Alisa is from Troy, Michigan and participated in the Taiwan Academic Year, 2017-2018 and Zhuhai, China Summer, 2016.
大家好！我的名字是王新菡，我現在在高雄，台灣是個NSLIY國語的學生。我在台灣住了十個星期了，所以我想介紹一下我的在台灣的生活。
Hey all! My name is Alisa and I’m currently on the Mandarin AY program in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Since I just passed the 10-week mark, I thought I’d share what my daily schedule:
早上： 我一般七點二十分起來，七點四十五分跟我阿姨在樓下見面。我的阿姨會送我去學校，因為跟她辦公室順路。第一門課九點十分才開始，所以我在外面坐著，看書，等著我的NSLI-Y同學們到。
第一門課只是我們八個nsliy同學們。我們有三個老師，她們都是文藻的學生。我們會學新的語彙，也會聯繫我們的說和聽的能力。老師們也會幫我們解答我們的華語中心課的問題。
我們的第二門課是華語中心的國語課。我們八個都上不同的班，因為我們的級不一樣。因為文藻是學外語言的大學，所以文藻的華語中心很幫，就會有很多外國人來學中文。我的課裡有印尼，日本，越南，和美國的同學。每一天老師會用課本教我們新的生詞，我們也會聯繫說，聽，和寫。我很喜歡這門課因為我的老師們教的超好，我也很喜歡我的同學們。
Morning:
I wake up at 7:20, get ready, and meet my host mom downstairs at 7:45. I’m really lucky because my host mom drives me to school; on the way we chat and grab breakfast. Classes don’t start until 9:10, so I sit on a bench outside, reading and waiting for my fellow NSLI-Y classmates.
Our first class is just us 8 NSLI-Y students. We have 3 different teachers who come on different days of the week who are also students at the university. In this class, we learn new vocab, practice speaking and writing, and our teachers answer questions we may have about daily life or our regular Chinese classes.
Our second class is our Chinese class and it’s from 10:10-noon. We’re all split into different levels and different classes. Since Wenzao University specializes in foreign language, the CLC (Chinese Language Center), where we take language classes, attracts many foreigners. My class of 8 represents Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and the USA. Everyday we follow our textbook, which was written by a CLC teacher, and learn new vocab and grammar while also practicing reading, speaking and writing. I like this class because my teachers are amazing and it’s a very interesting classroom setting.
午餐： 中午下課就去吃午餐！學校附近有超多的好吃的。學校附近的街大部分的店都是餐廳，學校裡面也會賣便當，還有一個小吃的店。我最愛吃的是餃子和皮蛋瘦肉粥。
Lunch:
Then we have lunch! Near our school there are SO many amazing restaurants. My favorites are the dumpling place and the congee stand.
下午： 每一天不一樣。禮拜一我有華語中心的寫和唸的課，禮拜二下午沒有課，星期三有小老師，禮拜四是我最常的天，因為我我會上我兩個選修課，然後星期五一般是nsliy的活動。我們都有兩個選修課，這是個很特別的事因為我們能自己選兩門課，從計算機科學到古文學。這是一般大學的課，所以老師只會用中文講課！不必我從八點到五點都在學校，我非常喜歡星期四因為我的選修課教我很多我想會用的生詞，我也能認識很多台灣朋友。現在我給我的選修課在做一個空氣污染的報告和一個光寶這麼影響我的生活的文章。
Afternoon: My afternoons vary everyday. On Mondays I have a reading and writing class, on Tuesdays I don’t have afternoon classes, Wednesdays are tutoring, and Thursday is my longest day since both my electives are on Thursday. A unique part of my program is that we all choose 2 electives, ranging from intro to computer science to classical literature. These classes are regular university classes, so they’re taught entirely in Mandarin! Even though I’m at school from 8-5 on Thursday, I really enjoy my electives since they’re a phenomenal opportunity to pick up new vocab and converse with Taiwanese students. For my electives I’m working on a final project about air pollution around the globe and a midterm assignment on how news has affected my life.
晚上： 大部分的天我上完課就會回家。我一般六點半到家，七點跟我的接待家庭吃午餐。我的阿姨和叔叔有的時候會做飯，有的時候會買外帶，有的時候我們會出去吃。高雄的好吃的超多，有很多的韓國，日本，泰國的餐廳，好有一些西方的餐廳！我們吃飯的時候也會連天。吃完我會跟我的接待父母看電視或者去我的房間裡做作業。
Night:
On school nights I get home around 6:30 and my host family and I eat around 7. Sometimes my host parents cook, sometimes they get takeout and sometimes we eat out. Kaohsiung is a great place for foodies because there are many Korean, Japanese, Thai, and even Western restaurants. We’ll talk over dinner until 8:30 or so, and then I’ll either watch TV with them for a bit or I’ll go up to my room to do my homework.
星期五晚上我的nsliy班一般會出去玩。週末我很喜歡在外面逛或者在咖啡館裡寫作業。我的接待家庭也會帶我去看台灣！
On Friday nights my NSLI-Y group likes to hang out together. On weekends I love exploring Kaohsiung, doing homework in coffee shops and traveling around Taiwan with my host family!
光陰似箭！ Here’s to more amazing months in this beautiful city.