A week of exploring

I know, I haven't been that good at posting, but I finally have some post worthy content! This week I have visited and explored many new places around the island! I'll start with my Saturday adventure, which was visiting Sun Moon Lake!

Sun Moon Lake was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't believe how clear and blue the water was! Plus, it felt really nice to get away from the city and just be in nature again. It was really nice to spend the day here with my host parents and two of my wonderful friends, Assmah and Beatriz!

We took a boat across the lake, hiked through the surrounding forests, and ate the most delicious honey dew melon I have ever eaten! The only thing that freaked me out was that sometimes when hiking I would look up and see the largest, freakiest spiders I have encountered thus far. Those who know me know that I have an extreme fear for these eight-legged creatures, so I happily stayed my distance from them as we explored. It was a beautiful day on the lake, and I'm happy I could spend it in the wonderful company of my host family and friends!

And now onto the next adventure of the week! This week I was lucky enough to participate in trip with my school classmates! I spent three days with them in Kaohsiung and other places throughout the island! It was so much fun to hang out with my classmates, and I was able to practice my Chinese and really make connections with them!
The trip started on Monday with a long bus ride down to the southern part of the island. Once there, we visited our first amusement park, E-Da Theme Park. It was kinda strange for me though for several reasons. First of all, it was modelled after Greece and even had a portion modelled after Santorini, so not something I would expect to see in Taiwan. Second of all, it was so warm and sunny, and yet they were playing Christmas songs throughout the entire park. However, it was so much fun going to all the rides with my classmates and getting to chat with them.
On the second day of the trip, we took the buses down to the coast where we walked along the beach and several old streets. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I got to eat some good food. Then, in the afternoon, we drove up to Tainan and Anping. Anping had some pretty cool history. It used to be the biggest port city in Taiwan when the Dutch were still here.
On the last day, we made our way further up north on the island to another amusement park, Janfusun Fancy World. There were more rollercoasters at this one, and I was able to get my friends to join me on them! The weather was cloudier and cooler that day, but I hardly noticed it as I bounced to and from all the attractions.

I am so grateful I was able to participate in the class trip. I got to drive down the entire western side of the island. Driving through Taiwan is so different from driving across the state of Idaho, and I loved the change of scenery! I loved being able to spend some time with my classmates outside of school to get to know them better and to practice my Chinese. This week has truly been a blast, and I am thankful to have these opportunities to see more of the world!