OHH WAIT! I’ve forgotten to introduce myself! My name is Shirley, I recently graduated from University of Malaya, majoring in Genetics and Molecular Biology. During my third year of undergraduate studies, I participated in the International Internship Program under Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP-IIP), held in Academia Sinica, Taipei. It was memorable and I had acquired precious friendships with friends from different cultural backgrounds but share similar interests with me. 😀
Good things are meant to be shared! So, now I am going to share with you some of my personal and lab experiences during this internship. I will also elaborate further description about what is TIGP-IIP in my next blogpost — The 5 Do’s of applying to International Internship Program (TIGP-IIP). Stay tuned!
I joined the July – August 2014 batch, under the department of Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Chen was my principal investigator, who has in-depth knowledge on genetics, motor neurons and embryonic stem cells. I could still remember how overwhelmed I was by the excitement when the results were out! I didn’t need much aside from my visa and flight ticket, and off I go to Taiwan, on my own! (P/S: half of the cheapest round-way airfare at economy class will be reimbursed (:)

Academia Sinica front door

Activity centre at Academia Sinica – Accommodation during my internship. A luxurious stay for two months including daily room cleaning services! However, I heard that starting from 2016, the accommodation will be changed to TIGP dormitory, which is not bad, only without room cleaning services. Aww..
Some of my internship experiences throughout the 2 months:

The unmistakable Taipei 101

Since the whole internship was sponsored (NTD 30,000 every month), I had saved up some money to travel around Taiwan island for eight days from Taipei – Hualien – Tainan – Taichung – Taipei and I spent my first week of the semester backpacking in Taiwan.
P/s: Playing truant isn’t good 😛
Hope you enjoyed reading it. Are you tempted to apply? Want to know more? Please proceed to my next blog post.
– Shirley –
About the author:
Ms Liau Ee Shan (Shirley) has recently graduated from University of Malaya as Bsc in Genetics and Molecular Biology.
“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”