After being used to single rooms, living in a dorm with someone else has been a new experience. I am grateful to have a great roommate (shout out to Tessa), and so far so good! The first good thing about moving into the school dorms was finally being able to wash clothes, especially because it…Continue Reading Chapter Two: Dorm Life, Uni Life, Shopping Life
I don’t know about you but when I imagine celebrating a Winter Christmas, my mind immediately goes to snow, hot chocolate by the fire and ice skating, however Winter Christmas in Tainan was definitely not that! First of all, Christmas isn’t widely celebrated in Tainan and isn’t a public holiday so in the days leading…Continue Reading A Winter(?) Christmas in Tainan!
Tainan is a beautiful city with architecture hailing from multiple different periods. However, it has forced me to recognise and think about another aspect of civic beauty we often neglect – our footpaths. Despite the time we spend admiring the skylines above us, we take very little time to look down at our feet. Tainan’s…Continue Reading Mind the gap
Part Three: The Purpose Being a language exchange, we of course have Chinese language classes at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Chinese Language Center (成功大學華語中心). I was originally placed in H class based on a test done prior when I was still in NZ, but after discussing with the teacher, I decided to move down…Continue Reading Chapter One: 8,765 km (continued)
00:52 AM, Tainan December 9th The last 24 hours have been a blur, to say the least. I woke up to my phone ringing with a reminder that I needed to start thinking about getting ready and soon sat down to have a last breakfast with my grandparents before the almost two-month adventure that awaited…Continue Reading Landing in 台湾 and 星期一 shenanigans
Welcome one and all to your favourite Chilean Kiwi’s first Taiwan blog! This past week has been absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to share with you all what it has been like in this beautiful country. Let’s start with the arrival! After a long 11-hour flight, we finally arrived around 5 pm in Taoyuan…Continue Reading 早上好 Taiwan!
A week of settling into Tainan 台南 Tainan: A city rich in culture, good food, and some of the nicest people I have ever met. Little did I know that this opportunity to study in a different country would teach me so much about myself and a little about a little city in the South of…Continue Reading And so the journey begins…
Part One: The Journey The toughest decision to make: what to pack and bring to Tainan, Taiwan? The first thing I did was check the weather, to which I was surprised to realise the beginning of winter in Tainan is like summer in NZ, sunny and reaching highs of 25°C. Naturally, I packed with that…Continue Reading Chapter One: 8,765 km
One of the things you will notice exceptionally quickly after arriving in Taiwan is how ubiquitous 7-11 (and its cousin Family Mart) is. These stores are the pinnacle of Taiwanese convenience, and if you spend any time in Taiwan, they will quickly become as important a part of your life as they are in locals’…Continue Reading An ode to Taiwan’s 7-11s