Hi guys!
I want to tell you about our trip to Hualien. Hualien is located below Yilan and we took the train for 2 and a half hours. We arrived at Guangfu, which is a small town in Hualien. It is a little bit confusing because there is "the county/district" Hualien but there is also a town called Hualien. The same goes for Yilan, which is both the county or district but also a town in the district. Well we were going Hualien to attend a trainee conference hosted by AIESEC Taiwan. The purpose of this conference was to prepare us for our time here in Taiwan and also give us inspiration for traveling in Taiwan.
We got to the Toucheng station by car and then we were so lucky to get seats to Guangfu. It was a really long train and still there was not enough seats for all the people on the train. In Denmark you pay for your seats which means that they can always put in more carriages if everything is booked. In Taiwan you don't pay extra for your seat and therefore typically you cannot get any seat unless you book a month or more in advance. It is really crazy. So we were really lucky that somebody from Taipei cancelled their seats. Otherwise you just sit until somebody claims their seat. On the way back we had to sit on the floor and furthermore the train was delayed. "Auch".
When we arrived in Guangfu a lot of really nice AIESEC'ers were waiting for all the trainees. They waved and yelled "helloooo, welcomee!" and so on. It was a very welcoming feeling. Then it was about 10 minute walk to the Sugar Factory where they were hosting the conference.
When we arrived we did some icebreaking games and had sessions about our time in Taiwan. The first session was held by a brazilian guy who had been in Taiwan for almost a year and had some great "foreign vs. Taiwan" insights for us.
For accommodation we lived 5 people in one house that was totally Japanese style.
Everyone slept REALLY good on the mattresses. I guess they have some sort of trick for making awesome mattresses on the floor.
For dinner we had a buffet where some aboriginal Taiwanese came and performed different songs. They were really brave to stand in front of so many people and sing both together and alone. The food was really great and the hostess of the restaurant, which had only existed in 6 months, was really grateful that we were 14 different nationalities in her restaurant. They were all really cool.
And of course there was some partying in the evening in best AIESEC style with beer games and dancing and then some more dancing.
It was really nice to see a little more of Taiwan and it was really positive and giving for me to go to the conference. Kasia did also get something out of it, but since she has already been here for over a month, then there were some of the sessions that wasn't as useful for her. But none the less, none of us regretted the opportunity to go to Hualien and make friends with people all over the world. AIESEC is so cool that way!
Christina
Christina
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