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Final Blog

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Blog 6~ Final Blog Days 18-21 9/9 Old City Tour, Night Walk On Day 18, we had one of our final workshops and group tours in Tainan. In between the shops on the main street, we entered a small, thin alleyway leading into another entrance. I loved how in our tours there were lots of secret alleyways the guide led us to. We also received bookmarks with a quote from her, mine was, “The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lied.” Another memorable experience of this day was getting 16,000+ steps in. From the old Tainan city, we walked to snail alley, to an izakaya, to a stationary store, and all the way back to the Academy hotel. I’m really going to miss the night walks in Taiwan. Snacks 9/10 Tea Culture Experience On Day 19, we headed on a bus for a tea culture experience at 18 Day Break Tea House. I think this was the perfect activity as we near the end of our program...
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Blog 5 09082026

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NCKU Campus Turtles Days 14-17  9/5 On September 5, we had a second design workshop on circular design, brainstormed on our initial design concepts, then we had an indigo dye workshop. The presenter gave us an overview and significance of traditional indigo dying in Taiwanese culture. Indigo dyeing symbolizes the resistance of the Hakka community. In the past, blue was also once a status symbol of wealth because of how rare blue pigment is in nature, making it expensive. Blue in nature can either be from real pigment or from structures scattering light waves. I also learned that blue dye was originally used in jeans instead of any other color because it shows minimal stains, which is ideal for physical labor work. Our Tie Dye The tie dye workshop is, I think, by far, one of my favorite activities in this program. I had a lot of fun learning about the dye’s history, and dying my own cloth. The workshop included folding the cloth to create the design we wanted, doing 3 rounds of dipp...
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Blog 4 09042026

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Days 11-13 9/2 This morning we left Taichung early in the morning to head to our final destination of the study abroad program, Tainan. I slept pretty late the night before, so I slept for half of the bus ride. I woke up and we were at a rest area. came across a "wudhu" station   We arrived at Academy Hotel, and it was near NCKU, our next partner campus. It was cool seeing how this hotel has a theme of tea flavored soaps; tea flavored shampoo, hand soap, and body wash. On this day, we had an introduction to our NCKU partners and split into groups to tour the campus. The campus is beautiful and I really loved touring their industrial design studio. At NTU, we didn’t spend too much time on the main campus, and seeing the campus life. So, I was excited to spend some time at the NCKU campus. During the introduction, we also learned a lot about the students’ favorite spots on campus and food + activities in Tainan. I really enjoyed listening to their introduction presentations and...
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Blog 3 09012026

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Days 8-10 8/30 Today is day 10 of the program, and we are in Taichung. We had our final day in Taipei on the 30th.      On August 30th, it was our free time day. I visited a cat cafe called Cat Cafe Mocha, with Alexa, Maya and Ai. The cat cafe was surprisingly located inside a mall, and it was very crowded inside the room. I am also surprised by how common it is to find animal cafes here in Taiwan, as there are not too many in the US. Even by NTU, there were many nearby, and I do wish I had more time to visit them. Later that night, we explored the shopping mall near Taipei 101, and we had dinner at Din Tai Fung, where we met some of our NTU partners for the last time. Cat Sleeping My New Luck Keychain 8/31      On August 31st, we traveled from Taipei to Taichung by bus for 2 hours. Our first stop at Taichung was Chen’s Wood. At the wood workshop, we are able to carve two different kinds of wood and keep the shavings. The two woods each had a different sc...
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Blog 2 08292026

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 Blog 2 08.29.2026      days 4-7       Today is day 07 of the program, and this morning we concluded our NTU & UW workshop project presentation. Our time in Taipei and at NTU is coming to an end, and a full week in Taiwan has almost already passed by. After day 4 of the program, the days started to go by really fast; filled with more field trips and design workshops as the deadline for the group project was coming up soon.      On day 04, we went on an hour-long bus ride to Pinglin District to visit the Tea museum, farms, and small town. There were many green landscapes, some cats, and lots of tea everywhere: tea-flavored food, tea shaped lights, tea everything. Here, we also had a short hike leading us to an overlook over the tea gardens. The weather this day was super hot and the sun was outtt, which was very different from my first few days here in Taiwan when it was pouring rain. I was happy to try tea flavored ice cream her...
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Blog 1: 8.25.26

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Blog One Today is August 25, 2026, currently, day three of the Taiwan in Design Program. So far, we have had a reception dinner, met our NTU student partners, started a design project and already had field visits to multiple places including Dot Design, DaDaoChen, TDRI, and Trash Kitchen .  The program officially began on the 23rd with a reception dinner, and we were introduced to different Taiwanese cuisines at a restaurant by our hotel. I also didn’t expect our hotel to be so close to a busy street with many nearby shops to explore. The city lights look very pretty at night, especially with the rain too. It has been my favorite to take pictures of.  Reception Dinner August 24, 2026 On Day 2 of the program, we visited Dot Design and DaDaoChen. Then later that night, my classmates and I explored a night market and had dinner inside a mall. So far, this day has been my most memorable experience, especially visiting DaDaoChen.  Through visiting DaDaoChen I have learned the ...
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