Bai Bai’s

By:

Lucas Mackey

Published:

Countries

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Hello All!

This will be my last journal entry for the FEA scholarships blog. I have had a wonderful time in Taiwan, and can not wait to come back and visit all the new friends I have made! Today is my last day in Taiwan and my teachers and I decided to make it count.

First, we all went to an amazing lunch. It was dim sum style sushi, and let me tell you, the salmon sashimi was the best fish I have ever had in my life. People do not lie when they say Taiwan has amazing food. I will greatly miss it. The other thing I will miss most about Asia is the family style sharing. In America you could say that we act greedy with our food, and refuse to share our dishes at all. In Asia it is quite the opposite and rarely will you ever just eat a single dish for a meal.

After going to lunch, we all set out for the famous Dream Mall in South Kaohsiung. The Dream Mall is a great place to shop for foreign imports and other exotic items, however, everything is overpriced so we did almost no shopping. We wandered through many stores, one of which was the Taiwanese version of Toys-R-Us. The store did not seem as popular as it was in America, but nonetheless it was comforting to see the childhood games I once played, but in a different language.

After finishing up with shopping, we made our way to a Korean BBQ place for dinner. Shortly after, my friends and I had to say our goodbyes and leave our teachers to go to the airport. Funny story, we almost missed our flight because the airline emailed us sayign that the flight was delayed an hour, therefore we stayed another hour with the teachers. But, then on the subway ride going back to the hotel, we received another email saying the flight was not delayed anymore. We all panicked and quickly packed our things and took the train to the airport. We arrived only 30 minutes before the flight departure and had to go through immigration and security. We almost didn’t make it, but the airloine held the plane for us foreigners and we successfully made our connection in Taipei.

All in all, I will greatly miss Asia and everything the continent has to offer.

Until next time-

-LM

Lucas Mackey

ไฝ ๅฅฝ๏ผMy name is Lucas Mackey, and I am a current Junior studying at EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. Iโ€™m majoring in aviation business and pursuing a minor in mandarin Chinese. Iโ€™ve always held a fascination with the world of airlines, and I someday hope to change the industry for the better. I was born in San Diego, California, and grew up in multiple states across the country. When people ask me where I come from, I really donโ€™t know what to respond because all the places Iโ€™ve lived influenced my life in extraordinary ways. Through this domestic immersion in different cultures, Iโ€™ve come to understand the real difference between tolerance and acceptance. Throughout my life, Iโ€™ve experienced both and neither, however, I make it my goal to create a world where everyone can be accepted and treated as equal. This summer I am studying abroad in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I hope to improve my Chinese skills as well as my knowledge of the aviation markets in East Asia. Taiwan is very progressive in nature, and accepts people of all kinds which is why I was so motivated to choose this locale. I hope to learn from their culture the importance of treating others as part of a family, and applying these principles to reaching my future goal of entrepreneuring a world class airline.