My second day in Thailand proved to be quite eventful. I started the morning by trying to find the ferry that takes students across the river to Thammasat (the University I'm attending) and the market I could buy my uniform at. After walking in the wrong direction, finding the location of the correct ferry but not the ferry itself, and sketchily walking through some very shady alleyways, I was able to find the store purchase my super sexy uniform. It consists of a button down, white, short sleeve shirt and a pleated or straight black skirt. Oh yeah.
I then took the wrong ferry to get to Thammasat, where I proceeded to wander around the wrong university. Once I figured out it wasn't Thammasat I continued down the road and finally found the Thammasat bookstore which had the pins, buttons, and belt I needed. Unfortunately, I was so tramatized by walking for an hour and forty minutes and not finding where I was going I only snapped one picture of the street between the two universities that I had to walk through to get to Thammasat.
Uniform all purchased I proceeded to MBK (the major shopping center in Bangkok) for some food and the sky rail station I needed to get to the bank. On the way I saw so many shops selling big buddhas, mirrors, everything. I equate it to the fashion district in LA, but not as busy, and probably a little nicer.
I was also not disappointed to find an Auntie Anne's waiting for me at MBK. My thoughts: there's plenty of time to embrace the Thai culture, and I was hungry and it looked delicious. The whole area around MBK is full of foreigners, which was really surprising. When I visited Hong Kong freshman year, there were a lot of ex-patriots that gathered in Lan Kwai Fong, but around the city - it was mainly locals. Here, there are foreigners almost everywhere in the newer city. Amarin Mansion is located in the older city (where Bangkok was originally founded) so there aren't many foreigners around here, but if you go almost anywhere in downtown you'll run into western looking people.
I ended the day with orientation and a tour of Thammasat. Our tour guide was a history teacher and told us about all the protests that Thammasat students had made ever since its founding, among other things. There was even a massacre of students in 1976 for protesting the Vietnam War. I realized I was at the Berkeley of Thailand. They say Thammasat is a school for the people that teaches you to love the people, we are one, yada yada. I'm not complaining I just think it's kind of ironic how similar the two schools are.
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| "Golf Bar Cocktails Very Strong - We Do Not Check ID Card" |
Think that day was busy and I'm exhausted and need a nap? Definitely. Is it over? Absolutely not. We got back and I got some chicken nuggets and french fries from the restaurant downstairs. Once again, plenty of time to embrace the Thai culture. Victoria, Rick, and I (all USC students) are eating and drinking some beer when a bunch of the other foreign exchange students apparently had the same idea. After we ate, we all headed to the roof independently. Now let me diverge for a moment. The roof on our place is so sick. It has a view of the entire city and a ping pong table: it's the perfect place to pregame. Anyway, we all decide to head to Khao San Road, where all the backpackers hang out. I'll leave you all to your own imaginations to picture what we did, but let's just say it involved a sweet acoustic guitarist who played the best selection of songs and duh-duh-duh-dancing in the street.
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| Khao San Road |
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| Khao San Road |
Finally I'll leave you with this. (I know this post is long, and if you've made it this far I'm grateful, especially because I'm not a great writer.) In our orientation the teacher talked about a common Thai phrase that is used to describe the culture. It translates into English as "Never mind." Don't worry about it, go with the flow, don't lose your temper. As all of you should know I love the MBTI and am a very clear P, which means I don't plan or organize. This culture is like every beach culture I've ever known, but so much more. They're laid back and care free, which makes it the perfect place for me.
I then took the wrong ferry to get to Thammasat, where I proceeded to wander around the wrong university. Once I figured out it wasn't Thammasat I continued down the road and finally found the Thammasat bookstore which had the pins, buttons, and belt I needed. Unfortunately, I was so tramatized by walking for an hour and forty minutes and not finding where I was going I only snapped one picture of the street between the two universities that I had to walk through to get to Thammasat.
I was also not disappointed to find an Auntie Anne's waiting for me at MBK. My thoughts: there's plenty of time to embrace the Thai culture, and I was hungry and it looked delicious. The whole area around MBK is full of foreigners, which was really surprising. When I visited Hong Kong freshman year, there were a lot of ex-patriots that gathered in Lan Kwai Fong, but around the city - it was mainly locals. Here, there are foreigners almost everywhere in the newer city. Amarin Mansion is located in the older city (where Bangkok was originally founded) so there aren't many foreigners around here, but if you go almost anywhere in downtown you'll run into western looking people.
I really hope you enjoyed several Golf Bar Cocktails for me. Also, are you super excited to wear a uniform again?? I thought you would be! MISS YOU LOVE YOU OT IS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT YOU (and we haven't even moved in yet!!)
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