A 7-Eleven is a small shop for the things you grab in a hurry: drinks, snacks, magazines, toothpaste, a late meal. The name comes from the old hours, seven in the morning until eleven at night. Though actually that is history now — many stores stay open much later, and in Taiwan they are often open all night. The chain is common in the US, and you see some in the UK, especially in London. For a student here the word is not exotic at all: 7-Eleven is on almost every corner. The American shop and 台灣的小七 share the same brand name, even if the feeling of the store is “our 超商.” It is a trade name, not a description of today’s opening times.