Registering for Classes/first few days in Tainan

Yea so I'm trying to think of the interesting things that has happened since my last blog and the first thing that comes to mind is the crazy traffic. I may have mentioned it before, but there is no "pedestrian has the right away" here. I feel like I'm playing frogger and just crossing my fingers as scooters and cars pass in front and behind me not letting off the gas. They break every rule imaginable and they do have laws, but its understood as a norm to just get where the hell you need to go however possible. Even if that means drive down the side walk.

Well Clark and I were able to register for classes yesterday. My sleep pattern is getting better because I first woke up at 3am the first morning, then 5:40 the 2nd night and finally 7:30 this morning. I was also able to get another mattress/cushion to sleep on so its not as if I'm laying on a shortened pool table. Anyways we walked to the middle of campus to the You-Ping administrative building to get started with our paper work and Adam was already working to assist other students coming into the program. Well I started pulling out my paper work and came to my passport photo copy which was not there (I have feeling its laying on a table back home on the game room) so I had to run back to my dorm to get my passport and have it photo copied to turn in. This was not just a trip across the street to my dorm. At a steady paced jog to a fast walk in all it took about 15-20 mins of running through the extremely humid weather to get back drenched in sweat and almost forget to take off my shoes when entering the office. They required 2 passport photos which I had, but I knew the registrar’s office where I had to make my next stop at or the place where they verified my notarized photo copy of my diploma.

Clark and I then set out to find a place to get our picture taken and found one a few stores down from the 7-11 where we had to pay our other tuition fees not included in the free tuition. Yea I know it sounds really sketchy, but when I presented the forms they knew exactly what to do and I was in and out in just a couple minutes. The photo copy store guy had two dogs in there, one that growled at me and another miniature collie that loved me and I felt it had never had someone actually play with him just from seeing the excitement on his face. Or he could have been really surprised to see a white person, im just glad he wasn't racist.

well we had to wait till 2pm to pick our photos back up so we had a couple hours to just hang out so Clark and I just came back to the room where we sat down and studied the Rosetta stone cd for an hour until my head was about to explode. Well we took care of all our paper work for the day and the registering for classes where they just sent an email this morning saying we could not waive the accounting, statistics, and economic classes we have already taken in undergrad and transfer credit, but they will be able to exempt them, meaning we would just have to pick 3 other classes to replace them. My friend Nick Huang who goes here that I met through Facebook a while back said he was able to transfer his credits and will work on helping me get them passed if possible.

So out of that there are two things that will possibly happen. If they truly won't let me waive the classes (Note: I am planning on majoring in IT and strategic management) then I will take 3 classes under the International marketing major and try to double major which needs 3 classes for the major or each major has to have 3 major courses other than the original core courses. The second thing this means is since I have to take 3 extra courses then I will have to do those next summer meaning I may not be able to come home or at least for the amount of time I was expecting. So that is the main problem with that because if the possibility that I may be gone for a full 2 years.

Off that topic and to a happier note, yesterday Jennifer and Adam took us to dinner, but on the way they took me to a shoe store where I was able to get some running shoes to train/workout in. I’m not sure the name of the little restaurant it was just a small one down one of the alleys. I got pork with rice which was delicious and since Adam and Jennifer said their drinks were not very good, they went down the street to another store and got us some iced milk tea (which sounds gross, but is very good). We came back to our dorm and Jennifer brought a bottle of red wine with her and we stopped in the 7-11 so we could all get a beer and I also got the new extra mattress for my bed. We just hung out listening to music and looked at more pictures from home. Adam’s (I’m not sure I mentioned is about 5'3 105lbs) 12oz Heineken and one little paper cup of red wine had him trashed. I had 2 of my 34oz monster Kirin canned beers and a class of wine and felt fine. It was a good way to break the ice in Taiwan. Adam and Jennifer both made it home safe as I told him to Instant message me when he made it which I was scared he wouldn't be able to even ride his bike. The drinking age is 18 here and Adam is 19 so don’t think I’m giving alcohol to minors when you see the picture of him.

Anyways that’s it for today and I have orientation starting tomorrow. I heard we are supposed to go to a Uni Lions baseball game and have a special time where we get to walk out on the field during the game break. The Lions baseball team is the #1 pro team in Taiwan as I am told. So I look forward to seeing more of the campus and I’ll be sure to keep you updated.