印度理工學院馬德拉斯分校(Indian Institute of Technology- Madras)學生Ashwin S. Nair 8月9日致函駐清奈辦事處，分享他訪問臺灣的寶貴經驗。來函如下：

My experience in Taiwan

I was pursuing the course 'Introduction to Chinese Language' in my third semester in Indian Institute in Technology Madras under Ms Kaiyun Peng. I came to know about this International Honor's Program held by Taipei Medical University (TMU), Taipei, Taiwan which was a Two week program in Biomedical Big data analytics for Indian students.

The program was held from 11th December to 22nd December 2017. I registered for the program online and got selected. There were a total of four of us from my university. Me and my batch-mate, Atharva traveled together in Thai airways via Thailand. We arrived a day before the start of the program. TMU had arranged for our pickup from the Airport. We also met a few of the other students who would be taking part in the program.

On the way to our stay, I saw a lot of Chinese characters and tried to recollect the characters I learned in class. Even though I had taken a course in Chinese, the language proficiency was not a requirement. The other students had never studied Chinese before.

Our stay was a hotel named Formosa 101 which was located inside the city of Taipei. After we checked into the hotel, we got our room which was in the 11th floor. The room had four bunk beds to be shared by 8 people. We could get a beatiful view of the once tallest building in the world, 'Taipei 101'. We soon met the other roommates who were all from Chennai. The hotel was really nice. There was a common room with a kitchen facility in the 5th floor where we would get complimentary breakfast.

After we settled in, went went out to grab some dinner. The weather was really good. We went around the market place trying to find a good place to eat for a reasonable price. We finally found a place. But the owner did not know English. But she tried her very best to help us out and even resorted to sign language. The attitude of the people here to us foreigners where really nice. Even if they don't understand what we're saying, they try our best to help us out.

The next day, all of us went to the university. We were given ID cards. We had an introductory orientation session on what all we'll be doing in the upcoming two weeks. All of us introduced ourselves and we got to know each other. There were a total of 25 of us. We were taken around the campus which was beautiful. We met a few Indian students and they told us about the life there. The scheduled classes started that afternoon after a heavy lunch in a restaurant. Along with the Main academic program, we even had a Chinese course.

The schedule was really well set. Along with the academic slots, we also had field trips and cultural tours. In the night time we would take a stroll in the city, exploring new places, it was really fun. The following day, we were taken to the Maokong gondola and the Taipei zoo where we saw a lot of animals including the giant Panda. The lectures were very informative and I learned a lot about the work and research that is done in the university. The night times were really fun. We would buy accessories from the shop and cook on our own. One of our mates knew how to cook really well and made delicious food.

The weekends were off. On Saturday, a few of us organized a trip to Xinbeitou hotsprings. In was at the base of a beautiful line of mountains. We saw a few hot springs and also a place called a thermal valley where a lot of steam was being generated as a result of geothermal energy. By the night time, we went to the Tamsui river, which was really beautiful. We took a long walk along the bank of the river.  There were shops and pubs in the sides where songs were being sung. This was one of those experiences which one would remember forever

On Sunday, the four of us from IIT traveled to Hsinchu which was another district south of Taipei to meet our Kaiyun Lao Shi(which means teacher in Chinese). We took a local train from Taipei main station to reach there. We met her in the station along with a few of her previous students. She took us around the city. The climate was really special. There was a lot of wind and it was drizzling making it really cold. We went to a historical museum in the afternoon and then visited the 'National Chiao Tung University' in the evening. We met a few Indian students studying there and talked a lot about the education. It was late night by the time the day was over. It was late night by the time the day was over. It was an amazing day and had so much fun.

In the next week, as a part of the program, we were taken to a traditional bakery where we were taught how to make peanut pastry. In the afternoon, we went to the National palace museum where we saw artifacts of historical significance. We also visited a traditional Chinese temple and were taught about the religious practices of people. It was a really informative day.

As the program was coming to an end, we went for shopping in the night market to get souvenirs and other nice stuff. We also visited 'Taipei 101' up close. The classes also came to an end and we were given certificates. We discussed the prospects future research in Taiwan and got the contact details of the professors. We took a lot of pictures. On the eve of the departure, all of us visited the Elephant mountains, from where you could get a beautiful view of the Taipei 101.

We all could agree that this period of two weeks were one of the best experiences one could have in their life. Looking back at everything we did and learned, we felt really sad that it was coming to an end. There were so many things we did. We stuied, cooked, shopped, traveled and had a lot of fun. I made a lot of friends and enjoyed every moment. Taiwan was definitely such an amazing place. It was one of the best places I've ever been to. I want to thank TMU and Kaiyun Lao Shi for giving me this wonderful opportunity