(This was written on Tuesday, on the plane ride home. My apologies for the delay in posting. I succumbed to the cold completely after getting home!)
Yesterday we visited the 9 labs in the Food Science Department. It was a great time to do it, because we had spent so much time with graduate students in the labs that we were very comfortable speaking with them. Unfortunately my cold has hit me smack dab over the head so I walked around in a fog more most of the morning. I'll have to see if one of the other students can tell you more about their research. What I did come away with is that there is a focus on food and it's health benefits. Unlike OSU's food science department, Nutrition was until recently, a joint department with food science, and a lot of interest seems to reside there, from probiotics to reducing the negative effects of frying oils.
After a fast food lunch delivered from Mos burger (say moss) that consisted of rice patties in the shape of hamburger bun filled with veggies and meats and a side of fried chicken (yum!) I was feeling quite awful, so I went back to the room to take a nap. The other students sat in on lectures in food analysis and sensory. I'm really sorry that I missed it! They then came back to the room for a quick rest before we all met back at the department for an ice cream treat. This happened to be the day that clubs do recruitment on campus and had booths set up on front of one of the cafeterias. It also is the one day per year that the food science club sells soft serve ice cream, one of their biggest fundraisers for the year. After that we all took the bus to a Shabu Shabu restaurant for dinner, and had a farewell party.
We got really good at figuring out public transportation while in Taiwan. Many of the students don't have another way to get around. The only other options for them are foot, bicycle, and scooter. Just you wait until I post pictures of the streets! I was fascinated by the seemingly chaotic nature of so many pedestrians, scooters, cars, and buses. I never saw anyone struck or any sort of fender bender and I have no idea how they manage it. Scooter drivers seem to be fearless, weaving in and around cars and buses much larger than themselves, and often with two or three people on them! Many times we saw a small child sandwiched in between two adults, and once we even saw a woman with a few children strapped to her! Being a pedestrian also means that you have to be quick on your toes. A crosswalk is fair game for the scooters at the front of a line of cars and buses, and I saw them weaving through crowds many times. I was assured that they would stop if you were in the way, but it did feel that there were a couple of close calls!
Dinner was another lesson in food culture, and was very similar to the hotpot that I had the first day. The best part about dinner, however wasn't the food, it was the time that we spent with the students. All of the students who had participated in any activities with us were there. It was a fantastic way to say goodbye to all of them and was much more special than I had imagined. I can't even count how many pictures I posed for, both in groups and one-on-one. We were also presented with gifts from our host Marie and specific groups of students. Honestly when the signed pictures of our time together came out I nearly cried. I had not expected to make so many connections with the students here and feel like this experience has been one of the best of my life.
That's all for now,
Emily
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