On day 5 of our trip we got to interact with local Taiwanese students after going to the Taipei National University of the Arts, which was located in a hilly area in Beitou District. Being that I do art myself I really enjoyed our time at the school, and it was really amazing seeing all the different artwork that the students there had created. There was a ton of variation in media and art style, and it was pretty clear that the students had a lot of space to explore different ways of making art. The campus itself was also gorgeous and had a fantastic view of Taipei and the mountains – Bucknell is pretty but I was definitely jealous of how TNUA looked. Afterwards we visited a jade market in Jianguo, which I admittedly wasn’t the biggest fan of as it was pretty overwhelming to walk around and I couldn’t really find anything other than jewelry and accessories. I left pretty early to go to a market in Yongkang, which I enjoyed walking around. I still definitely prefer Ximen night market though – it feels much more lively and I like a lot of the shops and vendors there more. I got a little lost finding my way back as I had taken the subway by myself, but oriented myself pretty quickly and got a much better sense for how Taipei’s subway system works, which is definitely a good skill to have as I continue exploring the city.
