Opening a bank account

I have been here for almost two weeks now, and I have still a lot of things to do in order to settle down. I don't want to rush and do mistakes so I'm taking my time. This week I decided it was about time to open a local bank account.

When your dreams come true

I didn't mention it before but the first reason why I wanted to learn Chinese was because I am a big fan of asian dramas and my favourite one is taiwanese: 下一站幸福 (Autumn's concerto). But also my favourite singer is Taiwanese too! 羅志祥 or Show Luo is a tv host, a singer and an actor famous around Asia (but not in South Korea you can guess why) I discovered in a taiwanese drama 海派甜心 (Hi my sweetheart) 5 or 6 years ago.

Coming to Taiwan of course I had the not so secret hope to be able to meet my favourite idol... but I couldn't imagine I could do so that fast, not a month after I arrived!

Following Show Luo's SNS my eyes catched a post (all in Chinese of course) with many dates and hours in different places. I asked everyone I could for help in order to understand the content of this post and it came out that Show Luo's new album was out and there was a special event: buy the new album, go to meet Show Luo, get your album signed and get two tickets for his concert in Taichung on the 20th of December. But that was not all, buy 3 albums and you can take a picture with him, buy 5 albums and you can take a picture AND HUG HIM! xD On the date of the fan meeting in Taipei I was to be in South Korea... so I decided to go on an other date in another city: Taichung! So that I would be a little familiar with the transportation to go back on the 20th for the concert. Not so bad idea right?

But now you must wonder how I can buy transportation tickets to Taichung and do all the way to there with my still really poor Chinese. With a little help from the locals (really really really nice people once again^^) and a bit of crazyness everything seems possible here! I mean, 7-11 are so great you can do quite everything in there x) if you are a little bit sensitive about filling your credit card info on the internet there is no problem: you can select the "pay in 7-11" option and you can also select "deliver in 7-11" and select the closest one to your place. That's what I did for the train tickets to Taichung and to buy Show Luo's albums. Soooo convenient right? I just love it~ Just be aware that you may have to pay by cash (that was the case for the CDs).

First days of my new life

During my first week in Taipei, I had a hard time because I was jet lagged and the weather was way too hot and humid for a mid-November (my biggest source of trouble with my hair in particular^^).

I also had only one week to find a place to live. I had searched on the internet when I was in France already to get an idea of the price and what I could find comparing english and chinese websites. Actually that was a bit depressing as I couldn't find any place that I wanted to live in by seeing pictures on the internet. As I may be staying for a while I should find a nice place and not a small closet under the stairs in a house full of foreigners and only one bathroom! x) So I was willing to pay the price for a really nice studio which seemed to be in a high standard building... Guys, do never agree on anything before visiting the place. Trust me, I could barely recognize the studio I saw on the pictures. It was okay to live in for a student I think but way too expensive for what it was in reality. Hopefully the following day I visited that place I found a really nice shared appartment of 3 bedrooms where I could have my own bathroom. Two hours after I visited I already took it, fearing that someone else took it before I set my mind. It was this or the creepy studio ahah!
In final, it took me only 3 days to find a room. But I could only move in at the end of the month so for the remaining days in Taipei before going to South Korea for 10 days I registered to the university... and mostly waited for the time to pass.

I think it was a really good thing for me to spend a few days in Seoul before the winter term began so that I could releive my stress meeting with friends I've been missing A LOT and also make new friends, eat tasty korean food and party (a bit too much I must say =p). But I needed so to be able to now focus into studying again and having the willing to go back to a healthy life ;D

I already had my second day of class today. I'm starting from the level 2 in a class of 7 students all coming from around Asia (half of them South Koreans) except from me ahah!
I don't want to make it sound like a complaint but it is already hard: I feel like there are a lot of stuff I don't understand and I may be the only one... unless my classmates fake very well understanding xD Yesterday after 2 hours of class I spent like twice as much time studying at home! But in fact I find this situation quite challenging and I am doing my best to succeed in the path I chose to follow.

I hope everyone is also doing their best for their dreams to come true. There is no easy way, we just need to decide to work hard until we succeed and to not give up halfway.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Floppy

Get ready~~~ race start!

The time to go finally came... too fast! I had plenty of time and at some point I didn't have time anymore.
I have made the hard decision to leave behind me some stuff I will probably regret (like my computer t-t) and some other things I just forgot at home... But the essential is that I have my phone, my credit card, some clothes and the rest isn't that important right? Let's hope so ^-^

I won't lie, it was very scary and stressful for me during the last days. A big part of the stress I had was because of my luggage.
Thanks to my trip to Dubai with Air France I knew that they really pay attention to the weight and the size of your cabin luggage. So be careful if you travel with this company!
Few hours before I left, I thought about paying 100€ to bring an extra bag but that would probably be a bad idea as I knew there were a lot of stuff I didn't really NEED.

In fact, I booked my tickets with Korean air but the flights were operated by Air France from Paris to Incheon and then China airlines from Incheon to Taipei.
11 hours of flight in a plane full of Koreans, 4 hours of waiting in Incheon airport and then 3 last hours of flight to reach Tao Yuan airport.

Really, the only thing I like about travelling with Air France is the piece of camembert cheese they give for lunch or diner! ahah! Air Canada's plane wasn't so great, Korean air wasn't so bad and China airlines was great, but I would more recommend Lufthansa where you can buy a wifi pass to use during the flight!

On my arrival in Tao Yuan airport, even before passing the immigration, I bought a sim card for my phone with unlimited 4G data for 10 days. The longest one was for 30 days. I read somewhere that they only sell those packages at the airport, don't know if it is true or not... Oh and they only accept NTD cash! I didn't have any, hoping they would accept visa card, so I had to change my euros and wait the line again to be able to get my sim card and prepare myself to line up again in the sea of people waiting to pass the immigration. But that was okay, even though it was really crowded it went really faster than I expected.

After I got my big luggage back, actually waiting for me as my plane had landed almost 2 hours before I got there, I headed to the information desk to ask about how I could go to Taipei main station.

Before I write anything else, I just want to say everything you have heard about Taiwanese people being kind and friendly seems really TRUE! Don't be afraid even if they don't speak english they will make signs with their hands to show you the way and smile to you! REALLY!

And I say this because of course I got lost a bit. x) After taking the bus for 1 hour I found myself into a really HUGE station where there seemed to be different train and subway lines, shops and restaurants, and at that time TONS of people heading home after work I guess. If you don't panick and take your time, everything is indicated in English and like I said you can get help from anyone even without asking as they will spontaneously come to you.^^

I finally found my way to the place I had booked through airbnb and the first thing I did was taking a shower! I was exhausted and it is like 25°C here, in November! I met the guy and two girls living there, they are really nice taiwanese young people, but I didn't fight sleep very long and when I met my bed I just slept right away... to wake up with the horrible news from Paris few hours later but that's another topic.

I hope everyone is fine, not only the ones in Paris, please everyone take care and be safe!
#PrayForParis

Thank you for reading my blog!

Floppy

Floppy in Dubai

It's quite amazing that I got the chance to visit Canada, Japan and Dubai these last 2 months. 3 environments all really different from France and so full of interesting things to discover!
I planned the trip to Canada months ago to visit a friend but Dubai and Japan trips were decided one week to one single day before leaving! That kind of surprise I like~ ahah

If I had to sum up my week in Dubai I would say WOW! Before getting there I had absolutely no idea of what I was about to live: one week of shopping and resourcing while eating loads of food.
One of my friend told me the day I left "What are you going to do in the desert? Buy a cactus?"

So yes, I found myself in the desert... but in a city where things have to be bigger and better than anywhere else! Did you know that the world's tallest tower and the world's biggest shopping mall are located in Dubai? And did you know that you can find a ski resort in the middle of a shopping mall there?

Hotels are also really luxurious. I stayed in a suite at the Intercontinental Festival City, which gave me free unlimited access to the lounge bar on the 26th floor. This hotel is a really nice place to stay with the pool with view on Burj Khalifa, the spa, the sauna and the steam room, the gym, the food, the service... everything!!! And it is located 10 minutes away from the airport by car, that's really convenient.

Taxi rides are cheap, you can go everywhere easily: there will be a taxi spot in every shopping mall you'll find yourself into. But did you know that there is a subway in Dubai?? Isn't that amazing? I didn't take it though, only took taxis... and a cute little boat from Al Qasr hotel to the thai restaurant my dad booked because he knows that I'm always craving for thai food~

Over the 6 full days I spent in Dubai, I spent 4 days shopping, in 3 different shopping malls, one day farniente at the hotel and one day at the Wild Wadi waterpark. I hesitated between Aquaventure and Wild Wadi since they looked quite similar and finally chose Wild Wadi because it was close to the thai restaurant we had a reservation for on the evening. It was my first time going to a water park and I enjoyed it! The first ride I tried was a slide which opens under your feet and let you slide for a few seconds at the speed of 80km/h... yes quite impressive like that and considering the fact that the place where you get in reminded me of a Egyptian sarcophage. But it was really fun as well as the other rides which allow you to move across the park on a tube. I wanted to try also the pool where there are quite big waves every 15 minutes. I put on a safety jacket and swam until my feet couldn't touch the ground anymore and waited for the waves to begin... About to get sea sick tossed by the waves I didn't stay long there! xD

And like this it was already the time to go back to Paris. In this conditions I could have stayed longer! Ahah! But I still need to ask for the Taiwanese student visa and empty my room before leaving, right? We're almost one week before the next big adventure... I can't wait!

Thank you for reading my blog!

Floppy

One month before departure

So, where should I begin this?
Hi, I'm Floppy, 23 years old, French, and about to go on an adventure!
Now that I just graduated in multimedia project management, I have decided to leave France to start a new life in Taiwan.

Here comes the question: WHY Taiwan?
First of all, I got the Asian virus few years ago. I studied Japanese for two years in Paris before going to South Korea for 1 year and a half in 2012 where I studied Korean at the Seoul National University and then did a 6 month internship in a cool digital agency in Seoul. I had to go back to Paris to finish my studies and get my diploma, but now that this is settled I am free to leave with no plan of coming back just yet.
I also visited China and Japan twice but this time I chose to leave for the unknown. Even though my favourite singers and my favourite drama above all are Taiwanese I still haven't stepped a foot on this island.

But understand that I am not leaving without any preparation. Just not my style. For a project manager.. it comes with the job, huh? I have been learning Chinese for a year and a half now in Paris. No way I plan to live in a country I don't speak at least a bit of the language! I spent also a lot of time to select a university to study Chinese in Taiwan and I set my choice on the Mandarin Training Center of the National Taipei Normal University. They don't provide dormitory for Chinese language students so I will have to find a solution once I get there.. but everything will go smoothly right? If not I still could write about it in this blog.

So here I am, one month before I leave my life in Paris, leave my family and my friends. There are quite a lot of things to settle but I also have a LOT of free time so thank you my friends for keeping me busy every day going out to grab something to eat or just hang out together!

I created this blog linked to a Facebook page to keep in touch with the crowd and share my experiences in Taiwan as I couldn't find a lot of information on this country. I think French people are not really interested in Taiwan... There are a lot of Japan lovers and recently South Korea got a lot of interest too but I never ran into someone who expressed a real interest in Taiwan. Maybe I didn't search enough. Never mind, let's discover what Isla Formosa has to offer together! I am sure there are plenty of tasty things to eat and interesting things to learn there!

I will do my best to relate the most interesting part of my life there but you can also leave me messages on the Facebook page if you want to know more about something you read or heard somewhere and you want me to write about it! Anything! Just tell me and I'll look into it.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Floppy