like I have to save energy! "Okay, I'll turn on the air conditioner - but only for 5 minutes!"
Therefore even though I have a high tech air conditioner, I end up sitting in my room and sweating all the time -.-
Feeling a bit ashamed, I have to admit that I am looking forward to the Taiwanese winter (~15 degree).

Some last impressions of live in Taipei:

Kuang said, this fountain would remind him of something impure...

Vegetarian food from a vast Buddhist restaurants buffett! Sooo good! (this meal is about 1€)
Tofu is so much better here

Can you feel the joy? :D
Here, Anker ate some "Chinese medicine" I really recommend you to have a look at his food blog, where he describes his experience in some detail!
In general you should follow his blog if you are interested in Taiwanese food!