While the water in the sink drained, I rushed to pick up my toothbrush. I carefully packed it in my bag along with the rest of my belongings. For one last time, I’ll close the door and head out, carrying my luggage next to my roommates. For one last time, we’ll eat breakfast together. For one last time, we’ll discuss the food and joke about the days that we spent together. For one last time, we’ll line up in the lobby and prepare in front of the bus. But it’s during this “one last time” that we will remember the experiences cherished and memories made together.
As the Taiwan Study Tour 2023 ended for Batch 1, everyone had become sentimental. Some struggled to let go, planning the next study tour together. Others shared their souvenirs—pictures and videos of the trip. And amidst these shared hugs and goodbyes, flashbacks and images of every day spent together began to flip through my mind.
Things like painting lanterns, rocks, and miniature cows in all sorts of colors, or cooking burnt eggs and rice, passed by so quickly. In my brain, they flew as quickly as seconds. It’s crazy to imagine that the list of activities I had been flabbergasted at seeing on my computer had all been completed. All that remains now is the bubbly feeling that lingered in my chest as I did the most arbitrary things with my schoolmates. To think that we’ve traveled a whole city together, rode trains as an independent group of students, rushed through the rain, and jaywalked stoplights to meet deadlines. All this feels surreal. Perhaps the lessons about independence and Chinese were ingrained into my brain after the time we spent together. However, these kinds of lessons felt like anything but a chore when I was out in the night market, asking for the price of stinky tofu. Neither did these learnings come to notice when we were out asking for directions to the next mall we planned to visit. Even when strange and new experiences like planting rice, sipping flower nectar, and milking cows were things that initially seemed to disgust us, stepping out of my comfort zone, even when I was tired or afraid, was the best thing that happened to me on this trip. And I am forever grateful that I did these together with our Taiwan barkada.
One last time, we will be together in such a situation. One last time, we will enjoy a Taiwanese buffet together. One last time, we will eat breakfast and walk to the bus together. I share my goodbyes with my friends. We’ll create group chats and Google Drives to reminisce the memories. They’ll tell us to join the study tour again next year. Although it may never be the same, I’m grateful for the memories we’ve made. Whether it was the petrifying roller coasters or the invisible red pandas, every experience was a blessing. And I hope the next tour’s experiences will contain the same magic that we had during these two weeks.
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