Taiwan is a good environment for international students to study and gain more experience for their future jobs. In this country, students can easily find a job, friends, and opportunities to improve themselves. However, in some countries, Taiwan is not well-known for colleges. For example, most Vietnamese think that Taiwan is a country for studying Chinese. And if you want to study at a college in Taiwan, you must prepare your Chinese skills. However, there was a missing piece that they might look for, international colleges. More and more international colleges are established in Taiwan, and all subjects are taught in English. They also bring international students an English-friendly environment, where they can feel comfortable with no language barrier. There are actually many international colleges in Vietnam either, the same environment, and the same education system. However, it will never be enough for me. I prefer to take it in another country, where there is not much Vietnamese, and I need to practice my English or second language with my friend. Taiwan came up to my mind, it is near my country, safe, and similar to culture. So why not Taiwan?
Back in 2019, when I just finished my first year at a university in Vietnam. I took a two-week summer camp in Taiwan, learned about Taiwan culture, and Chinese, and had many foods around Taiwan. And when I came back from the camp, I immediately found a college in Taiwan where I can spend my four-year academy here. All of my friends and family wondered why I chose Taiwan for my college. I could not give them a complete answer for it. All of them thought that my Chinese was pretty good for a college in Taiwan. And when I told them that my college was taught in English, they were pretty shocked. “Why is Taiwan? Why is not America or other countries?” were the most questions I received from them. At that time, I was think that Taiwan would be good for me if I want to study another language too. There was one experience that I want to share with my readers: My Chinese was not good, however, I still kept going up. I never felt shy as mispronounced some words or bad grammar. I remembered there was once when I asked my Taiwanese friend how she felt when I misspelled some words. She said that was a cute mistake. Some customers in restaurants also said that. So my suggestion to language learners is to not feel embarrassed if they make some mistakes in grammar or speaking. Because maybe the native speakers will think that was lovely.
After spending three years of college here, I felt at home. To be honest, I did not see many differences between Taiwan and Vietnam cultures. But for my first year in Taiwan, I felt like Taiwan was a country that may have the most holidays in Asia. They have Moon Festival when you can come back home and have a barbecue with your family. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Moon Festival is just simply that you will buy Moon Cakes and send them to your friends, families, or your customers. They also have Peace Memorial Day, Qingming Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival. I pretty much love the Independent Day in Taiwan as it is imposing: fireworks, and lighting performance. Both Taiwan and Vietnam have Chinese New Year, which means we will have a long holiday with above ten days off for it. Therefore, I enjoy studying in Taiwan as it is merged Asian and Western lives, with freedom but hard-working. I believe that most international students, went to Taiwan because they have strict parents. Taiwan is such a free land for them. That is also including me. Since I went to Taiwan, I started to do what I want: have part-time jobs, school activities, parties, and field trips with friends.
I would say most Vietnamese parents would not like their children to have part-time jobs during college. They think that part-time jobs will disturb their studying which leads to bad scores and low ranks in class. They prefer their children to spend spare time reading more books or join in different courses in and out of school. During my freshman in Vietnam, I applied for many jobs; however, I took none of them as my parents wanted me to pay more attention to school. In Taiwan, things hit differently. I had plenty of jobs: waitress in different restaurants or as a research assistant for a school project. My parents partly encouraged me for this, as I can gain more responsibilities in working, and practice my Chinese skills.
During my first year in Taiwan, making new friends was a difficult mission for me. Thanks to activities that International College held occasionally, I started to reach more people from different countries. Therefore, I had more opportunities to know about their cultures, foods, and languages. During my first Christmas lunch in Taiwan, which was held in James’ house, I met my best friend: Mikayla, who is also an Indonesian student in Tunghai. After that, we started to hang out more often. We matched the vibes and join more parties, and field trips together. Since we started to close, we have had many exchanging languages. That is how I can communicate simply in Indonesian.
Field trips are one of the most important parts for not only international students but also Taiwanese students. During my three years in Taiwan, I had a lot of trips to the North and South. I went to Taipei a lot in winter. I would say Taipei is much crazier than Taichung, from traffics to nightlife. I remembered the first time I was in Taipei, I felt like I was lost already. “This is not Taipei, it is more likely to Japan.” Everyone was waiting for the MRT, stitching their eyes on phones, catching the bus as soon as they could. Everything was so crazy and busy in Taipei. I just like to visit Taipei when it was winter. Taipei is the most beautiful in winter, where the lighting was stitched on every tree on the streets. I also had some chances to visit Kaohsiung, and I felt like this place was a part of my life too. The people in Kaohsiung were so friendly that Kaohsiung is always in the first line whenever I wanted a holiday. I remembered there was once I visited Kaohsiung and we needed to ride the shuttle bus to a pagoda which is pretty far away from the center. We were enjoying the trip and realized that it was kind of late for us to ride the bus back to the hotel. 6 p.m in Spring was a little bit dark at the time and we were freaked out as cannot reach Ubers or buses. At that time, there was a museum tourist, who we knew earlier, who suggested giving us a ride to the boulevard where we could easily catch the bus. That moment made me fall in love with this rustic city immediately. One of the trips that I like the most, was when we drove ourselves to Nantou. This time there was no forcing about the time or public transport. We had an adventurous trip, hiking many waterfalls, and mountains, camping lately at night, and having barbecues together.
Three years passed, and I feel like this was a dream for me. Although sometimes I was stuck in some stress from school and jobs, I am proud of myself that I could handle it. For my last year in Taiwan, I wish I can have more trips, and more experience to complete this college life.