2019 Bullis School Global Studies Trip to Taiwan

I think all of us on the trip can agree that spending these days in Taiwan was one of the best experiences of our lives. We were able to try new foods, explore new places, and learn about Asian history and culture. For Chinese language learners, visiting Taiwan was an amazing opportunity for us to practice our Chinese in a fully immersed environment, and I think we made the best of it. We all stepped out of our comfort zone at several times during this trip, and we often were met with something great and rewarding. Almost everyone said that their favorite part of the trip was going to Tainan and spending time with the Taiwanese students. Even though we were only with them for three days, we all have found friends for a lifetime and are excited to see them again whether in the US or back in Taiwan. To sum it all up, Taiwan was amazing. Thought it was ten long days, it honestly felt so short, and we were all sad to leave. It’s pretty safe to say that we all would love to go back to Taiwa

Even though it is only our second to last day in Taipei, Taiwan; it is our last day to do any activities and explore Taipei. At 8:20am, we left the hotel and headed on the bus to the Tea Plantation call Wen Sun Farm. This tea Plantation has been making tea since 1937. We arrived at the farm around 8:40am. We began picking our tea leaves around 9o'clock. First, we picked our tea leaves for about 45 minutes. Then we went to cook them so that the oxidation process will stop. Then rolled it up so that the leaves would break down. Then we spread them out on a net and baked them (which will take about 2 hrs) at 85 degrees. After the dried out it, they turned into the tea leaves we know and drink. We also saw 52 different species of tea leaves. We even went to the gift shop there and bought some tea. Then we had lunch at noon. It was a family-styled type of meal. After lunch, we rested for a little and had a short break. Then around 1:30pm, our tea leaves finished baking and we

Today we went to our hosts’ school in Tainan Deguang High School, which is a private Catholic School, and we were presented at there morning All-School Assembly, we saw the Flag Raising Ceremony.  Through the day we did many activity’s and hung out at there school, such as learning an aboriginal A'Mei Zu dance from a student, we also got a chance to dress up in their customs.  We also did a Chinese brush painting on a silk fan, which was so much fun. We took the turn to sing Karaoke, after that, we exchanged gifts and left said goodbye to all of them and got on a train back to Taipei and ate dinner I’m Taipei.

We had a very adventurous day today! We first woke up and had gone through the motions of our normal routine, such as eating breakfast and getting ourselves ready for the day.  After that, we met up with our friends from the local Tainan area and went on the Monkey Mountain hike! Although the mountain hike was really long, it was worth it at the end when we saw all of the monkeys at the top. Before we even reached the top of the mountain we were greeted by some monkeys as well. They were super friendly and acted as if we weren’t there. At the top of the mountain, the monkeys were everywhere! We saw monkeys were holding on to their babies along with the alpha monkey.  Shortly after our hike, we ate lunch at a pizza spot and then went to the beach by taking a ferry. While at the beach we played around in the water and took pictures of each other. One of the best parts of the day was when we were on the bus back home because we all were bonding tog

In the morning we partnered with students from De Guang Senior High School went to ride the boat in Green Tunnel on the river and we saw the local ecosystem, then we went to a very pretty tree house.  For lunch we had noodles and it is very delicious. After lunch, we went to the castle which Zheng Chenggong took it from Duch and he brings the town to peace and safety. In the afternoon we spend time in the mall and shopping until dinner. For dinner, we had fried dumplings which are called "锅贴（Guo tie）." Lastly, Bullis students were having a basketball game with the De Guang High School students.

Today we embarked on a day trip to the 228 Memorial and the Presidential Palace before making our way onto the train and heading to Tainan.  Our first stop was the 228 Memorial, which represents the deaths of those who perished due to the rebellion of the south. Our next stop was the Presidential Palace where we went on a 40-minute tour of the building and learned about its history, including how it once partially burned down and about how it also got bombed. Our next stop was the train station where we got bento boxes for lunch, before getting on the train and making our way to Tainan. Our final stop was to the Night Market with the students who guided us around the town before taking us to a supermarket, which was very interestingly organized. Overall our day was full of amazing sights, in-depth explanations of history, and a ton of photos.

Taiwan Blog Thursday 6/13 Today we went to Yehliu Geopark and saw the Queen’s Head, Cute Princess, and many other natural and interesting rocks. Then we went to Jiufen where we had beef noodle soup and shopped for a little while. The town from the movie Spirited Away is modeled after Jiufen. In the later afternoon, we visited Jinguashi which is an old mining town. We touched a gold block worth 10 million and walked through an actual mining tunnel. In the evening we went to Pingxi and released individual lanterns with our wishes on them and cooked our own dinner at Hotpot. Today was a very chill and fun day, and we tried our best to improve our Chinese.