Tales from Taiwan Vol. 1
Tales from Taiwan Vol. 1
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 ...read more
My last week in Taiwan overlapped with Lunar New Year. This was both a blessing and a curse—on one hand, I had an opportunity to experience some Lunar New Year traditions, on the other hand, most places closed for the holiday making it difficult to visit some places for ...read more
This is the last installment of tales from my January trip. If you know anything about Taiwan’s geography, you’re probably asking yourself why we would travel all the way back to Taipei only to head back to the southernmost point of Taiwan two days later. Hannah’s ...read more
I’m home for spring break and finally have time to upload more stories and photos from Taiwan. Enjoy! Returning to Taipei in the middle of our trip turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. I rested well and recovered a bit from my cold. We met up with our friend ...read more
I’m officially home in the United States and back at St. Olaf, but I want to share stories and pictures from my 21 day trip I took with Hannah around Taiwan. We saw so many beautiful things and met some incredibly kind people ...read more
After my busy week of ICL trips, it felt like my schedule got even more hectic! With the holidays and final exams closing in, I was very busy studying and spending time with friends. Recently, the weather has been pretty cold in ....read more
It seems a bit late to post about Christmas. This post has been written for about three weeks, but I’ve been so busy, there’s been no time to update my blog! I recently returned from an incredible three week trip around Taiwan, which ...read more
The morning after I returned from Hualien, I was back on the road for an ICL trip to Chiayi, a city in western central Taiwan. Our first stop was at Xikou elementary school (溪口國小). We were greeted with an amazing taiko drum ...read more
Happy New Year! This is the first of a few posts with updates from December. During the last week of November, I went to Hualien, a city in eastern Taiwan with some friends. Hualien is known for its beautiful scenery, and it ...read more
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is well. I have lots of blog updates coming soon, but I've been too busy to write because of final exams. Since many of you may be around Chicago during the holidays, I thought I would share ...read more
Since mom left Taiwan, I’ve been very busy with lots of trips! The first (of many) was to Jiufen, a small town about an hour and a half but ride from Taipei. The town is famous for its beautiful scenery (especially at night) and its ...read more
I spent the last week touring Taipei with mom! As soon as it looked like the Taiwan borders would open, she booked a plane ticket and started counting down the days. Recently, I’ve been missing a lot of people from home ...read more
Recently, I’ve been very busy with ICL. In the past two weeks I participated in two separate trips, both of which were a lot of fun! The first one was a day trip to Miaoli and Hsinchu, two counties about an hour from Taipei. The school ...read more
This past weekend, I had a very spontaneous opportunity to travel to Yilan, a small city outside of Taipei. I was invited by my friend Violetta to join four others for an overnight trip to celebrate our long weekend due to Taiwan’s ...read more
Between my classes and sightseeing in Taipei, I haven’t had much time to write recently. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen some beautiful scenery, eaten delicious food, and made a few new friends! Last week (9/23), I went with Hannah ...read more
As indicated by the title of this post, I’ve experienced my first earthquakes here in Taiwan. The first was on Saturday night around 9:30pm. I actually was in the shower, and lost my balance but wrote it off on dehydration/dizziness ...read more
This past weekend, Taiwan celebrated the Mid-Autumn festival. Each year, it is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Originally, it was a time to celebrate harvest and worship the moon. Now, it is recognized ...read more
It’s been awhile since my last post. I’ve been busy with getting my dorm set up, finalizing classes, orientation, and exploring Taipei. I’ve certainly settled in. I’ve become ...read more
This week, I was on the move. I had a lot of opportunities to get out and explore the area near my quarantine hotel. I’ve been eating lots of tasty food, drinking a lot of bubble tea, and trying to soak up a lot of Chinese while ...read more
As I write this post, I am sipping on my first cup of Taiwanese bubble tea! I've officially arrived in Taiwan. My flight was overall smooth and uneventful. First, I flew from Chicago to San Francisco. There, I met up with a St. Olaf ...read more
Hello friends, family, and potential anonymous readers! Welcome to my Taiwan travel blog. My hope is that this blog is a way to share stories from my travels with people that I love. It will also serve as a way for me to faithfully ...read more