One Last Note - Visa

As the EAP office told you, you're supposed to get a 60 day visitor visa for Taiwan. IF you are only there for a semester, you DON'T need to get the ARC (alien resident card) unless you want to. Otherwise you have the option of just renewing your VISA for another 60 days--you can renew your visa twice giving you another 120 days.

To do this you have to go to the police station next to Xi Men Ding. You need:
1) your passport
2) your NTU ID
3) the letters from NTU that says your a student there
4) MORE passport photos

I can't remember how much money you need, but its less than the couple thousand NT that you need for the ARC.

You absolutely CANNOT let your visa expire before you leave, even if its by one day. If you do the consequences are:
1) 1000NT fine
2) you get "blacklisted" and you're not allowed back in taiwan without a visa...for a year.

Don't forget to renew your visa before it expires on you! So get it done before your 60 days are up!

HAPPY TIMES IN TAIWAN!!!

2 weeks break then HOME!

After you are all done with school, you'll have about two spare weeks. Some go home right away, while others stick around to travel. If you think you didn't see enough of Taiwan in the last 3-4 months (you'll never have the time), then you'll do what I did and see whatever you think you missed.

My 2 sisters came for the two weeks and we spent the time shopping, looking at monuments, and hanging out with family. They were the fastest 2 weeks ever. Since I saved everything for when they came, I finally went to the top of Taipei 101, saw Gu Gong (the National Palace Museum), went to CKS Memorial Hall (saw the changing of the guards), and even managed to squeeze in a trip to Ali Shan (famous mountains). My sisters and I also spent a day taking those "professional" photographs where you get one of those books... there's nothing like asia...

As for packing, I was lucky because my sisters came (and even one of my sister's boyfriend), therefore they each brought me an empty suitcase to bring stuff back with. When I arrived in Taiwan back in August, I came with one large suitcase full of my stuff and one small one full of gifts. Going home I had 5 pieces of luggage all containing everything I accumulated over the months. SO I would suggest either be an incredible NON-shopper or get more luggage bags. If you want, you can ship things home but that requires a ton of money. Definitely use the 2 check-in and 2 carry on's to your advantage!

Here's what I did during my time off with my sisters!

Finishing up school

So after Thanksgiving is over, you only have about 2 - 3 weeks left in school. No doubt you have the big final tests that you don't get enough time to finish. In addition, you'll have an oral test where you have to give a 3-5 minute speech. My advice for the tests is to memorize EVERYTHING. You can tell what kind of questions they'll ask by what they spend the most time on and most teachers will be nice enough to do a review for the final.

Once you get all these tests out of the way, ICLP throws a dinner for all the EAP students because this is the time that all the semester students disperse. It's a semi-formal and a chance to take pictures with your friends and teachers before everyone leaves.

Thanksgiving

The good news is that no matter what the EAP office tells you... you DO get Thanksgiving off. The reason is because the NTU ICLP started as a program f0r americans, and since we are all used to celebrating this holiday, they give us the vacation. It's the same as home--you get a 4 day weekend. SO make sure you spend this time wisely!!! A group of us went down to the southern tip of Taiwan to a famous vacation spot called Ken Ding. Some people go to Thailand or Hong Kong or Japan... just GET OUT OF TAIPEI!!! it'll be your only chance... EVER!!! Plus if you're smart, you'll leave your only 3 sick days until this time and tack it on so then you get MORE time to travel--take the week off!

Here's a taste of Ken Ding...
Location: southern tip of taiwan
Travel time: 7 hours by bus or 2 hrs by plane then bus

If you don't find a place to stay before you get down there, you can always roam around and find one. The beaches, warm waters, and 80 degree weather will remind you of Southern California (which we all missed desperately). There were 12 of us traveling by bus and I think the entire weekend cost about $150-$200 US total for 3 days including food, travel, and hotel. The hotel lady was very nice and she helped us find whatever we needed. She even got us discounts at places where she knew the owner (that way the money stays in the same group of people). We hung out on the beach, went go cart racing, and had a bbq for thanksgiving.

its just a weekend to relax... (but sorry to say, you'll probably have homework when you get back, the teachers are THAT nice)

Exploring Taiwan

Even though you really don't get a lot of time to do anything or travel very far... you still have to try to get out and take in some of the sights. Here are some places that will only take a day or two to explore!

Ye Liu - some weird shaped rocks next to the ocean
Location: Somewhere close to Jiu Fen
Travel Time: about an hour by bus
Its about 80NT one way and to get in to the actual place with the rocks is 50NT (student price). The place is known for its dried seafood products and has some GREAT snacks to buy.



Yi Lan - waterfalls
Location: NE side of Taiwan
Travel Time: 2 hours by car
You have to drive through some mountain roads to get to Yi Lan but on the way there's a rest stop thats famous for its ca ye dan (eggs boiled in tea leaves and spices). In Yi Lan you can see a ton of beautiful waterfalls and have their special "sao bing" thats round and flat. The views are beautiful and the prices are always cheap... its taiwan!



Hua Lian - famous for its mua ji (taiwanese) and hot springs
Location: East side of Taiwan
Travel Time: 3-4 hours by train
This place is all country side with tons of hot springs and things to do. They have a large zoo-type of place with all sorts of birds and animals. The zoo is surrounded by a ton of gardens, statues and lakes. You can rent a bike or a golf cart to get around and view everything. You'll also feel like you're in all countries since they have a miniature statue of liberty and even the arc de'triumph. In the end you can stop by the Ah Mei Mua Ji place and get fresh/famous mua ji. You can even buy some Hua Lian wines made by their tribes--they're amazing.

Hua Lian is also home to their sea world type amusement park. They have small rides, a ton of shows, and amazing views of the ocean wherever you look!

Jiu Fen

A city on a hill overlooking the ocean. This place is gorgeous if you do it right.

What to do:

Jiu Fen consists of winding streets on full of cute shops and food... after looking at shops and eating tons of cool street vendor stuff, my cousins and I went to a tea place overlooking it all! You'll just have to see for yourself...

Night Life - list of places I've been to

Clubs

Luxy - Wed ladies night is free, weekends are 500 NT ($15US) before 11pm and $900 ($27US) after and you get one free drink ticket. Its a big club with 2 stories and 3 dance floors. Pretty hot right now in Taipei.

Room 18 - Wed ladies night is free, weekends are 600NT ($20) and you get two free drink ticket. Its definitely smaller than Luxy. It has two rooms, one for hip hop and one for techno. It's the club where famous asian people go :)

MOS - still haven't been there, but its 30 minutes by taxi. I heard its HUGE and is the best club out there so far.

PLUSH - a very pretty place though I hear it just got remodeled (changed owners). The prices are still expensive like Luxy. Weekends are 700NT for girls and guys. But its definitely a place everyone goes to.

Bars (which are kinda clubs in themselves)

Lava - Wed. I don't know what they do, but Thursday is all you can drink night... ladies are 300 and guys are 600. Its right across from Room 18. A lot of international people like to go there so thats always fun. The drinks are definitely cooler than VS (vacuum space)!!!



These are midori sours and peach sours... and when they say sour... be prepared to pucker!

Lounges/Bars/Club type

Brown Sugar - its this very hip jazz club thats close to Room 18 and Lava. The atmosphere rocks because they actually brink in real jazz bands and singers from the US or wherever. Make reservations or get there early to get a table. Its a restaurant too so you can eat and drink. I recommend the Sangria.

MINT - this is probably the most expensive and most famous spotting club right now. Its at the base of Taipei 101. Weekends its $700 for ladies ($23) and $1000 for guys ($30US). Here you don't have to worry about getting a bad drink because they're ALL good. Its also the place to spot supermodels... not just asian ones, but european ones too. They definitely care about what you are wearing, so as the US says "dress to impress"... and here they smoke cigars and not cigarettes, so that tells you the level of this place.

TU (Taipei Underground) - this place is another all you can drink place... prices are the same (girls cheap guys not). Ladies night is on Thursdays and its 100 for girls and 500 or 600NT for the guys. This place is kind of small but bigger than VS. It's located right past the Da An stop, so you can take the MRT for 1 stop if you want to.

Cheers Ni Ni - its a bar located near Carnegie's (another bar) which is close to the FarEast Hotel. It's also walking distance from Tai Da. There's no cover and its decorated very modern or 70's cool with a lot of funky comfy furniture. The dj is good and it has a great environment.

Brass Monkey - its located near the 2nd to last stop on the brown line. It's around a lot of companies and cool restaurants. This area in general is full of "foreigners" so brass monkey by default has a lot of white people. Ladies night is Thursday and girls are free, drinks are not.

There were more, but that'll come later

School Life - The Process

I decided to wait awhile before talking about school at Tai Da because I figured that it would take me some time to get used to their system. At first you'll hate it, then if you have cool teachers you'll learn to enjoy class time, but definitely not the homework. Here's how it works

When you get to Tai Da, you take a language placement test. There's a written portion and an interview portion.

For the written portion, there's 1) listening comprehension... like tones and short short stories and 2) reading comprehension where you read through long passages and such. This test is hard. Most people leave a portion completely blank, usually the last parts of each sections because the questions get harder as you go along. The 2nd year chinese book definitely doesn't cover everything, but no worries, leaving things blank is expected.

For the interview, they ask your name in chinese, the meaning of your name and a series of questions. In cases where they think you don't speak that well, they will ask you to repeat sentences after them. This part is actually hard because its like 2-3 part sentences and personally I forgot parts of it once she kept saying more and more. hahah.
After all this, you'll find out what 3 classes you got placed in. One for speaking and two for reading/comprehension...usually. They also offer Taiwanese, which this year they had to make 2 classes. Even though we all "supposedly" took 2 years of chinese prior to Tai Da, they still have the ability to place you into level 1 out of 7 which is the very beginning. Most people I know are in level 2 and 3, and you can be placed in different levels for the 3 different classes. If you test well enough, you'll be able to talk Tai Da classes, although a lot of their departments off classes in english...so go look into those. The only problem with Tai Da classes is that they don't take their finals until about the second week of January.

Classes start in the morning at 8am or 9am. The majority of people start at 9am (8am is for the 1st Taiwanese class). You go for 3 hours until noon. You guys, or people from CA, are called the Jia Zhou Ban and pretty much get special classes just for CA and your own floor in the language center.

THE HOMEWORK LOAD
Taiwan's teaching style is definitely different from America's. There's more preparation needed, and more time spent on homework.

First of all, you MUST read the book before you go to class. You aren't allowed to open the book while in class and the teacher asks you questions about the passage expecting you to know what the book said. This definitely takes time to getting used to because you semi memorizing the book's content. Secondly, like the summer chinese intensive class, there is a Ting Xie (vocab quiz) every morning on the vocab words found within the pages you had to read. I heard it's a lot better this year because my classes only test 5 words whereas last year were tested on 10. Depending on the teacher, you might get the word straight up OR she gives you a sentence and you're expected to know what vocab word to put in.

For my speaking class, "Discussions on Chinese Culture," we have daily vocab quizzes, weekly homework, a grammar quiz after each lesson, a speech or debate after every 2 lessons, and a test after every 2 lessons. For my other class "Everyday Chinese III," we have daily vocab quizzes, weekly homework, and a weekly test after every lesson. This class' pace goes at 1 lesson per week, which is about 60-80 vocab words in a week for one class. Yes it's fast, and I guarantee you you'll forget the words after you learn them BUT the midterm will just force it back in your brain.

If you test into a level 3/4 writing class, be prepared for daily essays and tons and tons of homework. Also, movie classes (don't be fulled by the name) take up a lot of time and have a ton of homework too. The movie classes force you to watch the movies on your OWN time, so I know a bunch of students who have switched out of that.

ELECTIVES
They give you 3 electives to choose from (all taught in english). They are seminars so its only once a week for 2.5-3 hrs. This year we have Survey of Chinese Thought, Art in Taiwan, and Chinese Fiction.

Survey of Chinese Thought - I chose this class so I actually know how it works. There's weekly reading, although I don't necessarily do all of it. There's one research paper (6 pages), a presentation on the paper, and take-home short essay questions for the final. You discuss a ton of different people influential to Chinese Philosophy. I fall asleep in the class sometimes, but thats just my habit. If you're interested in it, then its a pretty chill class to take

Art in Taiwan - this is what I've heard. There's opinion papers every so often, which you can probably whip out in an hour or two. And there are class field trips to museums in Taipei (on your own time of course). I'm not exactly sure how the final works, but I know its more work and time than the philosophy class. If you don't choose this class, but want to go to the museums, you can pay to go with them on the bus...so you don't necessarily have to pick this one if you just want to look at the art and not analyze it.

Chinese Fiction - so far I heard that its the most work out of the 3. There are lots of readings (being a fiction class) and you have to do group presentations every so often. Thats all I know about this one.

ATTENDANCE
I don't even know if I spelled attendance right!!! (your english will become very sucky while you're here).

So out of the semester that you're here for... 12-14 weeks depending... you get to miss 4 days of class without penalty. After that they start taking it out of your grade. Here's the unfair part... the regular ICLP (people not from CA) get to miss 40% of class without penalty. That means that if they wanted to, they only have to go to class 3 day a week!!! No matter what EAP tells you, you do get Thanksgiving off because ICLP is nice to you. Apparently they give it to the rest of the students, and the teachers/staff don't want to come in just for the California kids, so we get 2 days off for the US holiday!!! Other than Thanksgiving, you may or may not have 1-2 Taiwan holidays off and thats it. It depends if it falls on a weekday or not (which MidAutumn Festival fell on a sunday for us...big disappointment).

Overall, since each class only has a maximum of 7 students, the teacher will definitely know if you're missing. Choose your missed days wisely, and if you're doing well, then go ahead and miss more than 4 days (although I know of no one who's doing that).

We all pretty much hate class when you first get it. I mean absolutely hate it! People stay up until 2,3,4,5,6 in the morning to do homework. You only have weekends to go and see Taiwan, so make use of your time wisely...

Night Life - KTV

Kareoking, of course, is HUGE here. One thing is that if you go out on Friday or Saturday night, then the prices are more expensive AND you have to make reservations because they'll be packed. We had a 12 person room and squeezed 15 ppl in it! Plus we had our own bathroom which makes it extra convenient. I would suggest you to go out in big groups because then it's cheaper. I heard of a case when there were only like 5 people and it cost them $1000 NTD per person (about $30 US dollars) whereas we had 15 and the entire night cost $370 (about $11).

When you go kareoking, they also each person some "credit" to buy drinks or food, so we just put all the money together and got a couple pitcher of beer and some food. The music that you enter plays randomly so you never knew which song would come up. It made it a little bit more inconvenient because some songs just never played. The entire night was a blast though, so to fully get into the asian culture... you must go KTV!!!

Dorm Life

If you're used to living in the residence halls, then the dorms here shouldn't be extremely different. It takes some getting used to, as do all things, but eventually you'll be very happy here. The first thing I noticed was that the homes and dorms here don't have carpet, so students just go out and buy these puzzle piece looking things to put on the floor and make it cushier. Since I am only here for a semester, I live on the 2nd floor, however people who are here for a year can decide if they want to live on the 4th floor (with your own bathroom). Here's my room and the hallway. I bought puzzle pieces with carpet while others bought thick rubber colorful ones.


The 2nd floor is split in 2 basically. One side is the guys and the other is the girls. Some students actually decided to not live in the dorms, but I feel that they're missing out on a TON of fun. Like regular dorms we all just mingle and go out and party... whatever you like to do, they're be someone here to keep you company.

After Arrival - EAP to do list

Many of the students on EAP are Taiwanese, so there are many-a-relatives to go and see. Personally, my cousin's drove to the airport during the biggest typhoon of the summer to pick me up. If you do not have relatives here, thats ok too!

YOUR NTU BUDDY
NTU assigns a "buddy" or volunteer to help you get things done and even pick you up from TPE airport. If you are lucky, you'll get an incredibly active volunteer who will alway see if you need anything. In some cases (or many cases), the volunteer is very busy and you won't see him/her very often. I actually borrowed someone else's volunteer to get my registration stuff done.

TO DO LIST:

1. Get your room. With the money you were wise enough to get before arriving to Taiwan, $1000 NTD will go to the key deposit. For this process, you need to give the person $1000 NTD, fill out and sign some paperwork, AND give them a passport photo. For girls, the office is on the 9th floor (no guys allowed, not even a dad).

2. Clean your room. The international student dorm is considered the best on campus. Each room has its own air conditioning, so that's incredibly helpful during the humid September. One thing they do not tell you is that when you want to move in... you must clean your own room first. The school does not clean the room for your arrival. In most cases it will be incredibly dusty with some dead/alive bugs because it has not been lived in for 8 months. On average, people spend the first day cleaning.

3. Buy a matress. Yes, you must buy something to put on top of the wood where the bed is. My cousin took me to a supermarket and I spent about $60 US on a very comfortable foam thing. Prices vary and you can get one for as little as $20 US, but remember you'll be sleeping on it for 4 months- a year, so get one you can actually sleep on.

4. Go Register and get your student ID. This is a complicated and tedious process that your volunteer will help you with. It's tedious because you must go to 3 different places, pay for different things, get a stamp at each office, then return to the first one to get your ID. This is when you pay for dorm fees ($7000 NTD), internet fees ($600 NTD), and other misc things you might need to handle. All the forms are in chinese, so if you're like me and can't really read forms, then...again... that's why your volunteer is there. In the end, you need to give the school another passport photo in order to get your ID.
HINT: get registration done on a day when the rest of the regular NTU freshman ARE NOT supposed to come...otherwise...long lines

5. Go out and enjoy Taipei!!! after you get everything done and get unpacked, there is a week of free time before classes start. ENJOY THIS FREEDOM!!! Go everywhere and go crazy. Don't forget to buy a "jie yun" or metro card. Students get a lower rate so flash your ID when you go buy one. It costs $500 NTD (100 for the card, 400 on the card). You'll get the $100 back if you return the metro card before you leave Taiwan. Soooo go out, have fun, and see the sights.

Night Life - clubbing/bars

Clubbing, or going to discos, is a very interesting experience.















1. You're allowed to smoke in the clubs, so by the end of the night you smell HORRIBLE. The stench stays in your hair for 2 days (even with multiple washes).

2. Apparently we americans dance a little differently than the people here. Here everyone dances while facing the stage...even if no one is on the stage... weird, yes. They know you're not from here if you are actually dancing because most of the people I saw weren't moving a ton.

3. The clubs here open til 4ish, so while I'm usually ready to go by 1 or 2 (when US clubs close)... people keep coming in until 2am. If they have a star performance, they usually don't go on until 1am, so be prepared to party.

4. Right now one of the most famous clubs is club Luxy. They're known for their bartenders' performance (fire and all those tricks). Wednesday night is Ladies Night, so girls get in free but you still have to pay for drinks. Guys must pay $600 NTD, or about $18 US, and they get a beer. If you go on a fri or sat, everyone pays $800 NTD, about $25, and you get one drink ticket.
Other clubs to try are Room 18 and Mos...which I'll talk about later.

5. Bars are like clubs except tiny. A 5-10 minute walk from the dorms will get you to VS (Vacuum Space). Its $600 NTD, or $18 US, for all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat. One trick is that they make you use the same cup over and over...so you must finish your previous one or try to find a place to dump it. You need to make reservations if you want a table for the eating...but who wants to eat when there's alcohol and dancing?

6. All bars and clubs have competitions. At Luxy they have a "Hype-the-crowd" type thing where you try to get the most applause. VS has boxing... real genuine go fight someone with gloves boxing... very interesting stuff. I have yet to find out what everyone else does.

7. What to wear - GIRLS - the girls here are tiny, so some of them get pretty scandalous. My definition of scandalous is a bikini top and a very short skirt. Some of my friends wore jeans... bad idea. The clubs are soooo packed and soooo hot that everything'll just stick to you, so wear skirts or something airy. GUYS - they really don't have a dress code. My guy friends wore jeans and tennis shoes and they let them in. (maybe because they're European or maybe because they have no dress code)

Night Life - shopping

Nightlife in Taipei just... ROCKS!!! This is my first time to Taiwan, so I never knew what to expect. Here are some places that are worth going to:
















Xi Men Ding - teenage hangout with a ton of shops/eateries; looks like a mini asian Times Square. You can also take those very very asian booth pictures! It gets crowded around 5pm when all the schools get out, but nevertheless it's worth going to at night.



ShiLing Ye Shi - probably the most famous night market around. I heard it's may be changing locations soon, but wherever it goes, you should follow. This place has it all! if you're looking for cheap anything (except computer stuff) then take some time and "guang" the night markets. They also have little games for kids, but we like to play too. If you want to make your own cd, you can go to a small recording studio, sing, and they'll do the rest (making everything professional looking). Like animals? There's a section just of puppies and etc. Cute but kind of sad.
To eat... there's a ton of those street vendors, but be careful! If you haven't adapted to the food in Taipei, you're basically going to have to rush to the bathroom after every meal. Like my dad says "we americans don't have as strong a stomach as those taiwanese"...

Before departure...

Overpacking is a huge problem for me and for most girls. My friend always says "however much you want to pack, bring half." Unfortunately, I forgot to pay attention to that rule...fortunately Eva Air allows 2 check-ins of 32kg EACH. Go crazy if you like, but since this country has such cheap stuff...spare the big stuff and just buy it over here.

Things you NEED to bring that I personally forgot or didn't bring enough of:

1. MORE passport photos... yes more... and at least 6

2. A pair of close-toed walking shoes for when it rains (I only have my rainbows)

3. Taiwan currency - try to get some beforehand because the airport rips you off

4. "AfterBite" bug medicine - available at REI stores...its a god-send for mosquito bites

5. Bug repellent - make sure you get 23-30% Deet (or higher)...these Taiwanese mosquitoes love american blood

That's what I can think of now, but I'm sure there's more...