Don't you all just love coincidence or do you call it fate?? Well, a good friend of mine, called Evy, decided during our last year of Commercial Engineering to participate in a one-year-master program where she would study at three different locations: Prague, Belgium and yes indeed China...and more specifically at the University of Xiamen and she would start her program there in September.
When she got the news that she was accepted we interrogated here about China (because that was the most interesting thing about the program of course) and she told us it would be in Xiamen. We were like X-i-a-men?? Where is that place? WELL NOW I KNOW, it's the closest Chinese city to Taiwan. Evy could have swim to Taipei to meet me in a manner of speaking!!
Anyway, by the time we received her good news, I was still nowhere with my internship. So eventually when I got accepted for the internship in Taiwan in August, I started to wonder...How far would Evy be located from me because we were there around the same period of the year!?
I looked it up on google maps and there it was: two points A and B indicated on the map and the solution from google: "Sorry my dear, but I am afraid I don't have a route for you, you will have to swim!" So I talked to Evy about it and we were already dreaming about watching the sunset together on a bridge with a bottle of wine. Well, it happened SLIGHTLY different...
In the beginning we were both so occupied! We did not hear from each other much. I was busy with having the time of my life, she was busy with...well a bit the same only with more (and free! grrrrr) boose! But eventually we found a weekend to see each other, my last weekend she would come over.
I told Evy that we would go to Hualien (the most beautiful place of Taiwan..they said all the time) and after a short hesitation she was OK with it. Blablabla a lot of arranging stuff and we were ready to go!
The plan was to go by train, sitting (because we had sitting tickets, thank god!) and we were meeting there three Brazilian guys, one of them I knew ("I knew" in the meaning of: he was also an AIESECer and he worked in Hualien but we never met before and the two others were his friends).
On Friday I met Evy in the early evening in the Taipei main station. It was so great to see here AND SO STRANGE to talk Dutch after 6 weeks! We had three hours to kill so I decided to let her have a taste of the Taiwanese gastronomy....food from the night market! We took a train to Shongshan and we killed that time like a pro. It was in the Shongshan station that we could take our train so we were waiting, on time, on the right platform.
Then it all went really fast E: "Our train is there, see?!" C: "Are you sure it's this one?" E: "Yes it is written there in English" C: "OK, I guess you are right, let's take it'. We sat down in our seats and I had a bad feeling in my stomach.. C: "Evy, are you sure about the train, I don't know, is it the right one?" E: "I hope so!" C:" You know, maybe I just ask the two Taiwanese guys that are sitting behind us?" E: "Yes do that!" C: "Hi, excuse me, are we sitting on the right train (I showed my ticket to them)" The guys: " Yes it's OK! (While pointing at the label of the seat)" C: "NO! I MEAN are. we. on. the. right. TRAAAAIN? (I know I am sitting on the right seat you idiot!)" E: (giggling) The guys: "Oh, yes it is the good one!" C: "Thank you!" E: "Carolyn, you haven't changed a bit, that's how I know you!" C&E: (LOLOL) "Well hello! What an answer was that HAHAHAHA!"
15 minutes later: Train-lady-voice: "Ladies and Gentlemen, may we kindly request you to leave the train in a few moments, we are approaching our end station." E&C: HUH WAH? (Looking at each other with confused faces) E&C: Oeeee??? (Looking at the Taiwanese guys behind us) The guys: "Yeeees, we took the wrong train too!" C: "OH MY GOD, are you kiddin' me!?" E: "It's OK, I am used to it" C: " Evy, I managed well for 6 weeks to find my way around Taipei and one evening you join me AND WE TAKE THE WRONG TRAIN?" Evy was laughing and me too because I wasn't angry of course, it was another adventure to add to my list!
We got off the train and searched asap for a person in a uniform. Ok! We found one! We explained our situation but he understood nothing really but then suddenly a man came interrupting our "conversation" and asked us "What is the problem?" We explained it again and he translated and asked the man in the uniform. The man that translated (I will call him Angel from now on because he was kind off our angel in distress), told us that we could not catch up with our train, so we needed to wait till the next one arrived in about...one hour. E&C: "Ohneeeee, Ok sniks, alles komt goed! (and we were laughing with our own misery) C:" Evy, you know we lost our seats now right?" E: "I guess" C: "Thank you Evy, you suddenly made my stay in Taiwan a lot more fun! (Sarcasticly laughing)"
Do you like the story already? 'Cause it's just about to really begin!!! Let's divided into peaces like Twilight, only my second (and maybe third) part will not s*ck.
See you later for the sequellll! Byebye!!!
Ps: Almost forgot, Owwww Yeaaah It's my birthday, we gonna party like it's my Birthday...NOT. Reality check: my thesis, right! Well I guess writing a bit on my blog was kinda the peaks of my day :) ! (I'm 23 now, btw) OK..
BYEEE foriell.
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