This is my blog about my experience doing an international exchange in Taipei, Taiwan. I am currently a second year MBA candidate at the George Washington University School of Business and I decided what better way to spend my last semester of b-school than to go to Taiwan, finish my business classes there, take some Mandarin classes, meet some people, travel, eat and take it all in for 5 months. It all started with a mid-day flight out of Dulles international airport and 14 hours later I was in Tokyo, Japan. I hung out in the airport there for a few hours and then caught my next flight to Taipei, another 4 hours. When I arrived at the airport I decided to take a taxi to my apartment because it was already 10pm and I wanted to make sure my landlord would still be available to let me in so I didn't have to spend my first night in Taipei on the streets. My school arranged for one of the local students to help my get from the airport to my apartment, which was necessary because cab driver here usually don't speak English or understand Pinyin so I would have had an impossible time getting there without help. When we arrived at the cab stand line it wrapped half way around the building. A few minutes later a guy came up and said he would take us right now in his 'cab' and we didn't have to wait. This sounded kinda sketchy but I was in a hurry so we got out of line and found out it was just some dude with an unmarked car. The guide from my school spoke with the 'cab driver' and was quoted a price of NT $400 for the trip, which I thought was an awesome price at first. We drove about 40 minutes and when we arrived the shadiness started to emerge. The cab driver now wanted NT $1,400 for the ride. I expected something like this given the way we found the cab but didn't think the price would inflate as much as it did. I finally got to my place around 11:30pm, met with the landlord, and moved in. I arrived on February 5, 2013 and will head back to DC on June 27, 2013. The clock is ticking...
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