Culture Volunteering in Taiwan

This experience was extremely rewarding and motivated me to study more about teaching in order to become a great teacher. I was so happy to spend time with the children, but also with the teachers who taught me so many things. Working with children is not always easy, because they sometimes don't know how to express their feelings, and you have to understand it yourself in order to teach them well and take good care of them. Thanks to the teachers I can now understand them better. As the culture is different, their behavior might be different as well. This internship was a good challenge for me, and I hope the children will remember me because I will go to Taiwan to see them in the future, for sure!

I am majoring in Chinese, so I needed to do my internship in a Chinese speaking country. In the first place, I was only thinking about China, but when I had the interview with the staff of Meiji internships, she said that they also had partnerships in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore, so I took some time to think, and I decided to be open for all the destinations. After that, they contacted me because a Taiwanese company was interested in me! The interview went well, and I decided to go for this internship. The whole process was clear and the agency was reliable and accessible. Life in Taiwan was wonderful. I was staying in a sharehouse with other interns who were adorable! Everyone was not so familiar with the cleaning so it was a bit annoying sometimes, but other than that, everything was perfect!

Even if I was afraid because Taiwan seemed to be at the other end of the planet, I think it worthed the price to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone! The difference in the way of thinking and in the culture is what made the journey memorable, and I realized that distance is only a number! Nowadays, we can easily travel from one country to another, and I think that this is amazing. My Internship's field was in Education and Teaching. The cute kids were so adorable and organizing activities in English for them was a real pleasure. I really loved teaching children because I didn't feel any pressure and they all welcomed me with open arms. One of the kids even asked me for my email address and already sent me an email asking me if I went back home without any trouble (in English of course!!). It was a very valuable internship!

I am studying Asian Culture and Economics, but I don't speak Chinese (Or now I have some basic knowledge thanks to my internship!), so Meiji Internships found me a nice company in Taipei, where almost everyone could understand English! I applied for a Business development internship and I had a very rewarding experience. I learned a lot and listened to every piece of advice I could get from my colleagues. I can highly recommend doing an internship abroad. This was a real challenge, but I'm so proud of myself now! And Taiwan is a really nice place. Honestly, if everyone could try to leave abroad, I think the world would be a better place with open-minded people.

Having taken the advantage of the full business package including an internship in a marketing role as well as daily Mandarin courses with professional teachers, and networking my way through several international events and startup business gatherings ! Meiji's support and communication is superb with an unbelievably nice and motivated young team whom it was always a pleasure to talk to and join their events. Much of my free time I spent exploring the huge urban jungle of Taipei and when I got too tired of city life, I went for some hiking in the nearby mountains and national parks. I even had time for some great short trips to nearby Keelung City and Tamsui District for really fresh and delicious seafood !

I decided to take some time off after my Abitur (high-school) and go on a small adventure to Asia before starting university in Germany. As I am from a small town in Germany and have never been to Asia, I was extremely excited about what is waiting for me. I was especially interested in going to China first for doing volunteer work and giving back something to local communities. But when I checked Meiji's website and viewed Taiwan, it really felt like a mystical and unknown place. After having had my first Skype interview with one of Meiji's consultants, I decided to give both destinations a chance for my three months of volunteer experience. Due to visa restrictions and also great experiences I read about this island nation, I decided to choose Taiwan over China! During my time there I spent my volunteer experience in two organizations and had the chance to work with orphan kids and help them learn English. I was also involved in organizing social events, cooking with the kids and helping out in community projects where we cleaned local neighborhoods together with locals. The other organization I went to was involved in helping poor people with free food and also housing solutions. Sometimes it felt so sad seeing how other people live and that it is not normal for everybody to enjoy a luxurious life. I really understood how much we should be thankful for what we have, but also how much my work was contributing to the life of fellow Taiwanese. On top of it, I made so many fellow Taiwanese and international friends, had great food (except stinky tofu!) and saw the natural beauty of Taiwan!!! Xiexie Meiji and Taiwan wasn't my last time!