Connor’s Journals
February 9, 2026
Time Flies
Taipei 101 on New Year's Eve
Me and the boys in Yuli
Me in Kaohsiung at Qijin island
My Chinese class at the National Palace Museum
Me and Brian after summiting Elephant Mountain in Taipei
Picking green onions in a village
The Ali Mountain Train
Sunrise at Ali Mountain, the tallest mountain in Taiwan.
Rotary Halloween Party
Kaohsiung 高雄
Kaohsiung 高雄
The Godwood 神木 trees at LaLa Mountain
View from a 100 year old tea house at Jiufen old street
My friends and I at a surprise birthday party they threw for me
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Its been a minute since my last journal. Its February now. I’m starting to realize that the year really does fly by as fast as everyone says it does. But I guess it means I’m taking the advice of those back home and staying as busy as possible. Here’s some highlights from what I’ve been up to.
The holiday season in Taiwan was half of what I expected it to be. On one hand, I already knew that things like Halloween and Thanksgiving were not going to be huge deals like they are back home, but on the other hand, I was surprised how widely celebrated Christmas is. Well… sort of. The actual day of Christmas is of course not celebrated like it is in the US, but it is celebrated in most other areas of life. Many people decorate their houses and apartment complexes, along with malls and city centers. But when Christmas day came, it was just like any other day, just like everyone said it would. I knew it would be, but I was still a bit sad.
Some notable events since my last journal are the Rotary Halloween Party, Rotary Hualien trip, and then New Years. I find the Rotary Events the most fun because I enjoy the times when all the exchange students can just get together and do something fun. Especially because it is so rare, as my district covers a significant portion of Taiwan.
Like most of the events, the Halloween party started by us all piling into a huge bus. People here love to charter giant buses to bring them around for group events. So that’s what we did. We ended up at a crayon factory with a huge slide inside. I think it was Taiwan’s largest slide. We did a few activities such as making markers or whatnot, and then the party started. Everyone changed into their costumes and while the pizza and wings came. So we all just hung out and took pictures for a while. After we all ate, there was a sort of fashion show we all took part in. It was really fun, and afterwards we all voted on who won.
And then for Hualien trip, we once again got in a big bus, and then drove to this rural area. We were sorted into groups of four and placed in these golf cart like cars, and one person from each group drove the cars in a little caravan around the village. We took a ton of pictures. The next day, we went to a place that I can only describe as similar to Seaworld. Except if Seaworld was on the side of a mountain and next to the ocean in Taiwan. It was fun, but that particular day, it felt like I was in the arctic circle because of the location. The weather that was extra cold, combined with the wind from the ocean blowing straight up the mountain, created a bone-chilling cold. I promptly caught a cold that lasted the next two weeks.
A few weeks rolled by and the time for new years came, which I had no plans for, even though my host family graciously cleared the schedule to allow for me to make my own plans. So I ended up meeting up with some of the exchange students at Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall to watch the fireworks. Beautiful show.
As January came and went, I started to feel like things are normal. In a good and a bad way. I feel comfortable- I feel can almost move like a local now. But I feel that the novelty of everything has passed. It feels normal now. It’s a little sad but I feel like it’s also an achievement. My Chinese is definitely a lot better now. I can have conversations fully in Chinese now, and I’m looking to pick up some Taiwanese as well. People here love it when exchange students speak Taiwanese. But of course, my language skills are far from perfect, and I can’t wait to start Chinese class again in two weeks. I know I’ll be learning a lot faster.
My knowledge of Taipei has grown vastly since my last entry, which is something I’m starting to notice now because when I have friends from other districts (see Brian) come to Taipei, there are a whole bunch of places I can think to take them to. It really feels good. I’m proud to say that I’ve even surpassed my host family in terms of knowledge of the MRT system. But that’s mostly because they drive everywhere. I’m putting in extra effort to explore each area of Taipei and really get to know at least one or two interesting spots in every major area/MRT station. And to organize and catalogue this knowledge I’ve started a project using Google My Maps to mark notable places to see, good restaurants, and fun activities.
Can’t wait to share this and more with everyone when I get back. And I’m a bit more active on my Instagram so check out @connor_taiwan2025 for more frequent updates.