Moving to Taiwan. How did I get here?

I graduated from college about 8 months ago, and now I'm getting ready to move to Taiwan.  It's a little weird because I thought my future would be so different when I graduated.  I thought I'd be going to law school now or maybe working for the city government, but my goals changed and now I'm going to Taiwan to study English.

Honestly, when I was little, I wanted to be a teacher, so I'm glad I made the switch from Political Science to English education.  I think, even as an undergrad, I started to realize that Poltical Science was more of a "hobby" to me, like my artwork or writing.  It was something I enjoyed (memorizing a country's political history, debating about world events) but I didn't want a job in politics.  Instead, I discovered while learning Chinese that I liked studying language.  I was going to switch majors and study English, but I wanted to graduate in less than four years so I continued with PoliSci!  (No, I don't regret it).

So I graduated with degrees in Political Science and Chinese Studies and a minor in History.  I was happy with what I accomplished, but I was scared.  Everyday I thought "If I don't get a government job or go to law school, what will I do?  Can I really be an English teacher instead?"

I was really unsure about a lot of things, but I decided to move forward with the "switch" and I took a seminar about teaching English this summer in May.  It was a lot of work, but doing that really solidified my wish to become a teacher, especially of children.  Around that time I had gotten accepted to the University of Texas, Austin's ESL Education program.  I suppose I was happy that I was accepted, but I was bummed at the same time because, as I saw it, I'd be able to study what I wanted but my Chinese would probably fade (or I'd lose it completely like my Spanish).

Still, I was going to go through with that plan and attend UT until it was suggested to me that I apply for the same program in a Taiwanese school.  That way, I could study what I wanted but live in a Chinese-speaking environment.

Soon after that notion came up, I looked around for schools that I could apply to.  I was late in the game and not many schools were still taking applications.  However, one of the few, Tamkang University, was which was quite ironic as it was a school that seemed to fit a lot of my interests.

I applied and...

I waited.  And waited, and waited, and had to do an interview at 1 a.m. my time over the phone, and waited until I got in!

I got this fortune cookie message about three days before I got my results, haha!

So, here I am, packing up my life into a few bags and going off to study in a country that I've never been to before.  I kind of see my month-long trip to China last year as a "dress rehearsal" for this move now, but I know the experiences will be different in a lot of ways.  However, I accept the challenge.  It's scary to be going off to live on my own, but I think it's an important step in my life.  I've got this *feeling* that I'll experience a lot of great things during my time in Taiwan.  Perhaps I'll not want to live in America again!  Who knows; I certainly don't know for sure what will happen next.

Hopefully you'll stick with me and we'll find out together!