Reflecting on Two Months in Taipei, Taiwan, as a Visiting Student at National Taiwan University
I landed at Taoyuan International Airport on February 18th, 2016 excited for the new experiences ahead of me. From the big firsts like living in Asia and attending a huge public university to the smaller ones like a can of Taiwan Beer at the local 7/11.
After growing up in sleepy and idyllic San Diego, I was ready to get out and go somewhere new. Going to college on the East Coast gave me that first chance. The experience let me see what life with extreme seasons was like. Snow storms, rain, more snow storms, and of course the extremely gratifying thaw of Spring (I always left during the summer so no stories to share). New York City was just two hours away, so I also had more opportunities to see what life in an urban setting was like. The abundance of culture, the convenience of the subway, and the expensive (but also delicious) food. Last summer I had the opportunity to intern in San Francisco. It had a familiar California vibe but with the unique density, startup culture, and hills that makes the city famous and also astoundingly unaffordable.
Wanderlust for something different from my past experiences influenced my search for a place to study abroad. In the Chinese speaking world there are many big and vibrant cities — however Taipei was still quick to rise to the top of my list. The city is relatively clean, food scene is vibrant, subway incredibly efficient, internet uncensored, and locals are relatively accepting of women and LGBT rights. With those boxes checked, the rest of the experience would be highly dependent on local culture — which is hard to research in advance and is better experienced first hand.
So after a pretty quick decision process I went off to start a new chapter here in Taiwan. For the past two months I’ve been taking language, history, and culture classes as a visiting student at National Taiwan University. For those that don’t know, a visiting student is someone from a school that does not have an exchange agreement with the university. While this route isn’t the most convenient or straightforward, I’m glad I chose to enroll directly at a Taiwanese University instead of choosing a study abroad program. I felt the experience was more authentic and it gave me the opportunity to go through the same bureaucratic process that normal Taiwanese college students go through. There was no special study abroad company that sorts out all the nitty gritty of registering to be a student, choosing classes, and traveling during breaks and weekends.
National Taiwan University is located in the dense Gongguan district of Taipei. Every morning I bike through the morning rush of hundreds of motorcycles, cars, and bikes. The sheer number of other bike commuters was something that really stood out to me when I first arrived. It stood in contrast to my memories of biking to middle school in the suburban Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego. It was not unusual to only see two to three other bikers during the whole 25 minute commute. In Gongguan it’s a completely different story. Rain or shine there is a large enough stream of bikers to have bike congestion on the sidewalks and bike lanes. Some bikers have people sitting on the back or standing on the pegs. I remember watching in amazement as one biker juggled having someone standing in the back while also making a phone call and dodging other bikers on the way to class. When you add rain to the mix the person in the back will sometimes hold an umbrella — adding even more liveliness to what used to be an unusual sight for me.
Once I get to campus I look for a parking spot among the hundreds of spaces in the bike parking lots next to each academic building. The building that houses the new Liberal Arts Education classrooms even has a giant underground bike lot. The atmosphere for bikers is truly something I haven’t personally experienced before. Bikes can be found parked in mass right outside popular restaurants, next to the MRT stations, and student dorms. I know the U.S is going through a bike share boom, and maybe one day bike commuting will be as common as it is in Gongguan.
Food options are really diverse and there are two apps that I’d recommend using to find new places. One is 愛食記 and the other is Yelp. The first one is all in Chinese which can be a bit challenging — but since it is so well populated with suggestions and pictures it can be a very useful tool even for those that might not be well-versed at reading Chinese characters. Yelp on the other hand has a familiar interface and also lots of reviews in English. There’s even a translation feature for those that are in Chinese. I’ve used these apps when looking to grab a meal on my own, but when going with local friends I usually just defer and let them decide. I’m not much of a food blogger and there are already many posts about the Taiwan food scene so I’m not going to go in any more depth about the food. Just know that there are lots of good nomz!
At the end of each week comes the challenge of what to do on the weekend. For the most part I’ve stayed in Taipei. The only two exceptions would be spring break which I spent in Kenting for the annual music festival and the weekend trip I made to Hsinchu. Both trips could get their own post, especially my trip to Kenting which was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.
On the weekends in Taipei I’ll usually try to leave Gongguan and get food somewhere new. One of my favorite neighborhoods in Taipei is Zhongxiao Fuxing. It’s a lively neighborhood with tons of cafes, restaurants, and shops. The architecture is also pretty diverse with a mix of western style brick facade, traditional Taiwanese, and some newer modernist buildings.
For the first few weeks I was here I also took the opportunity to go clubbing and to bars for the first time. These were nice firsts to have, and there are lots of options for different tastes. Some things I still want to try here are karaoke and going to a live music cafe or bar. I also want to go on some more weekend trips to other places like Kaohsiung and Tainan— we’ll see if that happens. I really want to have another excuse to ride the high speed rail, something California won’t have built for another 20 years (at least).
Aside from school and travel I’ve been working on continuing to learn more about the tech and startup career path. Primarily through connecting with locals and immigrants who are here working in Taiwan’s startup and tech industry. These meetings have been really helpful for me in getting a better sense of what is possible here and whether I’d like to move to Taipei one day and under what circumstances. There are a number of Americans that have startups here and also some that do freelance work for American clients while still being based here. The other route is to work for a large Taiwanese company or government bureaucracy — but the differences in work culture could be a huge hurdle for me in getting the most out of my career. Again, I’m already restless and thinking about the next steps I want to take post-grad. I know May 2017 is much closer than I think, and I’m hoping to keep the pressure up on myself.
