By Borislava Panayotova

   Many people say that the third time’s the charm, and that is especially true for senior Niamh Waddell, who after three tries was finally accepted as a finalist for the prestigious National Security Language Initiative for Youth, or NSLIY, scholarship. 

   For the next academic year, Naimh will be in Taiwan learning and improving her Mandarin before returning to the U.S. and continuing on to the United States Naval Academy to study Marine Engineering.

   She first heard of the possibility of being an exchange student from her parents when she began studying Chinese as a kid. She specifically learned about NSLIY from an alum who came to present during her Spanish class. 

   She chose Taiwan and Mandarin Chinese as a language for her study abroad “because it would be one of the climaxes of my Chinese learning journey.” 

   Furthermore, she chose an academic year study abroad instead of a summer program partially because she left it up to the program staff to decide. She does prefer the year-long exchange “because that would really allow me to become completely fluent. I would also really get to build deeper connections to the people that I met there and surely explore what it means to live in Taipei, Taiwan.”

   This exchange is also an opportunity for her to learn more about living away from home and by herself before she has to move away from college. 

   While spending a year abroad is a dream come true, there are also downsides. For Niamh specifically, she is the least excited to be away “from my family for important holidays and for my birthday.” 

   She will also be staying in a dorm for most of her study abroad year and she is nervous about the difficulties that come with that.

   Alongside the anxiety however, there is a lot of excitement, not only for improving her language skills, but also to see Taipei. Niamh said, “I’m excited to explore the culture in the monuments as well as the important places there. I have also always wanted to see Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world.”

   This program is an opportunity for her to get closer to her future goals as well. She explained that “I plan on using my Chinese language skills when I return and possibly living in Taiwan or China in the future. I would love to own my own business that operates internationally.”