TKU exchange student, Theresa Dullnig, from the music capital of the world, Vienna, has a not-so-secret hobby: she loves studying Chinese. In her past travels, she took pleasure in learning new languages, meeting people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and learning about new cultures. Laughing, Theresa explains “although I come from Vienna, I can only play the flute. But compared with playing music, I much prefer to study Chinese. I watch Taiwanese TV dramas all the time to practice my Chinese listening ability”.

In the past, she tuned into such dramas as “Love You (While We Were Drunk)”, “Autumn’s Concerto”, and “Fated to Love You”, which have doubled as Chinese language learning material for Theresa. Her favorite actor is Joseph Chang. She practices Chinese by repeating the actors’ lines over and over. “It’s really effective in improving my listening abilities”, she added.

Her favorite local foods include beef soup with bean thread noodles and sweet and spicy soup. She noted that “in Austria, I don’t get the chance to eat really heavy, flavor-filled foods”. Theresa can already speak German, French, English, and Norwegian. She now hopes to add Chinese to this impressive list, so that in the future, she can find work in the area of Asian trade and business.