My exchange life in UIUC

Feb 14,2020

Hi guys, this is Isla, I’m going to share with you guys my life and what I have been experienced in the states and UIUC through these weeks.

Let's get started! First thing first👇

DON’T YOU EVER TRY Mc Donald’s HERE!

Since I didn’t take the same flight with Ruby and Allen, so I waited for them about 7 hours. After I’ve done all the process and passed the customs, I was starving at that moment (cuz the meal on the plan is really bad.). The first and most familiar fast food brand came in my eyes, Mc Donald’s. Wait…. do you think I am going to say how touched I was when I have my delicious Mc Donald’s burger? Nope, it actually tasted so bad and expensive!!!! I highly don’t recommend you guys to try it. It’s totally different from what we have in Taiwan. After

I complained how bad the food is here, let’s move on to….

Life in UIUC

Basically, we cook everyday. This could really save a huge amount of your parents’ property. So you better learn how to cook before you come here. In my leisure time,

I hit the gym mostly, you can use your student card to enter every gym in the campus free. The big one is ARC, the small one is CRCE. They got everything you could think about what a gym should have, they also have sauna! Surprised huh? Therefore, these two gym are my favorite corner in UIUC, for study, I supper recommend to go the Union Building, there are different kind of areas for student to relax or study and there is a Starbucks branch there, so I can get myself a cup of coffee while studying psychology (That’s another story).

How’s the weekends here?

The weekends here, basically, for me are study psychology, hit the gym or shop for groceries. Here is not like Taiwan that you can hop on a random train or high speed rail, go to another places to have fun. Wake up, this is America. But this Friday (02, 14,2020), we went to ski with other Taiwanese students at Hidden Valley, Missouri, where took us almost 4 hours to get there (PS 20:00~01:00, every Friday student ticket for $32). That was really awesome, at the same time it hurts a lot when you fall and hit the ground with your bottom and knees. Remember! Put on your waterproof coat and pants or you will regret. Do not say I didn’t warn you. Because I’m that idiot who wore a furry coat and jeans to ski!!! Snowboarding is great but I was extremely frozen when my jeans got completely wet. Snowboarding was really a wonderful but also tragic experience for me so far. I will definitely remember that for my whole life. Next day, we visited the must go site in St. Louis, the Gateway Arch and Old Court House. But I like the visitor center the most. It uses half french window to let the center has gorgeous natural light which bright up the whole room and makes it really a good place to take a fabulous photo as well.

嗨大家！我是艾拉。接下來我想要跟你們分享我這幾個禮拜在美國以及UIUC的生活。

那我們就開始吧！！第一件事👇

千萬不要嘗試美國的麥當勞

由於我沒有跟Ruby還有Allen搭同一班飛機，所以我在機場等了他們七個小時。在我辦完所有程序以及出海關之後，我當下真的超餓！！（因為飛機餐太難吃），而我第一眼看到的也是最熟悉的速食店就是麥當勞。等等....

你以為我要說吃到熟悉的麥當勞我有多感動嗎？那你就錯了，事實上，超難吃而且還很貴。（一個雙層起司漢堡加一杯飲料要台幣180元，還沒有薯條！！）我極度的不推薦大家嘗試，這完全跟台灣的不一樣。好了，在抱怨完之後，接下來是......

在UIUC的日常生活

基本上，我們每天都自己煮來吃。這樣真的可以省下你爸媽很多錢。所以再來這裡之前，你最好先學會怎麼做菜。我平時的休閒時間都會去健身房運動。你可以用你的學生證進入每個健身房並使用所有器材。大家的叫做ARC，小間的叫CRCE。裡面有所有你想的到健身房該有的東西，而且還有桑拿！驚訝不？所以健身房變成我在學校最愛的地方。至於念書的話，我超推薦大家去Union Building。那邊也很多區域，你可以耍廢或是讀書，而且那邊有一間星巴克，我邊讀心理學時可以邊喝咖啡（這又是另一個故事了）

如何在這度過假日？

基本上我都去讀心理學，去健身房，或採買食材。這裡不像台灣，你可以隨便搭上一台火車或高鐵去別的城市玩。醒醒，這裡是美國。不過，這個禮拜五（02,14,2020）我們去了密蘇里州的Hidden Valley 滑雪。單趟旅程就花了我們四個小時（每個禮拜五晚上八點到凌晨一點是學生之夜，一個人只要32美元），滑雪真的很讚但同時也很痛，當你跌到撞到屁屁或膝蓋的時候。切記！穿上你的防水外套跟褲子，不要說我沒警告你，因為我就是那個穿泰迪熊外套加牛仔褲去滑雪的笨蛋！滑雪板滑雪真的很讚但我牛仔褲全濕的當下真的快冷死了。這次的滑雪體驗真的很好玩但有點悲劇就是了。我絕對會記住一輩子。隔天，我們造訪了聖路易斯必訪景點，巨大拱門以及老法院，但我其實最喜歡的是遊客中心😂這棟建築使用半落地窗的設計讓整個室內充滿了自然光也使他成為麽很好拍照的地方。

以上。