Chang: it's more than a beer, it's a magnificent animal.

So my ADPi sistaaa leaves me, and so did my distraction.  As an unbelievable amount of work was upon me I realized something and felt a lot better.  My philosophy: put in two nights worth of work to cover two months.  I can do that.  And I did.

The last week in April was my last week of classes and things went pretty smoothly.  To celebrate that Thursday, we attended the farewell dinner for BBA Exchange students at a rooftop restaurant in Bangkok.  The view was insane and there was a buffet.  Magic happened.

View from the restaurant.

Some of the BBA ladies.

The next day the other girl from USC on exchange and I went back to Chiang Mai (merely two weeks after leaving) to have a day with elephants!!  It was one of the greatest things I've ever done, and was absolutely necessary.  Thailand's symbol is an elephant, and they've even named my favorite beer here, Chang, after them.  We started the day early when they picked us up from our hostel and took us to their elephant farm.  They run this whole place to enhance the life of rescued elephants.

We were elephant owners for the day, so the day started off with us meeting them and feeding them a whole basket of fruit.  Then we cleaned and bathed them.  Afterwards we mounted the elephants to go on our first hike.  Mine was the only one with a full tusks, so he put them to the ground and lifted me onto his head with his trunk.  If I didn't already know we were soulmates, that would have sealed the deal.  We took them to this waterfall where I got to swim with my elephant!  Also, his name was Boonpak.

After our buffet lunch we took another long hike through the woods and then we got a short break.  During this break the three babies and their mamas were out to play and I died 8 times because they were so adorable.

After the break we learned a new way of riding the elephants and took them for a final walk before saying goodbye with a basket full of bananas.  As the owner of the farm explained, every part of our day is used to enhance the lives of the elephants.  The long walks through jungle terrain give them the chance to exercise, eat food in different places, and file their toe nails down.  The bath is for skin care.  It was honestly, one of the best days of my life.  If you get the opportunity to ride an elephant in their natural setting you should absolutely do it, no matter the cost.

Oh, and fun fact, when we walked next to the elephants and led them, we had to hold onto their ears.  So precious.

I was only in Chiang Mai for a day.  We took a night bus back to Bangkok, and two days later my friends from Hong Kong arrived.  I got to spend three days with them and it was great to see someone from home.  On our first night out we went to Khao San and got drinks at the "Golf Bar Cocktail" place.  I posted a picture of it forever ago.  It's the one with the hilarious yellow sign.  Anyway, while we were sitting there, a boy I met in Hanoi walked up and said hello.  It was so awesome/strange/exhilarating to see someone I had met elsewhere in SE Asia in my hometown.

The Hong Kong Boys as they will heretofore be known, myself, and four other exchange students went and saw Deadmau5, a world renowned DJ, on May 4th and it was one of the most epic nights of my life.  Not only did Deadmau5 kill it, but because we were in Thailand, we got to be at the very front and see his lights and mask up close.  On the way home, we got caught in a tropical rain storm and were drenched.

Now I'm buckling down for finals.  Gross.  Everyone here seems to have intense finals schedules.  I only have one on the 10th so I've had plenty of time to not study for it.  I move out on May 11th (in 4 days!) and leave the next day to start my traveling adventures.  This means I have to simultaneously study for my final AND pack.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I'll get it done.