Taipei, Taiwan; kind people, safe environment, beautiful views! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

NCCU's iHouse was clean, the front desk employees were always friendly and extremely helpful. It was interesting living with all international students in such a tight knit community. Overall I liked the iHouse.

Wide variety of foods, depends on personal tastes though.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

A good majority of the Taiwanese speak English, so it was easy to communicate most of the time. I felt as if a lot of the local students in my classes didn't want to speak with me though. I did however have 2 really amazing "buddies" that NCCU had set me up with, and I opted to get a language partner too; these girls were honestly the nicest, most generous, and helpful people, definitely will remain good friends long after I return to the US.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

A required health exam (about $20, hard location to find within Taipei) which needed to be done within a month or two of arriving. I felt this was a waste of time, especially because I already had a health exam done in the States but they wouldn't accept it because it wasn't their exact NCCU form. (In the future maybe have Melody Chang send a copy over to ISU so that we can make copies and have our students get this done before coming to Taiwan). Save some TIME, money, and hassle.

The safest city I've ever been in. I always feel comfortable walking around, the Taiwanese are so helpful with directions, etc. No one steals anything; for example, I accidentally forgot my purse at a restaurant 6 days after I first arrived (it had my passport, cash (USD & NTD), my debit card, my credit card, my ISU ID, my IL State Driver's Licence, etc...) and I realized it the next morning, I was thoroughly freaking out, with the help of NCCU's iHouse front desk staff I called the American Institute in Taiwan and the woman simply asked my name, and said "Oh mam your purse was turned into a police station last night, they have it and you can go and pick it up." I got the address, the front desk called me a cab, I got to the police station, signed a few forms, the gave me my purse and EVERYTHING was in there, from passport to chap-stick, nothing was taken. So #1 I am very lucky, #2 it shows how kind the people here are.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Although it seems cheaper at first, the small costs really add up unexpectedly.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

The teacher of the particular Chinese class that I was in was very nice but not a good instructor. I was expecting to get so much more out of the class then I actually did. I was a part-time student so I studied for 6 hours a week and I felt like in class we spoke more English and talked about Chinese than actually speaking Chinese. My friends who took full-time though got a lot out of the program. Their level of Chinese improved greatly over the semester.

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• Dorm

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• International Students

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• International Students

• iHouse and the people I've met here
• NCCU's buddy program; 2 of the 3 buddies that I was assigned kept with me all semester, introduced me to their families, gave me tours of culturally significant places, etc.
• Traveling around Taiwan to places like Hualien/Taroko, Kenting, Tainan, Sun Moon Lake, etc.

• The course registration process

The Avid Adventurer