Dear Reader,
As our study abroad trip comes to a close, I sit here writing to you for the last time. This will be my last blog about Taiwan, and oh is there so much to tell you. The rest of this week has been nothing but a whirlwind, so let's get into it.
On Tuesday we had some free time to work with our NCKU group outside of the classroom. My group decided to meet at 9:30 am in the hotel lobby to have breakfast together at a cafe. We checked on our three different pomelo papers and then decided to return to the hotel and run another experiment. We found that using just the white part of the pomelo worked best, so we blended up a whole bunch and made a big sheet of pomelo paper, leaving it to dry in the sun. We also tested out mixing the pulp with rice glue and forming it directly over a bowl—this one didn't work super well, it was brittle. After running our material experiment, we still had to figure out what form we were going to make out of the paper, so we spend the rest of the day brainstorming.
On Wednesday we had a lecture and workshop on regional revitalization from one of the NCKU professors. It was interesting to learn about the project that the professor was working on. I liked how we talk about the aspect of preserving memory of a place in a meta experience. I'm not super sure how I felt about the electronic method of preserving a town, but I did enjoy that the metaverse incorporated pictures of what was in the town before, and how they went about preserving local people's experiences of the place. Additionally, I really enjoyed taking part in this workshop, it was a fun break from our project that allowed us to think more creatively about how to preserve an experience. Wednesday was also the mid-autumn festival, so our group went out for a small dinner. We got some beef noodles. They were delicious!
On Thursday we visited Fudong creative park where we made a paper craft, and also got to take part in a tea ceremony. It was interesting to see the Taiwanese version of the Japanese tea ceremony. I have been to a Japanese tea ceremony before, and it was insightful to see the contrast between the to. The rules weren't as strict, but the process of the ceremony was the same. After taking a tour of the park area, we were free to get lunch on our own. A lot of us went to a sushi place that Meichun recommended. The sushi was really good, and it was only around $7 for a meal that would have been at least $20 in the US. After lunch we took cabs back to NCKU for mentor hours, where we got critique on our final concept ideas. Additionally, this was our last day with Evelyn, since she had a special event to attend in Taipei on Friday, so we went out for a little hot pot dinner before going back to the studio to work on our project till late at night. We decided to make a lamp and ended up forming our big sheet of pomelo paper using alcohol, since it evaporates and dries faster than water.
On Friday we presented our final project and got to listen to the other groups presentations. It was really amazing to see the results of everyone's hard work. I really enjoyed hearing about where everyone got their inspiration from, and how they tied it back into sustainability, American market, and Taiwan inspiration. After class, we had our last dinner with Khoa. We decided to spend the rest of our project money on a group dinner at a milk fish soup place that Evelyn recommended. We sat at chatted until Khoa had to leave for work. On our walk back to the hotel and Khoa talked to us about goodbyes. He said that he's somewhat use to goodbyes because many of the friends that he's made at NCKU have been international and made through programs like ours. While he may have been used to it though, goodbyes are still hard. I hope we keep in touch. After dinner, a big group of us went out for drinks and karaoke with some of the NCKU students to have fun on our last night in Taiwan. We stayed out until around 3 am—it was worth it.
Saturday was a day of prolonged goodbyes. We had a farewell breakfast, where we shared our final thoughts on our overall experience on the trip. After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye to our professors and to Kiki, our local tour guide who had been with us the whole trip. She called us taxis to the HSRT station and before we knew it, we were hugging her goodbye and off on our way to the airport. The train ride from Tainan to Taoyuan, was long but relaxing. I had a window seat, so I spent most of my time staring out the window appreciating the scenery rolling by—the beautiful farmlands, the quaint and colorful little towns, and temples interspersed through the passing cities. I'm going to miss it. We met our group mate Evelyn at the airport for a final send off. It turns out goodbyes are really hard the second time around. I didn't realize how much we had bonded with our group until we had to say goodbye. I hope we'll meet again someday. After making it through security and using up the rest of our easy card money on the most delicious airport food, we were on our plane on the way back to Seattle.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with me, and for letting my share my experience in Taiwan with you. This trip has broadened my perspective on the world and sparked a new desire to design for a better tomorrow. It has shown me how beautiful the integration of technology, culture, and craft can be when people and the planet are put at the center of the design. I cannot tell you just how grateful I am to have been able to have experienced such as thing as wonderful, wild, and insightful as this and hope to travel more in the future.
Until the next adventure.
Many thanks and all my love,
Kayla
It's bittersweet reading your post—so many goodbyes and countless memories. I'll always remember this trip with you and the many others who made this program possible.
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