China/Taiwan 30.08.2012 - 12.09.2012
Felix Oswald
Felix Oswald is 23 years old and grew up in Zurich. He just finished his bachelor in Sinology and Management & Economics at the University of Zurich. During 08/09 he spent an exchange year at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. In 2011 he did an internship at the Swiss Embassy in Beijing for half a year.
Like many others my first contacts with the Chinese culture were through Kung Fu movies like those of the Shaw Brother studios in Hong Kong. Later I started learning Kung Fu in a traditional school, growing even more enthusiastic about China so that I finally decided to study Sinology. Learning Chinese was like opening the door to a whole new world that I would not want to miss anymore.
Patricia Schmid
Patricia Schmid, 27, from Zurich, is enrolled at the University of Zurich, majoring in Japanology with a minor in Sinology and Ancient Chinese Studies. In 08/09 she studied at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei to polish up her Chinese.
The reason I chose to stay in Taiwan was due to the exclusively positive accounts I heard about it. And indeed, everything I experienced surpassed my expectations - a small green island with untouched nature and modern cities, where aborigine people live side by side with Chinese. Also the Japanese influence is present in their everyday life. The whole country with its open-minded, friendly people has fascinated me ever since and there is no reason not to share this experience with others.