Interviewing Tom changed my life. He told me when he talks to this one language partner, it felt like therapy. Their friendship was deepening and it happened to be in Chinese. Of course, it sounds obvious that language should serve relationships, not the other way around. But as students drowning in flashcards, textbooks, and homework, everything in Mandarin feels hard, even making friends at language meetups. I used to tell people that I came to Taiwan to continue learning and practicing Mandarin, but after talking to Tom, I realized what I am doing here is actually a lot more and a lot deeper than just language practice.