First Week

Hey!
I can't believe that I have already been here for a week. For those of you starting to get worried, yes I made it here in one piece. After nearly 30 grueling hours of travel, I arrived in Bangkok on Friday afternoon and was whisked off to Rangsit, my home for the next few months. Let me just say, it is incredible! Since I landed on Friday, I've been in awe of Thailand and Thai culture. Everything, even the most mundane things, is different, cool and exciting. I can't believe that I'm here.

I'm living in a small but comfortable apartment by myself and having a great time. Most of the students in my program live in the same building or close by. All of the USAC students are really friendly, fun and interesting people, but then again, I suppose that you have to be in order to choose Thailand for study abroad. We're all getting to know each other and have already started planning trips together around Thailand and SE Asia.

In my first week, I've experienced a lot... I went to the mall (it's 5 stories, huge, and totally different than any mall I've ever seen), trecked through the JJ market (a market the size of 3 football fields with everything from black market animals to bedspreads, makeup, and clothes), partied at the beautiful clubs in Bangkok, learned to order meals and speak broken thai, gone to the pool and the movies, played glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee under the stars, and started classes. It's been an eventful week to say the least.

The people here are wonderful, welcoming and accomodating. I've already befriended some of the street vendors (where we eat 90%) of meals and gotten to meet many Thai students and professors. It's been great! I haven't totally settled on which classes to take, but have chosen Thai language, Thai civilization, Thai cooking, and Thai business and politics. Classes are 3 hours and 20 minutes long, but were great this week.

Tonight, I'm heading off to southern Thailand for a weekend at the beach. In a few hours, I'll hop on a bus to Koh Phangan with ~15 other students for the Full Moon Party, a monthly tradition in southern Thailand. It is a giant beach party on a small island with 10 to 20,000 attendees. It should be a blast!