Melanie: the girl searches for her ideal art

Written by Teresa Chen


Being an international exchange student, Melanie encounters several difficulties at the first two to three months. However, she gets through it very quickly. Studying art here, Melanie has to have the field trip quite often. Though it is difficult for her to go everywhere without the motorcycle, Taipei’s MRT and classmates’ assistance help her a lot. Also, through those field trips, she gets to know Taiwanese’s friendliness and how to get along with the classmates. Through there are difficulties, there are still a lot of fun. Melanie encourages me to be an exchange student if I get the chance because she says that she has the most fascinating experience here and would never forget it throughout her life.


The first problem she has is the application and visa. The procedure of the application is quite complicated and it requires the recommendation from the teacher and the financial statement form the bank. For Melanie, it is her first time to go abroad on her own, so her parents ask her to report every detail and make sure the housing, school and date of flight is confirmed before her departure. Also, the visa gives her a big trouble. Her parents are so busy at her day of applying for visa, so she has to go alone. However, since it is her first time abroad by herself, she is so careless that she forgets to bring the photo and her ID. As the result, she spends another day applying for visa.


After she comes to Taiwan, she is extremely happy and exciting at first, but, for about a week, she find it difficult to communicate with others especially Taiwanese. Some Taiwanese are afraid of speaking English because it isn’t their native tongue and they are afraid of making mistakes. Therefore, if Melanie wants to ask some Taiwanese for information, they would just escape. After the language problem being solved, she finds the food in Taiwan isn’t right to her appetite. She has the diarrhea after having food in the night market. The diet habit in Taiwan is quite different from that of the States. Melanie has a hard time getting along with it, but she is quite used to it now. The biggest hardship she has is the weather. Taipei’s weather is humid and hot and it is chilly cold in the winter, which makes her, the girl from California, catch a serious cold at the first winter here.


Though she goes through several difficulties, the fun she has in Taiwan helps her forget all of the hardship. Last summer, she went to the east part of Taiwan and found the natural scene there is really fantastic. Taipei, since it is the capital city of Taiwan, is over-developed and full of busy people. People walk very fast and don’t have time to rest and enjoy their leisure time. The city is full buildings and there isn’t anything that’s totally natural at all. Through her trip to the eastern Taiwan, she knows another aspect of Taiwan. Moreover, Taiwan is a small island, so you can go anywhere within a day. You can go there whatever time you want. Though she is intimidated by Taiwanese’s shunning from her question at first, she gets to know Taiwanese’s friendliness after she spends some time with them. Everybody is very nice and invites her to their house to have supper and party with them. As I mention before that she has a diarrhea after visiting the night market. However, she also finds her favorite delicacy, stinky tofu, there. She is amazed at its smell at first, but after she tastes it, she can’t help addicting to it.


She still loves Taiwan notwithstanding that the difficulties outnumber the fun. After all, it is the precious experience in her life that she would never forget. At last, she tells me that if she gets a chance to be the exchange student next year, she would definitely do it.