NSLI-Y 2026 Taiwan – Week 4
By Amelia, Cameron, and Vivaan
As our fourth week in Taiwan comes to an end, we find ourselves past the two-thirds mark of our program. It’s hard to believe how fast our time has gone by. Every day of our stay in Taipei has brought us something distinctly Taiwanese, and this week has been exemplary of that uniqueness.
Week 4 featured trips all over northern Taiwan: to Hsinchu, to visit the museum of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer; to Datong District, and the last surviving Traditional Chinese letterpress foundry; to Jiufen, one of Taiwan’s most picturesque mountain towns; and finally to Fulong, for one of New Taipei’s most famous beaches.
We began our week with a trip to the TSMC Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu. On Monday, right after lunch, we got on a bus for an hour-long ride out of Taipei. At the museum, students learned about the history of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, beginning with its founder, Morris Chang, and ending with a VR view of what our technology-integrated future might look like. Students were led on a guided tour, and later invited to explore the museum’s exhibits themselves.
On Tuesday, we took a trip to the last remaining Traditional Chinese letterpress foundry in the world, Ri Xing Type Foundry (日星鑄字行). There, students learned about how the letterpressing process works, about the history of the type foundry, and learned how to search for their own names in the Chinese character library. Some students even bought custom stamps of their Chinese names!
Full cohort photo, showing off printed Chinese names!
Eila, Amelia, Eliza, Cameron, Liam, Lincoln, and Arthur listen to an explanation about searching for Chinese characters in the foundry’s collection.
Cameron, Vivaan, Arthur, Liam, and Lincoln watch a demonstration of the printing press.
Eila and Amelia search for the correct Chinese characters.
Eliza and Cameron paying close attention.
Cameron surveys the character blocks as Eila searches in the background.
Trying out the press!
With support from the Rixing tour guide.
Cadence.
Seraphina.
Avi.
Cameron, as Lincoln and Arthur watch.
Arthur, with Lincoln up next.
Lincoln’s turn!
Veena, with Seraphina, Cadence, and Emilia in the background.
Alexia, with Amelia, Eila, and Anya in the background.
Amelia.
Emilia showing off her print!
Wednesday’s activity was presentations with our language partners. For the past week, students have been working with one language partner to create presentations about their hometowns (家鄉, jiaxiang). In these presentations, the language partner presented about the student’s hometown, and the students presented about their language partner’s hometown. This was a great opportunity to create strong friendships and learn how to better communicate about our lives!
On Saturday, we had the incredible opportunity to visit Jiufen (九份) old street. It is a historic mountain side town with streets lined with red lanterns and stores selling local favorites like stinky tofu, nougat crackers and deep fried sea food. We were able to visit and enjoy tea houses and try high mountain oolong tea (高山烏龍茶), enjoying the tea with a mountain and seaside view!
A stray dog pensively admiring the seaside on a Jiufen sidestreet.
Some of us had the chance to learn the proper way to make oolong tea. Many students bought tea leaves and tea sets to bring home. All of us left with a stronger appreciation for Taiwanese culture.
Eliza holding up a recently painted recreation of her Chinese name: 歐愛麗.
Eliza, Cameron, and Luis in a selfie with Shih Chien staff Mike.
Many picture-worthy sights in Jiufen!
Eliza, Cameron, Mike, and Luis flash finger hearts on Jiufen streets.
After visiting Jiufen, we took a train to Fulong and visited the beach. On the way, a few students bought flip flops, beach hats, swimsuits and beach toys! The beach had incredible sand sculptures and very warm water. We enjoyed playing with a beach ball in the ocean trying to see how long we could keep it in the air. Our record was 30 passes! Later some students broke off to read, relax in the sun, and walk along the beach viewing the mountains and temple, while others began playing ultimate frisbee. Eila, who had gone to nationals three times for ultimate frisbee, taught us how to play!
Luis, Cameron, Liam, Lincoln, Arthur, Eila, Seraphina, Alexia, Anya, Eliza, and Mike waiting for the train.
Sand sculpture.
Having fun at the beach!
The end of week 4 means we are two-thirds of the way done with the program! This also means that we have been here for an entire month. Some might say we are now truly 台灣人 (Taiwanese). However, there’s still two more weeks of fun activities and language learning to experience! Until then, 再見 (goodbye)！