my semester abroad at national taiwan university

8/14/2019 My Semester Abroad at National Taiwan University

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I-Hsuan (Sherry) LuT97B01103

M y S e m e s t e r A b r o a d a t N a t i o n a l T a i w a n U n i v e r s i t y

For the last four and a half months, I was studying abroad at National

Taiwan University in Taipei. After selecting the university, I remember a lot ofpeople asking me why I chose Taiwan- the country where I was born and where Ihave spent several years of my childhood in. I chose Taiwan because I still hadextended family there, and I already speak the language. I understand that somestudents may choose a country where they are learning the language, and arehoping to improve, and others choose a country where they know absolutely noone. But for me, Taiwan was perfect. Since I am fluent in Mandarin, I could takeany NTU classes I wanted to, and I am proud to say that I did not get ripped offby any salespeople. And even though I was fluent in Mandarin, I felt that myspeaking skills have definitely improved from talking with locals and teachingother exchange students. Having extended family there was also nice, especially

since I hadn’t seen them in about ten years. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my studyabroad experience.I still remember the day I landed in Taiwan. As soon as I stepped outside,

despite it being 5am, I remember being bombarded by the intense heat andhumidity. And after I moved in, my friend and I walked around campus and saw afew amazing but odd sights. Such as NTU’s double-layered bike racks, andpeople using umbrellas as parasols.

It was also interesting to find out that my roommate and I share a name; tothis day, I still wonder if it was intentional or by accident that two Sherry’s gotplaced in the same room. At least it made it easier when fellow dorm-mates were

looking for a Sherry.NTU planned an Orientation on Day 2, after move-in day, and that waswhen I met a lot of other exchange students- even one from my home university.It was a great opportunity to meet so many people in a small setting. We evenmet a third Sherry. Three Sherry’s all living in the same hallway, what acoincidence.

The weather in 2008 was weird, so we heard. There were severaltyphoons in September, one every weekend for the first few weeks. We tried to



wait out the storm and avoid trips outside, but eventually we got fed up andbraved the storms. The best typhoon outfit encompasses board shorts and flip-flops; too many students soaked through their shoes for us to try the same thing.Stepping outside was like going swimming anyways.

No trip to Taiwan is complete without shopping. In fact, many Taiwaneseimmigrants return to Taiwan to visit relatives, but mainly, to shop. With numerouscheap shopping districts such as Wufenpu, Shilin Night-market, and Ximen ontop of many department stores, shopping in Taiwan is friendly for any budget. Ilike to say that I single-handedly helped Taiwan’s economy by shopping so much.My friends and I like to go shopping at least once every other week, just to scopeout new deals, and buy souvenirs. Not to mention that anywhere you go, there isalways a ton of food around. So sometimes, shopping wasn’t even intended, but

just happened after we browsed around for food.

Besides the shopping and the eating, we definitely went to many touristhot spots, such as CKS Memorial Hall, the botanical garden in Taipei, Taipei Zoo,Taipei 101, Danshui (the north coast), Fulong (coast along the east), and Jiufen(an old street). We also travelled to Yilan (east-Taiwan), Taichung (mid-Taiwan)and Kenting (southern-most tip of Taiwan). Many of those places had historybehind them, and it was very interesting to hear or read about the stories.



Despite people complaining about the air pollution in Taipei, as soon as youleave the city, Taiwan is definitely a gorgeous island. We were also very lucky toencounter nice weather when we were on our trips, and it made them enjoyableand memorable.

Left to right: CKS Memorial Hall, Fishing boats at Danshui, Crowds at Jiufen,Waves crashing at Fulong, Plants at the botanical gardenBeach at Kenting, Yawning lion at Taipei Zoo



Left to right: Group photo at Kenting, Waves crashing at Kenting, Elephants at the zooSunset at Danshui, High Speed Rail to Kenting, Taipei 101 and its reflection

Exchange to Taiwan for fall semester meant that I was spendingHalloween, Thanksgiving (Canadian and American), Christmas and New Yearsaway from home. Instead of feeling sad or homesick, I actually really enjoyedspending the holidays with all the new friends I made. Besides the major holidays,we also celebrated several birthdays in the past few months. It felt like spendingall the holidays with a newer family. We were also very lucky, as 2008 coincidedwith NTU’s 80th anniversary.



The most unique thing that I did in Taiwan was donate my hair. I had

always planned on donating my hair once it was long enough, but I didn’t know ifTaiwan did such things. After I Googled a bit, I found out that there was a salonin Taipei that had done a charity event such as that in August. I e-mailed them,

and sooner than I knew, I was scheduled to donate my hair right after Christmas.Since hair donating was a new concept in Taiwan, the salon hired press and Ieven got to be on the evening news. I donated 13” of hair and ended up with anew haircut.

NTU courses are very different from SFU courses. The main difference isthat NTU semesters are about 4-5 weeks longer, making it seem way longer thanSFU’s semesters. Also NTU courses are taught once a week, for 2 hours insteadof one hour, but twice or three times a week. Both were pretty easy to adjust to.Midterms and finals were to be expected, and I found that studying in the NTUlibrary was great. They had a huge room dedicated to self-study with

approximately 800 seats; however, around exam time, all 800 seats are occupied,and one may end up waiting to study there.I thought the saddest moment of the whole semester was leaving. I had

not cried because someone was leaving since I was young. Due to moving a lotas a child, I realized that people do, eventually, leave. And with the wonders ofthe Internet, it was pretty easy to keep in touch. Despite all that, the night I leftTaiwan, I sobbed like a baby. I was blown away by how attached I became to myfriends. We hung out daily for the last five months, and it literally broke my heart



to say goodbye. I cannot name one single moment as the best moment since theentire semester was a blast. I am proud of myself for re-learning how to ride abike, then learning how to pump my tires and grease my bike chain. Also I amproud that I snorkeled, after 10 years of refusing to enter water deeper than 5’. Iconquered nerves and danced on a stage at a club. I learned a lot by living alone

as this was the first time I had been away from home for so long. Last but notleast, I made numerous great friends whom I can call on anytime. I reallyappreciate this experience, and I would definitely recommend studying abroad.

my semester abroad at national taiwan university

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