Taiwan Day 1

Monday May 11th

Officially it is day one of our study abroad curriculum. Jo and Annabelle are staying with her family during our time in Taiwan. The agenda for the day is to visit National Tapei University (NTPU) in Sansia which is their main campus. We will visit their other campus tomorrow in Tapei City. The school has over 10,000 students. In the afternoon, we will visit Hsinchu Science Park to see one of the most important areas in Taiwan’s high tech industry. The day will end with a welcome dinner from our hosts at NTPU. The day started out with breakfast at 7 Eleven as we had to grab something quick and eat on the bus. Now the 7 Eleven’s are a little different than the ones in the U.S. They offer more than just slurpees, big gulps, and snacks. They seem very popular and are everywhere and offer a simple breakfast. First stop NTPU. Our hosts at NTPU prepared some interesting cultural activities as well as a class lecture on inventory management of Taiwan’s electronic industry. We first learned some karate (self defense) and calligraphy. Next, the lecture gave us a look into Taiwan’s strength in the electronics industry. The thing that really struck me was the depth and extent of their electronics industry. People always think of Japan when talking high tech but Taiwan is the number one supplier of motherboards, notebooks, LCD monitors, routers, and much more in the world. I doubt most people would know that. Next stop Hsinchu. We were given an introduction and history of how the park started from a small farming village but the Taiwan government saw the potential of the high tech industry and transformed the area to a launch pad for Taiwan’s electronics industry. It was no accident they have become such a leader in electronics today. Then it was dinner with our hosts from NTPU and after I finally had a chance to see Jo and Annabelle before heading back to the Taipei Teacher Hostel to sleep. No chance to rest but I learned so much about Taiwan.