Hi,
This is the beginning of my blog while I am in Thailand.
I leave tomorrow, September 6th, at 7:00am. I land the 7th, at 11:00pm local time. The reality of my living abroad for 4 months is starting to set in, but the whole concept still seems pretty abstract, and I don’t think it’ll fully hit me until my feet are in the ground in Bangkok.
I chose to study abroad for a variety of reasons. I want to see more of the world, I want to learn about more cultures, I want to be taught by more cultures, I want to expand my resume, I want to learn more about myself, and this is as opportune a time as any to live abroad, especially in a place like Bangkok, where it’s not very likely that I’ll ever live again. I chose Bangkok, specifically, because the cost of living is low, my classes all had equivalents at Mahidol University, there’s an unbelievable amount to do and see within Thailand itself and the surrounding countries, and because I’ve never been anywhere near that side of the world, and I want to see what it’s like.
To be honest, I really don’t know how I expect to be changed by my experience. I undoubtedly will be, and the culture and way of life in Southeast Asia is so vastly different from that of Boston or Miami that it will have an effect on who I am and how I think, but I don’t know that effect. I don’t know how I will be changed or to what extent, but I know that I will, and I’m looking forward to it.
My goals while I study abroad are fairly run-of-the-mill. I want to be changed by my experience, I want to grow as a person, I want to learn more about the world, I want to expand beyond my comfort zone, I want to try things that I’ve never done before, I want to pass my classes (if I don’t forget that this is actually still school,) I want to learn new skills. My goals aren’t tangible as much as they are aspirations to be open to whatever opportunity, and end goal, presents itself to me. Achieving this larger goal is a matter of being open to trying new things and accepting whatever comes to me, and that is exactly what I’m planning on doing.
I don’t have many fears and aspirations as much as nerves on an inability to picture how my time in Thailand will be. It’s not a fear of definitive, concrete ideas, but more of an unease at the unknown and a lack of knowledge of what to expect.
I don’t really know what I’m most looking forward to. The land, the beaches, the people, the food, the travel, the beaches, the unknown, the beaches. There’s an overflow of new things, and I’m looking forward to all of them.
But mostly the beaches.
