(no. not exactly today. this was taken few weeks ago.)
SO WHERE EXACTLY AM I?
I'm on my desk, in my apartment in the middle of Bangkok, writing this stuff.
Wait, how did I even get here?!
This is the kind of post that I wanted to write since Day-1 I'm here, but you know stuff about people and life: They don't write as much as they go out and think about writing stuff they experience when they go out. I'm just being one of those people. Yet now I'm kinda breaking those people's rules and actually writing about stuff I experienced here.
Here we go:
Last semester I applied for an exchange program to Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan, hoping that if I got accepted, I would go exchange to Malaysia, for reasons that it's closer to home and easier to find حلال food (Also, my mom had been wanting to go there but had not enough reason to actually go there so if I went to Malaysia, she finally would have a strong reason to go there.). That being said, I wasn't accepted to go to Malaysia, instead, I got accepted to a well-known and notable university in Thailand: Chulalongkorn University.
THERE. I SAID IT.
It's been a month. My life is pretty much the same with the one I had back home. But here is more... I don't know how to say it.... UMM.... (((Literally))) I don't know how to say it because EVERYTHING IS IN THAI or should I say ทุกอย่างที่อยู่ในไทย (I still don't know how to say it. I got Google Translate on my back this time).
It's kinda funny to see an English major student go exchange to a non-English speaking country. Oh, the struggle she must have gone through...
My aunt asked me WHY NOT AUSTRALIA? OR CANADA?
And I answered with I DON'T KNOW. WHO CARES?
No. That did not really happen. But that might happen. Because really, I don't know. And really, who cares? It's not like I'm gonna lose all my English communication ability once I enter the non-English speaking country or the other way around. All courses offered are in English. All my friends
So the first month was tough. What's supposed to be the most careful month of the semester turned to be the most reckless month. I ended up buying almost everything I didn't really need, like: sunglasses, Monopod, a pair of pants, a pair of sandals, a backpack, t-shirts, and other stuff that I already had but I felt like buying them just because they're cheap.
I also had to deal with homesickness. The fact that I had never separated from my family this long a time makes it really hard for me to bear with this whole thing. The first days were fine: I enjoyed every single thing I found. The next few days were becoming really hard: my parents called almost everyday to make sure I was ok. But I got over it. It's been days since I last had a video call with my parents.
I'm entering the second month of living abroad. School's fine. Some courses have gone through first assessment already. In few weeks there will be mid term and after that I can finally go explore what really is in Thailand. I've only been in Bangkok, for all I know, there are still lots of places to go outside Bangkok, so..
Anyway, friends are another benefit for being an exchange student. BUT SADLY, most of the exchange students in my faculty are from Japan. Not that I don't like Japanese or anything, it's just that there are too many Japanese exchange students in my faculty. Like, half of it. I kinda expected to meet people from America or Europe (which I did, but still). But then again these Japanese people are very friendly and かわいい! Their English is not as bad as I thought it would be. There are always stuff to be discussed! Like yesterday, when we were having lunch in cafetaria, we talked about religion, popular culture, historical places, and even underage sex! It's nice knowing people's perspectives in those issues that sometimes I myself am not comfortable talking about back home.
So yeah. That's pretty much the stuff I want to talk about here. I guess I'll be back later to give summary on my second month.
Bye!
