I have made 2 excellent purchases since I have been in Taiwan. What could they be? Cheap clothes? A pair of cute shoes? A nice purse? Nope.

The first:


Ann is doing a lovely demonstration. A lint roller on a STICK. AMAZING invention. It's a FABULOUS way to pick up hairs off the floor. I just roll once a day after I blow dry my hair, and my floor remains nice and clean. I LOVE IT! All for a mere $100 NT ~ $3 USD. I'm hoping it fits in my suitcase so I can bring it back, along with a buncha refills. This thing ROCKS.

The second:


A SUPERFANTASTIC purchase. Any idea what it is? Lip balm? Nope. It's PEPPER SPRAY. That's right, PEPPER SPRAY. I got one for myself, my sister, and my best friend. There's enough for 3-6 sprays in there. Hopefully none of us will ever NEED it, but it's there. Sure it looks kinda tacky and cheesy, but at least it's portable, and most people won't question why I have it on my keychain. They also make one as a cell pet. So for those of you who think you can try to mug me, THINK AGAIN! I won't go down without a fight!

You know, for me, the worst part of the mosquito bite isn't the itching; that might have been true ten years ago, but now, it's not. It's the thought that there was this disgusting, nasty bug sticking it's stupid needle into my body, injecting me with a numbing solution, sucking my blood, then flying off and producing thousands of more babies. Anyone who has ever seen one of those up close photos of mosquitoes knows what I'm thinking of. BLECH!!!

I just came back on the bus from campus. I worked out today, so I was wearing like capri-ish pants, a tank top, and the windbreaker type jacket I was wearing from this morning. On the bus, there was this girl who had bundled up in a sweater, a big poufy jacket, a scarf, mittens, and get this, one of those HEAT PACK thingies in her hand that she kept using. You should've seen my face. I was like wtf... I just checked the weather. It's 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Granted, that's a bit cold in Taiwan. I understand MAYBE the clothes, but the HEAT PACK? CRAZIES!

And while on the track I came up with another question (jogging on the track really makes you think about random stuff).

Why is it that college kids here just aren't attractive? Not even in the Asian/Taiwanese/Chinese sense of beauty. Like yes, right now it's big on the shaggy hair, mullet, androgynous look for both sexes, but I notice that the Taiwanese college students (at least at Shida) are generally quite nerdy. Where are the well-balanced people (by well-balanced, I mean good looking AND smart) in this country? I mean, yes. Most of the girls have their hair straightened and/or cut into a mullet, but even those haircuts aren't as good as some of the others. And those 'party people' in Taiwan are looked down upon in Taiwan as losers who don't go to school and are 'bad'. It's like OMG you go out to a PUB? OOOOO. (note: the term 'pub' is used for anything like bars, clubs, pubs, etc) So really, my question is why are people so unbalanced? If you're good looking, you're generally dumb/ditzy, and if you're dorky/nerdy (and not in the GOOD way), you're generally not attractive.

If I could get the answer to this question, that'd be GREAT.

And yes, moles with disgusting long hairs (multiple hairs) are cancerous to the soul.

I have started classes. My brain is a sponge for Chinese words. The more word-heavy it gets, it starts to overflow and leak out. I am learning a crazy amount in a short period of time. My 'free time' is spent studying. I actually don't mind too much, when am I ever going to have this opportunity again? There's always time later to play.

I have also instantly bonded with a girl named Erika here who's from Plano. w00t w00t go TEXAS! Anyways, it's scary how comfortable we're around each other after only knowing each other for a week. I think we scare people with our energy and ability to talk.

Ann, StephFan, and I went to a Shiseido class yesterday to learn how to apply makeup. I learned how to use an eyelash curler. Ann thinks I should draw in my eyebrows, but she made them look like bushy caterpillars. The ladies across the table agreed with me. haha. Steph thought her eye makeup looks like a 'shong mao', aka panda.

Got a membership to the school gym. Only open M-F from 12-2, then 6-11 PM. I am very sore after only 2 days.

I am blogging because I am procrastinating. Chapter exam tomorrow. I wonder how much Chinese a person is able to absorb in like 3 hours.

PS everyone should read The Scarlet Pimpernel. It's an AMAZING book. SUPERFANTASTIC!