Hiking with monkeys!

It was still pretty early in the morning when I got off the MRT in Beitou district. Nils, a German, and his host mom were already there but more people were on their way. We ended up with a group of about nine people and I was ready to hike! Unfortunately, the weather did not think so. At first it was a little bit of nasty, drizzly rain but it quickly turned into a windy downpour. As we hiked up the mountain the rain began to come from all sides so that, despite my Nike rain jacket, I was soaked. As I watched the slippery rocks a pungent smell of sulfur followed us. In Taiwan, when it rains the sky becomes one shade of white-gray making the sky lack depth. On this particular day the sky was like that but we were in the clouds so the effect was heightened. A view that was probably quite rewarding at the top of the mountain was reduced to the dull white and wind. With all of this do you think we were having fun? Of course we were! We are exchange students, well most of us, and we were in good company. The conversation was always amusing or interesting, and all of us being soaked and tired only made the lunches we had packed for ourselves more enjoyable. I talked to Nils’s host brother who wants to go to the US for exchange about joining sports and life in America. I was able to answer his questions and ease his concerns. The highlight however, was definitely the monkeys. I have never seen monkeys in the wild before! The biggest ones watched us as the smaller ones moved away. They were tan and fuzzy and because it is spring there were a few baby monkeys with them.

The moral of this story is to make the best of your situation. It’s really easy to look at the things that are going wrong on exchange, but sometimes the view isn’t what we’re looking for:)

Thanks for reading,

Autumn Crisovan 丁晚秋