I can’t write you entries describing what I see and where I go to everyday because I am not that sort of writer; but it is awesome being here, something I can say with a decisiveness that is not rash, one week into the first of my Taiwanese days. I spend long, fruitful hours with my roommates, hostel mates and classmates exploring the city of Taipei, regretfully not as a tourist, because it means that you can’t just look, buy and go home. The food here is better than fantastic because of both quantity and quality, and I find the occasional solace in Hainanese chicken rice, Bak Kut Teh cup noodles and Milo. I attend classes like any other university student, bored and constantly on the verge of sleep, because classes will always be classes, regardless of location – but it feels brilliant to be required to communicate in perfect Mandarin, discarding our messy ability to speak English, Mandarin, Hokkien and Malay in one single sentence.

This is a city that is easy to live in, to get used to, but I think of Singapore in the littlest ways: to crave for the aimless walks down Orchard Road or squeezing past horrible crowds at CityLink in the middle of 忠孝東路 (Zhongxiao East Road); the journey from Dhoby Ghaut to the NEL I always complain about, which is identical to the walk I take everytime I change trains at Taipei Main Station; converting every price tag I see to Singaporean dollars; and when the weekend arrives, idling with my favourite people.

I don’t think it makes me any less strong to say this because I’m honestly dealing with this life without fear, grief or confusion, but I truly, truly miss being at home.