нэр: Maichoua Lor
Улс: АНУ
I'm Maichoua Lor, an exchange student at Shih Hsin University for the fall semester of 2010. My school back at home is the University of Wisconsin River Falls. Coming from a small town like River Falls to a new world like Taiwan is a great step I took into discovering a different culture. This is my first journey out of the United States; therefore, Taiwan was definitely a shock for me. As soon as I stepped outside of Taiwan's International Airport, I experienced the heat of Taiwan right away—from the traffic to the humidity.
Shih Hsin is a small university in Taipei surrounded by lush green scenery. That's its beauty. I personally like small campuses, and so I was easily adjusted to the campus. Another great thing about Shih Hsin is that it's in the city where many things can be found. There's a bus stop right in front of the school's gate. The MRT transportation is convenient, and it's just a walk away. Taipei gave me my first subway experience, something that I only saw in the movies back at home. River Falls does not have any subway transportation nor was it as busy as Taipei. In Taipei, it's busy pretty much all day every day. There are people walking outside, riding motorcycles, taking the bus, or MRT. Also I must mention that I like the night markets. Back at home, we don't have this. This is where almost everyone goes during the evening to hang out, shop, and grab a bite. Outside our school, a few blocks down, there is the Jingmei night market. It's quite convenient for the students—especially we exchange students because we don't have a kitchen in the dormitory. There I discovered that I like fried dumplings. When my friend and I get hungry on the week-end, we would go out for fried dumplings and along the way, do a lot of shopping.
Although it's December, the temperature is in the 80's during the day. The other exchange students and I agree that this is not winter. We do not think that Taiwan has a winter season. Even though we feel it will be a bit strange to have Christmas without snow, we will keep our spirits up after seeing the early decorations of Christmas lights on "palm trees". We had a good laugh over that. But there's no rule saying that only certain trees can hang Christmas lights right? I thought it was surprising to see, but I'm glad Taiwan has the spirit. The decorations bring me a little closer to home. What next? The Christmas songs and Christmas parties are next before my departure.
Taiwan Education Center in Mongolia
Supervised by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: +886-(0)3-350-7001 ext.3705; Fax: +886-(0)3-359-3891; E-mail: ivy@mail.mcu.edu.tw
