If you visited this blog more than once, you might be wondering, if it is still alive? And let me tell you, after a few years of "dormancy", yes, it has come back alive. As the matter of the fact. a lot of things has happened in the last two years. So, why went dormant? right before the 2017trip some students suggested we should use Facebook for the convenience of staying connecting. Later I found out it was a great idea for parents and love ones to stay tune and following our wonderful experience. Some of the parents actually post their comments about our entries. So my focus got moved to the Facebook. So, if this is the case, why bother to have this Blog? Well I thought it will be still a good idea to keep this blog as a platform of sharing Taiwan's culture and ecology. Be honest, the time we spent on each Facebook entry is about 2 to 5 minutes. This has prevented me from sharing more detailed or analytical articles. Also, we decided to keep the Facebook group as a closed group, only for the participants and their families and friends. So, here I am after almost two years of dormancy, I decided to reopened this blog. I will continue to report our trip here, although it may not be instant reporting. Occasionally, I will provide information about Taiwans culture and ecology other than the trip itself. In the future plan, I might invite friends and students to share their experience about Taiwan. So stay tune.
So, what's new in the past two years. First, we had a wonderful trip in 2017. Then through Taiwanese consulate in Chicago, we have connected with Friends of Taiwan Foundation, a young foundation promoting the culture exchange and non-governmental relations. FoT has recognize Culture and Ecology of Taiwan Study Tour as one of the important opportunities for students from the US to experience Taiwanese culture and interact with Taiwanese students. They have graciously donate scholarship to support this study tour. this sponsorship allow more students to participate and have life-changing experience.
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| 2019 Pre-Trip Meeting (Apr 18, 2019) |
2019 trip has begun and ended as planned. a few highlights are we have a new faculty, Dr. Leigh Anne Harden joining us. Dr. Harden is a professor at Benedictine University of Chicago. Dr. Harden received her doctoral degree from the U. of North Carolina Wilmington (2013). She is an ecologist with wide teaching including physiological ecology, environmental physiology, aquatic ecology,
herpetology, thermal biology, spatial ecology and wildlife conservation. She also maintain an active research projects in ecological factors affecting Box Turtles. Detailed bio and research information can be found in her personal webpage: http://leighanneharden.com Dr. Harden's passion in ecology was evident before and during the trip. her preparation and as a field instructor. Students are all benefited by her field work experience. She constantly pointed out wild life species and geological features timely for students to learn and appreciate. Without her participation and leadership, this trip won't be as good.Other features including a new restaurant and two new hotels. I will write about these great experience in the future posts.
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| Arrival at the Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (May 13, 2019) |
