Taiwan! Visas Ready.

In September 2002, I met Jamie Hsieh. She'd just moved from Taiwan to Grove City, PA, and I'd just switched from a private school to the local high school. We went on trips together, participated in theater productions, went to school dances, and all the while discussed what it'd be like for me to visit her home country. I knew I'd like the Pocky candy she shared with me, and I was absolutely certain I'd consume absurd amounts of bubble tea in the land of its creation. The extent to which Taiwan could potentially blow my mind did not sufficiently factor into my expectations.

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In September 2012, I hop on a plane with a bunch of friends from Gwangju and take off for Taipei. With one friend joining us after her later flight, four of us settle into the comfortable seats to make up for the less than ideal sleeping conditions provided to us on the wooden benches of the Seoul airport during the previous night. Slowly awakening to the customs cards being passed down the aisles, we lazily fill out the forms as the plane begins its descent.

One line on the card creates a bit of trouble. It reads, "Fill out your visa number below". Catching my breath, I glance at Brittany's card beside me. Her pen dangles above the same line, and I feel my head grow light. "We checked that, of course. We're all responsible people.... right?", I whisper. Her expression mirrors mine, "Yeah, of course. Let's not scare the other girls by saying anything until we're off the plane". While I don't find plane landings to be nearly as pleasant as the take-offs, this one feels far worse than usual.

Stepping from the plane, Maeve and Ciara appear no more at ease than Brittany and I. With sentiments echoing, "HOW could we make it ALL THE WAY HERE without checking if we needed visas?!", we queue up in the customs line, nauseated with the awareness that an immediate return flight to Korea is entirely possible. With only two people ahead of us in line, the internet on Ciara's iPhone kicks into gear. "Citizens of the UK... do NOT need a visa!!", shrieks Ciara, hugging Maeve. Brittany and I grab for the phone, and quickly confirm the same just as we arrive at the front of the customs line.

We meet Jamie outside the baggage claim, at which point the rest of my memories seem like a dream. She planned every second of it for us, packing each day with a phenomenal variety of activities and food samples and amazing sights. I'm still overwhelmed when I think about it all! My friend, Maeve, wrote a great article about the trip for Gwangju News, and I highly recommend reading it here: http://www.gwangjunewsgic.com/online/in-taiwan/. Also, she used my photos for the article, though the content is more exciting than the images, I think.

I'll turn it over to Maeve now, but one last note on the trip: people don't bow to each other in Taiwan. After a solid seven months of bowing at every greeting, departure, and thanks, our silly group managed to entertain Jamie throughout the trip by showing extreme courtesy to everyone we met. I'm curious to see if this habit carries over when I return home in the spring.