On Monday- our first full day in Bangkok, we had to take care of a lot of paperwork and administration business, like registering for classes, taking ID pictures and opening a Thai bank account. This wasn't too exciting, however on Monday night we went to dinner at Grandma's (a local restaurant I'll talk more about later) and Will, one of our assistant program directors, asked a few friends and I if we wanted to go on a little adventure. Of course we said yes, and he took us to the Ramkhamhaeng Night Market, only a short distance from our campus. 
    This market was so amazing! I've heard people say that if you want to get to know an area- I mean really get to know the area you live in, go to the local market. You meet local people, see local goods and experience the most real form of local culture. We LOVED it! The five of us just walked around for about an hour, looking at everything the market had to offer. We even got to try some food, like grilled bananas in a delicious sauce and spicy grilled squid!

    On Tuesday morning, we all loaded up in an Assumption University bus and took the hour-long commute from the Hua Mak campus to the newer Bang Na campus. Now I have to be honest- Loyola truly is one of the most beautiful campuses I have seen, but it really cannot compare to the Bang Na campus. This school can hardly even be considered a school- it's more like a palace! Or a Thai Hogwarts. Here are some pictures!

The Cathedral of Learning

 A sala (Thai open pavilion) on campus

 View of the sala from Cathedral of Learning

 Bang Na campus

 HUGE swimming pool!

The chapel on campus- absolutely beautiful.

     On Wednesday, we finally got to begin classes at ABAC! My first classes were Thai Buddhism and Thai Culture and Tradition, and I absolutely fell in love with both of them. I already had a fascination with the Buddhist religion before I came to Thailand, so I cannot wait to learning more about it, even if it is taught my someone who is Catholic. I can't even begin to explain how much I love my Thai Culture and Tradition class. My professor is a young woman who just loves to teach us how to behave properly in Thai culture. We learned some basic words like hello, thank you, I'm sorry, etc. We also learned how to wai, which is the bowing motion to show respect, say hello or thank you- basically any time you want to be polite. This class was just so exciting and I can't wait to learn so much more about Thai culture.


     Well, that's all I have time to write about for now...hope you all are doing well! Someone eat a slice of pizza for me or something....doesn't look like there's much of a chance of me getting that over here! :)

Sawadi Kha! (Thai for hello!)

So here I am- two and a half days into my adventure in Thailand and I just now am getting to sit down and really reflect on what's happened within the last few days.

As I'm sitting here writing this, I am sitting on my bed looking out at the city and watching my first downpour in the rainy season! I went to sit on my balcony to write, and just watched the storm roll right in- so cool!

                                              Watching the storm come in!

It's hard to believe just a few days ago, I was frantically packing what seemed like everything I owned into just two bags. With the help of my mom, I was able to condense everything and it looked like I was ready to go. We made the drive to JFK International Airport on Saturday in record time (or maybe it just seemed like record time due to my nerves) and after and hour or so of lingering around the airport, it came time to say goodbye! 

Now, the rest of Saturday and Sunday are kind of a blur. That happens, I guess, when you jump ahead 12 hours and spend 18 hours on two planes. I had no idea what time it was when I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport, but I knew this was the start of a HUGE, GIANT adventure. Not only an adventure, but a pretty big challenge for me personally. Over the course of this year, I have begun to learn that putting myself out of my comfort zone is one of the best ways to help myself grow. That certainly is what this experience will be- I hope! Yep, 8700 miles away from home is DEFINITELY outside of my comfort zone. We'll see how this goes....

Thanks for checking up on how/what I'm doing in Thailand and don't forget to keep looking for more updates and posts! :)