A New Adventure Begins - Bonnie White

At 9 a.m. on a Monday, I arrived at the Taipei Times headquarters for my first day as a media intern. Nervous but excited, I entered the elevator and rode up to the 14th floor.

There, a large golden sign welcomed me, bearing the company’s logo and the quote, “Taiwan Foremost, Liberty First.” But the office was empty, lights were off and no one was there.

An hour later, my supervisor Noah messaged me, asking me to come in at 3 p.m. My first lesson: the Taipei Times operated on a different rhythm—and I was six hours too early.

Two years earlier, I had first visited Taiwan for a Chinese language programme and quickly fell in love with the island’s culture, nature, and community spirit.

As I neared the end of my degree in international relations and politics, I longed to exchange study hours for real-world experience—especially in areas like human rights, global cooperation, and peacebuilding.

On my final day of university lectures, I received an email from the Asia New Zealand Foundation, offering me an internship opportunity in Taipei. My heart skipped a beat.

I was finally going back to the lush, vibrant, and geopolitically complex island.

A silent newsroom

Inside the Taipei Times newsroom, the calmness was deceptive. What seemed quiet on the surface was actually a storm of productivity.

The 26-year-old English-language newspaper is powered by local and foreign journalists committed to bringing forward Taiwanese perspectives for a local and international audience.

While I had imagined a noisy, high-energy newsroom, the office was still. Old newspapers prints overflowed empty desks and editors worked quietly in cubicles, screens glowing with stories in progress. Their focus brought the paper to life.

I was incredibly lucky to be under Noah Buchan’s mentorship. I sharpened my writing skills, developed stories, and learned to navigate Taiwanese standards.

Receiving work emails at 3 a.m. on Saturdays made me wonder: do people ever clock out? Turns out, not many do. Taiwanese society runs on high academic standards and career ambitions that don’t leave space for many breaks.

Despite not coming from a journalism background, I am grateful that Noah took a chance on me. I wrote about Taiwan’s education system, reviewed art exhibitions, and explored ways to help develop the newspaper’s digital storytelling to engage broader audiences.

From conducting interviews with academics, NGO directors and students representatives, I realised that Taiwan is a tranquil powerhouse.

During her internship, Bonnie White recalled how fortunate she was to be assigned to two out-of-town coverages—one of them in Kinmen.

The MRT connects every corner or Taipei, street vendors pull up with bento box carts at lunchtime and bars overflow with people sharing afterwork drinks.

Although I studied mandarin Chinese for a couple of years, I wasn’t confident doing interviews with locals at first. Luckily Pei, who was interning at the translation department at the Taipei Times, had my back.

We’d meet up for interviews, then spend hours in coffee shops going over notes, translating bits and pieces, and figuring things out together. It was messy, fun, and somehow always came together in the end.

By the end of my internship, I felt more confident with my language abilities and was running around the city conducting interviews in English and Chinese (or Chinglish) with the unwavering support of Pei and all my bilingual colleagues.

Home is where my people are

It would be impossible for me to talk about Taiwan without mentioning its people. Taiwanese hospitality, friendliness and kindness are the backbone of the island’s beauty.

From locals pouring in to help me find my way to the restaurant owner remembering my food order to being invited by locals to enjoy a tea ceremony in their house, Taiwanese people transformed my work experience into a deeply personal journey of connection.

Particularly, my trip wouldn’t have been as amazing without my landlord, housemate and friend Joy. A retired nurse, Joy welcomed me into her home with open arms and made it her mission to teach me about Taiwanese values, language, and traditional practices.

Image:c/o Bonnie White

Within two weeks of moving into her spare bedroom, she invited me to join her on a pilgrimage dedicated to Matsu (媽祖), the goddess of the ocean.

We drove to Dajia (大甲) for the first day of the event. At 11 p.m., the Matsu palanquin emerged from the temple, leading a procession of over 600,000 devotees. We blend in with the crowd in motion and walked until 8 a.m.

Throughout the night, we walked through towns and rice fields, surrounded by locals offering tea and food to pilgrims. The atmosphere was electric, emotional, and deeply communal.

I watched parents pull trolleys with sleeping children, elderly pilgrims cycling to keep up, and women throwing their arms to the sky as fireworks lit up the sky.

Image: c/o Bonnie White

In a world too often defined by division, sharing space and stories with others reminds us of our shared humanity. This internship strengthened my belief in the power of cultural exchange and storytelling to build peace and mutual understanding.

Every day was a new work experience and life adventure.

I was lucky to have a priest perform a ghost-cleansing ritual for me, I stumbled upon war tank relics during late-night beach walks and I had the honour to participate in a family ritual commemorating ancestors through offerings.

Feeling at home in Taiwanese houses, traditions, and workplaces showed me that you can truly grow and feel grounded when you're embraced as part of the community.

I leave Taiwan with a heart full, waiting for the day I will return.

-Asia Media Centre