My University : Tatung University :)

Hey Everyone,

It's been now more than 15 days I am in Taipei and I realized I haven't shared my views on my university..After many many requests I have decided to write a post about my Engineering College. That is why, today I'll be presenting the university where I am currently studying :) 

WELCOME TO TATUNG UNIVERSITY !!!

Tatung University gathers more than 5000 students distributed in many different colleges of engineering. For my part, I belong to the Electrical Engineering Department :) The sub-department I am working for right now is the Wireless Broadband Communication Department. 

This is my department :

The first day I got here, I wondered why my building looked like a ruin in the middle of a jungle ^^ But when I got in I was more reassured...The lecture and meetings rooms are really great there. On my first day I was welcomed by M. Arthur Chen, my project manager and Prof. Hsu, the head of the Electrical Engineering Department. 

The biggest asset of the university is that it's very green. There are trees everywhere with pools and fountains to make you feel completely relaxed. It's only now I realise how a nice environment can help in your studies.

When I entered the university, I didn't feel the scholar atmosphere...I felt more like as if I had come to a resort ^^

MAYBE THIS IS A BIT OVER RELAXED FOR ME :

When I continued walking across the campus, I got the chance to meet some unconventional mates :

The university has many pools and fountains in which there are fish or like here, turtles :)

Appart from having green parks and wildlife, the university's architecture is really sublime...some of buildings are really very beautiful. Fact : Some newly wedded couples come with photographers at Tatung University to take some romantic wedding pictures...I can understand them, you don't get it anywhere else in Taipei :

The fish pool :

The turtles pond : 

Overall, I really like being in Tatung University :) The students here are extremely fond of foreign students...and the environment is more like a place to relax rather than stress :) I am so fond of nature that is environment gives me a real opportunity to escape from the technical world and come back to the simplest things like enjoying the rays of the sun or the sound of the wind in-between the branches of the numerous trees here.

Until then, 

Zai Jian

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Today, it was the last day of the "Pandas Exhibition" at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall so I decided, come what may ever I have to see the little Pandas ^^ 

After the déluge of yesterday, I was not at all in the mood of going out...but since it was the last day to see the little pandas..I gathered all my strength and courage and took the MRT (local subway). 

I had never seen so much of crowd in the MRT ever...there were like everywhere..and it was very hot outside (nearly 29°C)....When I got in the metro, I could hardly move in the metro..and since Asian are know to be a bit short..I could see till the end of the train haha..not to bully the Taiwanese fellows but most of them are short ^^ Some completely disappeared in the crowd and resurface out of no where!!! Fortunately, the metro in Taipei have air conditioning supplies which was like heaven in this hot weather...I wish Paris could learn this from Taipei...AC is everything!!! It makes the journey so smooth, believe me :)

As I got down of the MRT, the first struggle was to find the right way...most of the signs were in Chinese..but I am so smart  that I found my way (even though I searched the god d**n place for 25 minutes).

When I finally got to the memorial (thanks to GPS), I was amazed to see the architecture of the memorial. Blue and White are my favourite colours and put together for me is like the perfect match ^^

This memorial is actually a homage to the first president of Taiwan : Chiang Kai Shek. As walked further in the memorial, the pretty gardens and the white buildings just calms you down...You feel really peaceful until you see the stairs --'

The stairs reminded me only the exhausting climbing of the Elephant Mountain yesterday...So I decided to remain on the ground and visit arround...^^ But my curiosity went all over me and took my left strength to climb up the stairs :)

This is where you realise...IT WAS WORTH CLIMBING !!! :)

Even though it is a memorial, it is a very joyful place to be. You can see the children having some fun around and the grown ups doing some romance :) You can also get the chance to see some random performances like baton or dance or even music :)

Then, I entered the Memorial to meet M. Chiang :) He was sitting, smiling at the visitors paying him respect. 

So I also paid my respect to the first President of Taiwan :) 

And he kept smiling on the crowd..but my smile just fade away when I saw this :

THAT FELLOW DIDN'T LOOK FRIENDLY AT ALL.....RATHER SCARY...

After this mild shock, I went on visiting the memorial...most specifically the museum underneath the memorial..and I saw this :

I was so marvelled by this piece of collection that I stayed nearly 10 minutes to admire this beautiful presidential car :) I wish I had one of these...Even our French President's car look like a wreckage compared to this :p

After filling my eyes with this beauty,  I went to meet the little pandas outside..

It's amazing, you can find art everywhere in Taipei...This one from far is the best I have ever seen. Small little pandas everywhere in the memorial :) They were looking so cute !!! I couldn't stop looking at them :)

This memorial is so big that I couldn't do it all in a day...I will definitely go back to visit Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall :)

Luxy - Elephant Mountain Climbing

Luxy is the best night club in Taipei :) The ambiance is great..there are a lot of foreigners. I went there with other international students of my university...It was really awesome :)

Here I am sitting on the throne of Luxy :p I was for ten seconds the king of the night club ^^

After returning to the dorm by 4:30 AM, I slept till noon ^^ After waking, some of my Taiwanese friends joined me to go to the famous Elephant Mountain. 

The area was know to be an execution place..During the Japanese colonization, many chinese were brought here and executed. Since, the place is sacred and it was turned into a green park. That was the history touch ^^ then we began to climb the mountain to get a view of the city. In the first place I wanted to see the sunset but it didn't turn out in my favor...you'll read why :p

When we got to the top of the mountain, the view was just breathtaking.

It was too cloudy to see any sunset, so I waited to have the night view with all the lights :) You can see a storm coming in the background... :(

The night view was really worth waiting for :) 

I don't know if you see the thunder clouds coming at the left of the picture...let me tell you it was like apocalypse...I had never experienced such a long and extremely heavy rain !! The stairs we climbed turned into small waterfalls...it was a bit scary...haha  My friends and I were so wet to the bones we went to a friends place to dry ^^ There I met a rather unconventional friend :

After drying up, we decided to confront the rain again (with umbrellas this time ^^) to eat in one of the most famous japanese restaurant nearby.

The japanese restaurant was a real revelation...!! the BBQ meat and mushroom was so tasty :) Each bite I took was like heaven to me :) When I think know, I will never be able to enjoy any japanese meal in France now :( 

I tried also some saké, here the saké is less strong and people drink it either cold or warm. They drink it like wine. It was delicious :) This will count as one of the best discoveries in Taipei !!!

The Shilin Night Market

Ni Hao Everyone,

I decided to go for the most famous night market in Taipei, the Shilin Night Market :) You can find all kinds of things there...like clothes, jewellery and most importantly for me FOOD My friends made me try one of the most famous thing to eat in Shilin, the Chi Pai. Chi stands for chicken and Pai stands for breast...so literally I had Chicken Breast...it is a basic fried chicken which is then barbecued. It was delicious, like I would say it in chinese "Hao Chi" (tasty). Then we went on visiting the market : it's really full of life here...I really like this way of spending good evening instead staying at home like in France. You are free to eat whatever you want and wherever you want.

Meanwhile, I took the opportunity of visiting a Buddhist temple in the Shilin Night Market. I had never been to a Buddhist temple before, it was a really nice experience. One of my Buddhist friend showed me how to pray. I also prayed to God to grant me a wish but it wasn't my lucky day...Anyways, I really enjoyed the architecture of the temple. The red and golden colours were dominating the room and the smell of incense sticks invading the place. It was really a beautiful temple.

 

The most impressive were the carvings and the sculptures ornamenting the temple. I was fascinated by the Lion / Dragons guarding the entrance of the temple. 

Coming back to the local yummy food, we headed toward a famous restaurant where I had a peanut butter hamburger..delicious :)

The Taiwanese Food :p

Hey, thanks to all for following my adventures in Taiwan It's been a week now I am staying in Taipei...Maybe I can tell you more about the local food ^^

Here people usually eat their meal outside...they like to go to the various night markets in the streets of Taipei. They have all kinds of dishes to offer...Naturally the main meal here is rice and noodles (Fan & Mian in chinese). Being a big fan of rice, I tried so many fried rice dishes here...from the weirdest to the most spicy ones ^^ Fortunately, my stomach is accepting rather well the delicious food I am having here..haha .As for beverages, do not go for the famous soda brands like Coke or Sprite, they are disgusting . Taiwanese people are not used to having sweet soda drinks...the worse were at Mc Donald's...They like to have ice tea here, the strangest of kinds ^^ Once I tried lemon black ice tea...quite bitter ^^ But one of the best I had was in Jiufen, the mango green tea..It was so good!! Since I love both green tea and mangoes it was excellent

Coming back to the food, Taiwanese cooking involves a lot of fish and sea food. I had the opportunity to try some fried baby squids and clams and oysters (fried and boiled). When I told my Taiwanese friends that in France we eat the oyster raw...they were so disgusted ^^ they told me "French people are crazy!!" haha I couldn't stop laughing especially when I tried some snails there...they tastes more like nasal mucus (booger) haha...


But the best thing I go crazy for is the numerous variety of teas ^^ It's sensational the range of types of tea they have here..when you walk in the night market the merchants would ask you to try the tea and nothing is more refreshing than a nice sip of tea.


If you go to right places....you can eat so much for free here because merchants like foreigners to try their food...and you know me...I enjoy going for the free stuff ^^ (MUFT.. MUFT... MUFT)


Tonight, I am going to visit an other famous night market, one of the biggest in Taipei with some friends..Let u know how it was...


Until then,


Zai Jian

Visit Of jiufen

On Sunday, we decided to go to the city of Jiufen in the north of Taiwan. It has beautiful mountains and breathtaking view of the sea. We left Taipei with two other girls from Belgium. As we got on the bus, the driver seemed nice...the moment we left the stop he drove the bus like a crazy man....For a moment I really thought this was going to be the last journey of my life ^^ especially when we got into the mountains.

After arriving in JiuFen, we started climbing the steep stairs of the moutain. As we reached the top, we were again asked to pose with Taiwanese for pictures ^^ You really feel like a star here


The air was so refreshing, we stayed nearly half an hour before getting down.

As we got down, we went to eat in a night market !! It was so good !! I tried so many things there like fried cheese, ice cream crepe that was yummy .

The food in the night market was awesome, so many varieties of food and my favourite beverage tea :) It was really crowded but so cool. The only nuisance I may have got since I am in Taiwan is the stinking smell of Tofu. It's smells so bad.

.it's quite bizarre that taiwanese ppl don't eat much sugar...the coke here is disgusting ....yuck

Taipei / Danshui

Hey guys, first of all thanks to everyone who is visiting my blog !! Yesterday, I went to meet some other international students in Taipei..They were mostly from Dominican Republic. The fun part was I could mix English and Spanish with them We took the local metro (MRT) to Danshui, a beautiful place with a great view of a lake with all Taipei !! First, we started to walk in the night market...they are so famous here! You can eat there for very cheap and try so many things !! I tasted so many many thing there, really Yum! I also tried the famous Taiwanese Bubble-Tea...it's cold milk tea with gum balls in it...pretty odd but good in taste ^^ I had the tallest ice cream I've ever eaten, wahoooo it was at least 30 cm tall, it looked more like a sword in the end :p Moreover, it's funny how people are crazy about foreigners here. As we were wandering in the night market, a taiwanese women stopped us to get a picture with us !! She almost stopped everyone in the street so she could take the picture ^^ It's like you are a star here haha Then we went on playing some local games..Once there was a shooting game and my American friend tried it out....he shot them all in a row !! I was so amazed.....


The night view on the lake was really very pretty. I heard that during the day, it is possible to take a boat and cross the lake. I will try that some time. :)

I also tried many types of food...like snails :

Taipei Day 3

Today was quite a funny day...as I went to meet the professor, I got lost in the building After 15 min wandering the corridors, I finally found an english-speaking person who was very kind to help me.


Then an other trouble...the CANTEEN....it was so crowded!! And you should mind your head because the ceilings are pretty low...Anyways, I was waiting in line for the food which was presented like a buffet...As I was going forward, I was trying to make out what kind of food it was...and the worse was the payment time. The cashier spoke only chinese. Fortunately in Taipei, you have sign language and it went fine.....thank god ^^


After eating I decided to go back to take a nap...Guess what..? As I was falling asleep, 10 Taiwanese guys came in my room to meet me...It's fun being famous ^^


And they were all asking me all kinds of questions...one in particular : "Are you hungry ?" They kept asking me this almost 15 times !! But they were just being nice to me


At first, I tought they would just say hello and leave, but actually they stayed up for 2 and 1/2 hours...They were so excited to meet me and I was so tired.....GOSH

And in the evening, I just looked at my facebook and saw so many friend requests...all in chinese ^^ So after adding them I just tried to find out who was it...but they look so much alike...duh


Anyways, I met more people today and also found out that Taiwanese girls are crazy about foreigners...I'll let know if this is true ^^ Until then...zaijian

Taipei Day 2

Ni Hao Everyone !


The next day of my arrival, I went to meet my professors in the Electrical Engineering Department where I was received by Prof. Hsu, the head of the department. He explained the main things to know about the project. Then he started talking about my opinion about Taipei, he was very pleased to have an international student in his department


He invited to have lunch in one of the most famous restaurant in town where you can eat world reknown dumplings...so yummy!!

Then we walked around in the city visiting some nice places, and we took the MRT which is the local metro The metro is quite cheap here...I paid only 20 TWD for a ticket...which is like 0,47€ !!


I also met the international student the same day, I went out to have dinner with them.