First Days in Taiwan
No one can prepare you for the initial blast of homesickness you face the second you step out of the bus and onto Kaohsiung streets. “This is real.” The first meal I had at Seven-Eleven was my wake-up call. I was with my friend from Hunter, Atlas, whom I had coordinated to come on the same flight with. As I tried the famous Seven-Eleven’s tea eggs, pairing it with a low-fiber, low-sugar soy milk in a pretense to be healthy, I felt a sinking sensation at the bottom of my stomach, “I am in Taiwan.” For months, weeks, and even days before my flight to Taiwan, I did not process I was going to study abroad for 3 months until I was there. Physically there. What do I do now? Where do I go from here? Those were the questions I asked myself, and the same questions that engulfed me in dread for the coming days. I felt truly alone in this country, away from my friends and family, which is ironic because Atlas was quite literally sitting across from me.
The wonderful thing about the You Huayu Scholarship is that you don’t come to Taiwan alone, in fact, you come with companions who could very much become your closest friends. I like to joke that my travel buddies (aka fellow scholarship recipients) are my built-in friends, but it is true, having this group of people who came from the same college as me was my cure for my homesickness. It is even better if there are people who are experienced with traveling and making plans, which I struck gold with because my friends loved checking out places. If you watch my recap video, I list a few places we decided to check out days before summer classes, including the Dragon Boat Festival by Pier 2 and Love River. Something I did was keep a photo journal and document what I did each day, not only would this serve as an excellent keepsake from Taiwan, but it keeps you grounded especially during the initial days. Bonus points if you write in Mandarin!
Atlas and I came to Taiwan five days before the official starting date of classes, which I highly recommend because you can use these days to explore the city and adjust before starting classes. Use this time to accustom yourself to the cash conversion and figure out your budget.