Place Matters
Makayla Wu (CAS ’28)
GRIP: Taipei City Government in Taipei, Taiwan
If this internship has taught me anything, it’s that your location and environment shapes you in more ways than you think. Your environment doesn’t just shape your habits—it influences how you think, communicate, and even perceive yourself.
This summer, I was an intern at Taipei City Government Department for Youth in Taipei, Taiwan. Being in the workplace environment in an Asian country definitely shaped me to become a more versatile, aware, and understanding person than I was before this summer. For example, it’s normal for office workers in Taiwan to take a nap during their lunch break, which was a new concept for me. Previously unaware of this, the international interns and I took the lunch break to talk amongst ourselves, before quickly realizing that everyone was glaring at us to be quiet. I was surrounded by Taiwanese students and local staff, all with a different rhythm and way of working than what I was used to back home in the U.S. These differences weren’t just superficial—they revealed to me how much culture informs everything from interpersonal dynamics to how we define “productivity.”
Global experiences are important especially in a time where we’re trying to figure ourselves out, who we are and who we want to be. To be able to see other parts of the world where they operate so differently made me think if I like the person I am here compared to who I am in the context of the states. It’s important to explore while I have the time and opportunity to do so, before I choose a route to pursue and where.
As a part of this internship experience, we got to shadow former TPYD commissioner and current head of policy planning Yin Wei. Being able to witness the inside workings of a government in a different country was such an important global experience I never would have been able to have. Seeing firsthand how a local government operates in another country—how it sets priorities, engages youth, and plans initiatives—was a perspective I could never gain from a classroom or textbook. It reminded me that policymaking, like culture, is deeply context-specific.
After spending two months in Taipei, I’ve become more aware of how many of my behaviors and values are shaped by the cultural norms I grew up with. Being able to go abroad showed me different parts of my personality and character that never came out when I was in the states. As for now, I am unsure where I want to be when I graduate from Penn, but I know now that I have more than one option due to this program.
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