So I've been in Taiwan for a week now, and really not a whole lot has happened. During the week, I stay in Hsinchu at the NTHU dorms. Funny, I think I got the worst dorm on campus. One of the people who works for the university told me that it's gonna get torn down soon, hahaha. Anyways, it's pretty ghetto compared to my old dorm back at UT. It's roughly half the size (maybe a little less), dingy floor, no sink, no A/C, mosquitoes like crazy, and the closet and drawers are all naaaasty (so I keep almost everything in my suitcase). Oh yea, and the dorm internet is a huuuuuuuge pain in the butt to set up (; I still don't have it figured out yet- working on it).
Anyways, so as expected, this "research" gig turned out to be kinda ennnhhh. My supervising professor was like, "yea, I wouldn't expect you to be able to get much done in a month, so feel free to just take it easy if you like." And he gave me this research article to read that was waaaaay over my head. I met some of the grad students in the lab I can use if I want; I don't remember anyone's names though (I'm always pretty bad with names, but Chinese names are like 10 times harder to remember than English ones). Oh yea, and my supervising professor basically told me I don't need to meet with him all the time, so it's been pretty uneventful. I don't think I'm cut out for this self-paced stuff. It reminds me of dead week before exams, when you're supposed to be studying, but you just end up wasting time. (I finished off the anime series Peacemaker Kurogane in like 3 days while sitting around in my dorm- it sucked; you keep expecting something cool to happen, but it never really does.) But yea, seriously, I just wake up and lie in bed for a couple hours cuz I don't really have anywhere to go or anything (important) to do. I checked out some technical (text) books from the library, but I've been making pretty slow progress.
I dunno, maybe it's the heat/humidity, but this general feeling of ennui/lethargy/[malaise] settles over me here, and I'm just not in the mood to do anything. That probably also helps to explain the lying in bed for hours at a time- just cuz I don't particularly feel like moving or anything.
But yea, I might be doing some volunteer work at the Writing Center correcting people's papers written in English and whatnot. Doesn't exactly sound fun, but it should at least give me something to do that feels even remotely meaningful.
I haven't really met very many people here. I mostly keep to myself. Mike, that I met in Boston a couple years back, is here doing a real research project. And I met two other ABC's: Rob & Annie. These three provide me with like the only real human interaction I get here. Well, the only conversation longer than 5 words, I should say. But yea, it's so hard meeting the natives- doing the whole introduction thing and whatnot. Oh well, all this quiet time leads to plenty of introspection, I suppose.
Anyways, so as expected, this "research" gig turned out to be kinda ennnhhh. My supervising professor was like, "yea, I wouldn't expect you to be able to get much done in a month, so feel free to just take it easy if you like." And he gave me this research article to read that was waaaaay over my head. I met some of the grad students in the lab I can use if I want; I don't remember anyone's names though (I'm always pretty bad with names, but Chinese names are like 10 times harder to remember than English ones). Oh yea, and my supervising professor basically told me I don't need to meet with him all the time, so it's been pretty uneventful. I don't think I'm cut out for this self-paced stuff. It reminds me of dead week before exams, when you're supposed to be studying, but you just end up wasting time. (I finished off the anime series Peacemaker Kurogane in like 3 days while sitting around in my dorm- it sucked; you keep expecting something cool to happen, but it never really does.) But yea, seriously, I just wake up and lie in bed for a couple hours cuz I don't really have anywhere to go or anything (important) to do. I checked out some technical (text) books from the library, but I've been making pretty slow progress.
I dunno, maybe it's the heat/humidity, but this general feeling of ennui/lethargy/[malaise] settles over me here, and I'm just not in the mood to do anything. That probably also helps to explain the lying in bed for hours at a time- just cuz I don't particularly feel like moving or anything.
But yea, I might be doing some volunteer work at the Writing Center correcting people's papers written in English and whatnot. Doesn't exactly sound fun, but it should at least give me something to do that feels even remotely meaningful.
I haven't really met very many people here. I mostly keep to myself. Mike, that I met in Boston a couple years back, is here doing a real research project. And I met two other ABC's: Rob & Annie. These three provide me with like the only real human interaction I get here. Well, the only conversation longer than 5 words, I should say. But yea, it's so hard meeting the natives- doing the whole introduction thing and whatnot. Oh well, all this quiet time leads to plenty of introspection, I suppose.
posted by Dear Daniel at 2:44 AM
1 Comments:
glad to see your summer's been going the way mine is... haha minus the small room, dingy floor, lack of sink, lack of air conditioning, and probably a few less mosquitoes. the internet is probably the same though. =) yeah there's definately a lower standard of living in taiwan than over here in the states. but yeah, just dropping by to say "hi" and reminding you to eat some tasty foods while you're there so you can tell me all about it! hehe. ciao!
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