Last Week in Tainan

We’re back for the second to last blog and last blog here in Taiwan!! It truly is wild to think back to about two and a half weeks ago when this adventure was just starting out and thinking ahead to all that was to come, and now we’ve reached the culmination of it all. We’ve traveled all across Taiwan, made friends in new cities, tried all the iconic Taiwanese dishes (some more than others… shoutout to all the bowls of niu rou mien I’ve eaten), seen some pretty wonderful sights, and so much more. I will forever be grateful for this experience and for the opportunity to spend such a long time here, exploring all that it has to offer – although I will not be missing the humidity or bug bites!!

Indigo dye pieces

09.05.2026

Lexi as our new canvas...

Saturday began with another brainstorm session for our final project, which really helped to solidify our object and who we were designing it for. It was also Zoe’s birthday, so we got to celebrate with a cake! In the afternoon, we went to another building on campus where we got to participate in an indigo workshop. We learned about the history of indigo plants and how it became a major piece of Taiwan’s trade. We also learned about how it is one of the only plants that is truly blue and the entire process that the plants must go through in order to be utilized as a dye – a process that takes over 3 days to work! We then got to go hands on with the indigo and dye our own pieces of fabric, all with very unique patterns, dying it 3 times before leaving them out to dry. It was really cool to get to learn the process and complete the process ourselves, as many of the activities that we’ve done have been in this manner. We then played a little bit more volleyball, saw a beautiful sunset, and ended the night celebrating Zoe’s birthday at Haidilao for hot pot dinner!

09.06.2026

Hello from the boat!

The next morning, we woke up to embark on another adventure… this time on a boat! We headed out to a local national park for a boat tour around some local mangroves. We saw birds, got to pull up fishing nets, walked out on fishing docs, and learned much about the local ecosystem. It kinda felt like we were on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland! But much cooler, because it was the local ecosystem of Taiwan. We then got to visit an area of Tainan called Anping, which reminded me of a fishing town, because everyone was selling shrimp chips. We were lead on a tour of the old town streets, which included visiting the fort built by the Japanese, local temples, and an old calligraphy house.

Tree house with the squad

Our tour ended at a house that had a tree growing in it – so cool to see the collision of architecture with nature and the beauty that it formed. I enjoyed getting to hear more about Tainan’s history, especially because there is a long history of occupation of the area from different groups of people – from the Japanese, to the Spanish, to the Chinese, Taiwan has had a long road to where it is today. It was a beautiful tour, and after it ended we did a quick catch-up for our group project, before calling it a night.

Finding all the
local trinket shops

09.07.2026

We were back in the classroom on this day, starting with an early morning presentation of our initial concepts, with a quick critique, before diving further into our ideation. We were presented with another design tool as we solidified our furniture piece. Because of such a long day in the classroom, we went out to walk around and do some shopping, before one of our new NCKU friends, Bella, invited us to play mahjong with her friend. It was Jaz, Chandaline, and Zoe’s first time playing, so it was fun to teach them the rules and strategies, and fun for me, because I haven’t played in so long and we got to meet Bella’s friend Sharon from South Africa – she was so nice and had the best accent!

Mahjong with new friends!

09.08.2026

Jaz and I’s initial plan to wake up and watch the sunrise was quickly foiled, as we realized how much time (and money) it would take to get there, so instead we took the opportunity of a free day to sleep in, before finding a cafe, where I had a cup of coffee that reminded me of Seattle <3 The area we had ventured out to had lots of shops, so Jaz and I spent the day walking around and getting some second-hand, as well as souvenir shopping done. I grabbed a quick dinner at McDonalds (better than the US!), before meeting up with my project group to keep working on our project.

Tainan at night

And here I am now, still working on our project, as I’m writing this blog! We definitely have a really good idea going and are excited to share it tomorrow at critique. I can’t believe the blog writing process is coming to an end – it’s been the best way for me to remember what I’ve been up to, as well as get to share with friends and family all my fun adventures! This is my last blog post in Taiwan, as the next one I write will be back in the US – check back in soon for THE VERY LAST BLOG POST!!!