This is it! The winter study abroad
program is finally coming to an end. I am very sad that it is ending because I
have had such an amazing experience here, but everything must come to an end
eventually. I am spending my last few days here attending classes, talking in
Chinese, and eating all the food that I can afford! Since I know I am not going
to eat such amazing food for a very very long time, I find the need to buy as
much as I can without getting sick to my stomach. I ended up budgeting my food
money really well so I have just enough left to splurge on extra food. The past
few days have been very exciting, for one thing we celebrated Erica’s 20th
birthday! We surprised her by taking her to KTV and there we sang many songs. I
think she liked her birthday surprise, even though there weren’t any balloons
and tangible presents, there was plenty of cake and fun! On Wednesday, January
15th, we went to the Palace Museum and it was really interesting to
see all the different vases, bells, and sculptures from the different
dynasties. I also learned that there are two kinds of jade, and the one that
appears to be green colored is much more rare than the other kind. Last night
and today I have spent my time studying and preparing for my exam and
presentation. I would rather have time to explore the city one last time, but I
really need to study because this is my last exam in Taiwan! Hopefully I fall
asleep at a decent hour because I am starting to feel a little sick… uh oh.
Since this is my last post, I will
focus my comparison on a similar topic that I am writing my final essay on. I
am planning to write an essay on the contradictions in maturity of young people
in Taiwan and America. One big topic that stood out to me is what it means to
be mature. Of the several people that I have talked to, I got very similar
answers. Most people that I asked were in their 20s and said that someone is
mature when they have a job. It was interesting to think about this because in
America I feel that there is more reasoning to being mature than just having a
job. When I interviewed Josh and Zack they both allowed me to use short bits of
their answers for today’s blog. Josh felt that maturity comes from “wisdom,” he
mentioned that “a lot of what you can learn is in Confucianism: maturity often
comes with age and life experience.” Zack added on by stating that maturity is
a “sense of responsibility and accountability and understanding that the world
doesn’t revolve around you and your ego.” It is contradictory in my opinion to
think that Taiwanese people find maturity in having a job, and then they tell
me that they want to open a coffee shop. Personally, it seems to me that the
idea of maturity in America and Taiwan is very different. It seems that many
students in America work hard and have the goals of going to college to find a
good job. Whereas in Taiwan it seems that many students are still living at
home, and are not seeking out jobs, but rather have aspirations and dreams of
opening a cool shop that they can call their own, and be their own boss. 
Since this is my last blog post, I will
not be writing anymore after this! So this is my farewell message to everyone,
and I want to say thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to
read this blog. I hope that you enjoyed this experience as much as I did. Well,
that’s all! I hope I was able to inspire someone to come out to Taiwan because
this was such a wonderful experience that I will never forget. Thank you for
everyone who made it possible to allow me to have a safe and wonderful journey.
谢谢你们！ 台湾让人回味无穷。 再见！
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