NAHSS: My experience
Pip in Taipei
Getting some fresh air in Taipei
By Pip Stam | Delegate NAHSS 2017, Taipei
Imagine
People often asked me what we exactly did in Asia, and I still find the answer to this question difficult. After all, we did so many, diverse and really fun things!
You live in Taipei for five weeks with two project groups (a group of sixteen students). As a small group, you quickly become a "little family," with whom you do all sorts of things. Having breakfast together every morning, and going to a different city in beautiful Taiwan almost every weekend. One weekend you rent scooters, racing through the mountains of Taroko National Park. The next weekend you travel on to the city of Kaohsiung, at the very south of the island, where you visit the largest Buddha in the world.
National Chengchi University
From Monday to Wednesday, you will attend classes at National Chengchi University (NCU), which will give you a better insight into Taiwanese culture and its people. There is a clear hierarchy between teacher and student, but nevertheless, the teachers make every effort to engage in a discussion with you. After all, how often does it happen that they have sixteen Dutch students in their class? In the History of Taiwan course, Professor Mike Lan talks at length about the first colonization of Taiwan by the Dutch East India Company. So you decide to visit that first settlement, Fort Zeelandia, next weekend after all. Every Monday evening you and your seven project mates reserve the study room or kitchen. Here you spend hours brainstorming about the open-talent economy, a new model for the labor structure, as commissioned by Unilever Global. Because the open-talent economy is still entirely in its infancy, there is fairly little to be found about it, so you have to mostly draft and present your own recommendations. Because you work with an interdisciplinary group, everyone has their own plan of action and it is very instructive to see everyone's strongest side emerge. In the end, it is up to you to compile all these new ideas into a one-pager, which will be forwarded to the Senior HR Manager of Unilever Global, among others..
A fantastic experience
To end each day nicely, you have the choice of the most delicious food. Taiwanese cuisine has many influences: Chinese, Japanese, Western, etc. For little money you can eat elaborate sushi, the most delicious dumplings (boiled or fried?), rice table, and Thai food, you name it. And if you're really lucky, the sweet-sour chicken man is in the kitchen, and you can enjoy the very best sweet-sour chicken you'll ever eat.
All in all: definitely sign up for the best experience of your life! If you have any questions, you can always pip_stam@hotmail.com.
