9. NSYSU

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Roman Korimara. I am from Rep of Kiribati. My stay in Taiwan is almost one year now. I am here to work for masters degree in Electric Power Engineering. My University is in the south of Taiwan which is National Sun Yatsen University. During my stay in this university what perhaps surprises me the most is mainly Taiwanese people and the way they live their daily lives.  

Firstly, someday I walked around the city and I could see many people. These people are full of activities. A few days later, I walked around the same places; I saw the same thing again. To me it seems, everyday they are full of activities. What I realised the Taiwanese people are sorely using their time wisely and moreover in turn it will surely contributes to betterment of this country as I can witness today. Unfortunately this is very good experience because it teaches me personally.

Secondly, recently I saw most of the students in this university as they are always respecting their teacher. I do really appreciate them personally because in my country we are doing the same thing as well. What surprise me the Taiwanese people are not respecting only their teacher, but they are showing consideration for everybody no matter where are you from , believe me and I always says this.

My name is Edissa Jarjue and I come from the Gambia. I came to Taiwan to pursue a Masters degree in Electrical Power Engineering and also to learn about Taiwanese culture. Beside the studies I wanted to experience living in a country that has become an example to the rest of the world and has such a different culture. At the beginning the change was not really felt since all international students were together. However, when I arrived at my university, I started to feel real Taiwanese lifestyle and food.

My first surprise came when I took the KMRT Kaoshiung city to travel round the city. I saw that the people organise queue in a orderly and very convenient manner. This makes travelling by MRT very convenient. No matter how crowded a train station is, people are always patient standing in queues. Even if you are a stranger once you come into Taiwan, it’s easy to move around because there is never any scramble for anything. I later realise that this is part of live for the people here. In any public place your happen to visit, it’s the same. That is first have, first have.

The other thing is the use of Chop- stick for eating. Before I came to Taiwan, I saw chopstick on movies. At the time little did I know that I would be using it someday by myself to eat. It’s really amazing and I got used to it now. I have a special chopstick which I carry anywhere I go. The use of chopstick also enables me to interact well with the locals who really appreciate when they see a foreigner using chopstick.

After the pressure of the last exams we finally finished and we will start enjoying the summer. We fail the happiness in the cold faces. I and my family we have plans, trips everyone in my family has and put them together? Sounds awesome just to think about all the fun all my family had on the summer vacations.

For me and my family we had some fun as well. We didn’t go back to my country as many of our friends did because we wanted to enjoy staying in Kaohsiung. As a person who lives in Kaohsiung I seldom have the opportunity to enjoy staying in Kaohsiung because I was very pussy in my studding at the university. So we took this chance to enjoy staying in Kaohsiung.

 A friend of mine invited me to celebrate the holiday with his family at Tai-chung. The fact that many people working in Taipei were returning home meant a very high traffic. As a result we had to leave very early in the morning to ensure that we have bus seats. At the bus station, a lot of people have already gathered. We were very lucky to get seats and this mark the beginning of the trip.

Before I arrived in Taiwan, I had a conversation with my friend who visited Taiwan before. I hear from him that the Taiwanese foods are fantastic. When i arrived in Taipei, i started to realise that what my friend told me about the Taiwanese food is absolutely right.

My experience in Taiwan as a whole has been really amazing. There are aspects in this experience that have been very tough to be use to. However my food experience is a real challenge. My classmates and I are still searching around campus for more restaurants with food close to my liking. I have a favourable dish that is called beef noodles. Fortunately for me, the restaurant is not far from campus. So I can pop in any time to have a good meal.

Sun-Yat Sen University is located in the southern city of Kaohsiung, the second largest one in Taiwan. It borders the ocean and its campus is isolated from the inner-city by a mountain. Actually, the university’s name in mandarin means “in the middle of the mountains”.