Before I knew it, the last week was here. This week definitely had the trickiest grammar, the structures themselves weren’t particularly difficult, but we had to memorize so many tiny nuances that seemed so similar to each other.
The Chinese table this week was the best food I’ve ever had in Taiwan, maybe even in my life. It was Shanghainese food, the noodles were delicious, their steamed buns were amazing, and the flavor overall was really special. Previously, you went with your year to the weekly Chinese table’s restaurant. But this time, everyone in HTA went to the same restaurant, and we got to sit with people from the different years. I really appreciated the chance to eat with everyone.
My final one-on-one class was probably my favorite conversation I have ever had in Chinese. We talked about Chinese literature, and the teacher knew about the books that motivated me to learn Chinese. Talking about the books that motivated me to learn Chinese that I previously read in English with no knowledge of Chinese, in Chinese, was something that was really meaningful to me. It felt like I accomplished a milestone that, last summer, I had no idea I would even intend on striving for. My teacher said I would soon reach the proficiency needed to begin to be able to read the books we discussed, and she suggested I buy the books while I’m still in Taiwan. I went to three different book stores trying to find them, and I ended up buying A Madman’s Diary, Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, and The Chronicle of a Blood Merchant. I still have to find the book that was my main motivation for learning Chinese, Miss Sophia’s Diary, but I’m really excited to start reading The Chronicle of a Blood Merchant. Buying books in Taiwan was also really daunting. I forgot that in America, when searching for an author, you search by alphabetic order. But since Taiwan doesn’t use the English alphabet to organize their books, I couldn’t use that method anymore. I think I spent two hours searching through the shelves and figuring out how the authors were organized, but I was eventually able to find all of the books that were available! I think if I had tried to do this when I was just starting HTA, I would not have been able to figure it out, so I’m really happy I got the chance to learn enough Chinese to figure out how to browse books.
The graduation ceremony was super bittersweet. I got to sit with my favorite teachers and closest friends. I did not know that the language pledge would be over during graduation. We all got handed our signed pledges back, and we got to tear them apart. After that, we no longer had to speak Chinese. It was really weird; when HTA started, I always wished that I could say something in English or Spanish because my lack of Chinese knowledge limited my expression, but towards the end, I learned enough Chinese to be able to express myself in a way that I was more or less content with. So when we started speaking English, it was really hard for me to fully switch back. I was switching from English to Chinese to Spanish to back to Chinese, it really confused my brain.
I really missed speaking English, but more than anything, I missed speaking Spanish. HTA made me realize how valuable each of my languages were to me, and I realized how much I prized Spanish. So the first thing I did when I tore the language pledge was speak Spanish with as many Spanish-speaking people I could find in HTA. It was really freeing, and it’s always super nice to find fellow Spanish speakers in the wild.
Before I knew it, graduation was over and I had to begin packing. It was hard to say goodbye to my teachers and my friends in different colleges. But overall, I knew that I would get the chance to return to Taiwan soon and see them again, and Williams isn’t far from the other HTA students’ colleges. Ending HTA felt really surreal, it was definitely the most busy I’ve been in my life, but it’s still hard to understand that I learned a year’s worth of Chinese. When eating my final meals in Taiwan, I realized I was able to fully order and communicate! I am super happy with the amount of Chinese I learned and I am looking forward to learning more Chinese in Williams.
I learned a lot of Chinese in HTA, but I also learned a lot about what being Venezuelan means to me, how valuable speaking multiple languages is, and endless things about Taiwanese culture. I am really grateful for the friends and teachers I met in the program. If you’re passionate about Chinese and you want the opportunity to learn a year’s worth in 8 weeks, I definitely recommend it. It would have been nice to have more time to explore Taiwan, but I also knew that my main objective for this visit to Taiwan was to learn as much Chinese as possible. I say HTA was really hard now, but I think when I look back in a few months I’m going to start to miss it!