On being abroad

I was in a car with two of my cousins to a department store in Taichung a couple of hours ago, and one of them asked me if I didn't want to leave. Two years ago, when I went to Japan and Taiwan with family, I remember when we were at Taoyuan Airport (although I think it was still Chiang Kai-shek Airport then) and I really didn't want to leave -- I had had so much fun in Taiwan and I didn't want to go back to the States and face real life.

This year is different, though. Don't get me wrong -- I've had a great week in Taiwan so far (I'm leaving next Tuesday). I've been to Taipei and Tainan in the north and the south, went to Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 today and have eaten and shopped to my heart's content. But having said that, I think I'm ready to go home. I'm pretty excited to have cold, cold milk, to sleep in my own bed, if only for three nights, and be fully understood and be able to fully express myself all the time. :)

At the same time, though, this experience abroad has only cemented my desire to speak Chinese as fluently as possible. Making some tantalizing steps toward fluency this summer have only made me more determined to get to a higher level of proficiency. I want to find some way to get back here, probably after graduation. In the car earlier today I said that I thought studying language abroad had two results: (1) that you learned faster than you could ever learn in the States but that (2) you also realized how much more you have to learn to fully understand a culture and a language.

I think the crux of it is this: I want to come back, probably for a longer period of time, in order to more fully immerse myself in the language and the culture here. But I think for now I've had enough, and I'm ready to get back to the States and all that I love about it -- Western food, diversity, opportunity, English -- and surprisingly, even the things that I don't like about it so much -- the American self-centered mentality, our economy, expensive food, among other things. I'm also really excited about getting back to Yale. May and spring semester seem like ages ago and I'd like to be able to plan and control my own life again.

Studying abroad, and just being abroad in general, are immensely valuable experiences. You don't appreciate what you have at home, and you don't see the shortcomings and pitfalls of your hometown and homeland, until you get out.

All in all, it's been one of the best, if not the best, summers of my life. I can't thank the Light Fellowship enough for this chance to go travel and study abroad. I'm really, really glad that I picked a program in mainland China to study Chinese, because I now have had the chance to go to many more places that I didn't before, I (hope that I) have a more nuanced view on cross-strait issues and hopefully my views on China and Taiwan have matured somewhat. I'm glad I went to Shanghai and started my time there, and I'm particularly glad that I chose to come to Taiwan in order to relax after the program, instead of before. I don't think I could go travel independently now; I wouldn't have the energy.

This is probably it for this summer -- all five of you, thanks for reading, and for most of you, I'll see you at Yale.