Flight and Arrival in Taipei: Week 1

Thursday, August 22With some morning stress—I didn’t manage to pack everything the night before—I take the train from Kiel to Frankfurt in the morning. With two backpacks and a travel bag, I am quite heavily loaded and already notice as I set off: I’ll need to turn the travel bag into a suitcase in Frankfurt...

Unfortunately, I miss my connection in Hamburg and have to take a later ICE train. A lucky coincidence: there I meet Alena, who is traveling to Taiwan with me and whom I was actually supposed to meet at the airport the next day.

The train journey to Frankfurt goes smoothly from Hamburg, and Valerie and Dad pick me up from the train station in Frankfurt. We arrange to meet Mom, buy a rolling suitcase and a few last travel essentials, and then take my luggage to the hostel. Once that’s done, we head out in search of dinner and stumble upon a restaurant with— as it turned out to be very delicious—dishes from various African countries. After the evening walk, during which we get a bit lost, I say goodbye to my family one last time: I’m so glad you three accompanied me to Frankfurt! ❤️

Friday, August 23

After 5 hours of sleep, I set off early to be at the airport in time for my flight at 11:20 AM. Buying the suitcase has definitely paid off, because while I still have a lot to carry, the comfort has significantly increased!

At the airport, I meet Alena again. Everything is going very calmly since there are still quite few people at the airport at 8 in the morning, and we have plenty of time to relax a bit before the flight.

Since it’s my first time flying, almost everything that happens at the airport is very interesting to me, and I slowly realize that I will be in Taiwan in half a day. The 12 hours of flight time go by much faster than I expected, and with the sunrise, we land in Taipei shortly before 7 AM Taiwan time. We will stay there for a week and then continue to Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan where we will study.

Saturday, August 24The international airport is located outside the Taiwanese capital almost directly by the sea. Therefore, we drive for a while until we reach our hostel in the center. We continually pass through greenery: Taipei is surrounded by forest, reaching right to the city’s edge.

Since we can’t check into the hostel yet, we leave our luggage there and begin to explore the city despite the jet lag. The Tamsui River, which forms the border between Taipei and New Taipei, seems like a good destination. However, even despite the palms there, we can hardly escape the heat. It’s no surprise, but now we feel it ourselves: Taiwan is in the tropics, during the day it’s always over 30 degrees and significantly over 20 degrees at night.

Accordingly, we are quite happy when we can finally check into the hostel and lie down in our beds! In the evening, we grab something to eat at one of the many night markets nearby and then go to sleep.

Sunday, August 25After experiencing the midday heat on Saturday, it’s clear to us that we have to go indoors at noon, or we won’t withstand it! That means, it’s museum time.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art, we visit an exhibition about the #MeeToo movement in Taiwan and learn that unfortunately, sexual violence is a reality for many women and inter and trans persons here as well. We also find a lot of abstract art in this museum.

After successfully avoiding the midday heat, we first check out the former Northern Gate of the city, then eat till full at a very cheap and equally delicious soup, and finally familiarize ourselves with the Taipei Main Station, from which we will travel to Kaohsiung next week.

To end the day, we visit the 101 Tower, which gets its name from the number of its floors. From this huge tower, we have a wonderful view over the city and let the damper babies explain how the tower is secured against the frequent earthquakes in Taiwan. A large metallic damper (in English, damper) has been installed there to counteract the vibrations of the tower.

Finally, as we leave the tower, we encounter two musicians playing their saxophones to create a good atmosphere. (Unfortunately, I can’t upload the video here :/)

Observations of daily life in Taiwan:The majority of people are incredibly kind and helpful. For example, I had a problem with my subway ticket, and a woman immediately approached me and told me I could get help at the counter next door.