Hello Everyone! This is my first posting on the Foster Study Abroad Blog. My name is Michael. I’m a senior at the Foster School of Business studying finance. I’m happy to say that I’ve made it to Taiwan safely and have really enjoyed my first few weeks here. It’s been an amazing experience on so many levels. Both National Chengchi University (NCCU) and the people of Taipei have been good to me.
I experienced the hospitality of Taiwan as soon as I landed at the airport. When I arrived, three “buddies” from my new school greeted me with signs reading, “Welcome to NCCU!” They were as excited to meet me, as I was to meet them.
NCCU created the “buddy” system to help incoming exchange students. Its purpose is to give us a great introduction to Taipei, and to ease our transition into the “life” here. Three local students are matched up with every foreign student, like myself. And thank God I have three (!!!) local students as my “buddies.” We’ve had a great time together. My new friends have taken me around Taipei. We’ve gone ice-skating, eaten traditional foods, and visited several night markets. They are also willing to put up with me constantly needing their translation help over the phone from the back of taxicabs. I’d be lost without them.
Even outside of the “buddy” network, people have been very friendly to me. I’ve met some interesting people from a variety of ages and walks of life, like business owners, high school students, and even ex-patriots here for the long-term. The Taiwanese I meet usually want to know if the US is like it is portrayed in Hollywood movies. Sometimes there are questions like, “Is Seattle as beautiful as it is in Sleepless in Seattle?” Other times, there are questions about the level of violence like in Die Hard, or if Sex in the City is what dating is like in the US. I’ve had to clarify a few things. Conversations are always as fun as they are informative.
People are also curious about what I think of Taiwan. I am always asked what my favorite food that I’ve eaten has been. I usually spend a few minutes describing a few foods I really like. I don’t know any of the Chinese names of the food, so this can be difficult at times. The food I always describe first is a dessert consisting of fried shrimp and pineapple with a white sauce over the top. I will always order it if I see a picture of it on a menu, regardless of the time of day or how hungry I am.
It’s truly been wonderful getting to know so many Taiwanese. Everyone has been so kind to me. I look forward to keeping in touch with all these people, and possibly showing some of them around Seattle in the future.
Today, my coworker Elena asked what kind of image Americans have of Spain. “Do they consider it a lesser developed country and lump it with other Spanish-speaking countries?” she said. Personally, I have always lumped Spain with countries like France and Germany. It is hard to imagine that this democratic country was ruled under the Franco dictatorship only 30+ years ago! Spain has emerged from restricting women from opening their own bank account without a husband’s cosign just 30 years ago to becoming the world’s third nation to legalize gay marriage. Developing at a fast rate, Spain takes much pride in the things it does well. The metro system, for example, is extremely efficient, extensive, and well maintained. I saw a poster showing the Statue of Liberty stooping down, peering curiously into a metro entrance. The catchy phrase said, “The Metro the world wishes they had– is right here in Madrid.”
Also during our lunch, my coworkers love when I recount the tales of my home-stay experience with my “señora”. I am currently living with an older woman, single and retired. She is very kind, and happily cooks my meals and does my laundry. In exchange, I live by the interesting rules of the house. No bare feet on the floor, showers no longer than exactly 10 minutes (complimentary reminders given), and I must never share her hand towel. It seems notions of hygiene are different here. It is also bad form to relax with one’s feet on the furniture, as living rooms tend to be much more formal here. I must also make my bed every day and keep my room tidy, since here it is customary to leave doors to rooms open. My coworkers have explained to me that these tendencies are more specific to her Spanish generation, and that the younger generation lives with a more relaxed style.
Singapore is a small but vibrant city. Perhaps it’s because I’m on exchange but almost every day is filled with something to do, and by contrast Seattle is a very boring place. The national pastime of Singapore is eating. The city is littered with food courts (AKA hawker centers) inside malls and out in the open. Speaking of malls, Singapore has an abundance of them despite its small size, and most of them combine shopping with dining and other activities such as movies and karaoke.
Due to its small size, Singapore has relatively few tourist attractions; it is mostly a hub for traveling around Southeast Asia. Singapore heavily promotes the few attractions it has, such as the Night Safari, Bird Park, or holiday events such as the National Day Parade (NDP). It’s probably better to see them but don’t get your hopes up too high. For instance, the 2008 NDP was heavily promoted with signs, t-shirts, and all sorts of hype everywhere to make it seem like the biggest event of the year. We sat by the Singapore River next to the symbolic Merlion for three hours on that day and all we saw was a few jets flying by and less than fifteen minutes of fireworks. Getting in and out of the crowd took more time than the event itself.
The classes are conducted in a similar manner as they were at the UW. Lectures for upper level classes are taught in small classrooms (not as nice as BAEEC but much better than Balmer, they blast the AC and a jacket is necessary) of about 40 people, lower level classes are taught in lecture theatres (LT). The structure of the courses (modules) also resembles those back home: a syllabus on the first day, the grades usually consist of two exams, one project, and participation. I’m not sure about other concentrations, but the upper finance courses meet once a week for three hours straight. It’s recommended to fit your courses into a few days in the middle of the week in order to get extended weekends. The professors are also a diverse bunch; I only had one Singaporean professor out of the four classes.
A lot of students live in halls on campus, but many also commute from outside. The morning commute is a nightmare, often you’ll see the bus driving by without stopping because there are people standing on the bottom step of the bus – it simply cannot pack another person in. The food on campus, however, is excellent. There are many cafeterias (called canteens) all around campus, packed with stalls offering a wide varieties of food, they are staffed with friendly (mostly) people who sometimes don’t speak English. The cost of food on campus is also cheap compared to outside, NUS subsidize 
My break began in Greece where I spent two days in Athens and two days on the Greek island of Mykonos. It was really cool to see the history in Athens, and I’m happy to say that I can now cross the Acropolis off my list of famous world sites to visit. Mykonos (that place in my picture) was just as great. I was even able to swim in the Aegean Sea literally two days before Halloween. Swimming in late October was definitely a new experience for me, as a Seattle native. After Greece, I spent a couple days in the Swiss cities of Zurich and Bern, which were only about three hours away by train. One of the great things about studying in Milan is that it’s so central. With the help of a great train system and budget airlines (EasyJet and RyanAir are the best!), you can be almost anywhere in Europe within a couple of hours, even on a student’s budget. I also happened to be in Switzerland during the election. Probably one the coolest and most intriguing things that I have witnessed in my two months in Europe was my train ride back to Milan when almost everyone on train was reading the Swiss newspaper with Obama plastered on the cover. Everyone seems to love him in Europe. Following Switzerland, I made one last trip to Berlin, which totally exceeded my expectations. There was just so much to see there and I can now cross the Berlin Wall off my list as well!
It’s mid-November in Sevilla and I’m still wearing short sleeved t-shirts and catching rays. What a strange feeling for a Seattleite!
Now that we’re past the mid-point of the study abroad experience, I can reflect and say that those same sentiments that I had when I first stepped off the plane and asked for directions in Spanish still are with me – it’s so incredible to be in a foreign country and actually get by with the language and different customs! The everyday challenges are something that I really like, although I do admit there are times when meanings are lost in translation and you feel ridiculous when trying to describe exactly what it is that you want to say. The customs are different, too. I eat dinner with my family here around 10 pm at night, and I think that’s the hardest to get used to. The eating habits here are very different from ours at home, so for the first few days I was a little frustrated by the long hours in between meals, but then I learned how to manage that.
After Cambodia I went to Vietnam. From Siem Reap it took about 12 hours by bus to get Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon. The first thing I did in Ho Chi Minh City was to get a taste of local cuisine. One person from our party had some relatives in Ho Chi Minh, and she took us to a popular local pho house. The pho was good, but I thought Pho Tran Brothers on the Ave back home is better.
The traffic is Ho Chi Minh is horrendous, once outside you are greeted by thousands of scooter bikes flowing down the street, which is impossible to cross. Good thing we didn’t stay long in Ho Chi Minh, the second morning I went to a charming little town about seven hours north of Ho Chi Minh called Dalat, capital of the Lam Dong province. After months in a tropical climate the coolness of this mountainous town was much appreciated. For the first time since I arrived in Singapore, I had to wear a sweater every time I went out.
