Home is 7,000 miles away from Harvard.
On most weeks during the semester though, it’s only a 10 minute walk away to Eliot Private Dining Hall, where the Taiwanese Cultural Society (TCS) convenes for dinners every Wednesday. TCS has become an important part of my identity on campus, and I’m proud to be a part of an incredibly tight-knit group of students. I’d love to share some of the fun activities we do as a club!
Weekly Dinners
Wednesday dinners are always blocked out on my calendar—it’s my weekly TCS meal at Eliot Dining Hall. We start with a round of "rose, bud, thorn" to catch up, and then I often find myself chatting in a mix of Chinese and English, which is how I speak at home. There's a real comfort in seeing the same group every week and easily switching between the two languages I'm most familiar with. It’s also been great to see how these dinners have grown in size. TCS started with barely filling a table of six, and now we’re always pulling in extra chairs to fit everyone in the room. Our weekly dinner is a tradition I’ve come to cherish!
Tang Yuan and Hot Pot Social
This past semester, TCS organized more internal socials for everyone to hang out outside of dinners. In February, we bought Tang Yuans (a traditional Chinese rice balls dessert typically served in hot broth or syrup) from H-Mart and did a mini-gathering for the Lantern Festival. In late April, TCS hosted a hotpot gathering to celebrate the upcoming end to the semester.
Night Market Event
TCS Night Market is an event we organize every fall semester to replicate the vivacity and warmth of Taiwanese night markets. TCS members help out with the planning process, procuring food from Taiwanese caterers, designing graphics and printing posters, crafting games that simulate those found in night markets, and coordinating performances by other student clubs on campus. Last year, the Harvard Taekwondo Club and various other student bands put on captivating shows as participants won mini prizes at our minigame booths. The vibes were immaculate!
Everything else in between!
There are so many other things we do at TCS that make it such a gem of a community. From Mahjong nights and housing day predictions to grass jelly bowls during our last weekly dinner of the school year, I’ve found a welcoming community and lifelong friends. Even when I’m back in Taiwan over the break, TCS continues to be a tight knit group. This winter, TCS met up in Taipei to conquer an escape room game together (albeit with a lot of language-related confusion, of course). I can’t wait for another great semester with TCS!
