August 8, 2025

台灣，再見！Goodbyes and Reflections

By: Camey VanSant

Natasha is a member of the 2023-24 DGYP cohort. This post was written earlier in 2025.

April – May 2024

Fireworks during a float parade in Beigang Township / 北港鎮, Taiwan

In the final two months of my time in Taiwan, I finished preparing my final project, where I had to give a presentation on a topic of my choosing in Chinese. The third and final semester of the program was far more intense than the first two, where content normally split over two semesters were crammed into one, giving our language gains a final push before returning to the United States. I found myself more stressed than usual, and this combined with the growing awareness of what little time I had left made me feel urged to make the most of everything.

I made sure to address small goals I hadn’t yet achieved at the beginning of the semester, like going to a cafe I’d been meaning to go to for months, or going hiking, or seeing a particular museum, and I set time aside for friends and my host family.

One of the coolest experiences to date was attending one of Taiwan’s biggest religious processions of the year in Beigang Township. Being part of such an electric crowd celebrating the birthday of Mazu, a popular deity, watching people line up to pray, and the thunderous sounds of 6-foot-tall piles of firecrackers being lit at once were unforgettable.

Saying goodbye to everyone I had grown close to was hard. It was especially hard having to say goodbye to my 3-year-old host sister and explain that the U.S. wasn’t just a short bus ride away.

Immediately upon returning to the U.S., we met with officials from the U.S. Department of State to discuss our experiences, and later met with elected representatives to share the value of programs like NSLI-Y. Returning home and seeing my family after 9 long months was a joy, but I also faced my fair share of culture shocks after having adjusted so long to life in Taiwan (comical portion sizes, the sheer number and variety of languages I’d hear in one day, small talk, etc).

For everything that has happened over the course of my gap year, it can be sort of difficult to see the bigger picture. When returning home, it felt a bit unreal, and I found myself going through the motions of the day without letting myself truly process how I was feeling. And then suddenly being called for jury duty that summer, on a high-profile murder trial (What?! Yes.) that carried a lot of weight and responsibility added to life’s complexity.

Upon reflection, in those 9 months abroad, other than learning a second language and culture, I learned so much more about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses. Having a host family that treated me like family provided me with a steady support I didn’t know I needed. My gap year was full of “firsts,” I learned independence, resilience, confidence. Having the time and space to explore what excited me, and drop what didn’t, was freeing, and learning to be okay with not having things completely figured out either was an even more freeing lesson. Coming to terms with and facing some of my insecurities, having time for consistent self-reflection, and having the freedom to sometimes just be, were things I experienced during this time.

I am eternally grateful for NSLI-Y providing this opportunity to learn, explore, and grow, to connect with a community and culture so different from my own, and for the DGYP in their support of gap years and making the transition to Duke that much more seamless.

As I enter the second semester of my first year at Duke, my gap year experience has proven to be a critical part of my identity, has shaped so much of who I am, and has had such a significant impact on my life.

Here is one final photo dump, and a heartfelt goodbye to Taiwan and this chapter of my life.

Love always!

Natasha