Hi to everyone, is a pleasure to introduce myself. My name is Julian I am a 18 years old panamanian, I won a scholarship to study in Taiwan for 5 years (1 year language and 4 bachelor). The problem is this: all my scholarship mates will study in Taipei in the National Taiwan Normal University but i decided to study in Kaohsiung in the National Sun Yat-sen University (because of the wether, less people, and the beach) , they say that living in Taipei is better, that in Kaohsiung will be harder to me to learn Mandarin and that i will have a bad experience.
Also I want to know if the people is friendly with the foreingers in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
By the way 30,000 NTD will be enough to live in any of those cities?.
if that is 30000 per month then it should definetly be enough. i would also say that life in taipei is better but then again i have only been to kaohsiung once. i doubt that learning chinese would be harder than in taipei… maybe even easier. people here are mostly very friendly. some taiwanese are slightly prejudiced against people that are non-taiwanese and not white but normally i dont think that would impact your life much unless you are pitch black and even then only little. its not as bad as on the mainland and they will probably think you are an arab… more likely to happen in kaohsiung than in taipei. nothing for you to really worry about but something you may want to keep in mind because in five years you are likely to get some weird comments and questions every now and then. however this is normally not meant to offend and more badly expressed curiosity and lack of knowledge. (see other threads here in living in taiwan for an impression on the topic)
I am a longterm resident here in KHH, and I think life here is pretty the same like up north.
So, yes, with 30.000 NT$ you will live very well in KHH.
Just consider that the nightlife / culture events lacks a bit here dowen south. Not too bad, but of course
compare to Taipei, well.
Although none of my business, but do you have to pay for the Uni yourself ?
my current rent in taipei is 8000 NTD including water, electricity and internet. maybe its not the best place but definetly ok. and i spend about another 8000 for commute and food. while this may not be living large i would still consider 30000 well enough to get along great in taipei even if accomodation is not included. but since dorm will probably be offered to you for a really small fee you will have more than enough money to live here without any worries