Before this summer, I had never gone outside of the country. I had been a scholar of international affairs with no international scholarly experience. My friends, all of who had been out of the country at least once, warned me of the inbound culture shock I was sure to experience. They told stories of shadowy burglars and cunning pickpockets who targeted foreigners or shop vendors who willingly scammed naïve Americans for an extra buck.
“Go to Europe! It’ll feel much more like home. I hear London is very friendly toward Americans.”
“I don’t understand why you have to go to Asia! I hear it is very dangerous.”
They told me that the world was not a friendly place for American tourists. They said I would need to walk carefully, bag and belongings kept tight to my person, were I to avoid becoming another scare-story for other worried-sick tourists.
Nonetheless, despite these stories, I packed my bags and set off to my home away from home on the other side of the world.
Traveling to Taiwan this summer, I was one of 70 students to make the flight across the pacific, the first cohort of international students in over two years since the pandemic started. The program coordinator said we were making history. During the first week of my stay, I explored the far corners of my hotel room, counting the tiles on the ceiling, and waiting for the day I’d be free of the Marriott. The mandatory 7-day quarantine period felt like seven years as I paced around my hotel bed, trying desperately to spur some creative flow. But despite the gorgeous view from my 6th-floor room, there are only so many hours you can watch the clouds before you start to get bored.
Since early 2020, Taiwan has led the world in successful COIVD-19 mitigation practices. Throughout 2020 and 2021, as the rest of the world became bombarded by the Alpha and Omicron variants, Taiwan stayed closed, avoiding the unforeseen loss of life, but at the cost of social frustration and economic slowdown.
Walking along the streets, Taipei felt like a city out of hibernation; preparing for a new life three years deep into the “new normal.” During the majority of the pandemic, the government ordered residents to stay inside, limit contact with others, and if that was not possible, manage their own “social distance” even as the rest of the world forwent their restrictions and ushered in their new normal, albeit with significant growing pains
I traveled with CET, a study abroad program for students looking to improve their language skills in a target region. CET handled all the heavy lifting: housing, insurance, and tuition fees for the language program, amongst other odds and ends that ensured that our trip abroad was as painless as possible. They organized hikes, calligraphy classes, mediation workshops, and a whole host of activities to make students feel both engaged with their host culture and at home with their classmates.
But growing pains from COVID-19 still lingered. Unlike in the United States, where face coverings became a topic of political and social discordance, quickly shelved upon the CDC’s first word of unnecessity, indoor and outdoor mask usage has become the new normal, setting a trend that will likely stay for the foreseeable future. Of course, CET’s reentry into the post-COVID world also necessitated a few changes, such as the withdrawal of organized multiday activities, and a switch from housing with local students to solely with the CET cohort, all of which served as a constant reminder of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, I am incredibly grateful I have been afforded this opportunity. The past two months I’ve spent in Taiwan have been a blast and a well-needed course in cultural immersion. I’m looking forward to spending more time abroad and sharing all of my experiences with friends back home.
Mark Warburton, B.A. International Affairs, Political Science 2023
Sigur Center 2022 Asian Language Fellow
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
