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Saturday, May 31st, 2025

Taiwan Day twelve (5/31)

Today (5/31) started out with class where we learned a little more about Buddhism. I thought this lecture was informative and something that we had done earlier because I gained such a deeper understanding for the religion. It was interesting and eye opening to learn about the wheels and the different realms. It is always interesting to me to see how different religions are practiced or what their main roots are because I didn’t grow up in a religious background. Gaining an understanding for what people believe in, helps me to gain a more forgiving outlook. Once we finished class […]

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Saturday, May 31st, 2025

Day 8

We left Taichung today, taking another bullet train to go further south into Zuoying. As I spend more time here in Taiwan, I learn more and more. Even though I am so far away from home, I am learning that Taiwan is not abnormal in comparison to the US. Yes, this place is different and has its own culture, but it is not so different that I feel out of place here. I felt this way when we visited an art museum and saw many local people going about their day-to-day lives, enjoying the museum just as I was. A […]

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Saturday, May 31st, 2025

Day 4, Taipei – GIGABYTE Technology and COMPUTEX

Today we had a late start to our day. Most of my peers used the free time to explore Taipei but I was still feeling pretty jet lagged so I used the time to sleep in a bit. I did, however, explore the convenience stores to look for breakfast. I got a salmon roe onigiri, two tea eggs, and a coffee. Very yummy! In the afternoon, we got on the coach bus and headed to COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the largest computer and technology expos in the world. Honestly, I’m not big on tech and I would never go out […]

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Saturday, May 31st, 2025

Day 3, Taipei – Longshan Temple, Xingtian Temple, and the National Palace Museum

Today we visited our first couple of temples. In the previous days we’ve walked past a couple of them but we hadn’t gotten a chance to go inside one just yet. From the second we stepped off of the tour bus at Longshan Temple I was mesmerized. The details in the architecture from the gates, to the pillars, to the rooftops were intricate and reflected the rich culture and history of Taiwan. I couldn’t understand all the rituals—lighting incense, bowing, praying—but I felt the significance of them. Despite the bustling of tourists, there was this sense of quiet respect that […]

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Saturday, May 31st, 2025

Day 10 in Taiwan

We started today off with yet another hotel breakfast followed by a starbucks trip and then packed up all of our belongings to head to Kaohsiung. We rode on the high speed rail once again, however it hasn’t moved at full speed yet. When we go back to Taipei, we will be traveling at close to 180 mph!! After getting off the high speed rail, we had lunch basically at the station. I got dumplings and shrimp fried rice.  Afterwards, we went to the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Kyla and I started on the top floor working our way down […]

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Friday, May 30th, 2025

Pivoting with the Times: Lessons from Hong Jaan Printing Co. – Day 7 {5/26}

Today we visited Hong Jaan Printing Co., where we were graciously hosted and presented with a very informational presentation about the company, the printing industry, as well as the printing process. As a company that started out during a time when there was no internet and everything needed to be printed, the printing company did really well, especially within the textbook and book market. Since textbooks were needed for classes, the demand for printed textbooks was very high, often reaching tens of thousands of copies per year. The same could be said with printed books. However, times change, and as […]

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