Adrien Gau

Adrien is a doctoral candidate in the History of Sociology and Science Department and attended National Taiwan University last summer to study Mandarin. Read more about their experience below:

"I originally didn't intend to academically study East Asia at all, having applied to Penn with a focus on US history instead. My guiding question for my dissertation research has always been about the relationship between medicine and the state; it was only through the process of studying for my comprehensive lists and oral exam that I became interested in post-WWII East Asia as a region of overlapping iterations of past and present imperialisms. [...] It’d be no exaggeration to say that FLAS was one of the most enjoyable learning experiences I’ve ever had. Unlike when I took language classes as an undergrad purely to fulfill university requirements, this time I had a clear goal (i.e., dissertation research), as well as simply more experience as a person. So I was able to appreciate my coursework not only for, well, improving my Mandarin, but also as an opportunity to engage with instructors and classmates who themselves had a huge variety of experiences and knowledges, about Taiwan and more generally."