Today we arrived at the Mei-Feng Highland Experimental Farm after a long drive from Taroko National Park. The past few days have been very busy but also very exciting. One of the highlights of the trip so far was staying in the aboriginal hotel on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The atmosphere and setting were very relaxing. Also, the evening's performance was fun and entertaining. It was very interesting to see such a different culture, and the people were so welcoming and hospitable. I really enjoyed the simpler things like wading in the ocean, admiring the spectacular views, and gazing at the stars at night.

I had been looking forward to whale watching for a while, and we finally went out on the ocean on Tuesday. Although we just saw a few dolphins and not any large whales, it was still fun (and I got a pretty sweet farmer's tan out of it). I had three favorite moments from Taroko National Park. First, I really liked wading in the stream even though I fell down and got soaked. Second, I thought Swallow Grotto was really cool. I think I could just stand there all day and watch the swallows fly in circles. Last, the water curtain was really amazing - I have never seen anything like it before. I didn't get much sleep on the bus ride here, so I think I'll try and catch up on sleep tonight.

-Pat

the next few days

Over the past few days the group has traveled to a variety of interesting places. Most recently we visited FRI or the Fisheries Research Institute where we were shown models of fishing ships. Some ships used circular nets with a diameter of one kilometer or a straight line fifty km long carrying thousands of hooks to catch tuna. In addition we were shown a net used to scrape the bottom of the ocean in order to catch some kind of shrimp, however this net will trap anything in its path and its use has destroyed coral and other marine life, in fact ninety percent of the catch is unwanted marine life and only ten percent is actually the desired shrimp. The tour guide also showed us some new fish products mainly such as fish ice cream and fish cake to trick small children into eating fish. There was also a display of cosmetics dereived from fish scales and deep sea water that is supposed to make one look more beautiful, the current cosmetic products now usually use collagen from pigs so maybe using fish scale products is not too bad.

To think more like a fish I decided to go swimming in the morning. There are a few tips one should know when going swimming. First they do not sell tickets until eight oclock in the morning even though the pool opens at six so I was forced to swim at six and then wait until eight oclock to pay the people which is a little inconvenient. However, it is worth swimming in the morning because there are less people. At night there are usually four or five people per lane. Patience told me that when she swims there are fifteen people per lane but I do not think that is possible because there will be more people in the pool than water and the water will probably overflow. When I swam at night it was crowded and I hit a few people because I was swimming too aggresively but then some elderly women came into the pool so I tried to avoid bumping into them.

New experance by volcanic

Hi I'm Oum
Yesterday I learn in chinese course I got chinese name Gula and today very exited
with volcano becouse I never see it before ,thank you.Today very tried I'm just for rest' bye bye

Oum from Thailand, Hello

My name is Kunlachat Burana you can call me " OUM ". I am a student of Entomology department, Agriculture faculty, Khon Kaen University ( KKU ) , Thailand . It so surprise,very happy and exciting to joy this program. I ever worked in Forest Entomology Research Center 2 of Natural Park Wildlife and Plant Conversation Department . This instate take care about forest insect biology and ecology, observation and survey in Natural Park cover northeast and past of north Thailand sometime around Thailand. My position is scientist assistance which worked about collecting data of insect specimen, surveyed, observed and managed butterfly farm. Sometime, I support data of insect biology for students and visitors who came to field trip at my work place . That are the reason why she recommend me to attend this course.
Biodiversity Agriculture and Culture are very importance and have more relationship with each other.I think Biodiversity and Agriculture make the Cultures. The Cultures told for national and race but some Agriculture and Culture damaged Biodiversity in home. This program can make the person who join know about the topics of the program. I am very glad and thank you director give me for the chance to join with this program.
The program in this summer course are very interesting , schedule more adventure and more knowledge. For knowing in different Biodiversity Agriculture and Culture , I think is very sure form this program make a new experience and exchange with other student . When finish this course and I will back to my hometown, I will be tell and present everything which I touch for everybody, Thank you again for best thing to me.

hello

Hi,

My name is Shen-Ho Yang, but Ron is fine with me too. A little about myself, I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan but went to the states for high school and college. I am majoring in Agricultural Consumer Economics with concentration in Agricultural-Finance at UIUC.

The reason I want to attend this program is because I don’t have the opportunity to go to many different places in Taiwan, which I think is kind of sad. However, this program at NTU provides me the chance to travel around some parts of Taiwan while earning credits at a low cost. Then, I am here in NTU with other people and ready to enjoy the program.

The only sports I play are tennis and baseball/softball. I used to be on my high school’s tennis team but I haven’t played it for almost 3 years, so I am like a rookie now. I start to play softball with my friends at UIUC during weekends since freshmen year and I still have quite a lot to learn both offensively and defensively.

If you have any more questions about me, I will be happy to answer them. I am also looking for people to play tennis, or throw some balls. If time is allow, maybe we can go to Taroko batting cage as well.

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We went to lots of places in Taipei like the CKS memorial hall, Taipei main station, Taiwan Museum, traditional markets etc… in the past few days. Even though I had been to those places long ago, it is still nice to walk around again. The lectures about Taiwan are great and just like the review sections for me. I like the lecture about cetaceans because I don’t know much about them prior to the lecture. The videos about dolphins at the end of that lecture were interesting too.


Shen-Ho (Ron) Yang

Hi everyone!
My name is Patrick, but most people just call me Pat at home. Feel free to call me whatever you want, even "tall kid". I'm from a suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the United States and go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is about 3 hours south of Chicago by car. I'm majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in Fish and Wildlife Conservation.

My first few days here have been great and very exciting. Everyone in the program is very nice and they all are very dedicated. I just want to thank everyone for their time and effort and making me feel so welcome in a world that is so different from the one I am used to.

We have been very busy so far and have already seen many things. I really enjoyed going to Freedom Square; the buildings and memorial were very beautiful. The National Taiwan Museum was also very nice. The historical exhibits about aboriginal cultures and Blackfoot disease were very interesting, but my favorite exhibit was "The Deep". The various characteristics and adaptations of the deep sea creatures were bizarre and fascinating.

Yesterday's lectures were interesting as well, and I especially enjoyed the one on cetaceans because I haven't learned much about them before. The geography lecture also got me excited to visit the places that we saw pictures of and were told about. I can't wait to go to the mountains! I'm looking forward to today's lectures.

-Patrick

First Few Days

Hi, my name is Justin. During the school year I attend a small liberal arts college (Oberlin) in Ohio in the United States. Because the program has run out of pencils we are forced to write our journal entries on this blog.

So far everyone has been very nice to me, I have only been attacked by a few people (joking). I feel fortunate that the professors and teacher's assistants have dedicated so much time and effort to take care of us (especially me because I am a very unpleasant person to be around).

At Oberlin I major in biology and creative writing. It is interesting that most of the students here have very specific areas of study such as entomology, forestry, or the Applied Studies of Lowland Insects with respect to Legumes.

So far we have seen the Chiang Kai-shek memorial which is a very tall white marble building that one can get to by climbing a series of stairs and small platforms. The building is trapazoidal in shape with walls that slope upwards into a blue pagoda like structure (I am not really an expert in architecture). The memorial is particulary impressive because its height contrasts with the wide open space around which consists of paved stone and gardens. In the background one can see Tapei 101 which used to be the tallest building in the world before the top fell off. It has the fastest elevator in the world which travles at 35 miles per hour ( Last semester I researched elevators for a story I wrote about a man who is trapped in an elevator for a day).

So far I have gone running every morning. I am on my school's cross country team so I need to train over the summer, my coach says if I follow his plan I will be able to run faster than a car. While training, I have noticed a lot of other people playing tennis and basketball. In America most people are still sleeping in the morning. Today I watched some old men play basketball which was funny because they are better than me--they run some good pick and rolls and throw no look passes. Plus it is also fun to watch them taunt/trash talk each other.

I am sorry that this post is so long but the program directors have told me that if I write enough that this post will count for the whole month.