As I move into my second month of attending the National Taiwan University, I have gotten the
opportunity to reflect on the differences between life here and in the United States. In October,
Taiwan celebrated three holidays: the Mid-Autumn Festival, Independence Day, and Taiwan
Retrocession Day.
For the Mid-Autumn Festival on October 6th, I celebrated by having a barbecue night with my
Taiwanese friends near the Yonghe Riverside Wetlands Park. Barbecuing during the
Mid-Autumn Festival became popular through a soy sauce commercial! The slogan was “one
family’s barbecue spreads fragrance to thousands of homes,” prompting a rise in barbecuing
with friends and family. It was nice participating in such a unique experience, as Taiwan is the
only country that heavily celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival through barbecues.
For Taiwan’s Independence Day on October 10th, I celebrated with my UCEAP friends by
getting hotpot! We went to Giguo Hotpot, a hotpot place known for their frozen soup bears.
Along with the standard amount of soup, you can melt frozen soup in the form of bears for extra
soup which was really interesting. After, we saw a fireworks display by Taipei 101
commemorating the birth of the Republic of China.
Lastly, for Taiwan Retrocession Day, there were people in trucks banging on drums and playing
loud music to celebrate Japan’s formal surrender of armed forces in Taiwan. Although not as
widely celebrated as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Independence Day, it was still nice learning
more about Taiwanese history.
One of the classes I am taking is called International Companions for Learning. It is a program
for cultural exchange between international students and Taiwanese schools. I am paired up
with a middle school in Hualien, a county known for its beautiful beaches. Every week, I have
zoom meetings with my assigned class and I have really enjoyed learning more about my
students. For my first two meetings, I made presentations on common fall traditions and
Halloween. It’s interesting seeing how Taiwanese students are both really similar (cinnamon
rolls and apple cider are super popular in Taiwan!) and really different (they had never carved
pumpkins or seen corn mazes), so I’m excited to have more meetings with them.
All in all, I am enjoying Taiwan a lot. The food is amazing and the people here are so kind. It’s
really easy to ask for things because everyone is extremely willing to help! We are entering the
rainy season now, so if you plan on coming to Taiwan during October and November, make sure
to bring a rain jacket. Since my hometown doesn’t get a lot of rain, it’s very refreshing for me. I
can’t wait for what more Taiwan has to offer!
