 |
PHOTO:
Director General Louis M. Huang (front center), Director Sophie Chou (R1) and Consular
officer Wei-ling Chen of TECO in Houston (L1) pose for a photo with scholarship
recipients
|
For
the Taiwan Ministry of Education scholarship candidates, it has been a very
exciting ride starting from the moment they received notification of their
award. Their excitement escalated as they counted down the days until their
moving abroad. An orientation was arranged by the Education Division of the Taipei
Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Houston to provide awardees with the
information on scholarship rules, visa application requirements as well as what
life may be like for foreign students in Taiwan. In addition, the orientation
gave attendees an opportunity to meet with their peers in this government
funded program before their study abroad journey takes off.
The
orientation took place on June 15, 2016 at TECO in Houston. This year, a total
of 26 candidates were selected by the Education Division of TECO in Houston for
the Taiwan Scholarship and Huayu Enrichment Scholarship. Ten recipients made
their way to the orientation while the rest were either out of the country or
living outside of the state of Texas. As the saying goes, “Everything’s bigger
in Texas,” and that held true for a few of the recipients like Andrew, Saba and
Nathanial who, despite living within Texas, had to leave their houses early in
the morning that day so they could make it to Houston in the afternoon to
attend this two-hour meeting. To make the event worth the trip, the Education
Division worked extra hard to make sure every little detail was well-arranged
without second thought.
Director
of the Education Division Ms. Sophie Chou started her welcome remarks with huge
congratulations to the scholarship recipients. She pointed out that Taiwan has earned
its reputation as the second safest country in the world in recent years. To
take advantage of that, foreign students should not be afraid of stepping out
of their classrooms, meeting local people and immersing themselves in the local
language and culture during their stay in Taiwan. Director General Louis M.
Huang was invited to give a few words and then presented each student with a souvenir
from the Taiwanese government.
Three
study-in-Taiwan alumni were present to provide attendees with luggage packing
tips and preparation suggestions for living in Taiwan. They passionately shared
their joyful, eye-opening and unforgettable Taiwan experience at the meeting as
well. On top of that, they challenged the attendees to try out a “famous” local
delicacy, stinky tofu, when they go to the night-markets in Taiwan. Throughout
the meeting, the room was filled with laughter while everybody’s writing pad
was being filled with a handful of information that will be useful and
practical for their upcoming study in Taiwan. By the end of the session, attendees
had established initial friendships with one another, and
by trading contact information with each other, they’ve already started
planning for their first reunion in Taiwan.
