taiwan-derfultime at nctu

An INSTEP Exchange program report on National Chiao Tung University,Taiwan (國立交通大學)

When: Feb - June 2011Spring/Summer 2011(AY2010/2011 - Semester 2)

By:Goh Shang Zhe, Kenneth(U0930736D)WKWSCI

Submit your NCTU admission package to INSTEP

The application form can be found at http://www.ia.nctu.edu.tw/down/archive.php?class=103 . The title is Application form for incoming exchange students. Follow their list of required documents for application.Don’t download the wrong form for their full-time International students. So, there’s no need to do a medical report in Singapore, or an English proficiency test.

The loooong wait for your acceptance letter

NCTU is rather slow in its administration processes. My acceptance letter took nearly two months to arrive. It arrived on 10 December 2010, when the exchange semester was due to start on 14 February 2011. Fret not, there’s still time to book a budget flight and buy your student travel insurance policy from NTUC income or Chartis.Money-wise, I spent S$6,000 - this include accomodation, living & travel expenses during my four-month exchange program in Taiwan.

Match NCTU courses to NTU’s, but nothing is confirmed

Trust me, your kiasu tendencies will kick in once you see your peers doing course-match-ing. The truth? There’s no urgent need. As INSTEP would have reminded you, match up to 10 courses. This only serves as a guide. Remember to print a copy of the list of courses you have matched and submit in your admission package.

You will do your real course matching when you arrive in NCTU.

Some courses may be shown online, but are still subjected to cancellation. The exam dates are also not released online and lesson plans are also not confirmed. When you arrive at NCTU, an academic booklet will be issued to you, THAT is the list your confirmed courses offered in the semester. NCTU’s list of English medium courses can be viewed at: http://cos.adm.nctu.edu.tw/en/Course/Search_EnCrs/Search_EnCrs.asp

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SETTLETHE ADMINSTUFF

Apply for your student VisaVisit the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore (460 Alexandra Road, #23-00, PSA Building). Apply for a Visitor Visa (Multiple entry). It takes three working days to get your Visa processed Come prepared with a photocopy of your NCTU acceptance letter, and the original letter of recommendation letter from INSTEP, one passport photo and your passport. Remember to extend your vistor’s Visa in Taiwan every two months.

Find a roof over your headI highly recommend you to give NCTU’s dormitories a miss. It is four people, on two dou-ble-decker beds, squeezed in a measly and poorly maintained room. There are greener pastures outside, with student accommodation easily available at Da Hseuh Road or out-side Tsing Hua University district. I rented a three-storey terrace house with five friends. It cost NT4300 per month (which include electricity and water bills). It was located a 15 minute bus ride away from school. Our housing agent, which is located just outside of NCTU, was friendly and efficient. The agency’s website is http://v-first.com.tw/. Housing can be settled when you are in Taiwan. Just spend the first few nights in a hostel, until you find suitable lodging options.

At your wits end? Visit your department in NCTU. The staff usually has links to housing agents, as they have helped previous international students to find housing in the vicinity.

Attend the important orientation program when you arrive There will not be any games, but it is an essential session to settle course registration, medical check-up and pay the school’s miscellaneous fees. You have to fill up another admission form. Remember to bring copies of your VISA, passport, admission and recommendation letters. There is no need to pay the internet fees, as you can tap on the school’s free Wifi for services. However, Wifi is only available in some parts of the campus. If you have any problems, you can contact the staff from the International Service Cen-tre. They can speak English well, especially, Miss Amy Chen, who is very helpful.

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aftergettinG

youracceptance

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academic

stuffat nctu

Getting your desired modules is so much more relaxing, as the courses are registered manually (no battle of fastest fingers first). Collect a course registration form from the lobby of the Administration Building. Get your professor’s signature on it. And submit it to the admin office of the department that offers the course. State that you are an exchange student for one semester and chances are you will get priority over local students.

Mandarin is the main language in NCTU. Eng-lish is rarely spoken among Taiwanese students, as they are too shy to use it. But, there is a sizeable international student community who speak English. The “English medium” courses are taught bilingually as professors will support lectures with Mandarin explanations. Don’t worry – most of them can speak English well, albeit at a slower pace. As such, you need to know basic Mandarin, at least to survive.

Don’t be intimidated by the majority of Chinese–medium courses. Talk to the professors who teach the module about your language difficulty. Most of them are competent in English and are very accommodating towards exchange stu-dents by allowing them to submit and present their assignments/projects in English. I took a TV production module, and the professor kindly converted the class into an English-medium one, and printed notes in English for the exchange students.

Stress-free course matching

Teaching language

One NCTU semester is 5 weeks longer than NTU’s, so the academic pace is laid back. Lessons move at a slower pace, as most of the modules I took involve discussions and movie/TV screenings. There is even a com-pulsory 10 minute break for every one-hour period. Classes are conducted lecture-style, with the typical powerpoint presentations and notes given. Some of the modules I took had mid-term and final exams, while some just involved submission of a final project.

Undergraduates can take up the Masters courses. Standard of education in Taiwan is much lower than Singapore’s. I took a Masters course, and still found it easier than studying NTU’s undergraduate modules.

Most of the modules offered are from the en-gineering, maths and science faculties. How-ever, they have a decent number of interest-ing humanities courses, such as Calligraphy and music appreciation.

Study pace

Digital TV Production (Masters) PE 4AUBiochemistry & Pharmaceutical GERPE

(SCI)3AU

The Theory & Practice of Love UE 3AUElements of Korean Culture UE 3AUCommunication & Negotiation UE 3AUNewspaper English UE 3AUIntroduction to Public Relations UE 3AU

I took 7 modules and cleared 22 AUs,(Note that two NCTU credits can be counted as three AUs in NTU)

NCTU follows the Republic of China year system. So 99 Spring Semester = 2011 Spring Semester.

Coming from an English-speaking

background, I am very surprised by how much I enjoyed my exchange pro-gram in Taiwan.Per-haps, I was out of my comfort zone to speak Mandarin and I definitely feel more comfortable speak-ing it now. Being on ex-change made me more sociable. Being away from my group of friends forced me to reach out and talk to my classmates. As such, I was reward-ed with cultural ex-changes with friends from Taiwan, Poland,

Mongolia, the Carib-bean, Honduras, and many more. I lived in Hsin-chu, which was an hour bus ride away from the capital city. Though not as pulsating as Taipei, it gave me a new experience on what it was like living in a suburban town, with-out a subway system and things moving at a slacken pace. There was never a dull moment in Tai-wan, with an eclectic variety of things to do. For a rustic touch a nature, we headed to the breathtaking Sun Moon Lake in Nantou & Taroko

Gorge in Hualien. We visited Kenting for the electrifying Spring Wave music festival. Kaohsiung and Taichung pro-vided pleasurable sightseeing trips The ultimate shopping and eating spot went to Taipei – hands down. Food in Taiwan is generally cheaper than in Singapore. A typical meal cost 50NT (S$2), which is typically a bento set consisting of rice, meat and three side dishes. And there is the endless list of mouth-watering street food from the night markets. Gorge over gi-gantic chicken cutlet,

skewered braised meats, Oyster mee sua and much much more. And oh! Every street has at least one bubble tea store, which sells koi-quali-ty drinks at S$1. Lastly, interacting with the Taiwanese was a big plus point. They are gener-ally very easy-going and helpful. I wasn’t afraid to get lost on the streets, as I knew people around would be kind enough to help. They have a strong sense of civic-mindedness – if some-thing wrong is done in public, someone will stand up to correct it. In a nutshell, this five-month exchange program has been fabulously memorable.

Taiwan-derfulexperience

01tips for l i v i n g i n

Hsinchu

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Beware of the traffic, especially during peak hours. Drivers usually don’t stop for pedestrians. Best to follow the locals when crossing the road.

Bring along a shopping bag. Taiwanese are environmen-tally friendly, so all shops charge for plastic bags. Ex-pect to sort your meal waste in eateries.

Take public buses 1 and 2 for most of stay. The intervals be-tween bus arrivals can be irregu-lar. Be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes if you miss a bus. The last bus leaves from downtown at 1030pm.

Avoid taking taxis in Hsinchu – they are even more pricier than Taipei’s. The flag off fee is NT120 (S$5).

Convenience stores, such as Family Mart, 7-11 and Hi-life are your best friends. They are equipped with photo-copying services, you can buy and top up your subway card and mobile phone plan. Some even have toilets!

Visit these Hsinchu attractions: Leofoo Village theme park, Lavender forest in Nei-wan, cycling and enjoying seafood in Nan-Liao, shopping and eating at the Cheng Huang temple district.

7Sign up to be a language exchange buddy at the board in NCTU’s International Service Centre. Taiwanese are very keen on brushing up their spoken English, so Singaporeans are usually the best in helping them. I made close Taiwanese friends through this, and they, in turn, gave me insightful tours around Taipei and Hsinchu. Remember, fol-lowing a local allows you to see the “real” side of a country.

When you run out of things to do in Hsinchu, head to Taipei for the weekend. Take the How-Tai buses outside Tsing Hua univer-sity. They come every 5 minutes and are more comfortable than the other buses. It costs NT110 (S$5) for a 1 hour 15 minute bus ride. In Taipei, go to Wu Fen Pu to buy clothes at low, bar-gained prices, Xi Men Ding for its vibrant shopping vibe, Shi Da Night Market for hip and quaint buys, Zhong Xiao Dun Hua and Xin Yi districts for posh depart-ment stores. Good places to eat are at Rao He and Ning Xia night markets.

Savour these Hsinchu delica-cies – Hsinchu noodles, meat dumplings, meat ball soup, steamed pork buns and a pastry made with pork and melon paste. All these food can be found in Cheng Huang Temple district.

Hsinchu is not known as the ‘windy city’ for nothing. Temper-atures from January to March can range from 8 to 15 degree celsius. The very strong winds make it worse. My three um-brellas were damaged by the wind so it is better to wear a raincoat. Wearing a windbreak-er and gloves is a must.

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