Leland BlanchardProvider: Project GOKaohsiung, Taiwan2024 Summer My time in Taiwan has opened my eyes to the privileges we have as Americans. Unlike Taiwan and the Taiwanese people, we don’t live under the constant threat of invasion and the overturning of our way of life. We aren’t reliant upon foreign nations for the preservation of our own security.  The Taiwanese love America, Americans, and American culture — more than certain Americans do. Me and my tutors, along with my classmate Will, at dinner. Typically, we all go to lunch or dinner together twice a week. Being American has its perks: people […]

Leland BlanchardProvider: Project GOKaohsiung, Taiwan2024 Summer   Much of my time studying abroad is spent studying. Class, (mandatory) tutoring, and homework takes up about 7 hours of my day – all involving some aspect of Mandarin Chinese. Typically, each day’s work involves learning 50-100 new vocabulary terms and various grammatical patterns. The course itself emphasizes spoken Mandarin – so most of our in-class work is conversations between classmates. Even though we’re given a lot of work, my classmates and I still manage to find time for fun. A picture of one of our lessons – we had to role play […]

Leland BlanchardProvider: Project GOKaohsiung, Taiwan2024 Summer Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the university administering my study abroad program, managed to find a hotel that was equally convenient to our host university, National Kaohsiung Normal University, and Kaohsiung’s MRT/subway system. In total, the walking commute is about half a mile – which can take up to 30 minutes due to the number of crosswalks and curving paths. Leland and one of his tutors, Selena. His program requires daily 30-minute tutoring sessions with graduate students from National Kaohsiung Normal University’s Center for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. During these sessions, they only communicate […]