Spring 2022 – Fall 2022 Capstone Insights from Stella Jones

Arrival/Quarantine:

After months and months of preparing my Capstone pre-departure tasks/necessary travel documents, I officially departed for Taiwan on February 19th. The Spring 2022 Capstone cohort was required to layover at the San Francisco International Airport on February 20th and collectively board the exact same departing flight from San Francisco to Taiwan. Since I was the only student in my cohort flying from Hawaii and outside the continental U.S, I left one day earlier than most students and was actually the first student to arrive at the San Francisco airport. After a few hours of waiting for my fellow classmates to arrive, all 12 students successfully boarded the flight from San Francisco to Taiwan. We landed safely at the Taoyuan International Airport on February 21st.

Once we landed in Taiwan, we each had to go through various steps in order to exit the airport. This included receiving a PCR test upon arrival, the checking/verification of important documents, purchasing SIM cards for our phones, going through a security system to ensure that nobody was carrying banned or illegal goods, and finally, picking up our luggages at the baggage claim. Although this was not a swift process, it was very organized and had clear steps, with airport personnel guiding us through every step/procedure.

As soon as we arrived and checked in at our first quarantine hotel (Tango Hotel Linsen), we were not allowed to step outside of the hotel room for the following 2 weeks (unless we were picking up food placed on the table outside or placing trash bags outside of our room). The hotel room was incredibly nice/comfortable and the hotel staff was very helpful and answered any questions that we had (on Line) about anything. During these first two weeks, we were delivered 3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). We also had the option to order food delivery through UberEats and/or FoodPanda at certain times throughout the day. Additionally, the Capstone staff/teachers were very communicative with us during this time and often checked in to see how we were doing. Since we already began class two days after arriving at the hotel, time flew by very quickly, as we already had homework and studying to do for our class. During quarantine, our classes were a lot shorter than they usually are (90 mins per day from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM) and also light in terms of workload. During this time, we also had the chance to meet our host families and language partners over a Webex video call. Additionally, some tasks that we were required to complete during quarantine included: 1) reporting our temperature twice per day (morning & night), 2) filling out a daily health questionnaire, 3) completing 4 rapid “at-home” Covid tests on designated days, and 4) replying to the daily automated text sent by the Taiwanese government to confirm that you weren’t experiencing any Covid symptoms. On the second to last day of our first 2 weeks of quarantine, we had to leave our hotel rooms in order to complete another PCR test prior to our departure the following day.

For our third week of quarantine, we moved to another Tango Hotel location (Shilin). Since this week was the “self-health management” week, we were allowed to leave our hotel rooms and explore a bit (but with some restrictions). One of the restrictions included not being able to dine in anywhere and not being allowed to eat or drink outside. Me and many of my classmates took advantage of this time to begin exploring Taiwan and get a taste of Taiwanese culture/cuisine. Some places we explored during this time included the Shilin Night Market, the Taipei Expo Park, the Taipei Rose Garden, ordering takeout from local eateries, and going to convenience stores such as Watson’s and 7/11 for essentials. Since this hotel only provided breakfast, we had to either go out or order food delivery for the other meals. Similar to the previous hotel experience, because we had already begun classes, time flew by very quickly.

Moving onto Campus

After three weeks of quarantining, we officially moved onto the NYCU campus on March 15th. However, before we could officially leave the hotel with our belongings, two of our teachers first took us to a local convenience store called Carrefour to pick up some dorm supplies and essentials including: bed mattresses, blankets, pillows, toilet paper, trash cans, etc. This shopping trip was very convenient, because the store packaged all of our purchased items into one large box and had it delivered directly to NYCU on that same day. After the long shopping trip, our cohort had our first “dine-in” experience together in Taiwan at a local sushi restaurant. Once the entire shopping trip was completed, then we were able to gather our belongings and leave for NYCU in our taxis. Settling into our dorms did take a while, as some students did not have the chance to meet their roommates until very late in the evening or even spent a few hours cleaning up certain parts of the dorm. After officially settling in over these past few days, we have been shown around the campus by our teachers, attended our Capstone orientation, and completed necessary obligations such as paying our tuition/fees, purchasing our AC cards, exploring a bit both on and off campus, etc. My first impression of the campus was that it is fairly large and also has an amazing view of the city wherever you walk (since it is basically located on top of a mountain). Since campus has many parts that are uphill and downhill, walking from place to place can get a bit exhausting at certain points (but the views make it all worth it). Since I am still settling into campus life, I still do not know too much about the opportunities available for campus involvement/student life. However, I know that there are many places to explore in the surrounding city and am looking forward to seeing different places. Although I haven’t had many chances to explore off campus quite yet, through picking up some essentials at nearby convenience stores, I have already learned how to use the local MRT system.