It was in the summer, after our junior year that my friend and I got not only the opportunity to widen our knowledge in the field of Transportation Engineering, but also gain international experience. We were invited by Prof. Tien-Pen Hsu, Associate Professor of Transportation Engineering in Department of Civil Engineering in National Taiwan University (NTU) for our summer Internship. We learnt the use of the software VISSIM, added to that we also developed innovative ideas for the reduction of traffic queue at road intersections.
We won the internship after umpteen efforts. For third year Civil Engineers from NIT Durgapur it was a great opportunity. Prof. Tien-Pen Hsu responded to our application after reviewing our other internships and projects. We got acceptance for the summer internship in February and we had to leave in May. The next couple of months passed away in a blur. Finally when we landed in Taiwan we were received by one of the Ph.D scholars of the Civil Engineering Department.
On reaching the NTU as expected we saw a huge sprawling campus. After meeting the professor we were taken to the student hostel and given our own set of keys. We were allotted a self contained air conditioned room with bunker beds.
The student mess provided good meals and we could eat out too in Mc Donald’s, Indian restaurant and in the food stands in the market and beach. We had free access to most of the facilities on the campus.
We could also cook on our own in the microwave and wash our cloths in the coin operated washing machines.
Soon we started our internship in the department. We met the other students and learnt a lot about Civil and Transportation Engineering. We visited the Taiwan Transportation Department and important road junctions to do our work.
We also visited many places; the notable ones are Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world to withstand any tremor or earthquake, zoo, beach and night markets, Buddhist temples and the royal palace.
My impressions of Taiwan is that it one of the safest places in the world. Doors can be left open and not a single grain would go missing.
The reason, people are simply too busy to rob. Everyone is on the move on those extremely beautiful roads. It was an amazing experience to see absolute road discipline along with speed and efficiency in every mode of transportation in this tiny island.On the completion of our internship we were given a warm farewell with lovely souvenirs.
Our professor was extremely helpful and happy with our work. He gave us a stipend and promised us an MS admit in NTU with full scholarship if we ever desired to study MS. One of the conclusions I drew from my stay in this wonderful place was that hard work can make our life beautiful and stress free.
NIT Durgapur (Summer intern at National Taiwan University, Taiwan).
balapusali@gmail.com
