Report Auslandsstudium - Office of International Affairs

Major: Engineering and Management
1. Preparation (Planning, Organization and Application)
I made my decision to spend a semester abroad in the autumn of 2012, so
about little more than a year before I actually went to Taipei. The most
important points here are of course to decide first where you want to go and
further to prepare your application documents and respect all the application
deadlines.
On the homepage of the Wiso International Office (IO) you can find all the
possible destinations to spend your exchange. I wanted definitely go outside
Europe and so I informed about the host universities in Asia. A good way to do
this is of course the normal homepage of the universities and their
International Offices, but also to google for reviews and experience reports
from former exchange students. These reports finally convinced me to put
National Taipei University (NTU) on top of my priority list, as they all spoke in
best words about the university and especially the country itself.
For the application itself you have to hand in a document of the Wiso IO with
all your information as well as a short motivation letter why you want go to the
specific university and why you are a good representative to send there.
About two weeks after the application deadline I got an invitation to a short
interview at the chair of Industrial Management. This was a quite relaxed talk
about my plans there and one week later I already got the confirmation that
they will nominate me for the spot at NTU.
So again some weeks later I got an Email form the NTU IO with a link to their
online application process. The most are basic information, the only special
documents you need are a Health Exam, which you can also hand in later
and do quite easy and cheap in Taipei itself, and a confirmation from your
insurance that they will cover an amount of 34.000$.
The support of the NTU IO was very good all the time and they responded
within a day to questions via Email.
Furthermore you can apply for student volunteer. I can recommend this a lot.
My buddy helped me a lot before and within the first weeks of the semester.
Another issue you have to handle before you departure to Taipei is the course
selection process. I will write about it section 4.
2. How to get their / Visa
As I planed to be flexible and travel after my semester at NTU I booked a Oneway-flight with Vietnam Airlines from Frankfurt via Hanoi to Taipei International
Airport for about 330€. If you already know when you will flight back home it is
easier and cheaper to book a round-trip ticket.
After I booked this ticket I called the Taiwanese Embassy in Munich and they
told me that it is necessary to apply for a visa if you study in Taiwan. To get
this visa you need a flight-ticket out of Taiwan. So I booked a cheap ticket the
Philippines for about 30€ and got my Visa without problems. In Taipei I met
many Students who traveled there without any visa and also without flight-out
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ticket. So I would definitely try it without the visa the next time, as it is not
necessary and takes some effort and money to get it.
The way from the Airport to the city is very convenient. Just take one of the
buses at the arrival terminal and it will drive you for around 3€ to the Taipei
Main Station. Here you can enter the MRT System, which is really good,
cheap and convenient. The university campus and the Shuiyuan Dorm I lived
in are located directly at the MRT Station ‘Gonguan’ which is just a few stops
on Xindian Line away from the Main Station.
3. Accommodation
Within the application process you will come to a step where you have to
choose your accommodation for the semester. There are several options and I
decided to apply for a single bedroom without kitchen at the BOT Shuiyuan
Dorm. It is the most modern and convenient of all the dorms and still
affordable for European standards (about 180€/month). Actually you do not
need any kitchen, because streetfood is so cheap.
There are some reviews in the Internet, which state that the rules in the dorms
are really strict. In the first moment they also seem very strict when you arrive
there, but I didn’t have any problems in my time there although I partied a lot
and stuff like that.
The life in the dorm was very nice and convenient. Almost all exchange
students are located there and so you will meet them everyday in the lobby of
the dorm. Especially in the first weeks this is a nice opportunity to find friends.
The dorm is a 5 minutes walk away from the campus and there are many,
many restaurants and convenient stores around. Life there is very easy!
The only negative point is, that you have to buy a mattress and some of the
stuff to equip your room in the first days. There is a small shop in front of the
dorms, which sells these items in the first week, but I would recommend you to
go to a shop like IKEA as the quality there is much better and especially a
proper mattress is really worth the investment in my opinion.
4. Study and language courses
Ever Exchange Student has the opportunity to attend and 6-hours/week
Chinese Course from the Chinese Language Department (CLD). You can
choose between a morning course and the one in the evening. If you want to
study Chinese more intensive you can chose the enhanced class (4hours/week) on top. In general the courses from the CLD are supposed to be
really good with class sizes about 15 people.
In my specific case, our Chinese teacher was very relaxed and quite
unambitious. That had the advantage that we didn’t have to study a lot. Other
students, who were attending other beginner level courses had to study quite
a lot for. On the other side, of course we didn’t learn that much than they did in
the same time. Nevertheless I would everyone recommend to apply at least for
the 6-hours class because you will learn the basics there and it is fun and a
good opportunity to meet new people anyway.
Of course there are many other courses according to your major. As I just
started to learn Chinese I attended only English-taught classes. Most of the
professors are Asians but spent some time abroad, particularly in the US. So
there English is quite good.
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The content of my courses was quite interesting, but the educational standard
is a bit lower compared to the Universities in Germany. Therefore I decided to
choose some soft skills related classes from the GMBA Program like ‘Cross
Cultural Management’ and ‘Complexities of Leadership & Followership’
as it was informative and pleasant to work on these topics in a very
international environment.
As mentioned, the course selection process that has to be done before
coming to Taipei is quite complex and confusing. It has several phases and
after every phase you get results about courses you got or not. I was quite
disappointed that I didn’t get the courses I wanted after the selection
procedure. But in the end it wasn’t a serious problem as you can just go to the
opening lecture of every subject and ask the teacher for an exception. For me
this worked in every single case.
5. Support of Host University
The host university and their different clubs and societies really try to make the
best out of your stay. At the beginning of the semester arrange an orientation
event for all exchange students and also a club fair, which helps you to find
suitable sport clubs etc..
The staff of the OIA was also helpful and nice. I didn’t have that much contact
with them because I didn’t have any serious problems, but I had the feeling
there is someone if you have a question.
A good opportunity to get help especially if you have to call Chinese hotlines
or stuff like that is the staff at the reception of the dorms.
6. Facilities of the Host University
The wide campus of the NTU is really impressive. Through a big main
entrance you get on the main street called the ‘Royal Palm Avenue’. This
street connects all the important facilities.
Because of the immense size of the campus and of course also to do all the
other ways more convenient I would recommend you to buy a bicycle. There
are several opportunities to do this cheap.
On the end of the Palm Avenue the big library witch several floors and a 24
hrs study room is located. Here you also have the possibility to print your stuff.
Another possibility to do this is the IT-Center.
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You can also do a lot of sports on the campus. The huge sport center
contains a 25m indoor pool, a Gym, squash courts and many rooms for other
kind of sports. The fares for a membership are about 25 €/semester to use the
Gym, the indoor pool as well as a quite nice 50m outdoor pool. Beside the
sport center there is a football pitch with 400m track as well as many tennis,
basketball and volleyball courts on the campus. Most of them are public and
free of charge to use.
Very convenient for the everyday use are also the many good and cheap
restaurants and cafés, small convenient stores and shops selling office
stuff, which are located all over the campus. Additionally there is even a small
hospital on the campus.
7. Daily life and leisure time
Even more important than to have a good time in university was for me to
meet nice friends and experience a lot of the new country and culture. I can
tell you right from the beginning that, regarding this my semester in Taipei was
an absolute blast and for me Taipei is definitely one of the most underrated
destinations.
The people I met there, doesn’t matter whether they were locals or exchange
students, were all super nice. The Taiwanese are all a bit shy in the beginning
but they are very kind and helpful.
Due to the fact that all the exchange students are new in the city without any
friends in the beginning and you live together with them in the dorms it is
absolutely no problems to make many friends from the first day of your stay.
Everyone was open and as I spent a lot of time together with them because
you live in the same building, go together for lunch and dinner and many
exchange students attend the same English taught courses I found really a
bunch of intense friends. There are basically students from all over the world,
but I particularly hung out with Swedes, Dutch, Italians and Germans.
Taipei itself is also absolute worth coming here. It has many different sides
and opportunities to do. It has some nice very modern and fancy areas for
example around the 101 but also some traditional more Chinese areas. You
can visit the famous night markets located everywhere over the city or go
hiking on the elephant mountain and next to the Zoo both with nice view over
the city. If you drive up the MRT line all up to the south you can even enjoy the
sunset on the coast at Danshui. This is only a small selection, of course there
are also many temples and museums. The public transportation in Taipei is
good and cheap. You can charge money on your student ID/ Easy Card and
pay with it. To reach spots in close distance you can register at one of the
many U-Bike stations. These are bike rental stations, the first 30 mins are for
free and also afterwards it is quite cheap.
As mentioned the campus offers a wide variety of sports to do. Use them, as
they are also a good opportunity to know new people. I played for example
basketball at an tournament with international teams of all universities from
Taipei. This was a lot of fun. I’m sure there is also a university team or a club,
which offers something for sou. But also outside the university there is a lot to
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do. I run the 10km run at the International Taipei Marathon and it was a really
nice experience.
If you search, you can find pretty much everything you need in Taipei. There
are many shops with everything you need. Of course they have all the
International Brands but also cheaper Asian brands. Only problem is that the
selection of cloths and shoes in tall sizes are a bit limited.
Food (especially Asian food) is quite cheap compared to Germany. Few
people have their own kitchens and so most people go to restaurants. The
variety of restaurants around the dorms and the university is huge and the
quality is good. The Taiwanese food is a mix of other Asian kitchens, with a lot
of dumplings, fried chicken and of course a lot of rice. There are also a
number of western style restaurants, which are also good but therefore not
much cheaper than comparable restaurants in Germany. Very confortable are
the convenient stores like ‘7/11’ or ‘Family Mart’ which are open all around
the clock and you can find them at every corner. They offer everything you
need. They have drinks, fresh coffee and different foods and groceries, but
also cosmetics and the possibility to print.
If you like to party, and I hope you do, going to an exchange, you wont be
disappointed in Taipei. There is a party basically every day of the week and
most of them can easily compete with western discos. The best days to Party
are probably Wednesday (Ladies Night) and Saturday at ‘Myst’ or ‘Luxy’. But
surprisingly also Sunday is very good for example at ‘Babe 18’. Other clubs I
visited and that I really recommend are ‘Sparks 101’ (in the basement of the
101) and ‘Lava’. For Girls the entrance is most of the time free. For boys there
is a entrance fee (about 10€) depending from the time you enter which
includes some free drinks. The other option is to go to one of the open bar
parties. There you pay once (between 6 and 20€) and all drinks are included.
My personal highlight was the New Years Eve Party on the rooftop bar of
‘Room 18’. It is located just 200m away from the 101 and the atmosphere and
the view to the NY-Firework were really awesome.
You should use your time to not only explore Taipei but whole Taiwan.
Although it is a quite small island, there are so many things to do and you will
be impressed by the different landscapes. I did a trip almost every week and
saw a lot. The transportation is quite good. There is a High-speed Train,
which takes you all the way to the south in about 3 hrs. Moreover there are
normal trains, which go to many destinations all over the island for small
money. For me the best possibility to explore the country is to rent a scooter
at your destination and just drive around. The traffic in Taiwan isn’t that chaotic
as you might imagine and you can rent scooters everywhere with your car
drivers license.
Some trips in Taiwan I definitely recommend. You can find reviews and tips
how to do these trips in the internet.
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Tarokko Gauge and East Coast
Yushan Mountain - 3952m
Beaches at Kenting and Penghu Island
But if you are already in Asia you should also do some trips outside Taiwan.
Of course it gets more expensive as you have to pay flights etc., but for me it
was totally worth it. By using local no-frills airlines and sleeping in hostels you
can try to keep your costs limited.
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I went to Seoul (South Korea), Hong Kong & Macau, Shanghai as well as to
Bangkok and some islands in Thailand. Every single trip was awesome and
the next time I would even try to do some more trips, especially to Japan and
the Philippines.
Finally some practical advises: You can draw money with your German ECcard or credit card at every ATM in Taiwan. The fees for that vary. The best
option is to get a credit card from DKB as they do not charge any fees for
students.
For your cellphone I would recommend one of the 3G Prepaid cards from the
provider ‘Myfone’. 1 GB data volume is about 4€ and also calls are quite
cheap.
8. Financials
Living costs are in general lower than in Europe. The Taiwanese currency is
called New Taiwan Dollar (ntd) and about 40 ntd are 1€.
As mentioned, you pay about 180€/month for your accommodation. Public
transportation is about 20-30 € per month. Food can be very cheap. A
standard dish at the university is about 1,50 €. So, if you really want to live
cheap you can do it in Taipei.
But if you want to enjoy your stay there, try new and special food, do many
trips and go partying from time to time you will recognize that you spend in
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total more or less the same money you would in Germany. Especially the trips
outside of Taiwan will melt down your budget fast. But for this money you get
much more value here and Taiwan is still much more affordable than other
Metropolis in Asia and especially in the US.
There are several foundations, which support students from the FAU
Erlangen-Nurnberg with small scholarships for travelling expenses. You
should apply for one of these. The effort is not that high and with about 1000€
it is a good help and enables you to save some money or spend it for extra
trips ;-).
9. Wrap up
Looking back on the last half year I can say it was totally the right decision to
go to Taipei. I had one of the best times in my life and made a lot of close
friends.
Of course the culture and the people there are very different in the beginning
and you have to adapt your style of living in some ways, but at no time I hade
some kind of culture shock or felt uncomfortable with them.
I already wrote about the thousands of possibilities to spend your time there
and in the half year I personally didn’t spend a single afternoon alone at my
room, just because there was always something up with nice people around
me.
So, just go there and make your own experiences. I’m sure it will be wonderful!
If you have any further questions feel more than free to contact me!!
10. Contacts and Links
NTU campus map: http://map.ntu.edu.tw/ntu-eng.html
International Page of NTU: http://www.ntu.edu.tw/engv4/
OIA NTU: http://www.oia.ntu.edu.tw/oia/index.php/
OIA - Regional Manager Europe: Ms. Sarah Huang: b97302334@ntu.edu.tw
Lifestyle Blog about Taipei: http://www.taipeitrends.com.tw
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