Out of the Forest, Into the Sun

Leaving the forest along with the Alpine conditions, I was mentally prepared for the heat and humidity. I forgot to physically prepare myself and soon found myself thirsty and sleepy. 

I can't believe that the program only holds four more days in Taiwan. Growing closer to my classmates has made me feel like here could be a second home. All I can do now is stay present in each moment and try to appreciate the time I have. 

JiLing's hat making its rounds, as per usual.

Damage from the 9/21/1992 Earthquake in Ji-ji

 

Damage from the 1 am Earthquake was so destructive! I can't imagine being in Junior High and discovering that my school is no longer in tact. Instead of rebuilding the entire place, a museum was built around the rumble and remains. It felt strange to observe this sort of this in an educational museum, but for the Taiwanese, Earthquakes are a common natural disaster. There was actually an earthquake when we were staying back in Taipei, about a 3 on the scale. Just like when I experienced an earthquake an Illinois, I slept through this one. ZzzzzzZzzzzZzzz.

3 D movies hurt my eyes

    +

A delicious lunch

  = Happiness

A walk in the park

After lunch, we traveled to an Agricultural Institute. Coming down from the forest, the sea level weather felt hot, heavy, and humid. Combined with a lack of sleep, our BACT group was definitely ready to take a doze. Funny thing was that our lecturer told us it was alright if we napped through his introduction. That he understood it was a warm and sleepy day.



Here at the Institute, local researchers carry out crop experiments in various green houses. We got a sneak peak at some, but I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Could've been genetic engineering, modification, or transporter induced gene expression. This pictured room was kept at 40 C/104 F. Oh baby.

We were glad to be back in the AC (referred to as Air Con here), but still had one more stop before heading back to campus...a soil museum.

I don't remember much. Just that there are various kinds, containing various amounts of water and composed of various materials. Sorry that's not very descriptive.

Running back to the bus in the rain was one of the most exciting moment of today. Just like in Chicagoland, it smelled like pollution or ozone. 

Here we come Taipei!!