Last day

Hey everyone! It was so scary to believe that today was my last day in Taiwan! It's been a great experience for sure!
While today was a lazy day in the sense I only left the hotel for dinner, it was still a busy one trying to get everything ready for leaving tomorrow. In an attempt to make sure going through security and customs goes as easily as possible, I spent lots of time online looking up anything and everything that might help me, and slightly freaking myself out in the process. Oh well. Everything got packed, and hopefully my suitcase isn't overweight. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes well tomorrow.
We did have our end of trip dinner tonight that we all got dress up for. It was at a nice buffet style restaurant called In Base. They had a nice mix of both American and Chinese cuisine, and the food was delicious. It's hard to believe that dinner was probably one of the last times all 9 of us will be together. After seeing everyone daily, it's going to be a change going back and not seeing everyone constantly. I will definitely miss everyone. This trip was so great because of the wonderful people I got to experience everything with.
We are leaving the hotel tomorrow morning between 6-6:30 to get to the airport with plenty of time to check in to not worry about missing our flight. As a result I am going to bed now. I will post tomorrow after I get back to let you all know I made it back safe.
Talk to you all soon!

Picture- Dr Huang and I at the dinner tonight

Second to last day

Tuesday was our second to last day in Taipei. Again, we had a free day to do whatever we wanted.
After breakfast, we did have to head to the lab to look at the results of our last embryo experiment. While the results might not have been what we wanted, the tests were preliminary and once we get back to the states we will continue working with the compounds to run more tests.
When we finished with the lab we headed back to the large tourist souvenir shop we had been to previously to finish up any last shopping we had. I definitely spent more than I intended too, but I think in the end it all ended up working out, and I hope everyone is happy. We also ended up spending a lot longer there than originally intended, but it's so easy to get distracted in that store.
When we finally made it out, we went to catch a very late lunch before heading back to Academia. Dr Huang finally took me for pot stickers, which Catelyn insisted I try before leaving. After lunch we also had to stop and find a shipping tube for Courtney to take some of her souvenirs home. Everyone got everything they wanted/needed and went back happy.
The rest of the night was spent relaxing and starting to get ready for leaving. You could definitely tell it was sinking in we had little time left.

Third to last day

Yikes! Monday was our third to last day in Taiwan (none of us really count Thursday as our last day since we leave so frickin early), which was very scary to think about. Dr Huang gave us our last few days as free days so we could enjoy everything we wanted to.
Beth, Kayla, Erich, and myself all got up in time for breakfast, but after discussion at breakfast, we all decided to go back to bed for a bit before meeting up later to head out. We were supposed to leave around 3, but didn't get started until more about 3:45, which ended up being plenty fine.
We decided to head back to Taipei 101. I am so glad I did since that was probably the last time I will ever see that building in person. We went shopping in the attached mall, but didn't really buy anything because we couldn't really afford anything. Most stores in there were all the designer stores like Tiffany and Co, Prada, Gucci, Coach, Hermes, etc. The first time we were at Taipei 101 we found this place that served french fries with different topping so we went there to get a snack.
After we finished at Taipei 101 we headed to the Shilin night market one last time for some final shopping. I didn't get too much, but Beth and Kayla both did. We tried to explore as much of the night market as we could, but we know there was still a lot we missed.
By this point of the evening it was getting late and we were all super hungry for dinner. Beth had found a little American pub for us to go to since they had a great dinner special. We got a little lost trying to find it, however we found a nice lady on the street who spoke English and she helped us find the pub. The special was for 199 NTD you could get the classic burger and a drink. The burger was delicious, and the service was some of the fastest we found in Taiwan. This was great because it meant we were able to still take public transportation home before it all shut down for the night. We got back late but luckily the next day was also pretty much a free day.

Pictures- last shot of Taipei 101; dinner; sign outside of the pub.

Travel day

We finished our chemistry experiments on Saturday, so Sunday we packed everything up to leave Taichung for our last few days in Taipei!
Because we couldn't check back in to Academia Sinica until 3, we were a little more relaxed in the morning getting ready and heading to the train station. However, as our luck would have it various circumstances made us still run later than we wanted, but we still caught our train with plenty of time. This trip has convinced me that bullet train is the way to travel! All of our trips were comfortable, convenient, and quick!
When we got back and checked in, we all dropped our stuff off in our rooms and headed out to lab. We had to set up one last treatment of zebrafish embryos, this time using some of the compounds we got during our chemistry experiments in Taichung. it took us much longer than expected to set everything up, which was very frustrating. None of us had eaten since much earlier since we didn't have the chance to stop for lunch, so we were all starving and cranky!
After we got out of lab we quick ran to McDonalds for dinner since none of us had the motivation to go anywhere else or try anything new. After dinner, Courtney and I also picked up some cake for dessert. Mine was delicious! Courtney had two pieces, one which was not bad, and the other which was horrible.
It was nice to go back to Academia Sinica and just relax. Since the following day was a free day, we didn't have to worry about going to bed early so we could be off and running bright and early.

Chemistry days 2 and 3

Hey everyone! I know this post is a little late....
We continued our work on our chemistry experiments for two days following the first day. There was a lot of wait time with the experiments we were observing, so the groups split up so only two from each group were in the lab at any given time. We took 1.5 hr shifts so that it would be manageable.
Our first day when we left for our first break, our lunch break, we walked through the building dedicated to anatomy, and observed that the med students were holding a memorial service for those who had assisted in the learning of the students participating in the gross anatomy lab. Our second break was when the hearses were there to pick up the caskets.
Our second day was a little less eventful,  however during our second break we ran across the street to McDonalds for some ice cream, and there was a SUPER freaky Ronald McDonald impersonator there. Really kinda scared me. Because of space restrictions most places are multiple floors so we went up a level to avoid him.
Overall the chemistry experiments seemed to be successful, but only time will tell if we got the results we really wanted. I wish though that I would have had more of a chance to work on some of the experiments, however I understand that the masters students we were working with didn't want us to screw anything up, especially since they invest so much time before and after we are there to make sure everything goes right. I definitely admire my cousin Ryan for what he must be working on with his graduate degree! Chemistry sure is not for me!
Thanks for reading along everyone!

Picture- our column for the experiment.

Chemistry day 1

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing great! Today marked 1 week left in Taiwan. I can't believe how the time has flown!
Today we met at the lab to score the level of cardiac failure of the zebrafish embryos experiment we set up Tuesday. Our embryos that were supposed to exhibit heart failure actually survived very well. Our embryos that were supposed to show recovery did well as well, which was a good thing because the compound we were testing to see if it helped recover heart failure was more diluted than what is normally tested.
After we finished with our embryos, we had a break for lunch and some time to relax before our afternoon activities. Beth and I ate at the little coffee shop on campus, and then walked to the market to get some delicious fruit tea. We were able to relax for about an hour and a half back at the hotel before we left for the afternoon.
We spent the afternoon and evening over at the Chinese Medicine University. We will be working there the next few days on various chemistry experiments to extract compounds for research from two different Chinese herbs. We were not able to start right away when we arrived, so we wandered around the teeny tiny museum they had in the department for a little while. Unfortunately it was all in Chinese so we had no idea what anyone was saying. After, we went back up to the lab to find out what experiments we would be doing, and to start working on them. Our experiment we started tonight was liquid column chromatography. For those who don't know what that is, you create a silica gel in a long column, pour in solvent that can help take the compound you want to separate down the silica gel, and let it sit for a while. Because there was a lot if wait time, we were able to run and get dinner during our break. We were only supposed to take a half hour break, but Dr Huang was with my group that went to dinner, so we ended up taking almost an hour, especially because he wanted to go get doughnuts for everyone. We couldn't find the doughnut shop he wanted, so we ended up stopping at a bakery to get treats anyways.
We paused our experiment for the night and took a long bus ride back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will pick up where we left off, and work on some other experiments.
Thanks for reading along! Can't wait to see everyone soon.

Pictures - zebrafish embryos; bus driver this afternoon made a pit stop at the gas station; our liquid column chromatography

Earthquake museum

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while.... I've been exhausted at night when I get home so I haven't been keeping up. I will be putting up a post soon updating everyone on what happened while I wasn't posting. Currently we are in Taichung, Taiwan.
Today was a very relaxed day. We had some tours booked for the day, however due to some miscommunication between Dr Huang and the travel agent the toys were booked for Friday instead of today. However since we are doing chemistry experiments on Friday, we will instead be getting a refund.
We had a group meeting at 10 today to talk about what everyone wanted to do today. Some went shopping around downtown, but most of us and Dr Huang went to the 921 Earthquake Museum. Beth, Kayla, and I took a taxi, which took about a half an hour to arrive. Erich, Courtney, and Dr Huang took the bus, so it took them closer to two hours to arrive. We were done with the museum by time they arrived. I debated going because it was such a ways away, but I am really glad I went.
The 921 Earthquake Museum was constructed around the fault line of a devastating earthquake that hit Taichung in the early hours of September 21, 1999. A Jr High School was constructed on the fault line, and so it was destroyed during the earthquake. This was the building around which the museum was built. The first part of the museum was a background on what causes an earthquake, the different types of falts, etc., as well as showcasing the props of the track that shifted during the quake. As you walked to the second portion of the museum, you walked by a few of the buildings that had also been destroyed in the quake. They showcased some of the measures they had to use to prevent further destruction in case of another quake, and to make sure the building's didn't fall on tourists. The second part of the museum was on what makes buildings stand up against earthquakes, and the best ways to make sure that nothing falls in a house during an earthquake. We then moved to the third part, which had a earthquake simulation room. This was interesting because along with the simulated quake, they showed images of the before, during, and after. This really put it into perspective. As you walked out of this part of the museum you had the opportunity to walk around the destroyed Jr High School. I know we were all glad that the quake happened at night so that no students or teachers were killed at the school. It was very sobering to see the damage, and humbling to know that we are fortunate to not have to deal with earthquake possibilities 24/7 like many places in Taiwan. I would definitely recommend this museum to anyone traveling around Taichung.
After finishing the museum, Beth, Kayla, and I returned to the Tunghi University campus, where we are staying. We walked to the dairy store on campus to get frozen milk pops. It is just like having an ice cold glass of milk on a stick, and on a warm day nothing is better! We walked back to our hotel, and relaxed for a little bit before leaving to go to the night market to get food for dinner. Kayla and Beth got Subway (which is horrible compared to American Subway), and I want to a bakery shop to get this bad that is a green onion,  cheese, buttery bread, and a piece of chocolate cake, which was yummy. On our way back we stopped to get some iced fruit tea, which is so good. I think the tea is one thing I will definitely miss when I leave in a week!
Now Courtney and I are relaxing in our room. Tomorrow we have to go do some chemistry assignments, which should be interesting. Like I said, look for a long update soon on what you missed! Thanks for reading along!

Pictures- fault line of quake; destroyed classrooms; chocolate cake