Held by Office of International Affairs, the two-week 2014 International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) started on July 7th at China Medical University. 40 foreign students from 16 countries all over the world gathered here, learning Mandarin, playing Tai-Chi, and exploring the mystery of traditional Chinese medicine with their Taiwanese counterparts. They even practiced calligraphy and thus have gone through the most impressive and unforgettable culture experience of all time.

At the very beginning of this program, many foreign students still looked tired because of jet lag; however, when they were treated cordially with local Taiwan food such as fried rice, fried noodles, and pyramid dumpling, their eyes were shining and mouths were watering. After the reception, they visited Lifu Museum of Chinese Medicine, which turned out to be the prologue for them to understand the profound traditional Chinese medicine.

All professional and cultural courses began on the second day. Thanks to the teachers’ talent of explaining difficult theories in simple ways, foreign students could gradually unveil the secret mask covering two aspects: acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, the curriculum has successfully won high praise from many students.

Moreover, foreign students had learned how to do self-introduction in the Mandarin class. Some even could express “bubble milk tea with half sugar and no ice” in Chinese affluently. In the Tai-Chi class, following Prof. Peter karl Mayer’s instruction, all students enjoyed the philosophy of “slow”, perceiving that no matter how fast the world operates, our state of mind shall be steady. In the cultural trip to the picturesque Sun Moon Lake, students acquired the best opportunity to be so close to the beautiful scene and also took a lot of fabulous pictures together.

It is worth mentioning that the buddy system continued from last year has once again gained compliment. The mode is easy but effective with one local student accompanying one foreign student. It not only gives students from our school the chance to increase cultural exchange but also makes those guests from aboard feel like home. In search for how people feel about this system, the answers of many foreign students are in fact very affirmative.

Confucius once said, “To learn and practice it often is a pleasure, isn’t it? To have friends coming from afar is a pleasure, isn’t it?” 2014 International Student Exchange Program has skillfully combined “learning” and “making friends” together. As this program lowered the curtain on July 18th, all participants on the one hand went back home with valuable experience of cultural exchange; on the other hand, the prestige of China Medical University has been widely spread. Such a win-win situation has made a good example of citizen diplomacy for Taiwan as well.