12 years ago, I spent a summer abroad in Taipei, Taiwan to learn Mandarin. It was my cousin and I, both of our first time in Taipei. We didn't know anyone! We learned Mandarin at a well known university, the classrooms were in the same building as our dorms. We each had two roommates. Little did I know that it would be the best summer of my life. I was 22 and one of the oldest in the program (it was open to the ages of 12-26). On my first day, I met another girl who was 23 and we instantly hit it off. From there, we made a bunch of new friends together though all of them were a lot younger than us. We basically became a family and helped each other through our problems (I was going through It with my now ex boyfriend). We were in different classes but as soon as class was over, we head off campus to explore the city, my friend (the girl similar to my age) and I were the only ones amongst our group that had never been here (others had family from Taipei) so we got shown around. We spent most of the weekends together; we basically spent all of our time together-- always hanging out in one our rooms. I was became close to my roommates too. On our second to last day there, there's a group picture of us and our eyes are red from crying. Some left that day, I left the next day and some left a couple days later. I just remember it being quiet and not the same when some of my friends left.

Unfortunately, it's so hard all of us get together as we're from different parts of the world. I live in San Francisco, one of my room mates is from Spain, some were from Seattle, others from Europe and Canada. It's crazy to see how we all grew up... the younger ones are now engaged meanwhile my friend and I are both married and mom's. I'm now 34, my friend is 35 and the youngest is 27!

We all keep in touch on Facebook and though it's been 12 years, I still remember it like yesterday!

I just needed to post this somewhere as I get a little emotional whenever July comes around (our program began on July 6, 2005. I flew to Taipei on July 4).