“you will…”: preconceptions
People said a lot of things before I came.
“With how long you’re there, you’ll be pretty good at the language by the time you come back.”
After quite a bit of effort, I have mastered a couple dozen words.
“There are a lot of scooters.”
Yes. They are everywhere.
“It’s really polluted there.”
Some days I think so and others it’s quite nice. It’s certainly much better than Zhuhai, Bangkok or Jakarta. There are some smoggy days and then there are some days I’m pretty sure are just overcast. (And others with a blue sky.) Overcast isn’t usually in a Californian’s vocabulary so there could have been some confusion with that.
“The people there are really nice.”
People are pretty-to-very friendly overall. I did find some things that I saw pretty frequently inconsiderate, like some of the driving maneuvers, or walking patterns on sidewalks.
“You’ll be great.”
I’d rate my performance as “fair” or “good” at best.
“The girls will love you there.”
I have found no evidence of this.
“You’ll meet a girl.”/ “You’ll come back with a girlfriend.”
See above.
“You’ll be tall there.”
I may be a bit above average but not any amount that I notice constantly.
“You’ll love it there.”
It took a while but I grew to like it. I don’t love it, certainly.
“Everything is cheap there.”
Sometimes. Food is cheap. Brand name electronics isn’t (generic stuff is). Clothing is cheap. Housing isn’t.
various preconceptions about it being unsafe/ corrupt
It’s really safe. Very safe–most parts of Taipei that I was in felt safer than San Francisco. It’s also pretty law-abiding and not (obviously, at least) corrupt.