Reintroducing, Readjusting, and Reflecting

This post is coming very late. Forgive me. My last few weeks were a whirlwind of emotion, craziness and fun, saying hello and goodbye to some people who had become and remained very important to me.

Haidee in Hong Kong

Luckily, I was reintroduced to western culture in a gradual way, which reduced the shock of getting home. A little over two weeks before leaving Thailand for good, I was able to go visit one of my friends from UW-Madison, Haidee, in Hong Kong! I cried a little when I saw her. It had been so long since I’d seen a familiar face.

Visiting Hong Kong with Haidee was absolutely incredible. I’m so lucky her family gave me a place to stay and introduced and treated me to wonderful tradition Hong Kong cuisine and also that she was my tour guide through the city. It was so nice to connect with someone who knows Wisconsin again. Hong Kong is like the New York City of Southeastern Asia, it even has a Times Square! It was very westernized and modernized compared to lots of the other places I had traveled recently (especially compared to Nepal!) so I started to feel like I was getting back into my “normal” life slowly but surely.

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Haidee showed me all around Hong Kong. We went to the Peak and saw Hong Kong from above, we took a boat ride around the islands and ate amazing, fresh seafood, I gorged myself on dim sum, we bar hopped late into the night, we explored the endless malls, we sweat our butts off in the sun hiking the Dragon Back trail, we drank lots and lots of bubble tea, and we meandered through art galleries and shops. I had an absolute blast in Hong Kong. Haidee is one of my favorite people to be around because she is a ton of fun but super easy-going and generous and she just makes people around her happy. So thanks Haidee, I love you and your home.

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When I got back from Hong Kong, I only had to wait TWO DAYS before AUSTIN POWELL would be in Thailand with me! I wish I could explain to you how ready and excited I was to see him again, it had been so so long. I had started to feel like I had a fake boyfriend who just existed over a screen. Those two days I preoccupied myself by going about my normal life – doing laundry, studying for exams (kind of), and lots of binging on Netflix. Finally, on the day of, I distracted myself by spending the day shopping.

Hello, Again

Seeing Austin for the first time in six months at the airport is one of those moments I’ll never forget. He looked so handsome. And big. I swear his arms got bigger. And did I mention how handsome? I was very happy to have him in the same place I was, finally.

Just now, I was asking Austin what stories I should put in this post while I was writing it and he said, “Did you talk about that first night?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Idk, just how good it was.” And I think that about sums up how happy we were to see each other again.

I still had a final exam to take, so Austin and I spent a few days at my apartment at Thammasat University. I showed him Bangkok. We visited temples and the shopping malls and the markets. After I was officially done with classes, we went out to Khaosan Road with some of my friends from journalism. Austin embraced absolutely everything about the journey and the adventure – especially the food – and his excitement to be there made me so happy.

After months of being apart, it was amazingly effortless being together again. It was so hard to be away but honestly, nothing changed other than gaining a deeper appreciation for each other. I’ll be the first to admit, I never truly realized how incredible a big, Austin bearhug is until I hadn’t been hugged by another person in six months.

One day in Bangkok, Austin and I decided to go visit the Jim Thompson house, since we were in the area and I hadn’t been yet. Even though I was in Thailand, a very, very different place than Minnesota, I couldn’t help being reminded of my Grandma and Grandpa Merritt’s Mississippi River oasis. There was something about the funky architecture, green surroundings and rusty red colored walls that kept Grandpa Merritt on my mind the whole time.

Afterward, Austin and I walked to a nearby Thai massage place. Thai massages are a weird experience: they hit you and step on you and contort you in all these weird shapes, so I wasn’t sure how he’d feel, but let me tell you, Austin LOVED it.

Northern Thailand

After Bangkok, we traveled up to Northern Thailand. We spent one night in Chiang Mai before taking the minibus to Pai. Our night in Chiang Mai was good. We stayed in an Airbnb run by an English man and it was spacious, clean, comfortable… plus he gave us a ride to the bus station in the morning which was a huge bonus.

However, Pai was probably our favorite place. The ride there kind of sucked, it’s about 3 hours into the mountains. I think they say it ends up being over 700 twists and turns. Luckily, neither of us got car sick. The night before we had decided to change our reservation from a “party hostel” to a little cabin we found on Airbnb. After my terrible experiences at the party hostel in Cambodia (drunk, naked men peeing at the foot of my bed + bedbugs), I wasn’t really ready to risk it again.

Changing our reservation was a great call. The area was so pretty, with the mountains surrounding us and cattle grazing nearby. Better yet, the Airbnb host offered us to rent his moped for 100 baht per day (Approx. $3) WE HAD SO MUCH FUN ON THAT SCOOTER! It was perfect. The scooter gave us so much freedom to see more and more of Pai. We scooted out to the Pai Canyon one night for sunset, we scooted up to some scenic look-out points, one day, we visited some waterfalls.

The waterfalls were a huge highlight of our trip. Based on the fact that there are basically no restrictions for natural areas in Thailand (sometimes a fun thing, but typically a bad thing), we were able to climb, slip, slide, swim, and jump around the waterfalls as we pleased. Austin watched as one older, local man threw himself with no restraint off the top of a waterfall into the pool below and said, “I’m going to do that.” He and several other travelers climbed their way up to the top and spent about 10 minutes taking turns looking off the side of it. Then, all the sudden, Austin went for it and jumped.

This was one of my favorite moments, personally, because I always love seeing the side of Austin that not everyone gets to see.

Without spending much time with him, you instantly can tell that he’s not a huge talker but he’s kind, humble, competitive and has a great head on his shoulders. And this is true, yet spend a little more time with him and you’ll find he’s stubborn, he tells the worst dad jokes ever, he’s an absolute sweetheart, he blushes when he gets embarrassed, he rarely judges anyone for any reason, he is steady and dependable through anything, he’s the most passionate, controlled, determined and motivated person I know, and he’s SO FUN.

Austin is easy-going and ready for whatever wild ideas come into my mind; I mean he came to THAILAND to have an adventure with me! We balance each other really well and help each other step out of each of our individual comfort zones and that’s my favorite, favorite part of dating him. On paper, we couldn’t be more different and yet we work, so well, in my humble opinion.

Southern Thailand

After Pai, we took a flight to Southern Thailand to spend some time on the islands. It was the monsoon season, so I was a little nervous about how the weather would treat us, but we totally lucked out with sun and great weather. However, since it wasn’t peak tourist season, we hadn’t been running into lots of other travelers. Bangkok is always hectic, but Pai wasn’t packed and the island was about to be even more deserted. We spent one night in an absolute crap hotel in Krabi, then took our mini-bus + ferry to Koh Lanta.

Since there weren’t many others on the island, our Airbnb host upgraded our room to the nicest one in the resort. So we paid $20 for a private room next to the beach and pool and bar and yes, we loved it.

There wasn’t a ton to do on the island, but that was almost the best part of it. We just relaxed. We walked near the ocean and swam and read books. One morning we went to the Koh Lanta Animal Welfare Shelter and volunteered to take some of their dogs for a walk. Singha and Elvis were the names, and they were two adorable little Thai pups. I love that Austin because he’s as big of an animal lover as I am – I’m a firm believer you can tell a lot about a person based on how they react when they see a dog. We both have to stop and give our favorite stray pups some pats and possibly some snacks.

Another one of our days on the island, we did a snorkeling tour! This took up basically the entire day but it was the best snorkeling I did in Asia. The coral was still colorful and there were tons of tropical fish. I was starting to get super tired while we were snorkeling though. I’m not sure if I was just drained from sun and travel, or if these were my first warning signs that I was beginning to get really sick, but I remember feeling off this entire day.

The trip was winding down, however. We had a beautiful time. I don’t quite know how to put in words how much it meant to me that Austin was willing to not only deal with a long distance relationship for half the year but also come all the way across the world to visit the place I had fallen in love with and explore it with me. He’s the best. Thailand is the best.

Finally, Coming Home!

I was EXCITED to go home. Let me tell you. Austin and I spend the last night in Thailand packing up my apartment and trying to even out our (my) baggage so we wouldn’t go over the allowed weight. We spent a lot of time moving my items around: “Well, what if I put my jeans in your backpack, my books in my backpack, and my shoes in your suitcase…” — You get the idea. However, after an hour or so, Austin picked both of our suitcases up and said: “If my years of weightlifting have given me any sense at all, I think that’s right.” Each of our bags was allowed to weigh 50 pounds, and we weighed them as soon as we got to the airport. Sure enough- I think both of our bags were 0.2 lbs above or below 50 pounds. I still laugh thinking of how pumped we both were, dancing around the airport in the middle of the night because we were going home and not paying any overweight baggage fees.

We both agreed, flying 15 hours in a plane is much better when you’re with someone you love instead of leaving someone you love or anticipating getting to see someone you love. We scored an exit row seat so had plenty of room to get up, move around and stretch our legs. We slept a bit and watched some movies and did what we could to make the flight go fast.

In the last two hours, however, I was beginning to feel a little nauseous. We had some turbulence almost the entire flight. I also felt a little feverish, claustrophobic and I was just dying to get off the plane. O’Hare was so backed up, we ended up having to wait almost two hours for our luggage to come out. I was so anxious to get out of there, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to see my parents. I wanted to eat Culvers. I wanted to cuddle Charlie.

Malaria Scare

Finally, we got out. Yes, I cried when I saw my mom. I was overjoyed to get a hug from my dad. We stopped at Culvers before we even made it out of Illinois, and I gorged myself with more dairy than I had eaten in the past six months combined. But, at Culvers, on the drive home, and the rest of the evening, I had the chills, and I was burning up. Finally, I just put myself to bed early in hopes I was just readjusting and would be better in the morning.

Unfortunately, I was not. The next few days I dealt with fevers, especially at night. I got migraines with them too. I was SO BUMMED. I had just gotten home, there was so much I was dying to do and so many people I was dying to see, yet I was stuck in bed.

I decided to just deal with not feeling great because there was so much I wanted to do! My parents had a big two-week road trip planned to go out west, and I had agreed to watch Charlie while they were gone. Austin tried to take me out for a beautiful date on the lake but I was too exhausted to even be any fun. I slept on the boat the whole way there and back and could barely find the energy to do anything else.

After a week of reoccurring fevers, Austin convinced me to go to Urgent Care. They decided to take the situation very seriously when I told them I had just gotten back from Southeast Asia. Some blood tests confirmed my levels were off: low white blood, high liver count, etc. Now I was a little nervous but mainly just annoyed. I wanted to enjoy being home, I wanted to start working, I didn’t feel like dealing with this.

Long story long, I had to call my internship and ask them to push my start date another week back. Luckily, they were generous and understanding. I spent the next week going to get blood work done every day without any progress on an actual prognosis. They tested me for HIV, Hepatitis C, Salmonella, Tetanus, who knows what else…but their main concern was Malaria. The Prairie Clinic began sending my blood results to Infectious Diseases at St. Mary’s. One blood test for malaria came back negative, one came back positive, and one came back inconclusive, so basically… no one knew.

I was such a mix of emotions at this point: Frustrated because I wanted to move back to Madison and have fun. Thankful for Austin, who stayed with me as much as he possibly could throughout the week. Scared because my parents were gone and I didn’t know what was happening. Guilty because I knew my mom was worried sick about me. But mainly I was just tired. I didn’t want to do anything but sleep. So Charlie and I spent lots of time in bed snuggling.

After a few more days, I began feeling much better. I had energy again, the fevers had stopped. However, one weird symptom remained. My hands were absurdly itchy, and then my feet too. It was the craziest thing, there was no visible rash but I couldn’t stop scratching my fingers. It kept me up at night, trying to itch them. I really just thought I was losing my mind at this point.  Unfortunately, my lab results didn’t show improvement, so the testing continued.

Finally, I received some good news — my blood levels had stabilized on their own. A few days after that more news, my test for Dengue fever came back positive. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease, typically just treated with rest and fluids. I couldn’t help chuckling a little looking through the 3 Stages of the virus, they were spot on:

1. Fever
2. Exhaustion
3. ITCHINESS

So, I wasn’t going crazy.

The mystery was solved, and I was thankful it ended up being something that could get better on its own.  Turns out there were more confirmed cases in Thailand this year than in the last two decades. Still, I read if you live in Thailand for 20 years, you only have a 1% chance of actually getting the disease — lucky me. My mom cried when I told her and I was happy that I knew she would be able too to enjoy the rest of her trip in peace now. The doctor confirmed I could begin working again, all in all, it was a huge potential crisis averted.

Finally, I could begin to enjoy my time being back. I went out with my friends to celebrate MALARIA FREE 2018, my parents came home soon after, I moved back to Madison and finally got to catch up with all my roomies, and lately,  I’ve been packing my summer days with a full-time internship, getting back into a running habit, and all the fun Madison provides.

Last night I went out with my good friends from Sauk, Mikey and Trent, and was blown away by how many detailed, poignant questions Trent asked me. I was so excited to actually get to talk about my trip without feeling like I was driving him crazy. Trent had read my blogs and followed my posts and truthfully wanted to know the details. So thanks Trent, I really appreciate it. Talking to you felt like one of the first times I actually got to reflect on my trip, and I needed that.

That’s why I finally pushed myself to finish this blog post that I’ve been working on for over a month now. Because reflecting is important, and between Dengue fever, readjustment, and jumping back into a full-time work schedule, I haven’t gotten to do that yet.

I miss Asia, I miss traveling, I miss the food… but when I look back I’m so proud of myself because I also dealt with a lot of frustration, sadness, and discomfort. I am so happy to be back in Madison, my favorite city and be able to drive home and see my family whenever I desire. But I wouldn’t change a thing about my experiences, and I feel so grateful to be home, safe, and happy. This is the final chapter of this journey, but there will be more to come in the future, I can feel it.

 

Chicken or Pork? Rice or Noodles?

While preparing to live in Thailand, one of the things I was quite worried about was the food. I’m known to get an upset stomach often after eating in Wisconsin, so I was expecting this to only get worse in Thailand after reading about some of the differences in food preparation and safety. I had also been advised different things from different sources from “do NOT eat the street food,” to “if you go to Thailand and don’t eat the street food — you didn’t even go to Thailand.” You can see how I was a little concerned. In the end, I just prepared myself for whatever issues may arise by bringing plenty of western medications.

However, I’ve been living here two months now (and yes, eating plenty of the incredible street food, fruit, snacks, and drinks) and I’m really happy to say I’ve felt healthier and more energized after eating than I typically do in the states! This might because of the practically nonexistent gluten and dairy in all the food products here, both things that are seemingly impossible to avoid when you live in the beer and dairy capital of America. Thankfully, I’ve dealt with very, very few instances of questionable food. Of course, I’ve also avoided some food entirely – like the live turtles you can pick from the market or the pork intestines you sometimes find in your soup or the fried-to-a-crisp-insects you can get on Khao San. But for the most part, I’ve come to absolutely love Thai cuisine.

I really worried that I would be missing Western food by this time, but I’ve truly been so satisfied with my meals here. Besides the occasional lasagna or pizza craving, it’s somewhat amusing that my mega-cravings haven’t even been for American food, but Mexican food instead. Seriously, all I want is a big plate of tacos and chips and guac and a margarita (I’m one month away from being legal in the U.S. ok?) from La Mex. The only Mexican restaurant I’ve found so far was in Georgetown in Malaysia – months ago now. I have even been searching out avocados in Thailand to be able to make my own guac to subside my craving. No luck so far, but I will not give up the hunt.

For the first few weeks after my arrival, I knew almost no Thai dishes, so when I’d go to eat my Thai friends would ask me, “Chicken or pork? Rice or noodles?” and that’s what I would get. Thankfully, I have begun to try and taste more dishes and have started to be able to differentiate what makes them each unique. But in all honesty, this is really the basis of almost any Thai meal – chicken or pork and noodles or rice.

Pork with chili sauce and white rice.

“Boat” noodles. Noodle soup with pork and fish balls.

(Scroll over the photos to see what the food is)

One thing I’ve really come to embrace about Thai culture is how the day, and many conversations, center around food. I can’t count how many times one of my Thai friends has greeted me with the phrase, “Are you hungry?” or “Have you ate yet?” It’s a beautiful thing. And I think this is largely because eating is such a social activity too, especially for students. Almost none of the apartments/dorms have kitchens, so we eat out for every single meal of the day. Before you think, “Holy cow, Mckenzie. You’re paying to eat at a restaurant every meal, every day?” Meals in Thailand cost anywhere from 20-150 baht. Mine are usually around 40 baht… this is the equivalent to $1.20. So I’m paying around $4 a day to eat full-blown plates of chicken and rice or pork and noodles — I’d say that’s doable. So typically, I meet up with a group of friends for meals around campus and we eat together and talk for awhile and have a good time. So, food is the center of my days because it usually determines when I will be seeing everyone next.

Luckily, my campus does not have a shortage of yummy and cheap places to find a meal at any point of the day. Here’s the layout:

So the big red house is where I live at Skyview. Across the street from me, you can see…

View down my road towards campus

Zone 1: I don’t have much over here but I do have a small restaurant under my building that will deliver food to me at my room. However, I do have to have a Thai friend call and order it for me because they only speak Thai. Then, I have a 7-11 which is very frequently visited by me. I often go if I’m feeling lazy or low on time. You can get food warmed up for you there, and as pre-packed meals go, they aren’t half bad. I usually go for the garlic chicken or basil chicken stir fry, always with sticky rice included. Although, after a night of drinking nothing beats a ham and cheese toastie. They are ALL the hype for drunk, Western food in Thailand. 7-11 has even teamed up with Lays to make a 7-11 special, ham and cheese toastie flavored bag of chips.

I also have a few small food vendors around here. I finally worked up the courage to order food from one of them the other night. I have been admittedly quite shy to order from some food vendors because I’m often wary of the language barrier. I mean sometimes people genuinely look terrified when I approach them knowing that I’m going to speak English to them! But I keep pushing myself to not give up because of it! Pointing and nodding works very well.

 

Fried chicken over rice and some type of sauce (siracha mayo maybe?) over the top that I got from a small vendor near my apartment. Came with a baggie of cabbage with a lemony-mayo dressing – delicious! Plus, nothing better than dinner in bed with Netflix.

Zone 2: This area is called U-Village. It has a nice set of proper restaurants and cafes but for one reason or another, it’s not very popular. I have yet to try anything here. But it’s nice to know it’s available and close!

Zone 3: U-Square. Ahh, the heart and soul to cheap eating at TU-Rangist. U-Square is basically just a large market area with a bunch of outdoor vendors who are set up permanently in their locations. But the food is delicious, there are lots of options (from fish to salad bars to crepes to noodle soup to steak) and it’s all very cheap. This is my most common stop for dinner. I can also find freshly cut fruit bags or fruit shakes here at almost any hour of the day, which I love.

U-Square at Night.

Fish & Rice from U-Square! Eaten right off the bones.

Zone 4: Zone 4 has a set of proper shops underneath the apartment buildings here. There is also a small bar (the only one located so close to campus) that gets pretty popular on weekends. I have two restaurants I like a lot here. One is called Poon Poon (supposedly, named after the sound of a train whistle) and it has some good Italian-style dishes. The other is called Clean Food. I was struggling for a while to find a well-balanced meal with enough vegetables to satisfy me — Clean Food has it. You get a large portion of lean meat, jasberry (whole-grain) rice, a side salad and cooked vegetables — all for $2.20. This is my favorite place to eat on campus by far because it’s healthy and so tasty.

Chicken breast, side salad, cooked veggies, jasberry rice and a sweet teriyaki sauce. Mmmmm

Zone 5: Another set of proper shops under apartment buildings. I haven’t tried a ton of these but you can find almost any craving (besides for Mexican food) you need to be fulfilled down here. They have sushi, dim sum, boat noodles, shabu, curry, American food, pizza, etc. A lot of these places are on my mental list of places to try when I’m craving something specific.

Coffee shop with ham and cheese crossiant

Edamame from Sushi restaurant!

Hawaiian Pizza is so popular here, and I am so here for it!

Zone 6: This area has a little market available on Tuesdays that I tend to stop by on my way home from class. There I can grab fresh fruit drinks or little sweets or my dinner for the evening, typically I can get all of the above for about $2.50. Plus they have some little boutique/thriftshop clothing vendors that can be fun to look through.

Melon shake – nothing but a 1/4 of a musk melon and ice!

Little waffle desserts with chocolate and strawberry jam

Chicken kabobs with chili sauce

Zone 7: This is the canteen (aka cafeteria) I eat most of my breakfasts and lunches at. It’s right next to my faculty (in the dark pink circle.) The food here is super inexpensive (about 90 cents per meal) and very tasty! When I’m low on time, I’ll have a mug of granola with chocolate soy milk at my apartment, but if I have the extra time I’ll typically go here for a plate of rice, fried chicken, stir-fried veggies and egg for my breakfast in the morning.

Chicken, Veggies, Thai Omlete, and Rice

Fried Fish, Sweet hard boiled eggs, and White Rice

Two weekends ago, I took a Thai cooking class that was offered through the Thammasat Office of International Affairs out in the countryside of Bangkok. It was so interesting getting to see what ingredients make up some of the dishes I’ve begun to enjoy so much, like spicy papaya salad! The menu, recipes, and ingredients are below. It was fun for me to read them and see how many I didn’t recognize, yet lots of these ingredients are very common in traditional Thai cuisine.

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Now, this entire post was really for my mom because I know she likes details and photos and maps and getting to feel as much as possible like she understands what my daily life is like here. Love you, Mom! But I also wanted to make a post about this just because of how different the culture surrounding food is! Getting my food from markets and small vendors and trying things I would probably avoid in the U.S. has been such a rewarding experience for me! I’m also proud to say that my spice tolerance has dramatically increased since when I left. So for those of you who stuck around till the end, thanks so much — I hope you learned something new!

 

Hi, I’m Mckenzie, and I’m Studying Journalism with an Emphasis on K-Pop

After a few weeks of adjusting and settling into my classes, I thought it would be time to put up a post about how my classes are going and how they work here in Thailand.

Unlike many study abroad programs, when I arrived I did not have a schedule yet. In fact, I didn’t even know the exact class options that would be offered during my semester. Luckily, to help combat confusion or bad choices, the BJM (Bachelor in Journalism – Mass Media Studies) program here at Thammasat gave me a week to sit-in on any classes I wanted before officially enrolling. I was very strategically trying to pick my schedule to get all my classes at the beginning of the week so that I could have long weekends for traveling. I also didn’t want to take classes that would be too easy for me that I would get bored, which took out even more options. In the end, I had about seven classes or so I could pick from that worked well in my schedule.

Almost all the classes at Thammasat meet just once a week but are three hours long. So working out a schedule with all my classes early was easily possible but it does mean my first few days in the week will be basically spent in the classroom all the time.

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The first class I attended was Photography for Communications. I was really excited for this class because I had never actually taken a photography class before, all my training was just self-teaching and playing around. Instantly, I was relieved to see my professor spoke English well and was super easy to communicate with. He had also worked as a photojournalist before becoming a professor, so he has tons of experience in the field. I’ve found that enrolling in the course has already encouraged me to bring my camera along when otherwise I may have found it easier to leave it at home. Some of the projects in the class included portrait photography, landscape photography, editorial photography, and a final project centered around a theme or narrative of my choice. It’s been interesting learning some new techniques so far for even basic things like balancing ISO, shutter speed, and aperture and using flash correctly, so I look forward to gaining more critical feedback for my work and hopefully becoming a better photographer from it!

I was astounded in this class by how many students showed up late periodically through the class period. A few students strolled in only about ten minutes before the class was completely dismissed! This has gotten a little better since the first week, but what hasn’t changed is how much people talk while our professor is teaching. I just couldn’t believe it — I had a class dismissed at UW-Madison once because the professor felt like students were working on other things during her lecture; I can’t even imagine what the professors would do if students had as many loud, personal conversations while they were talking as they do during some of my classes here.

The second class I attended, on Monday afternoons, was Global Media Industries. I didn’t really know what to expect from this class, but what I got the first day was far, far from what I was anticipating. It turns out my professor for this course is kind of a big deal.

He worked for the Bangkok Post and was well-known for writing radical articles about the Royal family that kept him under the watchful eye of the palace at all times, then he was Editor-In-Chief for GQ Thailand — which is a once-in-a-lifetime position. Here are some of the pieces of fashion advice he dropped during his first class session:

“A belt is not a necessity. It is an accessory.” 

“Swag is not a group thing, it’s an individual thing.”

“Swag lesson #2: No socks with loafers. But, you must make sure your feet don’t stink.”

*He also taught us his go-to selfie face, the “pucker lips.” (more like what we’d call the pouty lips)*

So, you can imagine why I was a little confused by him. It was a little hard to pinpoint his personality on the first day: kind of a weird mix of egotistical and yet being able to poke fun at himself. However, as we’ve now had five classes with him, he has shown a great sense of humor and is a very interesting lecturer. Each one has been on thought-provoking topics for me personally, such as who controls the media and what makes the U.S. the only world superpower. The only grades in this class are based off two presentations. My first one is next week on how social media is used to give a voice to the 99 percent.

One of the other humorous things about this class is that, for some reason, every week before class starts, my fellow Thai students will take over the computer attached to the presentation screen and play, sing and dance along to K-Pop or Thai pop music videos. Of course, this is highly entertaining for me because I have never heard of any of these songs or groups, but the Thai students (girls and boys alike) know every single dance and word. I look forward to my little lesson in Asian music culture every Tuesday afternoon.

One of the most popular songs in Thailand right now is by a group from Bangkok called BNK48. I’m attaching the music video below and please watch a few minutes of it because I’ve never seen something that summarizes all the parts of Thai culture and life so well. I’m not kidding you that this song is everywhere; I step in a mall, it’s playing. I sit at a bar, someone is playing an acoustic version live. I go to the traditional football game, BNK 48 makes a guest appearance to perform the song after the game — it’s everywhere. 

Next morning, I went to Interpretation of Current Affairs. I was somewhat comforted as the professor laid-down some ground rules: don’t come in late, don’t talk while he is talking and don’t eat in class — this was much more the structure I was used to in class. This class basically consists of analyzing current news to sort out the truth, fact, and nontruth and search for deeper meanings and impacts of news stories. A lot of the stories brought up are Thailand current events, so it’s intriguing having a way to keep up-to-date with what’s happening here in Thailand. For example, one week a Thai celebrity accidentally posted her boyfriend’s dick pic on social media which began a classroom-wide conversation on “if size really matters.” Other big news includes a Deputy Prime Minister who wears too fancy of watches, a CEO who poached black panthers, and, Thailand news aside, Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy has also been frequently discussed.

My final class, luckily during the trial week, on Tuesday afternoon, was called Creativity in Strategic Communication, which I was excited about, thinking it would be about creative advertising campaign messages. As soon as the professor began to talk, I realized there might be a little problem. Her English just wasn’t as strong as my other professors had been, and I was struggling to understand. All the sudden, without going through the syllabus or being introduced to what the class would cover, we were told to pick groups (Reminder: I knew no one in this class) and make a video using just the prompt…

“Impossible is Nothing. Love.” 

I was so confused. I had no clue why we were making a video or what it was supposed to be about. Apparently, the Thai students in my class were confused too because she explained everything to them for the next few minutes in Thai, telling me she would “translate later” which she never got around to. Another point, she wanted us to work on the project until 6 pm that night even though the class was only supposed to go until 4:30. I hated to be “that” foreign exchange student, but I had plans to go into the city and check out more of Bangkok after class, and I still had no idea whatsoever what I was supposed to be doing. So, knowing I was still in a trial period for classes anyway, I excused myself and decided I would enroll in a different class.

That different class ended up being Announcing in Broadcasting. It was canceled the first two weeks because the professor had to be a substitute anchor for a Korean news station (I think?) and then we had another two weeks off for the university sports week, so we met for the first time in February. This professor is incredible. She’s so smart, sweet, nice, and speaks clearer English than I do by far. Although this class is a little easier for me, so far, since I am a native English speaker and my Thai classmates are challenged to speak in their second language, I think I will be challenged when we get sent out to do field work and make real broadcast news stories. Finding people to interview will push me out of my comfort zone a bit more.

So, there you have it! A quick glimpse into what my weekly class schedule looks like. Through it all, I’m happy to say that I feel like I am learning and interested in what my professors are teaching here. It’s such a great experience to be able to study what I’m passionate about on another side of the world!