Today we visited the Taiwan Art school and met with Daniel, a current theater student, and David, a recent graduate. We started the day with a tour, where we saw the different buildings for each field of study. We then went into two different art museums on campus. The first was a student art gallery, where there were two stories of student’s abstract art on display. The second was another museum that was more focused on traditional looking paintings. What I found really interesting about both of the museums was that none of the artwork was behind glass or roped off from visitors. This is drastically different from the U.S., where everything is guarded from visitors out of fear they would steal or damage the items and they would lose their value.
Another shocking aspect of today is that when we rode the MRT, we used umbrellas that the MRT loans at no cost. his system, though simple, was astonishing to me. This system was shocking to me because this type of unmonitored public service is almost nonexistent. It made me realize how deeply capitalistic the U.S. is, where even the smallest services are turned into profitable business ventures.
These two experiences in both the museum and MRT made me consider the differences and culture, particularly the trust, openness, and mutual respect in many Taiwanese compared with more the protected and individualistic mindset of Americans.
