Em <3

Being an adult is hard; especially in a brand new city!

This is me adjusting to my "responsible life" in Taipei

Wow, what a country first of all. The scenes of the mountains reaches the sea are breathtaking.

Everyday, I’m finding something new to do in this city, and country- I have a whole list of things to do and things to try but I can’t seem to feel accomplished.

At the start, the change of environment was hard. I was really struggling with my everyday life; I felt disconnected (not in the trending “Oh I deactivated Facebook” kinda way) like I was just getting up, going to school, and going to sleep. That wasn’t even happening, it was all in my head. Danielle and I are always going to see cool places, but sometimes adapting to a new environment brings out weird dwelling thoughts…. I would actually dwell a lot about all the things I was missing back home- that maybe this was too much for me, maybe I wasn’t ready. After a huge blow out- I decided to breathe and stop being so hard out myself and give this country a real shot. I begun taking my time here day by day.

AND NOW, I can say I am feeling like a happy Taiwanese girl. I have a daily routine and even some new friends. It’s nice that they can take me out and show me around. There’s so much to do and so much to see. I would have never gotten to experience this at home. I know everything has it’s ups and downs, and at the start change can seem really scary and put a certain image in your head. I’m very lucky that I have people in my life to help me feel grounded when I feel like I’m free falling.

Right now, a few of my favourite things here are boiled food, bubble tea, and sushi express! (which are all located a 2 minute walk from my apartment!)

I don’t think people in our neighbourhood are used to having foreigners around. We are kinda “famous” on our street. We get lots of hellos from the locals at their food stands. Maybe they just want to practice their English or maybe they just want us to come and buy from there, but I appreciate them- they are very nice and they make this place feel more “homey”.

On a more serious note- (only slightly), a couple of weeks ago, I got sick. I know, getting sick away from home sucks. Especially when you’re a big baby like myself- MAA THE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP. I had to go to the hospital, luckily, I had my boss and Danielle come for support and translation. It was a super easy process; the hospital was very nice and the service fees and prescriptions were very reasonable. If ever you’re feeling uncomfortable and sick, I would recommend you going to the doctor’s- I think one of the reasons I struggled at the beginning was because I was feeling sick and I put off seeing the doctor for tooo long, and I could have been better way sooner!

I’m learning more about myself and about this city everyday. I’m doing things outside my comfort zone - and making plenty of new friends. Taiwanese people are very nice, they give you a smile, and usually offer help finding places when you’re lost/confused. (This one guy helped us search for stain remover for like 10 minutes in the 24 hour store LOL- we did find it after awhile…) We even hitchhiked once because we were lost and this cute couple picked us up and drove us back to the train station/beach.

I’m sorry, this didn’t really cover too much of what I learnt about Taipei- it got a little personal and covered my feelings towards the change of location. I thought I should mention that moving abroad isn't all rainbows and butterflies- you have your hard times, and you miss your real home but at the end of the day, this is where I wanna be, discovering myself in a new city with the same girl by my side.

So, leave me a comment, positive vibes only