The price we have to pay for a convenient life in Taiwan 

I come from Taiwan. Taiwan is well-known for its convenient life and 宵夜文化(culture of eating food at mid-night). For example, there are convenience stores that open 24/7 around each corner. Supermarkets also open every day. What’s more, there are Taiwanese night market, where you can find a lot of stand food until midnight. 

To share or not to share apartments

One thing most if not all people have in common is the fact that they live somewhere either permanently or temporarily. The way a person lives is saying a lot about them already and helps others to form a first opinion of them. A living arrangement that may seem reasonable for one person in their particular circumstances may be odd for somebody with different circumstances. Living arrangements can take many different forms across and give further insights into foreign cultures and countries as we have experienced ourselves during our time abroad in Germany and Taiwan respectively.

A particularly striking intercultural experience – Taiwanese hospitality

and how that has changed my perspective on having guests and how to treat them

After arriving in Taiwan, one of the first “things” to recognise was that Taiwanese people are very friendly. Whether as a tourist or as an exchange student, I always had the feeling that the people were very warm and welcomed me with sincerity and curiosity. 

Reflection on language – Mandarin

A few weeks ago I was sitting with my fellow Swiss exchange student in the Mandarin class and didn’t understand enough to be able to follow the class.

Cute Taiwan – 可愛的台灣 (Kě’ài de táiwān)

One aspect of Taiwanese culture that I like very much is that many things are designed in a cute way. From the warning signs in the subway to the so often used line stickers (similar to whatsapp gifs), something that is cute seems to be of value to society. Even in more formal group chats (e.g. seminar group chats in which professors also participate) it is quite normal to send cute line stickers.