“你爲什麽每天早上喝流程果汁？ Why do you drink orange juice every day in the morning?” Xuan Han asked me. I stared back at her with a perplexed face.

“什麽？What?” I replied. She explained how in all the Hollywood films she’s watched, Americans always drank a glass of orange juice in the morning while reading the newspaper in the kitchen. I laughed and shed light on this question that had boggled her mind for years. I told her that not all Americans drink a glass of orange juice in the morning while reading the newspaper. To convince her, I asked the seven other American students in my program if they drank orange juice every day in the morning. They all shook their heads.

It was a typical Monday afternoon where we met up with our Taiwanese language partners for our weekly two hour language and cultural exchange meeting. Questions like these were fired back and forth between us, the American exchange students, and them, the local Taiwanese college students who applied to be our language partners.

While my Mandarin skills improved in the classroom, it was cultural exchanges, such as meetings with my language partner and interactions with local Taiwanese people outside of the classroom, that transformed my lens in approaching the world. As I explored the intersectionality of my Chinese-American, low-income, first-generation, and queer identities, I found myself falling in love with Taiwan because my immersion in that environment challenged me to deconstruct and reconstruct what it means to be human and to love. For the first time in a long time, I found my place in the world.

As a Chinese-American, I contemplated how I grew up in an individualistic American society in contrast to my home, where my Chinese immigrant parents raised me to value the collective whole. As a low-income, first-generation college student, I reflected on how blessed I felt to be able to not only be the first person in my family to go to college, but also be the first to study abroad. As a Smithie outside of the Smith bubble, I learned how to engage in dialogue with people who didn’t have the same radical, liberal views as me. As an international student for the first time, I empathized with international students back at Smith who constantly have to represent their entire countries and do conversion math, like converting from Celsius to Fahrenheit every day.

Studying abroad in Taiwan through a summer language intensive program for Mandarin was hands-down the best decision I made while at Smith. From the moment I stepped off the airplane, I felt at home. The pleasant rays of sunlight, cotton-shaped clouds, and the perfect blue sky of Taiwan welcomed me like a warm embrace from a close friend you haven’t seen in years.

Although I am no longer physically there, I bring Taiwan with me into every new space that I now enter. If we ever cross paths, I invite you and welcome you into my space.

 

Regina Wu /伍嘉嫣 is a human bean who likes to connect with other human beans. While they are waiting for the day they have a stable adult life to comfortably take care of their future pug, they often contemplate the meaning of life at Paradise Pond. They hope to continue following life wherever it takes them (hopefully back to Taiwan soon).

 

 

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