Hello, my name is Sumire Miura from the Department of Regional Studies and Humanities, Faculty of Education and Human Studies. I spent about one year as an exchange student at Lunghwa University of Science and Technology (LUST) in Taiwan.
 
LUST is located in Taoyuan County, and it takes about 40 to 50 minutes to get to the center of Taipei by subway or bus. Transportation is inexpensive in Taiwan, so it is very easy to go out. It is also possible to travel to Taichung or Kaohsiung during any long weekends, the winter vacation or summer vacation.
 
The classes I took at the university were mainly Chinese and English classes. Most of my classmates in the Chinese class were students from Vietnam. They were very kind and friendly towards me. When I first came to Taiwan, I could hardly understand or speak Chinese. There were many times when I could only partially understand what the teacher was saying, but I gradually came to be able to understand and speak the language. Japanese people are able to vaguely guess the meaning of Chinese characters by looking at them, and since Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters, I think it is easier to learn the language since the Chinese characters look familiar. In the English classes, if the teacher is Taiwanese, the English lesson is taught in Chinese. I took the Chinese class in the second semester because I wasn’t very confident in my Chinese ability in the first semester and felt it was too big of a hurdle.
 
LUST has a student dormitory, and I lived in a four-person room during the semester and a two-person room during the winter break. My roommates and I didn’t become particularly close friends, but we kept to ourselves and spent our time peacefully. The dormitory has toasters and microwaves, but there is no kitchen, which is a bit inconvenient. There are only three refrigerators, and they are always packed with stuff. One time I wrote my name and room number on my things but they were still stolen. Cockroaches and rats would pop up in the dormitory, and it could not be described as all that clean. If these are problems that you really can’t stand, you may have to rent a single room for yourself, but since Taiwan is a warm country, these problems are quite common.
 
Lastly, many Taiwanese people are very warm and friendly once you get to know each other. I was helped by many people during my study abroad. I encourage everyone to have such a valuable experience in Taiwan.

Click here for the study abroad experience reports of the Akita University ‘Miraisozo Fund’ overseas student study support program.