Exchange Taiwan Report

I am a Western-European student with an engineering background that went on an exchange at National Taiwan University for one semester. This article is a shortened version of the student report that I submitted to my home university. Sections about university- and country-specific topics such as course selection and visa application have been omitted to appeal to a broader audience. Other than the deleted sections, the report is largely unchanged. 

Arrival

I arrived a month before the semester started to do many preparations in advance. Taiwan has a cash-based society. The very first thing I did was exchange a huge sum of cash at the airport. I originally intended to go to a bank in the city, but the exchange rate at the airport was very fair. Therefore, I exchanged immediately for convenience. It is not strictly necessary to carry cash in euros in the airplane. Taiwan has many ATMs spread throughout the country with very favorable exchange rates. It is easy to withdraw cash immediately from my European bank card. To my knowledge, every withdrawal simply has a commission fee of around 2-3 euros, so I advise infrequent withdrawals of large volumes.

From the airport, I booked a taxi in advance on Klook to the city. The next priority was connectivity. I went to an office of Taiwan Mobile, and they conveniently offered a 6-month 

SIM card plan for international students. The price was around 16 euros per month for unlimited mobile data. This price was a bit higher than what I was willing to pay. I generally do not use much mobile data and unlimited data is unnecessary. However, this data plan is by far the most convenient and still provides much more value for its price than European providers. After connectivity comes mobility. To have access to Taiwan’s expansive public transport system, it is recommended to purchase an EasyCard. This card allows passengers to pay for fares electronically. It is possible to buy cards with special designs at convenience stores. It is not necessary to purchase this card in Taipei for two reasons. The first is that the Taipei MRT network now accepts international credit card payments. The second is that the university student ID card works as an EasyCard with additional student discounts. However, a special design EasyCard can serve as a back-up and a souvenir.

Finances

These are the average monthly recurring payments.

The food can be extremely cheap, especially in the campus cafeterias in the university. A fulfilling meal is around 3-4 euros. It is possible to find relatively expensive restaurants, with a meal of up to 15 euros, especially foreign cuisines that require imported ingredients. However, not once have I eaten a meal more expensive than the average restaurant in Europe. My dorm had a shared kitchen, but it was abandoned and extremely dirty. Nobody was using it, and I did not bother to clean it to cook.

The public transportation is relatively cheap and extremely efficient. However, when using it too frequently, the costs might pile up. For shorter trips, an amazing alternative is the Youbike system. It is a convenient bike-sharing system that also uses the EasyCard for payments.  However, I bought a second-hand bike for only 17 euro’s because I wanted to cycle long distances to explore Taiwan. The demand for Youbike is also too high, it often happened that no bike is available in a bike station because they were all taken.

The costs regarding trips within Taiwan and outside of Taiwan are very variable. For domestic trips, a great way to reduce costs is to rent a car and drive with multiple friends. The high-speed rail is convenient, but it can get quite expensive. It can cost 60-70 euros for a round-trip to the south of Taiwan. Remember that renting a car requires an international driver’s license. However, driving is much slower than the high-speed rail. It is easy to find backpacker hostels for a price of around 12 euros per night. When going abroad, then I cannot give too much accurate information, as it is highly dependent on the chosen destination.

I learned a useful tool called e-invoicing. E-invoicing is a digital system that stores receipts of every purchase you make. This allows you to easily track your expenses, which is hard in a cash-based society. There is also a national lottery system involved with the receipts. E-invoicing might be hard to use if you don’t know Mandarin, but I believe that it is worth it to learn this system from a Taiwanese local.

Daily life

I learned that it is the norm in Asia that your grade is composed of attendance, class participation, and many assignments. This contrasts with the European norm where one final exam determines most of your grade. All my courses’ grades included class participation. The final exam counted for at most 30% of the grade. In class, I consistently saw a divide between international students and local Taiwanese students. The Taiwanese always sat all the way in the back of the classroom. The internationals always sat in front. Despite that class participation contributed to the grade, the local Taiwanese never raised their hand to answer or ask a question. I also noticed that internationals tended to form cliques with people from their own country. However, I cannot recommend enough to get to know local Taiwanese students. This effort was worth it for me. Only this way, do you truly experience the culture, and you learn so many new perspectives you would not have known otherwise. My Taiwanese friends also took me to the most delicious local restaurants and the hidden sightseeing spots.

I took more courses than required to complete my exchange, because there were many subjects that I was genuinely interested in. Despite the increased workload, I still had plenty of free time. I joined the Gymnastics club to pick up a new sport. I also went swimming in the pool very often. This was an excellent alternative to running because it was nearly impossible in the heat. It is important to know that swimming caps are mandatory in swimming pools! I went on a trip nearly every weekend, to all places over Taiwan. I noticed that not having to buy groceries and cook for yourself increases efficiency a lot. When comparing the expenditure on food, I honestly spend less money per month in Europe than in Taiwan. However, this amount of money saved is incomparably miniscule compared to the time I save doing other things.

There is an interesting difference in focus between the student associations. In my home university, cultural (e.g. African Student association) and faculty (e.g. Engineering faculty) associations are prevalent. These associations often have an elaborate hierarchy of board members and active members. This reflects a culture of emphasizing extracurriculars over high grades. Furthermore, these associations have very broad focus and provide many activities ranging from informal to formal. In Taiwan, in contrast, the student clubs are primarily focused on hobbies. The variety of musical clubs and sport clubs is much larger than in my home country. There are also unconventional clubs such as the Rubix Cube club or the Supercell club (mobile games). Lastly, there are also many charity clubs, ranging from rescuing stray animals to helping the homeless. The clubs are much smaller in Taiwan. There is no hierarchy, there is simply one team of active members that organizes everything. Furthermore, I was told that Taiwanese companies do not value the experience as an active member much. The active members mostly do it out of fun. Honestly, I do not recommend international students to join any student clubs. They are dominated by Taiwanese people, whose English proficiency is not high. Even if their English is good, they are participating in the club to practice said hobby. They do not always have the motivation to try to speak English. If you already know a bit of Mandarin, then it is perfect to practice and to make new friends. Otherwise, you will feel left out because of the language barrier.

The temperature was very high until the rainy season started around October. Until mid-October, it was still above 35 degrees every day. Then the monsoon hit late October, dropping the temperature to 22 degrees. Somehow the 22 degrees felt much colder in Taiwan than in Europe, probably either because of the humidity or because my body was too accustomed to the heat. The monsoon rain is also very severe, much harder than any rain that I have experienced. Be sure to pack waterproof jackets, pants, shoes in your suitcase. The rainy season stopped around mid-November, after which it did not rain much. Although there were some occasional drizzles and misty light rain. The weather pattern is also essential when planning trips. Be sure to do ocean activities before the monsoon. Mountain hiking can be done before or, preferably, after, when it is not hot anymore. Visiting other cities can be done any time.

Evaluation

My experience in Taiwan is invaluable. For my personal growth, I gained a deeper connection with foreign cultures. Living in a completely different country provided me with countless new perspectives, teaching me adaptability. For my professional growth, I was able to learn and pursue many things I normally would not be able to. Because the grade is not important, I am more motivated to take courses that genuinely interest me and study the courses out of curiosity instead of getting a high grade. With a quantitative background in engineering, it was enriching to take interesting qualitative courses in political science. I also took this opportunity to learn a new language, which would not fit in my busy schedule in my home country.

Many people I met were incredibly wonderful and interesting. Taiwan is an extremely underrated destination. I felt that the people that chose to come to Taiwan would naturally be open-minded, some selection bias, as opposed to other popular destinations like Japan and South-Korea.

For tips that I would give future exchange students, these are the general tips that are not related to trips.

• Do not spend too much time on student associations. I do highly recommend attending one club exhibition or club fair just to see a part of Taiwanese culture. However, I do not recommend committing to a club unless you can speak Mandarin. 

• Occasionally try vegetarian food. Buddhism is a prominent religion in Taiwan. Therefore, there are many restaurants that cater towards vegetarians. You will be surprised by how tasty vegetarian food can be. When worrying about protein intake, tofu and other bean products provide plenty.

• Do not worry about politics. I am mentioning this tip because I learned that apparently many other Western students worry greatly about a potential invasion of Mainland China. However, I did not have this worry in the slightest and believe this belief is too much skewed by negative propaganda. Do not let this unfounded fear be a reason to not choose Taiwan.

• My personal favorite place in Taipei is Zhongxiao Xinsheng. Next to this metro station has three fun locations: Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Syntrend, and Guanghua Digital Plaza.

The following are tips regarding the best places to visit in Taiwan.

• I highly recommend downloading Klook and Bus+. Klook is an excellent app to buy entrance tickets to tourist spots and to book activities. Klook is also very international and can be used in nearly all countries in Asia. Bus+ is a local Taiwanese app to track when buses arrive at which stop. This is especially useful when traveling outside of Taipei. The public transportation there is not as developed as in Taipei, and Google Maps does not always give accurate information about the bus schedule.

• Take advantage of Youbike. Even in some rural areas of Taiwan, there are Youbike stations. Cycling might be slower than a bus, but it is a great way to explore every crook and cranny. Taking a slow pace also allows you to enjoy more. However, take elevation into account! Going up a hill is extremely tiring and can delay your schedule. Google Maps is not entirely accurate in estimating the travel time when cycling up a hill. In extremely remote locations such as in the high mountains or in a separate island, I also highly recommend renting an electrical bike.

• I have done many cool activities for the first time in my life. Most of these are also beginner friendly for beginners and do not require a license whatsoever. Here are my activities in hopes of giving other people inspiration.

  • Cliff jumping at Bitoujiao

  • Dolphin spotting close to Turtle Island

  • Surfing at Wai’ao beach

  • Tea leaf picking at Pinglin

  • Oyster farming at Changhua

  • Cycling around the Sun-moon Lake

  • Snorkeling with sea turtles at Xiaoliuqiu

  • Hot springs at Beitou

  • A lot of mountain hiking. These are my favorite places ranking from easy to difficult: Elephant mountain, Teapot mountain, Bitoujiao trail, Maokong Gondola (did not use the cable car), Yangminshan, Xitou Nature Education Area.

Beilly Zhu

My name is Beilly Zhu. I am a second-generation Chinese who grew up in Belgium and studied in the Netherlands. I am studying in the field of Management Science and Operations Research. I have no background in writing at all. However, I loved my exchange experience in Taiwan so much that I wanted to share it. I hope to motivate others to try visiting this beautiful country, either for travel or for studies.