Leaving home to Taipei to study in NCCU is certainly an important divide in my life. The changes of my life after I left home could be roughly separated into three parts, including my appearance, life style and values.

      I became much thinner than myself in senior high school during the first year in NCCU. The main reason is that I have more opportunities to walk after I came to Taipei. In Tainan, if I wanted to go out, my parents would carry me to the destination by motorcycle. However, in Taipei, I have to walk or take a bus, and if the destination isn’t too far, I prefer to go there by walking. Besides, studying in a university, I have to walk to different classrooms between different classes, but in senior high school, I could just stay in the same classroom in different classes. The other important reason is food. In Tainan, I ate very well and nutritionally because my mother liked cooking and cooked very well. She paid much attention to the balance between different nutrition while preparing food for the whole family. However, living alone in Taipei, I just can eat outside not only because no one will prepare food for me but also because I don’t have a kitchen to cook for myself. Of course, outside lunch boxes is less delicious and less nutritional, so I ate less than before.

       My life style changed a lot after I left home to Taipei. The biggest change is the time I go to sleep. In my home, when I studied or read books late in night, my mother would always ask me to go to bed. If I didn’t go to bed immediately, she would be angry and kept sitting on the sofa in the living room until I went to bed. Therefore, I didn’t go to bed very late. However, after I left my home, no other one would care about the time I go to bed and remind me to sleep, so I go to bed later and later because of forgetting the time.

      The other change of the life style is the way I wake up. In my home, the sound of the alarm clock couldn’t wake me up because I totally couldn’t hear it. Every morning, my father had to wake me up many times because I usually just stayed in bed after he woke me up. However, living alone in Taipei, no one would wake me up, so I have to get out of bed by myself. In the begging of my life in Taipei, I often woke up late because I didn’t hear the sound of my alarm clock, but now as soon as the clock rings, I wake up immediately. I think this is a big advancement to me.

Some of my values also changed. The biggest change is that I become independent. In my home, although I had been eighteen years old, I still treated myself as a child. Every time something happened, I always immediately sought help from my parents and hid behind my parents while my parents dealt with things for me. However, since I went to Taipei alone, I had to deal with almost everything by myself. At first, I still got used to ask my parents for help, but gradually, I found that because of the distance, my parents couldn’t totally understand my affairs and it took too much time to wait for help. Besides, my parents told me one day after I went to Taipei that I was already an adult, so they wouldn’t tell me what I could or should do anymore. Therefore, I need to deal with things by myself, and by doing so, I gradually had abilities and confidence to deal with things well individually. In other words, I have treated myself an adult and become much independent.

Because of being independent, I became more courageous to defend my rights. For example, I went to a restaurant, and the attendant’s attitude was very awful. In the past, I would just feel unhappy but said nothing but now I would tell the attendant or the manager that the attendant made me unhappy so that I felt their service was awful. I think it is also a big change on my values after I left home to Taipei alone.

Although I have some changes after I left my home to Taipei, there is still one thing invariable. That is my love toward my family. Even though I became independent, I still took my parents’ advice when dealing with some things. To me, my home is still a harbour and the biggest spiritual support. In the past, my parents protected me and let me grew up without sorrow and anxiety. Now, it turns to me to protect them and make them feel relieved and happy.