Day 5: Brand Management, Taiwan Stock Exchange and Franz

   We started out with a brand management class at NTNU, where we listened to an analysis of a case study about E-harmony and contributed to the discussion. The presentation itself wasn't that interesting but people raised really good questions. In the end we had to leave early to make it to the Stock Exchange.

   At the Taiwan Stock Exchange we got a brief presentation of how trading there works. The presenter seemed almost apologetic over the polices. Share prices can't fluctuate more than 7% a day so that no one looses all their money which makes sense because most traders are housewives. They also have very short trading hours, only 4.5 hours a day. Honestly I have mixed feelings, it's good that so many women are getting involved in the stock market and I wish it were that way here, but at the same time the speaker said something about how buying a stock was like buying a lottery ticket and how most people follow trends or listen to TV personalities which isn't healthy.

   After the presentation we had lunch at Taipei 101 and I finally got to buy a new camera! My old camera had been having issues with the lens sticking no matter how much I cleaned it and the  day before it had finally given up and refused to close. I bought a cheaper Sony model ($140 USD or so) and the clerk was so nice. She asked me if i wanted to use it right away and when I said yes she traded the battery in the box with a fully charged one, put the wrist strap on the camera and set the menu to English for me.

First picture with my new camera!

   Then we visited the vase and porcelain manufacturer Franz. I think the most interesting part was watching the sculptors making the decorations for the vases out of clay (and applying them to perfectly symmetrical plastic vase molds). They were all so breathtakingly beautiful and the thought that less than 40% of them will ever see production makes me incredibly sad. We also visited the upstairs showroom which was both terrifying and gorgeous because you were surrounded by extremely expensive and fragile objects. 

Steps of the porcelain making process (in the only room we were allowed to take pictures in)

 

   The last item on the agenda was an appreciation dinner for everything NTNU had done for us, but the NTNU students got to chose and they chose McDonald's... it was a little ridiculous.