Wow. It's hard to believe that I have been home for a week now, much less that I was in Taiwan for a good six months. And of course, what kind of a blogger would I be without a post to tie everything up together? Thus I thought I would write a short little reflective post of my six months in Taiwan.
Those six months felt long and short at the same time although, to be honest, at the very end, I was getting pretty excited about going home. I've learned much during my time in Taiwan: much Mandarin, much about Taiwanese culture, much about myself, about what it means to be an Asian-American in East Asia, specifically Taiwan (and South Korea), much from my teachers, friends, classmates. experiences.
I admit, things weren't always easy: the first few weeks I was terribly lonely and terribly homesick, but I have made some great friends who taught me many things and opened me up to many new experiences. I feel that they really taught me the value of friendship and what it means to be a friend. I am not someone who has a great many deal of friends, but rather a small circle of close friends and even if you don't make a lot of friends while you are abroad, that's okay, because sometimes all you need are a few good friends. That being said, you should be open to meeting new people, especially locals; even if the meetings don't always lead to friendship, it's nice to interact with different types of people, see different points of views, different experiences.
As wonderful and fun as your friends can be however, sometimes you do need a little time to yourself and there's nothing wrong with going out and about on your own. In fact, some people I met have told me that sometimes they prefer travelling alone. Coming to Taiwan by myself was a little scary and even once I was here, sometimes I was afraid of travelling or going out to do things by myself in an unfamiliar place. But I've learned that there's nothing wrong with doing things alone; sometimes it's nice to have someone to share the moment with, and likewise, sometimes it's nice to have the moment to yourself.
Time flies by quickly even if it feels slow. Of course, when you're sitting in class, time might feel like it's crawling, but if you keep thinking things like, "I can't wait for this class to be over," "I can't wait for the weekend," "I can't wait for spring break" that's a lot of time lost right there. You don't always have to wait for break or a long weekend to go out and explore--I had a good amount of free weekends and I wish I had gone out more often to explore. Likewise, exploring doesn't mean having to leave the city--especially if you are in Taipei, you should go out and see what the city has to offer--after all it is your home for at least the next four months!
Make the most of your time abroad: this goes hand in hand with the point made in the above paragraph, but hey you're only abroad once (or twice) and only for a semester (or a year) so you should make the most of your time. Go out and be daring. Try new things, meet new people, choose fun exciting classes that have nothing to do with your major, learn a new language or improve your existing language skills, explore, take lots of pictures, blog, write journals, just get out there and fall in love with the city (or countryside!).
I can't deny that it feels great to be home, and that I'm having a surprisingly easy time falling back into American culture (but then again I haven't been out much and when I do it's to an Asian neighborhood--I do live in a Chinese neighborhood after all), but I would definitely go back to Taiwan in a heartbeat--there's still so many more parts of Taiwan I have yet to see, so much I have yet to eat, so much left to try, so much left to say, so if you thought my blogging days were over (for this blog at least), you're so wrong. My last few days were packed and I managed to get some last minute sightseeing done, so expect some posts on that as well as other posts about living in Taiwan or on my post-Taiwan life.
The semester may be over, but the adventures aren't!
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