A group of students from American universities playing different roles of Chinese opera, tried on different outfits, head pieces and props happily at a recent cultural course organized by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan. "Chinese opera is super complicated," said John Terzi from the University of Maryland who is one of the 55 American students participating in the Taiwan-United States Sister Relations Alliance (TUSA) Summer Scholarship Program. "This is pure art like taking the simplicity and making it complicated in the most beautiful way," said Terzi who claimed himself as a big fan of theater and performed outstanding in his first Chinese Opera class on the afternoon of July 27. A very special class called "Introduction to Chinese Opera" led by Professor Mei-Hua Gao from the Department of Chinese Literature had draw great interest among the American students who couldn't wait to try out the make-up and costumes for Chinese opera. "We only use three colors for make-up which are blended very well. The costume is intricate and the water sleeves are beautiful and how they project their voice I think in a strange way, between soothing, whimsical, and alive," according to Terzi who had his face painted and dressed up as a Chinese tyrant king. Jason Cowan from the University of Tennessee who dressed up and done the face painting said as he showed what he learned, "My face is beautiful right now! I love this! It is 孫悟空, the Monkey King." Cowan added, "Chinese opera is so complicated to do. I'm impressed!" Also, Carolyn 'Eliza' Powers from the University of Texas dressed up like a Chinese traditional bride saying, "Chinese opera is much more complicated than I ever thought." "Now I want to watch one because I think I can appreciate it more," said Zachery Tipton from the University of Arkansas. Tipton has studied Chinese in the United States for two years and said, "Coming here I felt like I haven't studied it at all. It's such a huge change. In the States I have like academic idea of what Chinese was but never like how to use the language. Coming to Taiwan, having the use of the language to interact is a whole different thing than what I studied early." "This has been the best experience of my life," said Terzi adding, "because this is the first time I travel out of the country and this is just making me want to expand spectrum even more." "Taiwanese people are all around amazingly kind, nice, warm-hearted and enthusiastic and I really respect that," he added. Tipton traveled out of the United States for the first time and said, "Being here has been such a wonderful experience." Terzi noted, "I got to experience so many things, so many different things, the Chinese culture, Chinese painting, Chinese opera, the differences between Chinese and Western philosophy which is incredibly interesting," "I told my language partner that I'd like to come back next summer," said Terzi.