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#12 It's Not Goodbye, It's "See You Later"

Is it fair to say, after a year abroad, that I am the same? Anyone who has studied or lived abroad has probably returned home with a similar sense of confusion as to how to sort all that time away.

#11 What It's Like to Learn Chinese at ICLP in Taiwan

Greetings from the United States! After 16 hours in the air, a little over an hour at the baggage claim, and a three-hour drive home, I made it back to Philadelphia. This past year has produced a lifetime's worth of memories (and areas of reflection), but I'

#10 China, At Last

I started learning Chinese in the spring of 2020, only a few weeks before...well, you know. I did it mostly on a whim, thinking that if I could keep at it for a month or two, maybe I could be a more empathetic or, at least, better informed journalist.

#9 The One Where I Talk About the Earthquake

Another packed newsletter today, including: a fun Chinese-language-learning story, a crazy travel story, and, oh yeah, that 7.4 magnitude earthquake. Let's get right into it. Imagine, just for a moment, that it's a Wednesday morning and you're barely awake. The alarm still fresh

#8 Why I Want to Study China

Hi friends! I'll dispense with my now-standard apology to begin these newsletters. Yes, it's been far too long since I've graced your inbox with a new edition, but hopefully this jumbo-sized newsletter somewhat makes up for my absence this past month. First, a brief

#7 Making Sense of a Place That Defies History

It's been a busy month since I was last in your inbox. Taiwan elected a new president, the weather in Taipei finally turned bitterly cold—ok, not that cold—and I made it through my midterm presentation (mostly) unscathed. We also have the Super Bowl in a few

#6 Why Do We Come to This Place?

Happy Holidays, everyone! Here in Taiwan, where I'm writing this newsletter against the backdrop of a quintessential Taipei downpour, I've been on winter break for the past two weeks. And yesterday, I came back from eight days in Japan, a trip I'd had high

#5 Five Things You Should Know About Taiwan

It has been over a month since you've heard from me, which proves all the haters right! Yes, it was pretty close to impossible to maintain a steady newsletter while studying abroad. To be fair, these past few weeks have been eventful: I finished my final exams, celebrated

#4 When We Think About Distant Cities

My experience of Taipei still feels like that of a tourist even as I return again and again to familiar places with the eye of a local.

#3 What Does It Mean to Sound "Taiwanese"?

I have a fun newsletter for you all today, which includes a far-too-long dissection of the Phillies' first few playoff games and some more music, movies, and travel thoughts. But first (!) I've long wanted to write about the way Mandarin Chinese is spoken in Taiwan and why

#2 Imagining Taipei

On my first day back in Taiwan, just hours after stepping off my flight, I made my way to Eslite Bookstore uptown. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but bookstores have a strange way of enacting a magnetic pull on my bank account. I pondered whether to buy

#1 We're All From Somewhere

This newsletter will hopefully be many things—a diary of my time in Taiwan, a place for musings about Taiwan’s politics and culture, and a record of the amazing and often amazingly difficult experience of learning Chinese.