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For all my California friends and classmates who delight in the rain, I swear to heaven you will learn to hate it, fast, if you live in Taiwan. Yes, this a post about rain. I've never liked it, but I despise it even more now that I have to deal with it here, all of the time.

After being so glad yesterday, I thought nothing could ruin my mood today, and nothing did, until I crashed head-on into one of my classmates while riding my bike back to my dorm in the rain and broke my handlebars. No one was hurt, but I now have a broken bike on my hands. It's rideable, but extremely hard to do so. I blame the rain.

Imagine having to ride your bike in the rain. One hand is dedicated to holding your umbrella upright, fighting the sideways rain and the wind at the same time, while the other (usually dominant) hand is dedicated to steering your handlebars. Watching out for pedestrians is no walk in the park: if you're on a bike, you dislike people who walk; if you walk, you dislike people on bikes. It's a mutual relationship and it sucks butt.

At least with snow, people walk and riding becomes out of the question. But bikes are still rideable through water, which is why people at NTU still choose to do so, lest they be late for class. If you're like me, and make it to class on time with less than a minute to spare each time, you usually end up riding your bike, no matter how wet you think you're going to get.

Bikes at NTU are ridiculous. It comes to a point where people pull others' bikes out of slots to make space for their own, and those unfortunate people end up having their bikes towed because some idiot couldn't spare a few more minutes finding another space of his own. And on rainy days, bikes become even more of a problem. Those who choose to ride on days like this usually walk in with no dry area except their head. It's positively annoying.

I despise rain. Even more so now that I'm here.