NSLI-Y 2024 Taiwan – Week 1
大家好!! Hello everyone! Our first week was so crazy and felt so long, but we made so many memories and long-lasting friendships. We started off with our 2-day orientation in Chicago. Everybody clicked in an instant and became so close like 家人 (family). We played spoons with Juan’s deck of cards and Sparda’s pack of gum. David introduced us all to DoubleTree Hotel cookies and it quickly became an addiction. Our amazing friend, Raffaella, made friendship bracelets for each one of us! There was always something to do whether it was exercising Tai-Chi, or playing the game “Mafia” and the mobile game “Among Us.” After 2 long days, it was finally time to fly to San Francisco, then Taiwan!
Our first group photo in Chicago!
Raffaella’s friendship bracelets and DoubleTree cookies!
After a 13-hour flight, we finally landed in Taoyuan International Airport! We immediately started looking for the Taiwan travel lottery for tourists. Although most of us did not win the lottery, luck was on Emilie and Gabriel’s side! They were both lucky and won the equivalent $150USD in New Taiwan Dollars! Afterwards, we took a 40-minute bus ride to Shih Chien University in Taipei! The views were breathtaking! At Shih Chien, we set up our phones and Line accounts (a popular messaging app in Taiwan like WhatsApp)! Then, each one of us got picked up by our host families!
Arrival at the Taoyuan International Airport.
Emilie (left) & Gabriel (right) won $5,000 NTD!
Our first few days at the school were amazing! On Monday we had an opening ceremony and a group photo after! Each of the teachers gave their class their favorite tea! While taking a class photo the advanced class found a 大蜘蛛 (BIG spider) on the ground. The same first day, we experienced the power of Taiwan’s rain and humidity, it was no joke!! The school days continued and we studied hard! The intensive, hands-on learning classes really helped each one of us improve our Mandarin!
Group photo at a Shih Chien photo spot.
The spider!
Everyone was busy the last few days studying for our quizzes and tests. During our first RD meeting, the school surprised 5 people for their birthday week! We celebrated their birthdays with Cheesecakes! On Friday, we combined our group with a group of students from Montana. We played hot potato with Chinese numbers and made sentences with characters!
Teacher Wang, Jennifer, Raffaella, Chloe, & Emilie (left to right in order).
Group photo with NSLI-Y group plus another study abroad group from Montana.
During our first weekend, we went to 白沙灣 (White Beach) and swam! On the way there, we did a lot of karaoke! We all had so much fun! Sparda bought a unicorn floatie and a boat floatie for the group to use! The sand was scalding hot but everyone had fun!
Group photo after the beach.
Small group photo in the water.
After the beach, we went to a restaurant and had a delicious Taiwanese seafood lunch and other delicacies! Then, we set off to Jiufen, a tourist destination in the mountains! We all had to do a scavenger hunt and were given an hour of free time by ourselves to explore the small mountain town and various gift and snack shops! Lastly, we made a TikTok before leaving and ending our first week in Taiwan!
Restaurant group photo.
Picture of beautiful Jiufen.
Written by Sparda and Kallianne.