Study abroad experiences

Gerry Capstick, BSc International Relations and Chinese, is on his year abroad at Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). He has been making the most of his free time by exploring the island, including many hiking trips, such as the breath-taking mountains of 玉山，雪山，五寮尖， 九份，and 太鲁阁. He travels with friends from the university and also meets people along the way who he chats to in Mandarin whenever he gets the chance.

Other highlights on his adventures include the Beehive Firecracker Festival, where locals wear helmets and fireproof jackets, and fireworks are launched at the crowds; Jiufen Town 九份 – literally ‘9 portions’, whose name supposedly came from the town’s isolated past: up on the mountainside, whenever food was delivered from afar, families would ask for ‘9 portions’ for their presumably large family.

Gerry has enjoyed the local wildlife; he has swum alongside turtles and tropical fish, while avoiding sea urchins and venomous lionfish at 小琉球 island; fed cashews to macaque monkeys; and seen many unusual insects.

According to Gerry, “the culture in Taiwan is relaxed and polite, and the people are the best quality - remarkably friendly and generous.”

Arthur Njamfa and Malou Van Draanen Glismann, BSc International Relations and Chinese, are on their year abroad at Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). Inspired by a need to learn more about the intricacies of local politics and diplomacy, they decided to head up a diplomatic delegation. Their aim is to facilitate dialogue between LSE students and Taiwanese civil society, and to foster people to people ties. They are currently setting up meetings with local politicians, officials, journalists and diplomats, including the following:

• The French Representative Office - to discuss Taiwan's cooperation with France and the EU in championing Human Rights
• The British Representative Office - to discuss youth roles in strengthening ties between the UK and Taiwan. 
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)- to discuss the roles of MOFA and the public diplomacy council, as well as their perspective on the issue of Taiwan's relations with the US and mainland China. 
• The Ministry of Education - to discuss how the Ministry manages and promotes foreign exchange programs. 

The delegation comprises 20 students from the LSE Language Centre. It includes over 10 different nationalities, including the UK, France, Germany and Japan, bound together by their shared interest and passion for International Affairs, Chinese language and culture.

We asked Arthur how his BSc programme and LSE studies in general helped him to get where he is:

“Of course, our knowledge of the geopolitics of China, the Chinese language and the cultural specificities of formal communication in China, all of which we learned throughout our degree, has been instrumental in reaching these institutions. Moreover, this knowledge has given us the skills to manage and navigate complex diplomatic situations with tact and care. Furthermore, the experience we have gathered in organising events and activities as part of the many LSE societies, most notably the LSE Grimshaw Society, has proven crucial in helping handle the logistics of such an operation.”

Melisande Paget, BSc Language, Culture and Society, who is on her year abroad at Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), decided to work together with two fellow students, Arthur Njamfa and Marie-Solveig Magnier, both studying BSc International Relations and Chinese, to set up a platform called KynSports, which promotes women’s sports.

They felt that there were no platforms for female sports, regardless of the recent increase in women’s sports viewers. Obtaining broadcasting rights is complex and costly, so they decided to create a platform, starting by featuring women's sports content - news, different kinds of female athletes’ features, articles; anything that would bring together a community for women's sports. 

After arriving in Taipei for their year abroad, they have continued to work on the platform; since the start of the year, they have reviewed their landing page, found a company name and created a logo together, which led them to initiate both LinkedIn (@KynSports) and Instagram (@kynsportsofficial) pages to start their traction testing. They were also able to do more research regarding other broadcasting platforms to detail what they want as a business model. 

Melisande in her own words:

“Even if our programs did not specifically help lead us to where we are now, it still allowed us to work as an efficient and dynamic team since the three of us are close friends, students learning the same language (hence the year abroad altogether), and even flatmates! We work very well together, and this also comes from the fact that we all bring something very different to the table when working together, from research to organization to social media management. We find that enjoying the process is crucial for a project this big, and we are trying to be creative and thorough while taking part in the great experience of building a company from scratch.”