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According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, there are 62,387 foreign students in the academic year of 2020. This winter vacation is probably a special experience for most of them. Under the impact of the pandemic across the globe, many foreign students are unable to travel back to their home countries. Therefore, some of them promised to have a Taiwanese like lunar new year with fellow classmates. During the holiday, the dorm was opened 24-hour for students.
There are around 1500 foreign students at NTNU. While they can video chat with families, they still miss the warmth of home when staying alone abroad. A Hong Kong student said that she would go to Cantonese restaurants when she misses the food. A Japanese student said that his brother and he are both abroad and they are worried that no one can help with the loaded snow around his home. His Taiwanese friend has invited him to his grandmother’s house in Jiufen for an authentic lunar new year.
A Vietnamese student said that her mother and aunt are also in Taiwan, so they are lucky to have each other during lunar new year. There are about 600 foreign students staying in the dorm, some of them planned to stay at a hostel for lunar year.
The Office of OIA, Liu Hsiang Lin said that there are appointed teacher that works on sift 24 hours during lunar new year. If the students need assistance, they can call for help.