things are looking up since i last posted. today i asked if it'd be ok for me to switch classes, and they're pretty chill here, so tomorrow I'm going to "shop" classes all day and figure out which one i'd rather take.
also, i hung out with people for basically first time since i got here, for meiguo de shengri (america's birthday). i finally got to break out the greygoose that i bought duty-free, although not much was drunk, we all went to a nearby bar and chilled. i spent most of my time talking to a tunghai student who helps out in the language center. this was good; i spent most of the night speaking in chinese, and we had a legitimate conversation about legitimate topics and very little "uh, zenme shuo..."
it's very true that alcohol loosens the tongue; my speaking level was probably at its most fluent - ever - tonight. I had an interesting run-in with local culture, you might say, which might tie in a little with kelly's suggestion blog questions. anyway, i was talking to this girl the whole time, and then a friend of her boyfriend came (he was drunk) and expressed his misgivings about me talking with her at length.. although it was clearly fine. (tbh I was a little disappointed to find out that she had a boyfriend, but you know) anyway, an interesting shot of real-life into this otherwise foreign environment. more updates to come, including pictures / videos of night markets and sweet taiwanese cover bands!