It was the first time that I had to travel all alone to a different country. I had mixed feelings about the journey and my stay for two months in an unknown land, completely different from my homeland! Although I had apprehensions initially, but the excitement of being all by myself in a different land was subduing them. I booked a Thai Airways flight from Kolkata to Taipei, having a one hour halt at Bangkok. My sister warned me from consequences of such short interval and I was very tensed about missing my flight. After calling Thai Airways staff numerous times, I consoled myself after being assured by them that in case any such situation arises, they will take care of it. I bought the necessary things for my trip and finally on 9th May, 2015, I boarded a flight to Kolkata, which was more than an hour late. My flight to Bangkok was at 2am on 10th May, which means I had to spend the night at the Kolkata Airport, which was the worst part. I was the lone student selected for summer internship at National Tsing Hua University and I had contacted a girl from IIT, Guwahati who was also selected for the same. I waited to meet her at the Kolkata Airport as her flight was on the same day, but unfortunately, we didn't meet. Anyways, after I boarded the flight to Bangkok. I requested the cabin crew to transfer me to a seat in the front as I had to run to catch the next flight to Taipei. While boarding the flight, people were very unruly as they ignored the instructions of the staff, unlike the passengers in our Emirates flight to San Francisco and such behaviour compelled me to panic more about my connecting flight. The air hostess said as the flight was packed, she is unable to accommodate me to the business class, but she will let me know the terminal beforehand. I was relieved! But then a person from a different seat offered me his seat which was in fact closer to the exit, and I was damn happy. I readily agreed to go to his seat. And I was fortunate enough as the elderly woman next to my new seat also had the same connecting flight to Taipei and she had been to Taipei earlier by the same flight. She will guide me to the right way! In fact, she turned out to be a Computer Science professor at Indian Statistical Institute.
After two hours, I reached Bangkok. The air hostesses din't cooperate and didn't let us know the terminal number. The flight didn't attach its exit to the terminals at the Suvarnabhumi Airport and we had to get down, board a bus to take us to the next terminal. It took about 5minutes to reach, and on reaching, we started to check for directions to the next flight. The desktops had the desired information and we ran and finally reached the terminal on time. I even had the time to post photos of the airport to my family and also to freshen up at the restroom.
I boarded the flight to Taipei and was exhausted from the missed slumber. So for the entire 3hrs flight, I did nothing but slept during the whole journey. As I reached Taoyuan, I could hear my heart thumping in the excitement of coming to new country. After immigration, I converted USD to New Taiwan Dollars, and as instructed in the pamphlet, I proceeded to the ticket counter, bought a ticket at Ubus for $30 and boarded the bus to Taiwan High Speed Railway Station. After reaching THSR, I bought an unreserved ticket to Hsinchu for $135 and proceeded to the platform. As the train arrived, I boarded it. People were standing in queue to board it and I boarded it without standing in any sort of queue, because I was unaware of the rules in the country. I got into the train, and sat down. But after sometime, a girl approached me and told me that I was sitting in her seat. Then I politely asked her about my seat by showing her my ticket as it was completely in chinese and I couldn't read it. She told me that I was in the wrong car and asked me to board the correct car in the next station. I was worried as I had to get down again with all my heavy luggage. But fortunately, the next station was Hsinchu. High Speed Rail moves at a speed of about 300kms an hour and I reached Hsinchu within 10minutes, otherwise it would have taken an hour by car or bus to reach Hsinchu from Taoyuan. In the station, I enquired about the way to go to NTHU, but the staff were poor in English. They tried their best to let me know, and I proceeded to board a bus. But there were many buses waiting and I didnt have any idea about which bus to board, as everything was written in Chinese. So, I asked a person getting down from one of the buses to help me. He was talking in Chinese, and myself in English. He was constantly asking for my forgiveness for being unable to speak in English. He was unable to understand my destination as everything in China or Taiwan had a different name and they use that name. He took me to the help desk again, and then suddenly I remembered to take out my papers that had the address written in Chinese. Immediately, he understood and took me the right bus stop. There, I met another guy originally from HongKong but born and brought up in Liverpool, UK. He understood what the man was talking about. He too was a summer exchange student at NTHU, and apparently we happen to be on the same boat. He told that we missed our bus and the next bus was after an hour, so it would be better to share a taxi to the university. So the person arranged for us a taxi and we went to the university. On the way, we got acquainted with each other. He was a PhD student in the Chemistry department and had come for summer project at NTHU. The car was racing very fast unlike the speed maintained in the overly populated India.
We reached NTHU, and I was spellbound by the very beautiful campus. The driver didn't know my destination and we got down in the entrance. We bade goodbye to each other and tread to our respective destinations. I asked the students walking past, but they didn't know the address I was asking about, as each building had their own Chinese name. I proceeded after tracing the map and I arrived at the building. I asked a girl about the building and she told that it was not the one that I was looking for. Then she asked about my lab contact person and his phone number. She called him and after few moments, my mentor Eric, arrived. He took me to my lab, that is, System Software Lab, which was in the 7th floor, and it was the old Computer Science building. I was initially sad as the building looked old. He introduced me to my seat for two months, my computer and then took me to my dorm. We had to climb a hill to reach to my dorm and it was too tiring
My dorm room was quite good, with attached bathroom and equipped with all facilities like air conditioner, kitchen, washing machine. Eric took me to the convenient store to buy a mattress and after buying he bought me a drink and then I settled down in my dorm and slept for few hours. I had a roommate, who seemed to be Taiwanese, but she was absent from the room. After waking up, I went to Mc Donald's for dinner and had a chicken burger. While eating, I saw few Indians, and as I felt very lonely, I approached them. They were really helpful and took me out for a walk and introduced me to the restaurants and other vital places in the university. They were PhD students and one of them was an intern just like me. They bought me a drink which was indeed chilled green tea and it tasted bad! After about an hour, we departed to our respective dorms. I was all alone and I felt very anxious as I was not able to contact anyone at home! I missed home very much but I felt that I was matured enough unlike the last time I went for internship where I broke down.
I feel that my strength was built because of the friendly people in Taiwan! People drift away from their regular chores to help you and even apologize for not being able to understand us! The helpful, calm and sweet nature of the people made me very happy and it restored my faith that people in this world can be so humble and polite. The taxi driver didn't even cheat us on knowing that we were foreigners, unlike in India. Never imagined that people can be so honest after coming for a place where corruption is a deeply rooted affair in our day-to-day lives. I would suggest everyone to come to Yaiwan and get a taste of the people and the place! I just felt God's hand over me all the time!
After two hours, I reached Bangkok. The air hostesses din't cooperate and didn't let us know the terminal number. The flight didn't attach its exit to the terminals at the Suvarnabhumi Airport and we had to get down, board a bus to take us to the next terminal. It took about 5minutes to reach, and on reaching, we started to check for directions to the next flight. The desktops had the desired information and we ran and finally reached the terminal on time. I even had the time to post photos of the airport to my family and also to freshen up at the restroom.
I boarded the flight to Taipei and was exhausted from the missed slumber. So for the entire 3hrs flight, I did nothing but slept during the whole journey. As I reached Taoyuan, I could hear my heart thumping in the excitement of coming to new country. After immigration, I converted USD to New Taiwan Dollars, and as instructed in the pamphlet, I proceeded to the ticket counter, bought a ticket at Ubus for $30 and boarded the bus to Taiwan High Speed Railway Station. After reaching THSR, I bought an unreserved ticket to Hsinchu for $135 and proceeded to the platform. As the train arrived, I boarded it. People were standing in queue to board it and I boarded it without standing in any sort of queue, because I was unaware of the rules in the country. I got into the train, and sat down. But after sometime, a girl approached me and told me that I was sitting in her seat. Then I politely asked her about my seat by showing her my ticket as it was completely in chinese and I couldn't read it. She told me that I was in the wrong car and asked me to board the correct car in the next station. I was worried as I had to get down again with all my heavy luggage. But fortunately, the next station was Hsinchu. High Speed Rail moves at a speed of about 300kms an hour and I reached Hsinchu within 10minutes, otherwise it would have taken an hour by car or bus to reach Hsinchu from Taoyuan. In the station, I enquired about the way to go to NTHU, but the staff were poor in English. They tried their best to let me know, and I proceeded to board a bus. But there were many buses waiting and I didnt have any idea about which bus to board, as everything was written in Chinese. So, I asked a person getting down from one of the buses to help me. He was talking in Chinese, and myself in English. He was constantly asking for my forgiveness for being unable to speak in English. He was unable to understand my destination as everything in China or Taiwan had a different name and they use that name. He took me to the help desk again, and then suddenly I remembered to take out my papers that had the address written in Chinese. Immediately, he understood and took me the right bus stop. There, I met another guy originally from HongKong but born and brought up in Liverpool, UK. He understood what the man was talking about. He too was a summer exchange student at NTHU, and apparently we happen to be on the same boat. He told that we missed our bus and the next bus was after an hour, so it would be better to share a taxi to the university. So the person arranged for us a taxi and we went to the university. On the way, we got acquainted with each other. He was a PhD student in the Chemistry department and had come for summer project at NTHU. The car was racing very fast unlike the speed maintained in the overly populated India.
We reached NTHU, and I was spellbound by the very beautiful campus. The driver didn't know my destination and we got down in the entrance. We bade goodbye to each other and tread to our respective destinations. I asked the students walking past, but they didn't know the address I was asking about, as each building had their own Chinese name. I proceeded after tracing the map and I arrived at the building. I asked a girl about the building and she told that it was not the one that I was looking for. Then she asked about my lab contact person and his phone number. She called him and after few moments, my mentor Eric, arrived. He took me to my lab, that is, System Software Lab, which was in the 7th floor, and it was the old Computer Science building. I was initially sad as the building looked old. He introduced me to my seat for two months, my computer and then took me to my dorm. We had to climb a hill to reach to my dorm and it was too tiring
My dorm room was quite good, with attached bathroom and equipped with all facilities like air conditioner, kitchen, washing machine. Eric took me to the convenient store to buy a mattress and after buying he bought me a drink and then I settled down in my dorm and slept for few hours. I had a roommate, who seemed to be Taiwanese, but she was absent from the room. After waking up, I went to Mc Donald's for dinner and had a chicken burger. While eating, I saw few Indians, and as I felt very lonely, I approached them. They were really helpful and took me out for a walk and introduced me to the restaurants and other vital places in the university. They were PhD students and one of them was an intern just like me. They bought me a drink which was indeed chilled green tea and it tasted bad! After about an hour, we departed to our respective dorms. I was all alone and I felt very anxious as I was not able to contact anyone at home! I missed home very much but I felt that I was matured enough unlike the last time I went for internship where I broke down.
I feel that my strength was built because of the friendly people in Taiwan! People drift away from their regular chores to help you and even apologize for not being able to understand us! The helpful, calm and sweet nature of the people made me very happy and it restored my faith that people in this world can be so humble and polite. The taxi driver didn't even cheat us on knowing that we were foreigners, unlike in India. Never imagined that people can be so honest after coming for a place where corruption is a deeply rooted affair in our day-to-day lives. I would suggest everyone to come to Yaiwan and get a taste of the people and the place! I just felt God's hand over me all the time!
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