She bought the plane ticket in January, and she arrived in late June. She had lived there for most of her life. This was the annual, six-week return.

“In my family, everyone’s always excited about going to Taiwan,” senior Caroline Hwang said. “I always get really excited and start planning.”

Hwang spent the majority of her humid days catching up with friends from her old school, but she also visited her grandparents every weekend and attended two medical camps. She lived with her mother and two brothers in a house her grandparents bought for extended family in a suburb of Taipei.

A goal of Hwang’s was to visit all 50 of her former classmates, which was a bit of an ordeal. They had different schedules, and some lived in neighboring Taichung.

“It had to be every day, and sometimes I would try to meet two people in a day,” Hwang said. “So that was pretty crazy.”

Despite this, Hwang managed to succeed in meeting almost all of them.  

“Sometimes I would be really nervous to see somebody but after we met it was okay,” she said. “It was fun. We talked about a lot of things and I asked them what their plans are for the future.”

Hwang and her friends met up in cafes and department stores. They shopped at night markets, toured the mountains, stared at the ocean, and wandered around a giant replica of van Gogh’s “Starry Night” made of a football field of plastic bottles.

Saturdays were spent with family. Hwang has about 20 cousins in Taiwan, along with six aunts, one uncle, and two grandparents. Almost all of her cousins are older than ten and younger than 20.

“The guys kind of separate into their thing and the girls separate into their thing,” Hwang said. “But there was one day we all played basketball together, so that was fun. One thing about Taiwan is since it’s a small island, everyone is close. All my cousins live in the north so we’re all pretty close together. The furthest one can take the train and get to Taipei in 40 minutes, so that’s why we can meet every single Saturday.”

A few weeks into her trip was when Hwang attended two medical camps, which each lasted six days.

“They weren’t like going to school; I felt like it was more relaxing than that,” Hwang said. “I got to meet new friends that I’m really, really close to and keep in contact with.”

Hwang described her trip to Taiwan the same way.

“I got to see all my old friends and talk to them and hear them tell me about what their lives are, and what they think about; if they have new ideas,” Hwang said.  “It’s nice to get to see my old friends and going to Taiwan is always exciting.”