Travel Report
National Chengchi University
Taipei, Taiwan
240459
Spring 2015
Introduction
Congratulations if you were accepted into National Chengchi University (NCCU). It is the
best business school in Taiwan. You will not regret going there and Taiwan has numerous
opportunities to travel inside and outside the country, experience new culture, and meet new
people. Taiwanese are extremely friendly and flights around Asia are relatively cheap. Buckle
your seatbelts and enjoy the ride!
Applications
You will receive email from NCCU’s student coordinator Ms. Cherry Huang in the beginning
of April to inform you of the upcoming online application. The application is due to 1st of
November (spring semester) and you have to upload a few documents to the online system. It
is quite easy and straightforward instructions are provided. Thus, there is more than enough
time to prepare. Also, be sure to graduate before your Master’s exchange begins.
I received an acceptance package in the end of November which contained further
information about Chinese courses, campus map, and calendar for the semester, and other
stuffs which I cannot remember.
Aalto requires you to fill couple documents which will be sent to your email as well. You
have to sign the learning agreement and the scholarship document to finalize the process.
Health check & vaccines
After the initial application, there will be couple more things to do and consider. First of all, I
recommend you to take the health check in Finland as you can get it for free, I was too lazy
and ended up paying around 40€ for it. NCCU will organize a day when all the students can
go to Wanfang Hospital to get your health check. I received the results of the health check in
the end of the semester which seemed kind of weird.
I did not take any vaccination before going to Taipei as I have taken hepatitis A and B, and
Japanese encephalitis in 2013 when I had my first exchange in Tokyo. You should contact
YTHS’ health service to ask for more detailed information or simply google. But I would take
Hepatitis A and B at least as most of the vaccinations are already given to us during our
childhood which are recommended.
Visa
Taiwan is a visa-free country up to 90 day for EU citizens, and you are allowed to do re-enter
the country before the 90 days are up to renew your visa for another 90 days. Basically, you
do not need a visa if you are planning on traveling outside of Taiwan during the semester. I
applied for a visa at Taipei Representative Office in Helsinki and it costs around 70€. Before
going to the office, you have to fill and an application form on the internet. The website looks
extremely ugly and annoying but it is not an impossible task to fill the form.
You can check more detailed instructions for Taiwan visa here: http://www.roctaiwan.org/FI/ct.asp?xItem=54523&ctNode=5870&mp=182
Accommodation
There are three options for exchange students to choose from; newer International house
building, uphill dormitory or private housing. If you want privacy and let people to sleep at
your place, you should consider looking a private apartment. If you want to be in the center of
action and have a nice room or shared with one other, you should choose I-house. If you do
not care where you sleep and stay, choose cheap dormitory and spend your money otherwise.
I chose to apply for a single room in I-house and got the place.
I-house, is about 500 meters from the school campus and accommodates most of the
exchanges students. You have to apply for the I-house as it is quite popular. Usually only 4050% of the applicants will get a place there. You can apply either for a single room (13000
NTD) or a double room (8500 NTD). The building is quite new with 2 elevators but no
kitchen as most of the places around there. Rooms are comfortable and quiet but you cannot
bring guest between 23-07, so friends cannot stay over. Although, many people still stayed
over but the reception got stricter towards the end.
Dormitory, is located uphill from the main campus area and takes around 10min to get down
on foot. I never went there to see if the facilities are acceptable or not. But main point is that
you have to share your room with 2-4 people at least and showers are common. What attracts
people is the cheap price of the dormitory. Price should be less than 3000 NTD per month.
Private apartment, if you want to have your freedom and different location then around
NCCU which is located far from the city center, you should look for private markets. You can
find a place with your own shower and toilet from anywhere between 6000-20000NTD or
higher. It is easy to find an apartment if you have someone local to help you. www.591.tw is
the best website to look for apartments.
If I had to choose again, I would opt for private place as those can be way cheaper than
13 000 NTD single room in I-house and I could bring anyone there at any time. Ultimately, I
stayed 2 more months in Taipei after the semester and rented an apartment for 8500NTD per
month.
Flights
I booked my flights pretty late and took Helsinki-London-Hong Kong-Taipei with Cathay
Pacific. Tickets cost around 700€ if I remember correctly. You could also look for cheap
flight from Helsinki-Hong Kong and book separate flight to Taipei. Many possible options
and it is up to your own preferences and plans.
Buddy program
NCCU has huge buddy program and they will assign 2 people for you before the semester
starts. Their job is to help you to get adjusted and you can ask them anything about getting to
the location or whatever is in your mind. I only met my other buddy once but with the other
one I kept in touch. It is a good way to get to know to some people first and they can
introduce you around NCCU.
These are the things you have to know and figure out before going to Taiwan. There are
always good instruction and plenty of time to do everything. Do not worry, and remain calm!
Courses
As a master’s student, we only need to choose four courses and depending on your interests,
there are plenty of courses to choose from. There are couple different lists and website from
where you can pick your courses. Some of the courses are some kind of specific exchange
student courses and almost no Taiwanese are on these courses. Some other courses are offered
in English but mainly consist purely of local students. We can also take MBA courses which
can be interesting.
I did not take any Chinese courses as I have found out that I can learn better by myself and I
do not like those oral practices during lecture very much. If you want to apply for the Chinese
courses, you have to do it before the semester starts and you will receive email about it. It
costs some couple hundred euros but you will get the money back if you receive over 85/100
from the courses.
New Media Technology Civilization – East Asian and Western Perspectives
Digital Media and E-Marketing
The two above mentioned courses were almost identical and proved only very little challenge
for me. It was a traditional lecture style course and most of the time professor was talking
about different topics or views about digitalization and how new digital medias are affecting
our daily lives and businesses. The other course was supposed to be deeper and only for
master’s students but the professor used at least 50% of the same slides as in the other course.
For both of the courses, we had to give a group presentation on certain companies or internet
sites or platforms which have somehow revolutionized markets, behavior or whatever
impactful e.g., Alibaba, Tinder, Tripadvisor, Uber etc. or some other radical innovation in a
sense. Professor provided a list and we had to pick one, of course no two groups had the same
topic. The presentation were around 30min and we basically had to introduce the service,
market and some basic stuffs related to its competitors, business model etc.
For the final assignment, we were supposed to write 2-3 pages on anything that you found
interesting or relevant during the course. Basically, there were no limits at all, as long as, you
provided reasonable text and reflection on your topic.
Thus, both courses were almost the same and if you want more relaxed exchange life then I
suggest to take both but if you want to learn something specific you should choose something
more challenging and closed to your interests.
Study of Knowledge Creation and Educational Technology
This was the most serious course during the semester and had the largest workload to do. It
was kind of interesting for me personally as I worked in an educational tech. startup before
going to Taiwan. As the name suggests, knowledge creation and education technologies were
the two topics we looked into and how both should and can complement each other.
Although, the workload was heaviest among my courses, it still was quite easy and
comfortable course. We had to study one article every week and discuss about that during the
lectures. There were maybe 12 people in the course and it proved to be quite interesting as
majority were Taiwanese students. We had to do other assignments like present a website that
is related to the course topics and helps learning, and for the final assignment we had to write
as small proper article on some topic related to the course.
Global and Cross Cultural Marketing
This course was MBA level course but I think it was way easier than first year marketing
course in Aalto School of Business. This was still the most interesting course among my
chosen courses and it was a Sunday course in the beginning of the semester. The course only
lasted for 7 or 8 weeks. During the course we had to do one small reflection on a case and a
group work to present one new market for a product of your own choosing. We had to use
different criteria and sources to determine one possible new market. I was a nice exercise to
learn to utilize different demographic and more business field related sources to scan
thorough different countries and markets.
The professor was an American who has vast knowledge on Asian markets and business in
general and his teaching style was extremely nice including plenty of interesting examples to
illustrate all his points.
Life in Taipei
Your life in Taipei in general will be extremely pleasant. The only thing that bothered me is
the humidity of Taiwan and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyhow, everything works
well in Taipei, life is good and food is awesome.
Campus
The campus itself is not very beautiful but you can find everything around it. Numerous
restaurant and small food stands offering outstanding cuisines from sweet snacks to proper
Chinese-style dinners. You can also find grocery stores, 7/11 stores, stationaries and other
necessities one needs for living and studying.
Money
You should not have any problems with money if you are capable of living in Helsinki. Each
meal costs around 2e and if you want to eat some Chinese-style shared dinner, it will be
around 5e and the amount of food is enormous! Two euro meal will already get you fulfilled
but it might get slightly dull if you are only eating these cheap meals but it really is a personal
opinion, and I usually ate one buffet place around NCCU for around 3e per meal to get
enough vegetables and meat.
Only problem with food is that it tends to be extremely fatty and high on carbs. I like to go to
the gym and trying to maintain somewhat healthy lifestyle and thus I had to limit my meals
and mostly eat that one and same place. Otherwise, there are tons of good food for cheap price
when compared to Finland, where the only cheap thing is McDonalds cheese burgers.
Nightclubs entrance will cost something between 12 and 20 euros but almost always includes
open bar, thus drinks are free.
Taxi costs around 6 euros from 101 area to NCCU which I found extremely cheap and
convenient especially since metro and public transport stops after midnight.
Phone
You need to bring your passport to one of the mobile stores which sells phone contracts and
phones. There is nothing special about the phone contract in Taiwan, for except, internet
usage is measure with gigabytes and you cannot get similar contract as in Finland, where
internet is unlimited. This was annoying at first but after you get used to it, it is not a problem.
I usually bought 1.2GB per month and it is sufficient amount for basic usage including,
Facebook, emails, Google maps, news etc. Videos and other music services of course will
require way more and I suggest not using those. The price for 1.2GB was 180ntd which is
around 5.5 euros if I remember correctly.
Transport
Transportation around Taipei is easy but kind of annoying. To go to 101 area from NCCU is
the only enjoyable public ride you can get as it only requires one bus and around 20mins to
get there. Also, most of the nightclubs are located around 101 so that is a bonus. Other areas
in Taipei are not so convenient because you always need to change bus or metro couple times.
Each bus ride costs 12ntd and metro from 20 to 60ntd depending on how far you are going.
Anyways, you will get used to the system quickly.
Insurance
If you are prone to accidents, getting sick or in any way feel that something might happen, I
suggest you to get insurance before going to Taiwan. I forgot to ask for one and thus I did not
have any insurance during my stay in Taiwan. Luckily, nothing special happened and I did
not need insurance but you can never know what might happen and I highly recommend
getting insurance. For example, one guy had to undergo a surgery and that will get extremely
expensive quickly without insurance.
Things to do and travelling
There are plenty of things to do in Taiwan and in Taipei as you can expect. Taiwan has over
20 million people and Taipei over 2 million, so you can find kind of everything you want.
Things to do:
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Go to the free gyms at NCCU
Go to 101 area to have a blast
Eat Chinese food and try Taiwanese breakfast
Go hiking
KTV until you have no voice
Travel around Taiwan’s beautiful nature
Go abroad with Airasia or Vanilla Air for example
o Go to Tokyo!
Study a bit also
Meet new people
Enjoy life
Travelling in other parts of Asia is something most of the exchange students to and that is
something everyone should try. There is a new direct flight from Taipei to Bali and you
should definitely go there to see it once in your life. The Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Laos etc. are all great destinations if you want to explore Asia. Although, I prefer Japan and
Mainland China because they have proper infrastructure and you do not have to negotiate
about the price of things you want to buy – I will get exhausting.
What I learned
Ultimately, I discovered that I hate extremely humid weather and negotiating every price, like
in Bali for example. The most important lessons come from understanding different cultures
and meeting new people from all around the world.
Have a nice trip!