My friend Mike was the first person I knew who called himself a digital nomad and was actually a digital nomad. It was also a dream that at the time I wanted to achieve. At that time I was working a desk job at a few different companies.
my first taste was when i first went to europe. (october) when I came back to the states afterwards, I was looking at everything through a different lens. going to europe everything was different there compared to the usa. it just gave me alot to compare and contrast against. my only regrets about my europe trip was that I didn't shoot any video at that time.
my second taste was when I first went to taiwan. (october of next year) everything changed for my after that. when I came back to the states, everything was tainted, I just wasn't feeling like the city I was living in at the time was suitable for me. this trip gave me alot to compare and contrast against, for example in taipei convenience stores are everywhere, in san francisco good luck finding a convenience store if you live near downtown. the closest supermarket is at least 15-20 minutes away through transportation or driving.
later in june I went back to taipei. this was the third taste of going abroad, I couldn't stay there because I hadn't prepared enough to stay there. but after the third time coming back from being abroad, I decided I was going to move to taipei full time to study chinese at the university. so I had to prepare, come up with a gameplan and do some research to mitigate the risks for living in a foreign country.
I rented an airbnb for the month in one of the more happening areas of taipei -- the ximen district in late november and little did I know that I was in for a surprise when I got to the apartment...
the last two times I came to taipei before this, I had rented apartments through airbnb and didn't have any issues, this time however, I ran into a major issue...
for example, when I moved to taipei, the apartment that I had rented on airbnb would occasionally smell like cigarettes at random times, and I found out it was because some guy who lived on a different floor was smoking in the hallways, even though there were giant signs that said no smoking inside. the first time I caught him, he literally ran away like a little girl.
anyway I couldn't stay at this place, the room had a lingering smell of smoke and the second room the landlord moved me to also had the same smell, it was affecting my health. so I had to temporarily stay at a hotel and find a new place on facebook apartment rental groups. that was stressful, but I learned to never rent in a place where there's potential for people to smoke in the hallways as well as, before coming to a place I should only rent a temporary place for a few days and go apartment hunting in person.
I quickly found a room in a house a little far out from central taipei, but it was smoke free and had a big kitchen. fuck that airbnb listing.
winter time was colder than I had expected. growing up in nyc, I'm really not a fan of cold weather. taipei doesn't get as cold as nyc but it's still required to dress warmly on the cold days, and also it rains too freaking much here so that makes an already day even more colder.
so far I've experienced all seasons here in Taiwan, and I can honestly say that summers are really hot and humid, the only decent times are spring and fall. not too cold and not too hot. so 2 out of 2 seasons are decent. To be continued...