Reflections on Taiwan | 我的台灣感想

July 2, 2023

My blog wouldn’t be complete without some reflections on my time in Taiwan. I had hoped to get to writing my last post earlier than six months after my return, but after a difficult semester and starting my summer internship in Minneapolis, I’m just getting around to it now. I’ll scatter in a few of my favorite photos from my time in Taiwan to keep things interesting.

When I think of Taiwan, the incredible kindness of Taiwanese people is the first thing that pops into my head. Throughout my time abroad, I encountered so many people who were incredibly welcoming and hospitable. Wendy and Allen took Hannah and I under their wing and became our “Taiwanese parents.” Their extended families were also very welcoming and folded us into family dinners and gatherings. The boss at the breakfast shop under my dorm always made lively conversation with me in the mornings when I’d go buy breakfast from him. One of my first days in Taiwan, I had a bill that various shops wouldn’t accept, and I asked him why. He said it looked counterfeit, but was confident it wasn’t and told me I could exchange it with him and he’d take it to the bank to save me the trouble. On my ICL trips, I encountered local kids, educators, and college students, all of whom were welcoming, friendly, and enthusiastic to share culture with each other. On my trip, we met countless people who kindly helped us on the way. A few that come to mind are the girls in the coffee shop in Puli who gave us sightseeing recommendations, our host on Xiaoliuqiu, and the woman at the snorkel shop who brought me my sunglasses.

Tiandi temple, Puli, Nantou County, Taiwan

My Chinese language ability dramatically improved while I was in Taiwan. Before I left, I was certain I’d be ok to get around basic daily life. By the end of my time, I started to become much more comfortable in linguistically unfamiliar situations (I got comfortable talking on the phone, a big step as someone in Gen Z and as a non-native Chinese speaker). While I was enrolled in three Chinese classes, I found the immersion environment to be the most helpful in improving my language. Forcing myself to go out every day and speak Chinese, even to complete simple daily tasks helped improve my listening and speaking ability. My biggest linguistic success came on my last day in Taiwan when our taxi driver told me she wouldn’t have known I was a foreigner if I hadn’t told her when we talked on the phone. I’ve picked up a pretty heavy Taiwanese accent (confirmed by my Chinese teacher, tutor, and classmates at St. Olaf) in my Chinese speaking (think differences between a southern accent, east coast accent, and Chicago accent).

Mazu Broadcasting Station, Beigan, Lienchaing County, Taiwan

One of the best parts of traveling was the opportunity to speak with locals using Chinese. At many of the small craft markets and cafes we went to, I’d always notice a look of apprehension on the face of the shop owners as we approached the stand. Many of them assumed we didn’t know Chinese and were nervous to speak to us in English. After we greeted them in Chinese, it was really easy to launch into long conversations about our trip. The conversations usually went something like this:

“Hello, how much does [this thing] cost?”

“Woahhhh! You speak Chinese! Your Chinese is so good!”

“Oh no, not at all…”

“I didn’t expect you to speak and thought I would have to speak English, I was very nervous”

“Ohh no don’t worry about it! We are just as nervous to speak Chinese as you are to speak English!”

Liberal Democracy Square, Taipei City, Taiwan

Despite many wild successes, there was certainly no shortage of linguistic challenges. Reading was really, really hard. Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters, and I have been learning simplified characters since I started taking Chinese. Needless to say, it took a long time to be able to even read something as simple as a menu. Simplified and traditional characters have some resemblance, but they’re different enough that many words are indistinguishable if you haven’t learned them before. I also struggled to use Chinese after about 6 or 7pm every day. After a long day of class or exploring, my brain would kind of shut off, and I’d struggle to put sentences together. Another challenge was adjusting to the sound of Chinese background noise. In the United States, I’m able to tune in and out of conversations and pretty easily grasp what is going on at any given time. Since speaking and thinking in Chinese takes almost all of my focus, it was really difficult to quickly absorb my surroundings, which was overwhelming at times. This phenomenon definitely got easier as I adjusted to my new environment.

Sun Moon Lake, Nantou County, Taiwan

The convenience and safety of life in Taiwan are two things I’ve really missed as I’ve adjusted back to life in the United States. Taipei is equipped with an incredible subway system. It’s clean, fast, punctual, and most importantly, very safe. As a woman traveling alone, I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe, even at night. The sense of safety I felt gave me a huge sense of freedom. I felt very empowered to go out and explore the city and travel a lot. Taiwan’s public transit is so accessible that between the train, high speed rail, and buses, I was able to get anywhere I wanted to go. Especially living in Minnesota this summer, I’ve come to miss the convenience of hopping on the train or grabbing a YouBike to get around.

So many people leave home and “find themselves.” While I certainly didn’t have any groundbreaking soul-searching moments, I did learn a thing or two about myself and about life.

Sunrise, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou County, Taiwan

First: it’s ok to be spontaneous. I’m a planner at heart. I might be just slightly obsessed with google calendar. I know planning and organization to be one of my strengths, but sometimes I become paralyzed by it. While in Taiwan, I had many opportunities to be spontaneous. Instead of worrying because there wasn’t a clear plan, I took advantage of these opportunities and met so many cool people along the way. (Side note: it’s much easier to be spontaneous when you feel safe, have the ability to get around easily, and can pretty easily afford to do things). Three especially spontaneous moments come to mind as I reflect on my discovery of spontaneity. The first is my trip to Yilan. My friend Violetta invited me on an overnight trip with four other people who I’d never met. Honestly, I didn’t even know Violetta very well at the time. After consulting with a friend, I decided to go on the trip, and I had so much fun. I couldn’t believe that something so unplanned could have gone so smoothly and be so relaxing! My second spontaneous success was a random Saturday night invite to go out for dinner and drinks with my friend Anna and 15 people she kind of knew. I was exhausted, but decided to go check things out. The group I had drinks with that night is the group I ended up going ice skating with on Christmas and did Karaoke with. They are such a fun group, and I wouldn’t have met them if I’d decided to stay inside that night when Anna asked me to go with her. My third spontaneous moment was the short trip I took to Shanlinxi with my friend Jacob. We’d been talking about going somewhere on the weekend, but didn’t make our plans until 1:30am the morning we left. It was one of the least planned things I’d ever done, but it was such a lovely trip. It’s difficult to incorporate spontaneity into my busy life at school, but it’s something I’ve tried to become more open to after my experiences in Taiwan.

Karaoke with friends, Taipei City, Taiwan

Taiwan exposed me to a new pace of life I’d never experienced before. In the United States, I’m always so busy. If not with school, I’m either working, in rehearsal, or hanging out with friends. In Taiwan, my schoolwork took up significantly less time than it does at St. Olaf, and I didn’t have a job or any extracurriculars. Any time I wasn’t in class or doing homework, I was free to do whatever I liked! I really appreciated how I could use my abundant spare time spontaneously depending on my mood, the weather, and what else I had to do that day. Sometimes, I’d take 45 minutes to walk back from class so I could go birding at the small lake on campus. Other times, I’d walk or bike to Wendy’s house when I had a few hours in the afternoon. I had a lot of time to go explore, both with others and on my own. And, because I had so much time on my hands, I was able to stay in touch with loved ones back home without feeling like it was cutting into my time to go out and explore.

Sandiaoling trail, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Adjusting back to life in the United States was actually the worst. I experienced some pretty intense reverse culture shock, and didn’t really feel like I’d settled back in until the end of April, almost three months after returning. During the first weeks of my semester, I was completely disoriented as I coped with an intense shock to my pace of life. I went from spending barely any time on homework to doing 2-4 hours of homework a day on top of classes, rehearsals, work, and somehow maintaining a social life. I felt like no one really could relate to my experience while abroad. Taiwan is so far outside so many people’s understanding of the world, that even if I explained stuff, they still wouldn’t get it. It was in these moments I was really thankful for Hannah, my friend Nicky, and mom. Hannah and I essentially shared our entire experience, so we have been able to support each other through the brutal reentry and adjustment. Although he’s never been to Taiwan, Nicky is very familiar with Chinese culture. He understood a lot of the cultural context of my experiences which was really encouraging. Mom came to visit and lived in my world for a week. It has been really helpful to have someone besides Hannah who was there and experienced a slice of my life with me.

Maokong Gondola, Taipei City, Taiwan

An unexpected challenge of the adjustment has been language. Academic and professional English is hard, and I hadn’t really been using any English besides in casual conversation. For the first few weeks back at St. Olaf, school was incredibly exhausting as I readjusted to using very technical and advanced English. At first, I thought I was alone in this experience, but Hannah had similar struggles too. I also talked to Sean Lyon (resident ornithologist) who had a similar experience when he returned from his time abroad. The encouragement of good friends has been essential in easing a very rough transition back into life in the United States.

Despite the challenges, I wouldn’t have things any other way. My only regret from Taiwan is not taking time to visit other countries, specifically Japan. I’ll have to go next time I’m in Asia.

A-Mei Teahouse, Jiufen, New Taipei City, Taiwan

A lot of people have asked me what I want to do in the future. The honest answer is: I don’t know. I’m still experiencing and exploring so many new things, I feel like my future goals change almost every day. I can say for certain that I want to go back to Taiwan for a year after I graduate, ideally on a Fulbright scholarship to be an English Teaching Assistant. If Fulbright doesn’t work out, there are lots of opportunities for me to work abroad for a year. I want to become proficient in Chinese so that I can use it in whatever professional context I get involved in down the line.

After all this time, I’ve arrived. This is the end of my Taiwan blog…for now. Hopefully, there will be more adventures to add someday. Thank you to each of you who read my blog, sent me emails, and encouraged me before, during, and after this crazy journey. I couldn’t have done it without you all. Until next time….