NCKU + NDD

Ok so I lied in that last blog, the first day back from Hong Kong was a Thursday. I'm about to tell you about Friday, and I didn't want you to think I'd just left out a day.

Friday :: Another Health Fail
I woke up feeling fine. That keeps happening. I've noticed that it's only when I reach the heat that I feel bad. A/C seems to cure the headache...or help it at least. I walked to studio and felt like crap! Woohoo! Studio is from 1 to 5 on Friday's and my group told Tin-Man to send me home at 3 because I couldn't even concentrate on what they were saying.

I slept from 3 to 5:30 when Kenney came in and said they were going to this crazy buffet dinner and I said no thanks. I wanted to do as little as possible because I knew we'd be traveling again the next 4 days. I walked to buy some cold water and, when I came back, some Shu-Te students had just walked in with an abandoned kitten they'd found! It was palm sized and precious! I had a fever and probably shouldn't have, but I played with it. It made me happy and made me miss Felicity :(




It's living in a big box outside on the the laundry balcony. I don't know how long they'll keep it there because they're not allowed to have pets in the dorm. I like it being there though :)

If you've been paying attention, you may recall the NCKU workshop a few weeks back. Well, we were invited back for another one this past weekend.

Saturday :: Toy Story 3! Among Other Things
On Saturday morning I rode on my first normal train ever. We arrived in Tainan and I got a headache the second we stepped out into the heat. We were lectured and briefed on our project which was to innovate toys or transportation.



Once again, my group chose toys. My group consisted of students from Indonesia, Cincinnati, NCKU, Shu-Te and Auburn. We had a total of 9 hours to work on our project to come up with a concept, make a presentation board and a powerpoint. Our concept was sort of a musical domino.



After working for about five hours, we all departed and went to the hotel to check in. (We'd been lugging our luggage around all day at NCKU) We set our stuff in our room and went to MosBurger which was DELICIOUS. I got this shrimp burger which had a REALLY fried patty of shrimp, then some lettuce that was more like coleslaw lettuce and this sauce that I can't even describe. It. Was. Delicious. I also had some amazing french fries and A COKE! However, all of this was eaten at the speed of light because we were on our way to see TOY STORY 3!! (Before EVERYONE in the US, bwahahaha. Release dates here are pretty sweet...except not for Eclipse) We literally ran to the theater about 6 blocks away and I worked off all of dinner. Turns out we were about 15 minutes early, oh well. The movie was REALLY good, I recommend it. I cried, haha, of course.


Sunday :: Presentations and a Scary Mattress
We met at 9:30 and worked our butts off. At 3 we presented to a very harsh board of judges (Tin-Man, a lady that seemed very cranky, a knowledgeable yet arrogant German man, and the NCKU design head). The first group that went got utterly drilled by this panel, so much so that I was getting mad. It was unnecessary, we had NINE hours for this thing and it's just a silly hypothetical competition. I understand that the real world can be pressing, but what I despise is that our superiors in design always feel the need to graduate school and develop the biggest egos I've ever encountered. Designers design to help people, not become philosophical movie stars. Bugs the hell out of me. Here, Tin-Man catches Kenney saying "Is this necessary?", referring to Group One's roasting, and Matt is scared...with good reason because they presented next.


Anyway, I presented with my group last (BEST FOR LAST)


And then we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. I had spaghetti with mushrooms and a hazel latte and tiramasu for FREE! After dinner they presented the awards and my group got first place!





That night we all went to bed pretty early...well at about 11. Sarah Jayne was already asleep and Christine and I climbed into our beds at the same time. We had three separate mattresses, and lights were out. I lay there for about 30 seconds and MY MATTRESS SHAKES. *Oh my God there's someone under my bed.* is my first thought. I sat up and thought *Surely, if I slam down really hard, it'll scare them and they'll make a noise and I'll know for sure if someone's there* -Slam-No noise- I'm still not convinced. This was probably about two minutes of time but it felt like ten. I finally sit up and say "Christine..?" *yeah?* "Can you turn on the lights?" (The switches were all next to her bed) She does so and I sit up and say "Ok, this is going to sound ridiculous...but I think there's something under my bed" She says "ME TOO! My mattress shook twice!" I wasn't as scared then because her bed was on the other side of the room. We checked regardless and the bed was blocked underneath so there was no way anything could be there. I recalled a conversation with an NCKU student who'd come from Auburn. He said that, in the year he's been in Taiwan, there had been 5 earthquakes. I think it was a tremor! WOAH! Scared me to death though.

Monday :: First Day of NDD
Tin-Man and the boys went back to Shu-Te after the awards dinner. The five girls stayed behind to intern at NDD for two days. [NDD is where we had the field trip a few weeks ago, remember?] I don't know how much I'm allowed to say on the subject, but we worked on tea sets for a Taiwanese company.



At NDD, you have to take your shoes off before you go inside. We had been told by Adam, a past Taiwan abroad student, to explore the roof and jump to other buildings. Well, we climbed up to the top of the roof and determined that the past Taiwanese students were freaking crazy because, to get to the other buildings' roofs, you'd be dare devil jumpin! No way! Then we remembered NDD saying they'd moved locations, and we felt defeated and our feet were very hot. This is what the roof looked like, it was very nice.


At "6:15"...it turned out to be about 6:45...we presented day one's concepts. I went first and, when I was done presenting, no one said anything, the group leader looked distraught and then they all began to laugh. I felt like complete crap. I thought "Uh, come on, I'm not that bad." Turns out they hadn't completely understood everything I said. Also, they were supposed to critique and they were having trouble collecting English thoughts to tell me.

We met up with a girl from the last NCKU workshop for dinner and ate quickly because all of us were very very tired. We'd been at NDD for 12 hours working and the NCKU kids hadn't slept for a few days.

Tuesday :: Last Day at NDD
In the morning we made mood boards and we sketched more concepts in the afternoon. During this day's lunch break, I decided to sit outside on the balcony and I laid down for about 15 minutes. BAD IDEA. Face/Tummy/Legs got pretty pink, but it's faded by the next day.

We presented again, this time at 5:30 and they liked one of my ideas a lot. I think I will expand on it for Liu's open studio competition project. This was my final mood board and sketches.


As we were waiting for the cab, I photographed the sunset because it was pretty. Also, I figured that I wouldn't get another chance to document the traffic, so here's a video of a Taiwanese intersection. [It says the video is not working now, but to try later..so maybe it will work by the time you all read this. If not, my bad.]



For dinner, we went back to MosBurger, haha. Then we went to a bakery before catching the train. There are these cake things that I've seen at every bakery and I really wanted to try them, but I wanted to try ONE and they come in a pack of six. Christine asked the bakery guy if I could buy just one and, instead of saying yes, he insisted on giving me the entire box of six for free. Sometimes it's cool to be a tourist.

Train home was alright, but we weren't really sure when to get off and that was nerve-racking. I bought The Time Traveler's Wife at the Hong Kong airport and it's been keeping me entertained in my downtime on transportation. So far, the book isn't much like the movie was, but I like it a lot.

At the dorms, I sat with Kenney in the lobby editing pictures and three girls came up and giggled at the table next to us for about 15 minutes. They worked up the courage to say hello, then Kenney ducked out to go pack for NDD and I answered questions about America and our trip for about two more hours. I wanted sleep very badly, but I've noticed that when the students get excited about talking to Americans, they don't stop easily.

Wednesday - So far today has consisted of washing my face and writing this blog. More later.