We moved into the NTU (National Taiwan University) dorms over the weekend, and received our student IDs! We are located on the Gongguan campus, just two blocks from the famous, palm tree lined main gate of the NTU campus. Saturday marked our day of adjustment to life in Taiwan, we gathered as a program to take a tour of campus. I got the chance to exolore Guting River Park (古亭河滨公园, from which you can access the scenic bike path running both north and south along the Xindian river (新店河). The path seems like it is always bustling with walkers, joggers, and cyclists enjoying Taipei’s beauty.
On Sunday, after the opening ceremony, we officially signed the Language Pledge, promising to converse solely in Chinese both in and out of class for the duration of the program. Everyone was a little nervous at first, and it took a lot of conscious effort to mentally switch what I wanted to convey from English into Chinese. But it was amazing to see how after even a few days, it began to feel normal to communicate in Chinese, and I already feel more comfortable in conversation.
This was also our first week of class, and it was exciting to meet all of our teachers, especially the local Taiwanese teachers. Many of them are relatively recently graduated from college and so I’m interested to learn from the viewpoints and culture of Taiwan’s young people!