After the students’ arrival, we will travel to Jiufen, a charming hillside town in Taiwan, which is renowned for its narrow, lantern-lit streets, traditional teahouses, and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. In this former gold mining village, which offers a nostalgic glimpse into Taiwan’s rich cultural and historical heritage, we will build a solid group expeditionary culture, share important health and safety considerations, and develop fundamental travel skills for the journey to come. During our first few days in Jiufen, we will share goals about language learning and gradually ease ourselves into the world of Mandarin study. We’ll also explore some local hikes and trails in the area.

Moving East from the Jiufen, we will continue to the farming community of Yilan. Yilan is a rich delta area and historically a major source of rice farming for Taiwan. As industrialization and urbanization have occurred some families have moved from more expensive Taipei to start organic farms and build a life closer to the land. Here, we will start our homestay with families who form a tight community of local farmers. Every morning, we will gather and take language lessons which are designed to help with conversations with homestay family members and locals. In the afternoon, the students will have an opportunity to dive deeper into some subjects that they are interested in with local mentors, such as calligraphy and cooking, or join our community hosts in the rice fields to get a feel for hands-on food production. In the evenings, we spend time with homestays, practice our language communication, watch the ever present Taiwanese dramas in the living room, or play games with host siblings.

After our time in Yilan, students will travel back to Taipei and explore the vibrant city for a few days, visiting with local activists to get a better understanding of environmental justice, democracy, and other contemporary issues. Finally, we will spend our last two days together reflecting on everything we’ve learned over the last 14 days and how we want to bring those lessons back home.