【Article by College of Commerce】
On February 9th, 97 students from 19 countries of NCCUC’s exchange student joined the orientation and cultural tour in Yilan County hosted by the Office of International Programs. The one-day tour in Eastern Taiwan allows exchange students to indulge in Taiwanese cuisine, interact with local students and gain a better understanding of the Taiwanese culture.

To start the day, International Programs Ambassadors (IPAs) prepared a series of interesting ice-breaking activities for exchange student to experience different aspects of Taiwanese culture. Took the egg sampling section for example, after trying iron egg, century egg, tea egg and hot spring egg respectively, volunteers from France had a closer look at the charm of Taiwanese cuisine by their own senses of taste. During the orientation, the ambassadors not only introduced NCCU in details from administration system to survival guide, but also guided the exchange students around campus, giving them a clearer picture of their future everyday life.

The first stop of in Eastern Taiwan trip was to enjoy authentic cuisine at Shi Yuan Restaurant(石園古早味餐廳). Although some of the exchange students were too afraid to give the five spice powder squid (白灼五味小卷) a try because of the look, Amadis from Bocconi University shared that the specific cuisine was his favorite. Speaking of the most memorable cuisine, Kimrun from Aston Business School voted for Gao Jha (糕渣), the jelly texture, the blend of chicken soup and shrimp amazed her and reminded her of the popular hot dish from her home town, fish and chips. Moreover, she mentioned that it was rare to see the whole chicken with head in European cuisine, which made the chicken with fermented bean curd (豆腐乳雞) a very interesting dish. However, you would never know if you didn’t give it a try, the sweet and salty flavor amazed her so much.

In order to make the exchange students feel more involved, the considerate Office of International Programs (OIP) also arranged a bamboo rice DIY at Ama Zhangmei Farm. (張美阿嬤農場) During the hands-on process, they got to know more about Asian ingredients like dried mushrooms and dried shrimp while learning the aboriginal cooking method. Later on, was the highly expected animal feeding session, the exchange students were all thrilled to take selfies with the fluffy sheep and capybaras in person.

As a must-visit tourist attraction in Yilan County, Luodong Night Market conquered Monica from Prague University with the variety of cuisines that it could offer, especially the bubble milk tea with brown sugar. She explained that there are actually many Taiwanese restaurants in her home country, Czech Republic, however, the price is much more expensive than that in Taiwan. As a consequence, the night market of cheap and tasty snacks left her an impressive memory.

Caroline Wu (吳冠葶) the ambassador from Department of Risk Management and Insurance mentioned that the tour trip not only aimed to create a memorable time for exchange students’ first adventure in Taiwan, but also wanted to provide them an opportunity to get along and feel at home by knowing each other before the semester get started. As a result, they could fit in well in Taiwan and enjoy the rest of the semester in NCCUC.

Jessika from Aalto University who used to be a vegetarian out of love for animals also shared that she is not going to go veg in the rest of her exchange duration for fear of missing any must-eat. After all, who can resist this exotic country with a verity of amazing cuisine and culture!