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My Time in Taipei

( Will Robinson - 2003 )

When I first got word of my selection, I was overjoyed to hear that I would be spending my summer in Taipei. But nothing could have prepared me for the wealth of new experiences and knowledge that I would acquire during the summer.

While planning for my trip, I couldn't shake a slight feeling of anxiety. After all, there was much to worry about: this was my first time traveling alone overseas; my first time living in a large city; my first time in Asia. Would I stick out on the streets? Would I find a place to stay? Would my Chinese "work?"

Luckily, all of these concerns disappeared within a week of hitting the Taipei tarmac. Taipei is a large, bustling city that swallowed me without a hiccup. Finding an apartment was a matter of two days' combing bulletin boards and making phone calls. And my two years of Chinese classes at Stanford (supplemented with plenty of hand gestures and apologetic smiles) were enough to keep me fed, clothed, and happy as I moved around Taiwan.

I did quite a bit of moving around, as it turns out. I took trips by bus or train almost every weekend, circling the entire island. During my short time in Taiwan, I saw everything from tourist-filled beaches in Kenting, to stunning natural vistas in Taroko Gorge, to countless temples and museums around Taipei.

During the week, I spent the bulk of my time studying Chinese. I approached my studies as a nine-to-five job, attending class every morning at the Center for Chinese Language and Culture, then having lunch in the area and studying in the afternoon.

The classes themselves were demanding but rewarding. The fast pace was the biggest challenge for me. My class would typically cover one and a half radio plays per week, and we would be expected to read, write, and understand an average of 100 new words and phrases in that time. Since I was the only native English speaker in my class, I had to ask all of my questions in Chinese, befriend my classmates in Chinese, and continue conversing in Chinese when we went to lunch. Although difficult and at times frustrating, this constant exposure to the language led to a dramatic improvement in my own fluency.

I also had help in my studies from my language exchange partner, Fabienne, a college student in Taipei studying English and advertising. She and I would meet for three or four hours each week, spending half the time speaking only English and half the time speaking only Chinese. This was a low-stress way for each of us to ask questions about the other's language and culture, and to get some valuable one-on-one instruction. As we continued to meet throughout the summer, I also found that I really enjoyed helping her with her English. By the end of my time in Taiwan, I had met Fabienne's friends and family, and had traded my knowledge of the English language and American culture for a look at Taipei through the eyes of someone born and raised there. I found Fabienne through a posting on one of the many bulletin boards throughout the CCLC, and I would strongly recommend a language exchange to anyone studying Chinese in Taiwan.

My time in Taiwan was an amazing experience for me. I think back to that summer and see the faces of friends and roommates, teachers and shopkeepers. They were fixtures in my life, part of that small corner of Taipei that I called "home" for three months. It was my neighborhood, with signs in hanzi instead of English, with delicious smells that have no name in my language, with sights of scooters where Americans would have cars, with all of these differences -- but still my neighborhood. Those streets and those people are a part of me now. And for that, I say to the Ministry of Education and to the people of Taiwan: you have my boundless thanks.

-- Will Robinson <wsr23@stanford.edu>