🌸Hirodai Ambassador [Study Abroad News] Maika Ito, 2nd year, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, No.1

Hirodai Ambassador Activity Report

 Ms. Maika Ito, 2nd year student, Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine

[Destination] National Taipei University of Education (Taiwan)
[Study abroad period] August 2023 to January 2.
[Type of study abroad] Long-term study abroad at a partner university

I am currently studying abroad at National Taipei University of Education in Taipei, Taiwan.

This time, I would like to introduce about National Taipei University of Education, class selection, dormitory, and meals.

First of all, National Taipei University of Education has a large gate at the entrance, and there are classroom buildings, a library, a playing field, dormitories, and a swimming hall.There is a dormitory inside the school, so it is easy to attend classes.The total number of students was small, about 5000, and as far as I knew there was only one Japanese student.Universities in Taiwan are located close to each other, such as National Taiwan University and Taipei Normal University.

Next, let's talk about class selection.I would like to introduce my current timetable.

First, I had Chinese classes from 9:12 a.m. to 1:XNUMX noon, Monday through Friday, and in addition, I chose to have regular classes in the afternoon.I was told that since I did not have any credit transfers and was taking a year off to study at this university as an exchange student, I could choose classes of my choice.In addition, because it is difficult for them to take midterm and final exams like regular students at their current level of language proficiency, they participate in classes other than Tai Chi as observers.

It's difficult to hear, but I'm taking it to get my ears used to it.Since I am a nursing major, I chose a psychology class, which has similar content, and a movie viewing class, which I am interested in.Psychology classes are interesting because they use video teaching materials and practical memory tests.I enjoy attending classes because I watch movies, including Korean and Japanese movies.

Chinese classes are divided into five levels: Elementary 1.2, Intermediate 1,2, and Advanced, and I started in the Intermediate 5 class.Before leaving the country, I had an online interview with my Chinese teacher, and there was a simple question and answer session, as well as a test where I had to read a passage and answer questions, so I think that was how I was assigned to my class. Masu.This may be an excuse, but since I was studying in simplified Chinese, I sometimes had a hard time reading texts in traditional Chinese because I couldn't read them.If you are thinking about studying in Taiwan from the beginning, we recommend studying in Traditional Chinese.Also, since the Chinese class has just started, I don't know much about it yet, but it is a class that requires a lot of input.

Next is the dormitory.There are 6 people in each room in the dormitory, and there are 1 Taiwanese, 2 Indonesian, 1 Myanmar, 1 Hong Konger, and me in my room, making it a fairly global environment. (My Taiwanese roommate and my Hong Kong roommate live nearby, so they aren't usually around. Therefore, the four of us usually live together.) I was prepared for the fact that there would be no Japanese, but... It was my first time to work in an in-person environment, and since I could only speak English or Chinese, it was very difficult to communicate at first.However, everyone is very kind to me, they use my translator, they speak to me slowly, and when I don't understand, they repeat their explanations to me, so I manage to spend every day happily.Therefore, if you are thinking about studying abroad as an exchange student, I think it will be quite difficult if you can't understand Chinese or speak English at all.I am also not very good at English and I regret that I should have studied more.I went to Japan with a level 1 Chinese proficiency test, but I couldn't even listen or speak well.

Next, let's talk about food.There is no provision from the dormitory, and I prepare three meals by myself.

Since it is not possible to make meals in the dormitory, the culture is basically that of eating out.Therefore, there are many restaurants around the school, and many of them offer meals for less than 100 yuan (450 yen), so you can eat deliciously and cheaply.There are many beverage shops, and as far as I know, there are 4 tapioca milk tea shops around the school that are synonymous with Taiwan.I often go to restaurants that sell egg noodles, manju and tapioca in the morning, and noodles in the evening.It often costs around 250 yuan (1000 to 1500 yen) per day.It seems that prices have become a little more expensive due to the weaker yen, and even within Taiwan, Taipei seems to be a little more expensive.However, I feel that it is cheaper than eating out every morning, noon and night in Japan.At first, there was a lot of oil in it, which made my stomach feel a bit heavy, so I had to take stomach medicine, but now I've gotten used to it and enjoy eating it every day.There are many Japanese restaurants, so if you are not used to eating Japanese food, it is easy to eat there. (Still, I only eat inari sushi)

Regarding food, I have more stories about going to various night markets, but I would like to write about them in the next issue.