This is a long one (that's what she said)!

Sorry that I haven't blogged in a couple days, but we've been crazy busy! We haven't had too much class the last two days, but we've gone out as a group a lot. On Wednesday, a few of us decided to go to a place called "The Burger House." They serve American-styled burgers and fries. It was great to have a taste from home!

Last night, we all went out to a karaoke bar (Holiday KTV). Karoake is awesome here. As a group, you rent an entire room for a few hours. The room has a karaoke machine with 3 mics, a private bathroom, and access to an all you can eat buffet. The room cost $7843 NTD, or about $250 US dollars. We had soooo much fun. I will be putting video up on Facebook within a couple days time.

Today was filled with excursions! We went to the National Palace Museum (really boring). I love museums, but this one was pretty lame (did I mention it was boring?). We weren't allowed to have backpacks or camera's (pointless, and boring). I did get a few cool gifts from the souvenir shop though (only reason the trip was not a complete waste of time).

Then, we went to Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is the world's second tallest building (1,671 ft) with the world's second fastest elevator (55.22 ft/s or 37.7 mi/h). It was incredible! We went to the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor (Jeremy and Nick pushed me to overcome my fear of heights...mild success)! On the indoor observation deck (89th floor), you could feel the building swaying back and forth in the wind (this is normal, because the stress due to wind would cause the steel frame to collapse if it wasn't allowed to adjust). There is a large, yellow, ball-like contraption that prevents the tower from swaying too much in any one direction.



We finished the day up at Chiang Kai-shek Square. There are some very traditional-looking buildings there, and the square is beautiful. I have tons of pictures, which I will also be uploading at some point.

When we're not in class, on a tour, or out to eat, we are usually found at the outdoor fitness center. We've been playing volleyball for about 2 hours per day since Wednesday. Yesterday, I took a nasty hit to the bend in my right arm, and now I have a really nasty bruise there. Furthermore, my entire right forearm is essentially a bruise, so I'm glad we didn't play today and aren't playing tomorrow; I need the break!

I'm having a great time, and enjoying nearly every minute of my time here (apart from the random annoyances due to interpersonal differences). I can't wait to share all of my pictures, videos, and stories with you! Love you all!