Autumn Commentary

NTU Main Library

Between summer and autumn here in Taipei, I’d definitely choose autumn. The sunny days here are just gorgeous. Yesterday, there was even a rainbow. In the fall, there’s a blue sky, a light breeze, and green things. Somehow, I have a hunch that green things don’t change colour here: No reds, oranges or browns. Something I miss, but autumn here feels like a perfect (almost, for nothing can be really perfect) summer day at home.

NTU Campus

I’m writing here in what I consider to be the most beautiful part of Taida’s (NTU) campus and again I’m struck by the similarity to my university campus at home. Large, beautiful (for the most part), people don’t care what you do. Just an hour ago, I climbed a tree that was beside my picnic table right after eating my thousand -year-old egg with lean pork congee (疋蛋瘦肉粥). No one cared. If they did, they spoke about it until after I left. (There were lots of ants in that tree… hopefully no ants in my pants!) Now, I lie on a bench outside. I was told that if you do this here it means that you’re homeless. It’s possible.

Taipei 101 from NTU Main Campus

It’s eternally green here. Not a complaint but a statement. I don’t quite know how exactly I feel about that – it might contribute to helping have a proper excuse about being in summer mode all year long. By this I mean being lazy and procrastinating more than I would in a colder climate. Can surroundings really influence a person that much? I just think it’s an excuse for myself. But a pretty good one at that. (Where’s those scientific studies to back me up? Practically every point of view has a “scientific” study to back it up. Hah.)

However despite this all these differences that I find, I really enjoy Taiwan.