Top 8 reasons why you should go on an overseas student exchange

Exchange passed by, too fast.I'm 90% sure that most students who attended university would agree with me that Exchange was one of the best periods of university, or even life, in general. From time to time I will still get withdrawal symptoms from travelling, and school is even making me rethink about my life decisions.

Tibidabo Amusement Park in Barcelona, Spain ; we didn't get to go there but the view from Park Guell was insanely amazing

But regardless, I had a blast during exchange and I had no regrets going for it. For my exchange 1st anniversary, here's a post on the top 8 reasons why you SHOULD go for exchange  😊

Dresden, Germany

1. A gradeless semester

Day trip to Heidelberg, Germany

Everyone would tell you this is the most important part of exchange -- you can freeze your cap. SUs basically make the modules you take in the other university gradeless, and you just need to pass the modules for the credits to be transferred back to your home university. Sounds like a stress-less semester.

2. Skipping classes (without feeling too guilty)

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

Honestly, anyone's who've been on exchange would definitely be guilty of skipping classes to travel, especially if there is no attendance marked. Your professors and tutors would definitely know that and most of the time, reading the lecture notes for the module would most likely allow you to pass the module. I even had a friend who dropped an entire module to travel. #priorities

3. Learning and adapting to a different lifestyle

Shophouses in Bergen, Norway

It's something you will never learn from just travelling to the country and back in 2 weeks. You get to learn how people live, what they usually do, and even how they shop for groceries. For me, I learnt so much about recycling in Germany that when I'm back, I feel a little guilty for throwing an empty plastic bottle into the general waste bin. Oh, and beer in Germany is so common that I find it weird to not see beer everywhere in Singapore. 4 months there and you'll definitely know the tricks of the trade like a local.

4. Meet new people

Milan, Italy

Make new friends, learn about different people's cultures, know more about the world, what's so bad about that?

5. Travel for CHEAP

Bastei Bridge near Dresden, Germany -> we hiked up for this!

When you have so much time in your hands, you'll start to search about where to travel, and where to find the cheapest and best deals for your budget student life. I'll be writing a post on my favourite comparison websites and how I search for deals that are as cheap as possible 😊

But basically, since you are already in the country, it would definitely be worth it to explore around the area, if not you would have to take the long flight back again just to travel to these places.

6. You'll learn more about yourself

Heidelberg Castle in Heideberg, Germany -> we got scolded for taking a photo here LOL

I had so much time to spare on exchange that I actually thought of what I wanted to do with my life in the future. Sometimes you are so caught up with the hectic-ness of your life that you lose sight of what's important to you.

7. Become independent

Nordic Train Station

There's no one to help you do your laundry, no one to wash your dishes, and no one to cook for you. Let's face it, you are literally in charge of your whole life. I probably wouldn't have done all these myself at home, so this was a great start to living the independent life.

8. Better Money Management

Pompeii, Italy

Copenhagen, Denmark

On a fjord cruise in Bergen, Norway

When you have limited money but you want to travel everywhere, you prioritize. If you want to travel more, cook to save money when you are not travelling. If you want to shop more instead, maybe hold back on the travelling a little. For instance, the fjord cruise that we went on in Bergen, Norway amounted to more than S$100, which is totally busting our budget. But since we were already there, we just had to get on that cruise and compromise on other things. What I did was to make a mental note of the total expenses I am willing to spend on a trip. That really helped a lot in budgeting my finances during my travels. Prioritizing is a huge part in money management, and if you don't want to end up broke even before you leave the country, plan well.



Everyone would definitely have reservations about going on exchange, but if your reservations can be solved somehow, everything will fall in place eventually. 😉

Best coffee in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

To all coffee lovers, coffee is mandatory even when travelling. Late nights, early mornings are inevitable when you want to experience a city as much as possible. So while checking out Kaohsiung, my friends and I reviewed 7 coffee joints and tasted their lattes to find out which has the best coffee in Kaohsiung.
FYI, we are generally latte drinkers, with no sugar. We pride soy over the usual milk, but clearly Taiwan does not have a culture of drinking soy lattes.

We reviewed our coffee in terms of how much we liked it, and included factors such as how strong the coffee taste was.

1. Starbucks

The first thing that appeared when we Googled 'best coffee in Kaohsiung' was Starbucks. We were really skeptical but still went ahead with trying it since you can find Starbucks virtually everywhere.

Soy Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

Actually the Soy killed it for us :( The soy milk that Taiwan's Starbucks uses is probably the Asian Soya milk, aka 豆浆 (dou jiang), not the Western Soy milk, so do take note! Other than that, the coffee is generally the same as most Starbucks elsewhere. 

It might be better without soy milk in Taiwan, but we didn't pass by anymore Starbucks to try it.

2. CRAFT @ XinJueJiang Shopping District

We were definitely in need of coffee when we were shopping in XinJueJiang Shopping District. Craft was tucked nicely in a corner of the shopping district and we decided to give it a try. 

Iced Mocha

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

The Iced Mocha was a little sweet, but the coffee taste was not drowned in huge amounts of milk and coffee, which made it a great refreshing drink to energize our day. (with a little sugar rush)

3. CRAFT @ XinJueJiang Shopping District

We went to XinJueJiang Shopping District for a 2nd time to shop for more stuff, since it was the only day shopping street we could find in Kaohsiung. I guess locals in Kaohsiung prefers shopping in huge malls.

Iced Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

We honestly thought we could give Craft a 2nd try since their Mocha was quite good, so we got another Iced Latte. There was too much milk in the latte which covered the taste of the coffee :(

 4. APEULS COFFEE @ Formosa Boulevard MRT station

Since we stayed near Formosa Boulevard MRT station, we grabbed a cuppa coffee from Apeuls and gave it a try.

Black Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

The Americano was a little watered down tbh; a little disappointed but nevertheless, we still finished a 0 calorie drink :)

5. Aunt Stella @ Han Shen Department Store

Chanced upon a shopping mall so we went inside to shop and found this little cafe at the basement of the mall.

Black Sugar Macchiato

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

Although the drink sounds sugary, we were pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the drink. It was not too sweet, which is perfect for people with non sweet tooth. The downside of this was just that the drink was a little watered down, like most of the other coffees in Kaohsiung. 

6. Tea Boutique & Cafe @ Pier 2

Prior to getting this cup, we TRIED hiking up Shoushan but then we gave up halfway cause it was too hot. So we ubered back down again to Pier 2 to grab a pick-me-up.

Black Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

Same old, same old -- watered down :( But it was another 0 calorie drink so we finished it ;)

7. Brought Coffee and Tea @ RuiFeng Night Market

We headed to Rui Feng Night Market on one of the nights and that was definitely a time where we needed coffee after exploring Kaohsiung for the whole day.

Brought's Specialty Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

It's a specialty coffee for a reason. There's alcohol added to this mix to give it a unique taste. Although the coffee was not as strong, we felt that the mix of alcohol, coffee, and sugar definitely deserves 4⭑ :)

 8. Sunny Day Cafe

Basically we were attempting to walk from our place to a 豆浆shop (soya milk shop) which took us nearly an hour, so we dropped by a cafe to grab a cuppa in the morning.

Iced Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒
We were actually disappointed :( The latte only had a very distinct taste of milk, making it seem like milk-flavoured coffee instead of coffee with milk :(

BONUS: BERNACHON COFFEE (from 7-11/Family Mart)

To be honest, we practically lived off 7-11. The 7-11 in Taiwan had so much variety in terms of food and drinks that we could never decide what we want every single time. But we always took coffee.

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

Honestly, this was one of the better coffee I've tasted in Taiwan. This version of Bernachon Coffee is not as sweet as the dark blue bottle, and the coffee taste in this 'Golden Cup' is actually quite strong. TBH, this is my 2nd favourite, behind Brought Coffee & Tea's specialty coffee ;)

Maybe I guess there was a reason why Starbucks was dubbed the 'Best Coffee in Kaohsiung' by Google, no matter how many times we tried googling. 

If you're looking for good coffee in Kaohsiung, I would highly recommend popping into a 7-11 store or Family Mart. The wide selection of coffee (and the price) in there would NEVER disappoint. :)