Since you are all probably dying to get a better idea of what Taiwan looks like, I've decided to devote much of this post to sharing some pictures of my dorm and the sites I visited today.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bed is at least a foot shorter than most American beds, and the mattress is about two inches thick. I slept on top of the comforter too because of how warm it is, so it was pretty comfortable. It's a good thing that I'm not very tall.

 As an explanation of this one, in the dorm electricity must be paid for separately based upon how much is used.  You stick a card that you load money on to like a gift card in this meter on the wall, and as long as you have money on the card you can use the electricity.

This is my bathroom.  Notice the super classy shower curtain. I thought it was pretty resourceful, but I also can't help thinking it's a bit ghetto.

Today we got to meet everyone that is participating in the BACT program, which includes 25 students from the USA, China, and Taiwan, Dr. Thomas Gavin (retired Cornell faculty member) and his wife Robin, the NTU Dean of International Affairs Dr. Hsiao-Wei Yuan, Director Ming-Ju Chen, our main coordinator Mr. Jack Chih-Hsiung Hsu, and several NTU students that are assistant program coordinators.  We began the day with brief introductions of the participants and their respective universities and departments, and an orientation to the course structure and itinerary.  After this, we set out into Taipei to see some touristy sites.

Our first stop was Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.  The two brightly colored buildings on either side of the plaza are theaters for fine/performing arts.  The giant white building with the blue roof is the memorial to President Chiang Kai-Shek.  Inside the hall is an enormous bronze statue of him which reminded me very much of the Lincoln Memorial.  Unfortunately, they were doing renovation work so we were unable to go inside the building.

On our way to our next stop, we walked by the Presidential Hall which was built during the time of Japanese rule in Taiwan.  It is still used today by the presidents of Taiwan.

Our next destination was the National Taiwan Museum.  It is a modestly sized history museum.

The ceiling in the entrance hall of the museum.

These are the statues described above.

 Sake Set

The following are photos from an exhibit on the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan.

The museum also had a temporary exhibit about climate change that included several cases of taxedermied animals that are believed to be effected.

This was another part of the exhibit where kids/people could draw their answers to the questions on the the chalk boards.  We thought the ICE TEA was really cute.

After visiting the museum we went to the Taipei Main Station of the MRT system for lunch.  Even though it is the central metra station, it is also a lot like a mall.  There are several levels of shops, with one floor devoted entirely to food vendors like a really big food court in a mall.  I ate a traditional Taiwanese beef noodle dish that was in a spicy beef broth, and it was delicious.  I even managed to use the chopsticks pretty effectively :)  I also tried the bubble tea, which was iced tea with milk and tapioca balls.  I wasn't a big fan of the tapioca, but the tea itself was good.  It reminded me of iced coffee.  That was the last big adventure for the day.