First Few Days

Hi, my name is Justin. During the school year I attend a small liberal arts college (Oberlin) in Ohio in the United States. Because the program has run out of pencils we are forced to write our journal entries on this blog.

So far everyone has been very nice to me, I have only been attacked by a few people (joking). I feel fortunate that the professors and teacher's assistants have dedicated so much time and effort to take care of us (especially me because I am a very unpleasant person to be around).

At Oberlin I major in biology and creative writing. It is interesting that most of the students here have very specific areas of study such as entomology, forestry, or the Applied Studies of Lowland Insects with respect to Legumes.

So far we have seen the Chiang Kai-shek memorial which is a very tall white marble building that one can get to by climbing a series of stairs and small platforms. The building is trapazoidal in shape with walls that slope upwards into a blue pagoda like structure (I am not really an expert in architecture). The memorial is particulary impressive because its height contrasts with the wide open space around which consists of paved stone and gardens. In the background one can see Tapei 101 which used to be the tallest building in the world before the top fell off. It has the fastest elevator in the world which travles at 35 miles per hour ( Last semester I researched elevators for a story I wrote about a man who is trapped in an elevator for a day).

So far I have gone running every morning. I am on my school's cross country team so I need to train over the summer, my coach says if I follow his plan I will be able to run faster than a car. While training, I have noticed a lot of other people playing tennis and basketball. In America most people are still sleeping in the morning. Today I watched some old men play basketball which was funny because they are better than me--they run some good pick and rolls and throw no look passes. Plus it is also fun to watch them taunt/trash talk each other.

I am sorry that this post is so long but the program directors have told me that if I write enough that this post will count for the whole month.