First Time Traveler

This trip was a great opportunity and experience for me. I've never traveled anywhere before this trip and I'm really proud of myself for going and trying new things. I tried a lot of food I normally wouldn't go near at home, I made new friends and I explored the two countries! This trip has taught me a lot about different cultures. Japan was so different from America. Everyone is taught to be the same and work comes first. Also it is extremely quiet there. No one talks on the trains or on the streets. We got yelled at by people for being too loud before on the trains. Taiwan seemed different from Japan. They seem more laid back. They also talk more and are more willing to speak to foreigners. This trip has also taught me more about myself. When I was in Japan I did not really experience culture shock, I still felt I wasn't that far from home. As soon as we got to Taiwan I instantly felt the cultural shock. I don't know what caused it, I think it was a mixture of t

The last night of the trip we stayed at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. It was so beautiful and full of culture. When we walked in to get checked in a couple who just got married were getting their wedding photos done. She looked so pretty and it was so fun to see. Later after checking in we went on the tunnel tour with Dr. Lin. We also got a tour of the hotel along with that which was interesting. I didn't realize  how big the hotel was. We got to go down one of the tunnels all the way to the end. After the tour Abby and I went down to the Shin Lin night market. I really liked this night market compared to the Keelung night market. It was more little shops instead of the mass produced items. I bought some other souvenirs and tried some food while there. It was way cooler than the other night market in my opinion. For dinner Abby and I found the First Lady Coffee shop outside the hotel. We ordered pizzas and ice-cream. The ice-cream was so good! Everyone at the café was really swe

We finally saw the beach! NSYSU is located right on the beach. We got to the university a little early so we got to go see the beach first before going in. The campus is right along the coast and it's pretty. The black sand was a little freaky though. After visiting the beach we took part of the tour of the campus until we got to a classroom. We watched 3 presentations of student's consulting projects. The class was full of students from other countries like France, Bulgaria and others. They all spoke English really well! Their presentations were professional and really in depth. They really knew what they were talking about. I was really impressed. After the university visit we visited a fish company called Ju Lin Trading Co. The company creates bioengineered fluorescent fish. This was interesting and they were pretty to look at. We got to see a few exhibits of different fluorescent fish and algae. The scientists just created the first medium sized bioengineered fluorescent fi

The day we visited KPMG was awesome. We had a cool surprise lunch and got to see Taipei 101. We started the day off by going to the Taiwan Stock Exchange which was also in Taipei 101. We watched a presentation on the exchange and how it compared to other exchanges in the market.  After visiting the stock exchange we got to shop around for bit   until lunch   time. Lunch was amazing! The CEO of KPMG couldn't make it to our meeting today so he had a lunch for us. We had lunch on the 85 floor in the Panorama restaurant which was very fancy. The view was amazing, my table was right next to the window so I got to look out as I ate. We also got to talk to an employee from KPMG that sat at our table. His name was Chuck and he spent a lot of his life in the United States before coming back to Taiwan. It was interesting to here about his life and how he got to where he is now. I also felt it was a lot easier talking to him about our experiences and culture shock. He spent a lot of t

The PwC visit was interesting. The start of the day was very fun. Dr. Lin's dad came and taught us how to do calligraphy in the morning. We each got a paper, brush and ink to try it ourselves. I don't think I'm very good at it haha, but it was fun! Then we took the train to PwC. We were welcomed and listened to presentations from employees there. Frank was the main presenter and he was really nice and answered all of our questions. They really like working for PwC and shares their  experiences with us. They also served us lunch which was so good especially the tomato soup. After the PwC visit we took a bus ride to the O'Right company. I was looking forward to this because I really believe in sustainability and bettering the earth. We watched a presentation on the company and what they do and then we went on a tour of the building. The company seems fun to work for and it's a really interesting method for shampoo and other products. We also got to shop arou

Visiting Soochow University was fun. I like talking to the students that attend the school and getting to talk about Taiwan. During our visit we got to see 3 presentations on various topics. I was so impressed with their English skills, I have so much respect for the students that get up in front of us and speak in another language. I would be so nervous! We also got to talk to the students and get to know them a little. I talked to Toni and Hedy at my table, Toni spoke English pretty well and was able to understand us better than Hedy. It was cool discussing Taiwan and the night markets with them, and they told us what we should and shouldn't eat. After the visit we had one of the best lunches ever! We had a group lunch at the Tokiya restaurant and it was awesome. I really liked that you had options to pick from, it was delicious and one of the best meals of the trip. It was all presented beautifully and tasted awesome. After lunch we went to the National Palace Museum

Our first full day in Taiwan was so fun! We did a lot of tourist things and visited a lot of beautiful places, it was one of my favorite days so far. We had perfect sunny weather! Our tour guide Jun is really cool, he tells us a lot of information about each place we visit. First we traveled to the mountains. We took the scenic route and drove through all the windy roads it was kind of scary to look over the edge when we were getting up the mountain haha. After that we drove to the gold museum. It was really cool and pretty there. There was a lot of forest surrounding the walkways and it had such pretty views. For lunch we went to a restaurant with the best view! The food was delicious, I got the Kung Pow chicken and it was so good. The best part of the restaurant was the view looking down over the water and hills. After lunch we got to go shopping which is always fun for me. I got to buy some cute souvenirs and walk around and see the little shops and food. After shopping, we go

The KPMG visit was awesome! Today was a really fun day. In the morning we had our KPMG visit in Tokyo. This is one of the things I was looking forward to the most, and it was great. I was very surprised by how awesome there English was. I really like the presentation all together, especially the first two guys that acted out the business card etiquette. They were funny. The tour around the office was cool because we got to talk different partners, as well as compare the office to the KPMG in Pittsburgh. It was pretty similar surprisingly. I really liked when we got to socialize and talk to the two staff members during lunch. It was so interesting to hear about their everyday life as well as their global experiences. I feel that they were so much more adventurous than me. Risa Sawada and Kenta Nagahama were the two staff members at our table and they were so friendly. Risa said she studied in Los Angeles and in Australia. Kenta said he visited Oregon State University. I thought that

Adventuring around Tokyo has been so exciting. As a group we are traveling throughout the city by train. This can get very hectic and crazy at times especially during rush hour, but Dr. Peng and Dr. Lin get us where we need to go! Wednesday was another very busy day in Japan. We visited IFRS Asia-Oceania in the morning. It was interesting to learn more about global IFRS, and how it works. It was also cool to listen about taxonomy and XBRL because I learned that in AIS with Dr. Peng. For lunch we were on our own in Yokohama. A few other students and I found a cute cookie shop that also served food. My lunch was delicious. I absolutely hate sandwiches but I got a BLT(I was not feeling very adventurous for lunch haha) and it was honestly amazing. After lunch we met the same adorable tour guide from the day before. He was helping us get to the Nissan plant. Touring the Nissan plant was really cool. We learned a lot of history behind the engines, and how they create the engines at t

I survived my first flight....well two flights actually! We flew from Pittsburgh to Chicago and then from Chicago to Japan. The first flight was a breeze. The whole process was pretty easy at the airport since it was so early. I had never even been to the airport so I had no idea what to do for anything. The whole flight took about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and the time passed quickly. I just listened to music and tried to relax. After we got to Chicago we had about a 3 hour layover so we ate breakfast and walked around the airport. Then we got on the 2nd plane ready for Japan. The second flight was terrible. I can't believe I honestly survived. 13 hours is way too long for me haha. I could not sleep at all so I got very bored. I watched a lot of movies like Moana, Sing, Passengers,, Toy Story 3 as well as some tv show episodes. I was so uncomfortable and long. I didn't really like the food they served, but I at least tried it. I wasn't too hungry anyway so I didn't re

Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Japan and Taiwan! I'm so nervous, but also really excited. On Friday we had our last orientation before we leave. We got all the final details, itinerary, and met everyone that is going. Dr. Peng and Lin put together a manual of everything we need to know to prepare us for the trip. It is really detailed and helpful, and made me even more excited to experience the two countries. We also played icebreakers to become more comfortable with each other since there are so many of us going. After ice-breakers we enjoyed a taco bar, it was delicious! While we ate our tacos we then watched a presentation on everything we needed to know for our trip. Dr. Peng and Lin went over our day to day schedules and answered our last minute questions. The party was fun and helpful. I'm glad we had it and am so excited for the trip. I leave for the airport in about 5 hours, so hopefully I will not be too nervous to sleep!