It is 3am in France, and I would kill for a midnight snack. My fridge and shelves are empty, supermarkets are closed. At night, almost every shop is closed except McDonald’s.
The only thing left to do is to try to fall asleep and wait until tomorrow when the shops open again.
Things are different in Taiwan. Convenience stores are everywhere. This is quite life changing. Do you want something to eat? No matter the time, you can find something. You have just cut yourself and need a bandage? You would find it there. Need to print your train tickets? I can basically access everything no matter what time it is.
Before coming to Taiwan, I already knew about convenience stores. In fact, convenience stores, particularly 7-Eleven, are famous back in France. Almost every teenager has stumbled on influencers traveling to Japan or South Korea and reviewing the convenience stores’ items at least once. Most of the time, you would see them trying out new drinks, rice triangles, instant noodles, ice cream and so on. Convenience stores are considered really advanced and cool in France.
Naturally, I was very excited when I entered the first 7-Eleven I saw in Kaohsiung. I could not believe I was finally experiencing what I had seen through social media. I even recorded bits of the store and sent it to my friends. What really struck me was the variety of drinks and their packaging. Back in France, packaging is not as sophisticated as it is here. The products here look so cute that it makes you want to buy them. This cuteness to appeal to customers is one of the biggest cultural differences I encountered so far. On top of that, every other product was appealing to me since it was relatively cheaper than in France.
I had just moved into a new room, so I bought a lot of essentials from a 7-Eleven. I could not help but think of how convenient that store was.
Now that I have been here for a few months, my opinion about convenience stores has evolved. Of course, I still find them really convenient, but I came down to earth and realized that they are in fact more expensive than regular supermarkets. However, that does not stop me from going there at least once a day. This made me realize that convenience stores make me want to consume much more. Indeed, they are open 24/7 and are rarely more than 10 minutes away by foot, even less with a motorbike. How tempting.
The other day, I came back quite late from my practice at the skatepark. I was really thirsty and my friends and I wanted to pass by the 7-Eleven near our house to buy some snacks. Even though I could have waited only five minutes more to get to our home and drink water for free, I decided to buy a water bottle at the store. This story might sound futile, but it made me realize how convenience stores enhance tendencies of consumerism. Now that everything can be acquired fast, I do not take the time to actually ask myself if what I want is really necessary or not.
Convenience stores are indeed very convenient for the day-to-day, but definitely push people to consume more. The products that they sell are not of very good quality either, but it is that way so that they can be accessible to everyone. Not having that kind of shop in France definitely pushes me to be more organized when I do grocery shopping. However, even after coming to that conclusion, I know I would not help but miss them once I am back in France.
Lucia Caneque Bueno is a French exchange student in the Department of International Affairs at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages.
China’s supreme objective in a war across the Taiwan Strait is to incorporate Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic. It follows, therefore, that international recognition of Taiwan’s de jure independence is a consummation that China’s leaders devoutly wish to avoid. By the same token, an American strategy to deny China that objective would complicate Beijing’s calculus and deter large-scale hostilities. For decades, China has cautioned “independence means war.” The opposite is also true: “war means independence.” A comprehensive strategy of denial would guarantee an outcome of de jure independence for Taiwan in the event of Chinese invasion or
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) earlier this month said it is necessary for her to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and it would be a “huge boost” to the party’s local election results in November, but many KMT members have expressed different opinions, indicating a struggle between different groups in the party. Since Cheng was elected as party chairwoman in October last year, she has repeatedly expressed support for increased exchanges with China, saying that it would bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan, and that a meeting with Xi in Beijing takes priority over meeting
The political order of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) first took shape in 1988. Then-vice president Lee succeeded former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) after he passed, and served out the remainder of his term in office. In 1990, Lee was elected president by the National Assembly, and in 1996, he won Taiwan’s first direct presidential election. Those two, six and four-year terms were an era-defining 12-year presidential tenure. Throughout those years, Lee served as helmsman for Taiwan’s transition from martial law and authoritarianism to democracy. This period came to be known as the “quiet revolution,” leaving a legacy containing light
Gulf states did not ask the US to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources said. At the same time, these sources, and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the US-Israeli war. According to three of them, US President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign to bolster its international legitimacy as well as support at home. “There is a wide
RSS