Day 8

6:30PM
Since I’m on the bus for awhile this is probably a good time to update my blog. Today started with a visit to Tunghai University. I thought it was really cool that this was the University that our Professor attended. The campus was beautiful and the people were so nice. We got to attend two lectures: one on the history of Taiwan and the other on the economic state of the country. Both lectures were very interesting and educational. I feel like I have a better understand on how Japan and China have shaped Taiwan. Its interesting how the Republic of China (Taiwan) is having a cultural identity crisis. You can still see the Japanese roots, but there is so much Chinese culture that it’s hard to define Taiwan without referencing these cultures. We learned about the languages and how some people cannot even communicate because the language is so different. The lecture on the economy also gave some interesting GDP statistics. I thought it was remarkable that the population is almost exactly half male and half female. The labor statistics were also interesting to compare to what we are familiar with.
After the two lectures it was lunch time. I picked the waffles with tuna fish off the menu…odd, but good. Following lunch we got an opportunity to tour the campus. I found the Christian influence strong which surprised me. I also was intrigued by the girl’s dorm rooms which were guarded by a tall wall topped with barbed wire and shards of glass. Our tour guide explained that they used to have issues with industrial workers sneaking in and causing some serious problems so the created this barrier to stop them.
Several of the students from THU got on the bus with us and took us to an ice cream shop. The campus has its own cows and agricultural center. It looked delicious, but I didn’t want to risk eating any more food.
Next we were taken to the Central Taiwan Science Park. A science park is government owned land that they lease to companies. To incentivize companies to come to the park they offer a five year tax evasion. This encourages foreign direct investment. The land used to be a sugar company, but has transitioned from agricultural to industrial. The location of the park is easily accessible by land, air or water. After an informative power point presentation we were given a bus tour of the park. It had some really good views. The THU students gave us some bubble tea as a refreshment. I’m a huge bubble tea fan, but that wasn’t very good tea.
We said goodbye to the THU students and stopped into a store that was like a Wal-mart. A lot of people bought new luggage because we have been given so many souvenirs and gifts. I’m holding out in hopes I can get all my stuff home, or at least have someone take some of my stuff back. Instead of McDonalds again some of us had PB&J on the bus. At least my stomach was ok with that!
Now we are going to Li Yuan Hotel where we will stay for three nights. That means we have to unpack the bus-that’s going to be interesting because we have piles of stuff. Later some of us are planning on trying to go back the dance club we failed at last time. I’ll try and update after the club (if we get in!).
9:20PM
Plan B-club on Sunday. The bus ride took a lot longer than expected and tomorrow is packed. We had better get a little sleep now. Night!

9:45PM

Apparently all my photos are ruined from today:( I dont know what happend, but they all have some sort of error and have lines through them:(