Haha, I’m using this term from now on.
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Ah no. At least not in the way you mean. These are specifically American things. So they can’t be conspicuously missing. Because why outside of seppoland would you expect to see fraternities?
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no frat houses, but there are tons of sports clubs, dance clubs and other after hours activities. it all depends what you want to do.
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If you’ve got a heavy course load (i.e. normal full-time undergraduate student), living in Danshui is probably better. If you’ve got an 8am class, commuting is a pain, even from Beitou. If you’re in a graduate program with a lighter course load, living in Beitou may suit you better.
For me at least Danshui is too far to head to downtown Taipei for the evening, but it’s fine on the weekends. And if you’re going downtown for the day, I don’t think there’s going to be much of a difference between Beitou and Danshui.
Your budget for rent may roughly equal five or six normal students (or more!) put together. You’ll be living in a palace compared to them.
There are plenty of apartments in the zone between Tamkang University and Tamsui MRT Station - I’d look for somewhere that’s walking distance from both. If you’re in that area, I don’t think you’d need a scooter. @finley also recommends the north Danshui developments - there are tons there, and probably a really good deal for newer apartments. But out there I think you’d want a scooter, which may or may not be an issue for you.
For what it’s worth the last MRT trains leave at … midnight, I think? (That hasn’t been an issue for me in a long time!) For many people it’d be expensive to regularly pay for an Uber or taxi to get back to Danshui (roughly NT$700? again, it’s been a while), but with your budget, perhaps not a big deal.
The light rail often isn’t that useful for TKU. Either station - Tamkang LRT or Tamsui MRT - is about 15 minutes walk from campus (depending on which end of campus you’re at), but with light rail you’re then going to have a transfer and wait at Hongshulin. But it could be good if you’re in the north Danshui area and want to take the train to campus.
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Good plan. The uni is about 20 minutes walk (uphill!) from the MRT station. I used to live literally in the market, in one of the side streets. I loved it there. Surprisingly quiet, and so convenient la!
The no. 27 bus also runs at very frequent intervals, so you could look at stationing yourself along that route.
I’ve used it, like, twice. It’s terrible. Too infrequent, too slow, too few seats, and many of the stops are in weird locations. It’d be vastly improved if they added more trains and ran the service at 3-6 minute intervals.
It’s actually quicker to get the bus.
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