Our master's students Nikolaus Hufnagl and Georg Daxauer are doing their double degree in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We caught up with them to see what it's like to be an exchange student in Taiwan.
You’ve been to Taiwan now for a couple of months. Take us through a day in the life of Niko and Georg in Kaohsiung.
A typical day in Taiwan starts with breakfast on our 16th-floor balcony overlooking the skyline of Kaohsiung. After breakfast, we take our scooters to the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, which takes about 30 minutes. After our morning classes, we have lunch at the university cafeteria and head back to our afternoon classes. In the evening, we like to stroll through the Ruifeng night market next door and try some new delicacies.
As an exchange student you have to study, but you also have a lot of free time. How do you spend your free time?
In our free time, we like to go to the local beach in Kaohsiung (Cijin Beach), swim in the sea and watch the waves and the sunset. At night, we sometimes go to local bars and play some games like darts. Furthermore, Kaohsiung has some big parks that are easily accessible and a good alternative if you are looking for some nature in the summer. Sometimes we also go hiking on a small mountain near the beach, called Monkey Mountain. It is always interesting to see wild animals there. At the moment, we are very busy writing our master's thesis, which takes up a lot of our free time.
Taiwan is such an interesting country, is there something that was surprising to you?
We are fascinated by how selfless, incredibly kind, and accommodating the Taiwanese people are. They have a unique and hospitable culture that we have not experienced anywhere else.
Finding a place to live as an exchange student is always a bit tricky. What is your experience with the Taiwanese housing market and where did you find your accommodation?
We were able to find our apartment by browsing Taiwanese housing websites. Fortunately, a Taiwanese friend of ours helped us by going with us to view the apartments. She translated English into Chinese, which was a great help. In the end, we met a good real estate agent who spoke English well, and we decided to rent an apartment that he showed us.
Which advice would you give to other students who are considering a double degree?
Taiwan is a unique and amazing country that we can only advise you to go to. Besides the academic knowledge, you can learn a lot from the Taiwanese culture and you have the chance to easily go to other interesting countries like Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, Philippines and Japan. If you have the time, we can only recommend you to take this amazing experience!
We'd like to thank Niko and Georg for sharing their experience in Taiwan and look forward to seeing them back at MCI soon.
Impressions from Kaohsiung © Nikolaus Hufnagl & Georg Daxauer
