Hello everyone, long time no see! I never expected my semester in Taiwan to float by so effortlessly, but here I am with two weeks left in my program and no blog posts to show for it. That all changes today!

I decided to study in Taiwan for many reasons, the first of which was to live in a primarily Mandarin-speaking country to practice my language skills and become more familiar with the many facets of East Asian cultures. I am from Honolulu, Hawai’i where I began learning Mandarin in elementary school, but moving to the mainland U.S. changed that as it is not offered as frequently nor does my family speak Mandarin at home. The second reason was because I do miss my island life, and I have come to find Taiwan has many similarities to my home on O’ahu (see the bird of paradise below — they used to be right in my backyard!)

I have been living in the capital city, Taipei, which lies on the northern half of the island and taking intensive Mandarin language classes at National Taiwan University. My first few weeks in Taipei were a whirlwind of navigating my neighborhood, NTU’s campus, night markets, the many transportation systems, and remembering to order bubble tea without forgetting to include the actual boba. I’d be lying if I said orientation wasn’t difficult, I did feel estranged and out of place, but spending time outside and familiarizing myself with Taipei did a world of good. I discovered that NTU has an experimental farm used for teaching and experimenting for the departments of agriculture and beyond, including but not limited to horticulture, animal husbandry, forestry, bio-environmental engineering, etc!!! I obviously had to enjoy some NTU milk, and designated a wooden balcony overlooking the fields as my sit spot.

大家好，好久不見！我沒想到在台北的時間過得這麼快。那，我的計畫只有兩個星期，而且還沒寫博客。今天不一樣！