Students from 8 countries get together to celebrate Chinese New Year
(Report by student journalist)
To help international students relieve homesickness, the Office of International Affairs (OIA) at National Sun Yat-sen University organized a Chinese New Year get-together event. Students from eight countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Russia, Turkmenistan and Japan created a festive atmosphere on their own! Ying-Rong Wang - Head of the Department of Overseas Chinese Business, Overseas Community Affairs Council and En-Chieh Chao - Director of the Division of Overseas and International Degree Student Affairs, OIA, expressed care for international students during the event. Administrative Officer of the Division Ms. Hui-Ching Yap hoped the event would let international students experience the cheerful atmosphere of the Spring Festival.
OIA said, that the New Year get-together event was a perfect opportunity for students from all over the world to bond and for graduates to meet younger and older fellow schoolmates. Kelvin, international alumnus from Indonesia, graduate of the Department of Materials and Optoelectronic Science at NSYSU sat by the table with his younger fellow student. First and second-year students who just started their adventure in Taiwan also attended the event. The students engaged in lively interaction and spoke a variety of languages. Kelvin said, that he had already spent 13 years in Taiwan, including 7 years after graduation, and every Chinese New Year he was left with very few leisure options: shopping in crowded malls is not fun, and a lot of people come back home to celebrate the festival, so it’s difficult to meet up. “I just stay at home most of the time”, he said, admitting the event was a rare opportunity to get together with one’s own compatriots. He joked: “Time flies, I don’t feel young anymore!”.
Student of the Department of Oceanography Kwok Ka Hei from Hong Kong, said that international students stick together, meet up for meals and karaoke and despite very different backgrounds, they get along very well: such a group of friends is like a second family to them. Before coming back to their countries, they had the unique opportunity to celebrate Spring Festival. Kwok Ka Hei said, that although everybody could come back to their countries during Chinese New Year, “We just stayed here together”.
This year’s event was planned jointly by students from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan to let all participants create wonderful memories. The organizers put a lot of effort into the event. Student of the Department of Electrical Engineering and one of the event hosts Wei Hong Lieow said, that they had spent about one month preparing this one-time event thinking over every detail to create an authentic atmosphere of Chinese New Year celebrations for international students. Lantern riddles were carefully prepared in two language versions - Chinese and English for all participants to understand. The event host impressed the audience with his fluent Taiwanese, expressing best wishes for the Year of the Rat.
Another highlight of the event was the lottery, which main prize was a bicycle. The announcement of the winner - the same student as last year, made the audience go wild! The winner Tay Ke Young, student of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, said, that last year he gave the bicycle he won to his younger brother, while this year he would donate the prize to a younger fellow student in need and pass on the good luck.
To help international students relieve homesickness, the Office of International Affairs (OIA) at National Sun Yat-sen University organized a Chinese New Year get-together event. Students from eight countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Russia, Turkmenistan and Japan created a festive atmosphere on their own! Ying-Rong Wang - Head of the Department of Overseas Chinese Business, Overseas Community Affairs Council and En-Chieh Chao - Director of the Division of Overseas and International Degree Student Affairs, OIA, expressed care for international students during the event. Administrative Officer of the Division Ms. Hui-Ching Yap hoped the event would let international students experience the cheerful atmosphere of the Spring Festival.
OIA said, that the New Year get-together event was a perfect opportunity for students from all over the world to bond and for graduates to meet younger and older fellow schoolmates. Kelvin, international alumnus from Indonesia, graduate of the Department of Materials and Optoelectronic Science at NSYSU sat by the table with his younger fellow student. First and second-year students who just started their adventure in Taiwan also attended the event. The students engaged in lively interaction and spoke a variety of languages. Kelvin said, that he had already spent 13 years in Taiwan, including 7 years after graduation, and every Chinese New Year he was left with very few leisure options: shopping in crowded malls is not fun, and a lot of people come back home to celebrate the festival, so it’s difficult to meet up. “I just stay at home most of the time”, he said, admitting the event was a rare opportunity to get together with one’s own compatriots. He joked: “Time flies, I don’t feel young anymore!”.
Student of the Department of Oceanography Kwok Ka Hei from Hong Kong, said that international students stick together, meet up for meals and karaoke and despite very different backgrounds, they get along very well: such a group of friends is like a second family to them. Before coming back to their countries, they had the unique opportunity to celebrate Spring Festival. Kwok Ka Hei said, that although everybody could come back to their countries during Chinese New Year, “We just stayed here together”.
This year’s event was planned jointly by students from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan to let all participants create wonderful memories. The organizers put a lot of effort into the event. Student of the Department of Electrical Engineering and one of the event hosts Wei Hong Lieow said, that they had spent about one month preparing this one-time event thinking over every detail to create an authentic atmosphere of Chinese New Year celebrations for international students. Lantern riddles were carefully prepared in two language versions - Chinese and English for all participants to understand. The event host impressed the audience with his fluent Taiwanese, expressing best wishes for the Year of the Rat.
Another highlight of the event was the lottery, which main prize was a bicycle. The announcement of the winner - the same student as last year, made the audience go wild! The winner Tay Ke Young, student of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, said, that last year he gave the bicycle he won to his younger brother, while this year he would donate the prize to a younger fellow student in need and pass on the good luck.
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