Arrival!

Well, here I am!  And here's my story:

I woke up (ah, it feels like days ago!  ... and, I guess it was days ago.) at 9 am on Sunday and did many interesting things that I then proceeded to write about in my previous blog post.  At 3 (ridiculously early for a 6 o'clock flight, but by choice), we headed out for the airport, and I felt a little bit like David after dentist: Is this real life?  I wasn't overcome with anxiety.  But I also didn't feel like I was fully processing the situation.  Anyway.  We got to the airport and my mom suggested that she and my dad come inside with me.  I thought, well, you know, that's sweet, even though it's not exactly necessary, since I am such an expert solo flyer.  But this way we'll get to say our long emotional goodbyes without cars honking at us.  So we parked and all trudged into the airport at the Alaska airlines check-in counter for my initial flight to Seattle.

I handed the woman behind the counter my passport and rolled my eyes as my parents tried to helpfully interfere.  "Seattle, right?" the cheery woman asked.  "Yep!" I replied.  She slapped the luggage tag on and put my first suitcase (only 40 pounds each!  both underweight! score!) on the conveyor belt.  Then that ever-interfering mother of mine whispered to me that I should mention that I'm going to Taipei.  With a slight eye-roll I mumbled something to the lady about how, I'm sure she knows this, but I'm actually going to Taiwan, Seattle is just my connection.  She looks up.  Her eyes widen.  My eyes widen.  We both watch as my suitcase on the conveyor belt nears the wall, after which it will disappear for eternity.  Another woman behind the counter sprints over just in the nick of time and yanks my suitcase off the conveyor belt.  All three of us plus my two parents have adrenaline pumping and sweat dripping from our brows.  It was terribly exciting!  But the drama wasn't over!  They were baffled when I told them about my itinerary and why it wasn't showing up for them, but they were both determined to get my bags safely to Taipei.  After about 10 minutes of anguish, teamwork, the impatience of the one woman on line behind me, and eventual breakthrough, the women behind the counter waved their arms in the air in triumph and assured me my bags would meet me in Taiwan, and they hope I have a great trip. These women are some of the unsung heroes of the world.  And enthusiastic appreciation goes to my mom, who saved me from leaving my bags behind in Seattle, boarding a plane to another country, and being none the wiser.

My first flight went pretty smoothly, and uncomfortable though it was, I found myself being really grateful that I am a relatively small person.  I had a window seat and I was unhappy to find that the somewhat larger woman next to me was encroaching into my seat area, as well as taking up the whole armrest.  I scowled for about two minutes before I accepted that there was absolutely nothing she could do to make it better and, actually, she must be a lot less comfortable than I was.  I similarly felt sorry for myself when my legs started getting restless and sore, but then thought about how I have about the shortest legs in the world, and, in fact, can almost straighten them out fully when I don't have anything under the seat in front of me.  So really any complaints I may have about my flight are only lesser versions of the complaints that everyone has on any flight.

One thing I was concerned about before flying was the state of my ears; I got a nasty ear infection about two weeks before my trip, which was completely unresponsive to the first round of antibiotics.  As I think everyone knows, the pressure changes in airplane travel can be tremendously painful on the ears, especially if they are already in poor condition.  When I went for my follow-up after my second round of antibiotics and expressed my concerns about the flight, the charming young doctor told me, "take some sudafed to help the drainage.  And, if that doesn't work, you can just stick a very sharp knife right in your [mimes inserting knife in ear]... ha, ha, just kidding."  I was a little too horrified by the image to give a sincere laugh.  But anyway, the good news: it didn't come to this.  My ears were champs and didn't cause any problems.

Sunset over clouds

Our plane landed in Seattle a little early so I had an absurdly long five hour layover, which actually passed really quickly since their airport had free wifi and I got the chance to have some nice phone calls with friends for the last time before being struck with huge international fees.  When the time for boarding finally approached, I headed to my gate to find hundreds of people there.  The asian:caucasian ratio was about equal to that of 6th floor Fondren, but there were many more of us.  I peeked out the windows and found out what I know all of you have been dying to know: I... didn't get a Hello Kitty plane.  I considered packing up and going home but decided, since my bags were getting on that plane with me or without me, I had better go get them in person.

This time I was seated next to a very small, very sweet couple from Dallas, but originally from Vietnam, but actually originally from China.  I liked them both a whole lot and we didn't talk much throughout the flight, which really makes them just my type.  During most of our interactions, they were treating me (very sweetly - with the best intentions) like I was totally incompetent, and I deserved it about half the time.  For example, it was really helpful when the woman pointed out the slippers tucked into the seat in front of me, provided by the airline, and when the man indicated how to turn on the (somehow very confusing) overhead light, and when the woman flagged down a stewardess and requested an immigration form on my behalf, which I didn't even know I needed.  It was less helpful when she pointed to the fruit I was eating and said, "grapefruit," or when they came down the aisle with a cart of duty-free items, and she said, "they're selling things."  But they really were very sweet and completely adorable.  For both meals, they each ordered one of the two options and then ate half and switched.  Also, at one point, I overheard them chattering excitedly over a book.  I thought they might be planning their trip from a travel guide, but when I looked over, they were doing a sudoku puzzle together.  At some point in the trip the woman asked my name.  I told her Toni, and she said with a smile, "T-O-N...I? My name is T-O-N-U!"  I excitedly told her about my friend To-Nhu at school and how we call ourselves the Ton-twins.  I resisted offering her a spot as a fellow ton-twin, but it was tempting.

When the first meal came, the woman next to me pointed at the cart and said, "breakfast!"  I was a little confused because it was 2 am (seattle time - 4 am Texas time, 6 pm Taiwan time), but the meal was clearly more of a dinner, with chicken in sauce, mashed potatoes, vegetables, a roll, a salad, servery-style fruit (honeydew, cantalope, and pineapple), and a brownie for dessert.  But that got me thinking, with these long international flights, who decides what time zones to set the meals by?  It was a weird time for dinner but a weirder time for breakfast.  But it was all very tasty.  I took a picture!  Here it is.

Also, it came with dental floss!!  Less than a week ago I lamented to my parents that toothpicks are outdated and all meals should come with dental floss.  Asia is so ahead of the times!!!

Brilliant!  Finally!

After what seemed like a long flight of reading, meal, sitting around, and sleeping, all three of us were awake in the row and they asked me what time it was.  5 o'clock Seattle time.  "One third done," the man reminded me.  Ugh.  After that, I slept pretty well in three consecutive two-hour chunks, although my legs did feel like they would fall off and I was reminded of my uncle Wallon, who said his trip to east Asia caused permanent damage to one of his ligaments.  Of course, he's something like 6'3", so again, who am I to complain.  Our next meal - definitely a breakfast, scrambled eggs or porridge - was again awkwardly served at 4 am in Taiwan (noon in Seattle, 2 pm in Texas), although I have been eating breakfast at 2 pm in Texas for the past two months I've been home, so I guess that was okay.

The flight was long but it really didn't feel too bad after the first four hours.  In fact, I had to rush to finish my book (Catching Fire, the second in the Hunger Games series) to save myself from the potential embarrassment of leaving it unfinished after a 13 1/2 hour flight.  I turned to the last page as our wheels touched down and was done just before we reached the gate.  Whew! that was close.

One of the weird parts of the flight was that even though it took up the entire day of the 13th, it was night the whole time.  The whole concept of traveling through space and time and time zones is so difficult for me that I just assumed that I would see the day go by and then it would be night again.  As I understand it, we were traveling earlier but time was traveling later at a faster rate, but then we crossed the dateline going at 88 mph, and so thus, it was 29 1/2 hours later without seeing any daylight.

So we landed!  And I took a picture of the airport toilet because my friend Lilla was (weirdly?) inquisitive about the Taiwanese toilets.

So exotic!

It was pretty ordinary, but I did get a kick out of the SOS button within arms reach, just in case... the toilet paper runs out?

Taiwan: The Heart of Asia.  Definitely a self-given affectionate nickname.

I collected my luggage (safely in the right country! yay!) and easily found the CIEE staff that was there to greet me.  After shaking a few hands and making a few introductions, we headed into the van that would take us to campus.  We pulled up to the girls' dorm, the one I saw pictures of and heard about, and Becca, Emily and I (the American exchange students in the van) hopped out.  Afore, an "embassador", a Taiwanese student helping we foreigners get adjusted, said, "Okay, Becca and Emily, you will be living here... Antonia, you will be living in the same dorm as me, so we have to take the van up to the top of the hill."  I was confused because from everything I heard about this university, there were two dorms: the girls' dorm at the bottom of the hill and the boys' dorm at the top.  I was about to awkwardly ask if Afore thought I was a boy, when I realized she wouldn't be living the boys' dorm either.  "Why aren't I in this dorm?" I asked.  "I'll tell you about that later," she said slyly.  As soon as we packed the other two off and shut the van door, she said, "Yeah, your dorm, it's better.  So I can't say that in front of them.  Do you know yet if you'll be having a single or a double?"

I am imagining everyone reading this to have this realization slowly dawn on them the same way it did on me.  And I am imagining grins slowly spreading across each face, as happened to mine.  I instantaneously went from having 3 roommates to potentially having a single!  "Oh yeah, these dorms are much newer," she assures me, "and you get your own bathroom."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's like someone from the program read my complainy blog entry about how much I was dreading the dorm situation and magically fixed it for me!  My room is nice even by Rice standards.  I still have a pathetic 1-inch pad as a mattress, but really there's nothing to complain about.  And I didn't appreciate the fact that we have a regular toilet until I spoke to one of those poor girls in the other dorm and she told me that they had one handicapped stall (in their communal bathroom) with a real toilet, but the others were all holes to squat over. I tried so, so, hard not to gloat when I described my in-room personal real toilet and non-bunked bed in a room to share with just one roommate (mysterious though she is... I still haven't met her!).  Anyway, to cut to the chase, Afore took me shopping for some essentials so I'm now unpacked and decked out.  Photos to follow.

I am in a big hurry to meet the gang for a welcome dinner but I will update later today with a few photos and MORE WORDS!!!


TL;DR - Flew to Taiwan and things are going fine.