The International Exchange Center (IEC) last month hosted a year-end party for more than 20 international students from Europe, America and Asia, allowing them to have a sense of “family reunion” and share with each other their learning and living experiences in Taiwan.
For some of these international students, it was their first year-end party at TNUA. Others have been here for some time, with some already speaking fluent Mandarin and having families in Taiwan.
Peter, a graduate student at the Department of Filmmaking, first arrived in Taiwan as a 19-year-old missionary. He said studying in Taiwan is very different from in the United States, where students are encouraged to ask questions in class. But in Taiwan teachers may think that students are asking questions because they are not paying attention to the lectures. Peter said he had some difficult times at first adapting to the Taiwan way of learning, but at the liberal TNUA he can freely ask questions again.