Personal Experience: My Experience At The Loveboat

America is a nation of immigrants, no one doubts that. However, as a child of first generation immigrants, I did not live in a tight-knit immigrant community, and my parents did not bring many elements of their home culture into the house. I grew up listening to American music, learning American history, and my friends were predominantly non-Asian. As a result, I never understood much about my parents’ background, and Taiwanese culture. Sensing my curiosity about my background (perhaps from the number of questions I began asking them), the summer before I left for college, our family visited Taiwan for the first time in 6 years. My parents also saw this as an opportunity to enroll me in the Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour, informally known as the Love Boat, a four-week summer program for college-aged Taiwanese born outside of Taiwan. This tour helped reacquaint participants with Taiwanese culture and language, by enrolling in brief language/art courses, learning popular Taiwanese songs, and visiting important cultural centers such as the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA)("A More Complete Description of Loveboat."). My experience at the Beijing opera performed by the TNUA has led me to believe that every immigrant child should receive …show more content…
However, attending the event, and understanding the symbolism and meaning behind the music and performance imparted upon me a deep sense of cultural identity that I did not have before. Although I still identified myself as an American, I left the theatre knowing that I also had a Taiwanese heritage that had a rich musical and cultural history, and that the Taiwanese-American identity doesn’t detract from either side. I’m glad that I was able to understand more of that side, and thus reaffirmed my belief that every child should understand their cultural heritage, despite where ever they may currently