Photos taken by Tashi Sherpa (Middlebury College), Student Correspondent for CET Taiwan, Spring 2023
All the travels and memories!!!
Orchid Island
Big shoutout to my housemates Olivia, Colm, and Ryan for helping plan our trip to 蘭嶼 (Orchid Island), a small volcanic island located 64km off the southeast corner of Taiwan. This was one of the most memorable trips during my time in Taiwan.
We started our trip by taking the train from Taipei to Taitung. We stayed the night at a lovely small Airbnb in Taitung, where the owners greeted us with delicious guava from their farm. We watched the sunrise the next day around 5 am, then headed to Taitung Fugang Harbor at 8 am to catch the 2-hour ferry to Orchid Island.
While on the ferry, we made a couple of local friends who showed us around the island. Orchid Island is known for its flying fish. While there, we saw that the fishermen dry the fish by hanging them around the island to preserve them. I had flying fish soup with fried rice and pandan juice that night for dinner. While we only spent two nights on the island, we were able to meet so many people along the way and see the whole island.
Friendships
My housemates and I went to support our local roommate Nana in the Miss Campus Fashion Show that took the weekend right before we left Taiwan. The right-hand side is our apartment family picture with Olivia, Hazel, Colm, Ryan, Julian, Nana, and I.
Impromptu calligraphy session with Julia, Halle, and their roommate right before finals week!!! This last weekend at NTU, there was also a music festival happening. Three months abroad went by so quickly. It makes me sad that I will not be able to see those I’ve become really good friends with every single day. In the future, I hope to return back to Taiwan for a longer time.