HPU's Students Abroad Blog: 在台灣留學 Studying in Taiwan (ROC)

大家好！(Dàjiā hǎo!)Hello Everyone!

Upon Elephant Mountain and gazing at Tapei 101 at sundown :)

Almost three months has past since I left Hawaii. So far, it has been an interesting adventure! What I remember from my first week in Taiwan was nothing I really prepared for. After all, the summer was a bliss and my Chinese was not polished enough for what was in stored for me. Upon arrival to Taoyuan airport (that's the often main international airport to get to Taiwan), I was able to use my Chinese the first time while ordering breakfast at the airport. It was horrible. However, over time my Chinese had progressed to at least to an extent where am I able to speak and listen to it a whole lot more.

I currently dorm at the Shui Yuan dorms (C; mixed gender with certain floors for boys and others for girls) a little outside National Taiwan University. It's a decent place that's clean and has internet (though the wifi is quite bad :( ). I also got a roommate from Hong Kong! He's a nice guy and I am glad they roomed us together because it's great to be with another Cantonese speaker (hearing and speaking it, reminds me of my parents).

The best thing about the dorm however is its diversity. Every where I go, there are local Taiwanese students, mainland Chinese students, Germans, French, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Koreans, and other nationalities. An interesting fact: NTU has about 432 international exchanges students from 28 different countries, and representing 149 universities. If you don't believe me check out their site: http://www.oia.ntu.edu.tw/students/incoming.students.list/year/104

Speaking of other nationalities, I forgot to mention that many of my classmates and fellow dormmates can speak Mandarin really well!!! It's not rare to see westerners speak Chinese to each other or see Koreans and Japanese speak Chinese like they have been speaking it like forever. I guess I should not be surprise, NTU is after all, the so called "Harvard of Taiwan." It makes sense that it will draw top students from around the world to study here.

As for my travels in Taiwan, so far I have been in the North and exploring Taipei to the fullest. I have been to neighboring towns like Kee Lung, Jiu Fen, Shi Fen, Mao Kong, and Wu Lai. I hope I can explore the Southern cities more later, and even see the north and east coast beaches of Taiwan (can they compete with Hawaii?). I still have plenty more to see.