“I went to Taiwan because I wanted to learn more about my culture.

I learned about the program last year. I came across a [CIEE Study Abroad] flyer, but when I tried to apply for the Taiwanese Language and Culture Program, it was so confusing. Because when I was a freshman, I thought that you had to make a video [introducing yourself] to get a scholarship. I was so confused, and that kind of scared me away from doing it. I tried again this year, and it wasn't that complicated, mainly because they had a better [interest] meeting. I just applied.

[I went] mainly because my mom really wanted me to learn Chinese, and I don’t know anything about my culture. I hadn’t been to Taiwan in maybe eight years, and I’ve never really talked to my cousins or my grandma. I felt kind of lost. [This trip] helped me understand a lot more things about my culture and like, like, where my mom came from, and how that has affected who she is today.

I went on the plane alone. At the airport, I met my uncle and my grandma, as I went two weeks early before my program. I stayed in Taipei for about three days [and] then went to see Kayla, [another Bellaire student], who’s also doing the program in the session before mine. So I hung out with her, and got to hear a little bit [about the program]. Then I went back to my grandma’s.

During my program, we did a lot of cultural activities. The first half of the day, in the morning, we would have classes like learning Chinese [at National Taiwan University]. Then in the second half of the day, we would go with the program to a cultural activity place. It could be like making xiao long bao, sight seeing, or visiting [the] Taipei Zoo. And after that we would have free time. We would explore whatever area we were in after a cultural activity. After classes we would go to a cultural activity somewhere in Taipei, and then hang out there. It was mainly shopping. We went to a temple one time after a cooking class, and that was really cool. We just had to be home before 6:45 p.m.

[Living with a host family] was so great. I love my host family. They were so nice. It was a bit crowded because I had a roommate, and the family had three daughters. I shared a bunk bed with my roommate, and the room was pretty small.

There were three birthdays when I was staying with my host family. It was the youngest, the middle child, and my roommate’s when I was there. The first week, it was the middle child’s birthday, and we went out to eat the day before. All her grandparents came, and we had a really fun time. Then the next week, it was the little kid’s birthday, and they did the same thing.

I would say the biggest challenge I had was the language barrier, especially when communicating with my host family. It would be kind of difficult and kind of awkward sometimes.

My favorite part was the overnight trip when we went to Taichung, Taiwan. We stayed in a hotel, and then went to this Aboriginal village, which was also an amusement park. It had a different, older vibe to it. It didn’t feel like the city. I found this passion fruit vendor, and that was the first time I tried passion fruit. There were three different kinds of passion fruit, of which I had no idea. It was really fun, because we went on all the rides, and I made friends.

The most important thing I’ve learned was about Taiwan and its place in the world. I knew that Taiwan is in a precarious situation politically, but it gave me more insight into why Taiwan is so important. It’s kind of scary. The reason why [my family] didn’t really go to Taiwan that much is because my parents were scared that if we go there and something happens, we’d be kind of screwed. Before, I knew that there was tension between Taiwan and China, but I didn’t really understand it, and it didn’t really make sense to me. Now, I have a lot more respect for Taiwan, as I learned the reason Taiwan isn’t able to be pushed around by China is because they produce semiconductors.

I’ve met so many amazing people. I love my roommate. I still keep in contact with her. And I made a lot of friends in my class. I still talk to them a lot. I also made friends with my teacher, my program leader and the interns there. I got all their Instagrams. I send my program leader reels all the time.

I would really want to do [the program] again. But I wouldn’t do the Taipei one again, because I’ve already done everything. One of my friends and I from the program were like, ‘Oh, maybe we should go to Japan or Korea, and do the session there.’

You’re not just meeting people from Taiwan, you’re also meeting people across the U.S., because CIEE has people from across the U.S. I get to hear how different our lives are, even though we live in the same country. It really broadened my perspective.

I’m a CIEE Ambassador now. So, that just means that I’ll be the one giving talks at school, promoting CIEE at the school in my neighborhood and in my community. If anyone has any questions, they can come to me. It makes me really excited. I was really hoping that I could be an ambassador, so I could have resources to help me promote CIEE at school. I really enjoyed doing the program, and I hope that everyone else has the opportunity to learn about it and do it.”