American student studying at NCKU shares her Taiwan experience
Tainan, Taiwan, August 7, 2013
You probably have spotted a group of American students around the campus of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, over the last few weeks when they are heading to their Mandarin class or culture course or doing Tai chi under the banyan tree in the beautiful afternoons.
Currently, there are in total of 36 American students picked for the Taiwan United States Sister Relations Alliance (TUSA) Ambassador Summer Scholarship Program learning about Mandarin and Chinese culture and experiencing Taiwanese life style as well at NCKU.
“I didn’t expect a scholarship to provide so many different opportunities,” said Allison Gray, one of the TUSA students. “Most scholarships provide you money but this scholarship provides you friends, new experience, and new language. I think it’s much more valuable than just money.”
Gray, an American student from University of Maryland, who is a journalism major and aspires to become an international reporter one day, writes about her “awesome” experience at NCKU from Day 1, accumulating to 19 posts on her blog already.
In an interview, she said, “The program went great! I love my language partner. I love my tutors…I think it wouldn’t gone better, “ and she feels incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and learn about Asian language and culture, with the idea of one day reporting on this region of the world.
Gray noted that her daily schedule usually like – an one-on-one tutoring session and a small group language class in the morning and a speech about Taiwan’s culture and a elective class in the afternoon.
“For elective class, I signed up for Chinese painting and Tai chi,” said Gray and she mentioned that when she was talking with a friend on Skype about her Tai chi class, the friend said, “That doesn’t sound like a scholarship!” which makes her laugh.
When being asked the difficulties in learning how to do Chinese painting, Gray responded, “I think the shading is quite tricky because when it’s too dark then you cannot take it back. So I try to do it very light at first but then I always do too much dark so I need to stop doing that.”
In addition to language class and culture class, the Chinese Language Center (CLC) of NCKU arranged culture tours to Taipei, Kenting and Kaohsiung for TUSA students during the weekends.
Talking about her experience about Taiwanese local culture, Gray said that in a temple located at Shiding Old Street, Taipei, I saw people were praying, incense was burning, smoke dissipating into the air in front of dragons carved into the temple’s pillars, which is really beautiful.
“There was a ceremony in which another god was paying a visit to this temple’s god ensued in front of the building - firecrackers, vibrant costumes, and the rhythmic beating of a drum. I have never experienced an environment quite like this,” Gray added.
The eight-week TUSA program kicked off at July 1 and will last to August 23.
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You probably have spotted a group of American students around the campus of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, over the last few weeks when they are heading to their Mandarin class or culture course or doing Tai chi under the banyan tree in the beautiful afternoons.
Currently, there are in total of 36 American students picked for the Taiwan United States Sister Relations Alliance (TUSA) Ambassador Summer Scholarship Program learning about Mandarin and Chinese culture and experiencing Taiwanese life style as well at NCKU.
“I didn’t expect a scholarship to provide so many different opportunities,” said Allison Gray, one of the TUSA students. “Most scholarships provide you money but this scholarship provides you friends, new experience, and new language. I think it’s much more valuable than just money.”
Gray, an American student from University of Maryland, who is a journalism major and aspires to become an international reporter one day, writes about her “awesome” experience at NCKU from Day 1, accumulating to 19 posts on her blog already.
In an interview, she said, “The program went great! I love my language partner. I love my tutors…I think it wouldn’t gone better, “ and she feels incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and learn about Asian language and culture, with the idea of one day reporting on this region of the world.
Gray noted that her daily schedule usually like – an one-on-one tutoring session and a small group language class in the morning and a speech about Taiwan’s culture and a elective class in the afternoon.
“For elective class, I signed up for Chinese painting and Tai chi,” said Gray and she mentioned that when she was talking with a friend on Skype about her Tai chi class, the friend said, “That doesn’t sound like a scholarship!” which makes her laugh.
When being asked the difficulties in learning how to do Chinese painting, Gray responded, “I think the shading is quite tricky because when it’s too dark then you cannot take it back. So I try to do it very light at first but then I always do too much dark so I need to stop doing that.”
In addition to language class and culture class, the Chinese Language Center (CLC) of NCKU arranged culture tours to Taipei, Kenting and Kaohsiung for TUSA students during the weekends.
Talking about her experience about Taiwanese local culture, Gray said that in a temple located at Shiding Old Street, Taipei, I saw people were praying, incense was burning, smoke dissipating into the air in front of dragons carved into the temple’s pillars, which is really beautiful.
“There was a ceremony in which another god was paying a visit to this temple’s god ensued in front of the building - firecrackers, vibrant costumes, and the rhythmic beating of a drum. I have never experienced an environment quite like this,” Gray added.
The eight-week TUSA program kicked off at July 1 and will last to August 23.
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