To intern at a fashion magazine publishing company…
1. Know people. This may have been the easiest-to-get internship. Ever. I can’t believe my uncle scored/is scoring with the Director of the publishing company (hello Taiwanese equivalent of Hearst Corporation?)
2. Be prepared to live for 2 months in a not-so-great area. Not all internships are like The Devil Wears Prada? Taiwan is gross-hot like sitting in a seat that has been ass-warmed for the 2 hours.
3. Be willing to spend time to find out how to get to the freaking building. Believe me, this is not an easy task when taxi farts (exhaust) comprise of the air you breathe and you can’t read Mandarin very well. This leads me to…
My Day Spent Looking For The Building of My Internship
My mom insisted that we find a bus that goes directly from our apartment to the publishing building. I don’t think she understood the fact that public transportation serves a Public Good not the Kelly’s Internship Good but we stood for about an hour in the sun looking at little bus signs. The bus signs in Taiwan look kind of like what I imagine those circuit board charts look like. You know, like the ones that have lines and circles connecting everywhere…
Here are the fruits of my labor:
Go from Shandao Temple Station to Zhongxiao Xinsheng.
Take the 3rd Exit and proceed to the bus station.
Take Buses 214, 675, 72, 643, 505, 208, or 226 for about 4 stops or until you see a building with a little logo of a green oak tree. (I think it’s oak… maybe it’s a maple? They’re like the same, so whatever.)
To come back, walk about 3/4 of a block toward the direction you came from until you find another bus station.
Take 214, 505, 676, 226, or 222 back until you see a red sign that is supposed indicate some bank. Find Zhongxiao Xinsheng again and take the subway back to Shandao Temple Station.
Oh oh, on the subways, they have this weird automated voice that announces each of the stops. First in Mandarin, then in Taiwanese, then in Cantonese, and then in English. It’s great because the whole process takes so long that when the subway is starting to leave the station, it hasn’t gone through the four languages. I can only imagine a tourist waiting for the English announcement of the station and upon realizing that he has indeed arrived at the right station, also finds that the subway is leaving it.
I also got a bug bite under my left eye. It’s so sexy.
Will upload pictures of food and random Taipei scenes while hanging out at the bus stop.
