by Kelsey Stauffenberg
Thammasat University, Thailand
Well... It has been a whirl wind of new experiences for me over the past four days. I cannot believe I have been all the way across the world for only four short days, it feels like it has been a month at least. It is amazing how fast you bond with people in a foreign country who are experiencing for the first time the same things as you. I flew out Wednesday, 6-26-13. I went from Maryville, TN, my home to Atlanta, an airport I know well and from there on a 13 hour plane ride to Tokyo, the most time I have ever spent on a plane. I was not nervous about leaving till I got to the airport and then it all hit me... I was leaving my country to go across the world and live for over a month. In Atlanta I said my last good byes to my family and then my boy friend. So I cannot use my phone in Bangkok because it will cost too much so I tell my mom and dad good bye and say I will text them and then I tell Jordan, my boy friend good bye. I was so relieved to get a break from everyone I know; I know that sounds weird but I was so ready to be just me all the way across the world living without pressures without calling and texting and answering to people, without everyone knowing where I am and what I am doing, I was ready to be free. I figured out the way to sleep on a packed air plane though and I feel pretty ingenious, what I did was put the tray down on the back of the seat in front of me and tilt my seat back and put my legs up on the tray and slept for almost the whole 13 hour plane ride. I did look out the window to see Alaska which was pretty cool. When I got to Tokyo air port I was a little disoriented. It was strange to be the ethnic minority for sure, I have never been in that situation. To be by myself in another country not knowing where to go or how to ask where I needed to go was a little scary but I felt confident.... until I went to the wrong gate. I waited at a gate for 30 minutes and then when boarding they tell me this flight to bangkok is with another company, you are in the wrong place. I was so scared I had missed my flight but when I looked I still have 10 minutes so I ran to look for a screen to tell me where to go and I thought I had it down when I ended up at another wrong gate, at this point I was panicked.... so again I am running across the airport. I see the gate and I was so tired from the flight then the running and panicking that there was no joy in finally seeing my last flight till I got to Bangkok. As soon as I sit down this girl comes running up to me with the biggest smile and says are you Kelsey? And then it hits me, this is my new roommate and my mood instantly lifted. I feel like she lifted me out of my funk and got me excited again for our coming adventure. I was so relieved that she had found me and I was now with a familiar face so far away from home. We board as soon as she found me and again with the flying.... i have never hated flying so much. I definitely would say that I have claustrophobic tendencies; being in such a small space for so long just made me stressed and emotionally worn thin. At this point my body and mind were tired and I again slept most of the plane ride but I figured I should try and wake up so the last 2 hours of the 6 hour plane ride I watched a couple movies. Just an fyi, Stoker is an amazingly artistic movie. So I land in Bangkok, finally after 26 hours of flying and running and worrying and emotionally up and down and all around... I was here! It is so weird to say here, because this honestly it doesn't feel like a here or there or anything of the sort by now it feels like home, it feels like I have always sort of, in a way been right here in Bangkok. But I will come back to that point, I am sure many times over my blogging sessions. So, me and Dani (my roommate) get off the plane and set out to get our baggage and find our driver. It turns out I had no idea where to meet for pick up so it is a miracle that Dani knew where to go.... it is funny how so many things have aligned to help me be able to get to here. We meet another guy in the program at pick up, Scott (he is 18 years old and very reserved). So here we are in a taxi driving through Bangkok and I get this burst of energy and wow I am ecstatic. We get to the what I thought was apartments but alas I was wrong it is a hotel and I was so upset that I had to live in a hotel for a month but boy was I so wrong to misjudge it like I did. I love my room and the porch and the roof and the area it is in, I love my new home. Well, we get up to the room and it turns out that Scott is our neighbor, so cool. In our room, we find our beds have no sheets, strange and kind of disconcerting because I needed some good sleep and sleeping without sheets is hard, let me tell you. So we barely get to sit down.. and talk about our lack of sheets when there is a knock at the door. It is Scott and his roommate Ben. We all introduce ourselves and decide to set off to find sheets. It is so amazing how things just seem to happen in a way that allows the best possible circumstances. We meet Scott in the airport and then he tells his roommate that we just got in too and then they ask us to find sheets with them and then we end up lost in Bangkok at 1 am. We found no sheets but we did find a convenient store and got a beer instead. Ben convinced me to go for a Thai beer (Singha) that became our go to beer until we found it is a, to put it not so nicely, "bitch beer". It was so surreal to be in Thailand, drinking a beer with such awesome new friends. I could not have been happier to be here. It is so weird because when I first applied I said hey maybe I'll apply and see what happens and then I got accepted by my school and then I did more work and got accepted by ISEP international program and then I got accepted to Thammasat and then I was getting my plane ticket and then I was here, I never expected to actually get here.... I feel like I was meant to come here, it just feels natural to me. At home I can't go down town without being lost and I hardly come from a city such as Bangkok but here I have the directional skills and I was always lacking in the states.... here I can find my way around the crazy mazes of streets and markets and traffic and bridges and it amazes me. The first night I got maybe 3 hours of sleep... my schedule had no adjusted yet. But I was so excited to start my day that I got right up and my 3 new friends decided to walk around. We found Thammasat, after hours of being lost. Here it is ok to be lost, it is ok to take your time and I love it. Being lost helped us to get to know the city. Well I have to get back to living the life in Bangkok but tomorrow I will continue catching up on the 4 days I have been here.
Thammasat University, Thailand
Well... It has been a whirl wind of new experiences for me over the past four days. I cannot believe I have been all the way across the world for only four short days, it feels like it has been a month at least. It is amazing how fast you bond with people in a foreign country who are experiencing for the first time the same things as you. I flew out Wednesday, 6-26-13. I went from Maryville, TN, my home to Atlanta, an airport I know well and from there on a 13 hour plane ride to Tokyo, the most time I have ever spent on a plane. I was not nervous about leaving till I got to the airport and then it all hit me... I was leaving my country to go across the world and live for over a month. In Atlanta I said my last good byes to my family and then my boy friend. So I cannot use my phone in Bangkok because it will cost too much so I tell my mom and dad good bye and say I will text them and then I tell Jordan, my boy friend good bye. I was so relieved to get a break from everyone I know; I know that sounds weird but I was so ready to be just me all the way across the world living without pressures without calling and texting and answering to people, without everyone knowing where I am and what I am doing, I was ready to be free. I figured out the way to sleep on a packed air plane though and I feel pretty ingenious, what I did was put the tray down on the back of the seat in front of me and tilt my seat back and put my legs up on the tray and slept for almost the whole 13 hour plane ride. I did look out the window to see Alaska which was pretty cool. When I got to Tokyo air port I was a little disoriented. It was strange to be the ethnic minority for sure, I have never been in that situation. To be by myself in another country not knowing where to go or how to ask where I needed to go was a little scary but I felt confident.... until I went to the wrong gate. I waited at a gate for 30 minutes and then when boarding they tell me this flight to bangkok is with another company, you are in the wrong place. I was so scared I had missed my flight but when I looked I still have 10 minutes so I ran to look for a screen to tell me where to go and I thought I had it down when I ended up at another wrong gate, at this point I was panicked.... so again I am running across the airport. I see the gate and I was so tired from the flight then the running and panicking that there was no joy in finally seeing my last flight till I got to Bangkok. As soon as I sit down this girl comes running up to me with the biggest smile and says are you Kelsey? And then it hits me, this is my new roommate and my mood instantly lifted. I feel like she lifted me out of my funk and got me excited again for our coming adventure. I was so relieved that she had found me and I was now with a familiar face so far away from home. We board as soon as she found me and again with the flying.... i have never hated flying so much. I definitely would say that I have claustrophobic tendencies; being in such a small space for so long just made me stressed and emotionally worn thin. At this point my body and mind were tired and I again slept most of the plane ride but I figured I should try and wake up so the last 2 hours of the 6 hour plane ride I watched a couple movies. Just an fyi, Stoker is an amazingly artistic movie. So I land in Bangkok, finally after 26 hours of flying and running and worrying and emotionally up and down and all around... I was here! It is so weird to say here, because this honestly it doesn't feel like a here or there or anything of the sort by now it feels like home, it feels like I have always sort of, in a way been right here in Bangkok. But I will come back to that point, I am sure many times over my blogging sessions. So, me and Dani (my roommate) get off the plane and set out to get our baggage and find our driver. It turns out I had no idea where to meet for pick up so it is a miracle that Dani knew where to go.... it is funny how so many things have aligned to help me be able to get to here. We meet another guy in the program at pick up, Scott (he is 18 years old and very reserved). So here we are in a taxi driving through Bangkok and I get this burst of energy and wow I am ecstatic. We get to the what I thought was apartments but alas I was wrong it is a hotel and I was so upset that I had to live in a hotel for a month but boy was I so wrong to misjudge it like I did. I love my room and the porch and the roof and the area it is in, I love my new home. Well, we get up to the room and it turns out that Scott is our neighbor, so cool. In our room, we find our beds have no sheets, strange and kind of disconcerting because I needed some good sleep and sleeping without sheets is hard, let me tell you. So we barely get to sit down.. and talk about our lack of sheets when there is a knock at the door. It is Scott and his roommate Ben. We all introduce ourselves and decide to set off to find sheets. It is so amazing how things just seem to happen in a way that allows the best possible circumstances. We meet Scott in the airport and then he tells his roommate that we just got in too and then they ask us to find sheets with them and then we end up lost in Bangkok at 1 am. We found no sheets but we did find a convenient store and got a beer instead. Ben convinced me to go for a Thai beer (Singha) that became our go to beer until we found it is a, to put it not so nicely, "bitch beer". It was so surreal to be in Thailand, drinking a beer with such awesome new friends. I could not have been happier to be here. It is so weird because when I first applied I said hey maybe I'll apply and see what happens and then I got accepted by my school and then I did more work and got accepted by ISEP international program and then I got accepted to Thammasat and then I was getting my plane ticket and then I was here, I never expected to actually get here.... I feel like I was meant to come here, it just feels natural to me. At home I can't go down town without being lost and I hardly come from a city such as Bangkok but here I have the directional skills and I was always lacking in the states.... here I can find my way around the crazy mazes of streets and markets and traffic and bridges and it amazes me. The first night I got maybe 3 hours of sleep... my schedule had no adjusted yet. But I was so excited to start my day that I got right up and my 3 new friends decided to walk around. We found Thammasat, after hours of being lost. Here it is ok to be lost, it is ok to take your time and I love it. Being lost helped us to get to know the city. Well I have to get back to living the life in Bangkok but tomorrow I will continue catching up on the 4 days I have been here.