Probably the best way that I have found to meet local people is through my classes. Like I’ve mentioned before, the part of the university that I attend is the International College. From what I understand, it’s the same idea as an international high school, and is a university taught in a more Western style, catered towards developing international professional skills, and taught completely in English. Because of this, all of the students in all of my classes speak English. They speak it with varying degrees of skill, but they have to at least have a rudimentary understanding of the language in order to survive in school. This makes it very easy to talk to Thai students and strike up a conversation, and goes a long way towards eliminating the language barrier. Another helpful aspect of going to an international university is that a lot of the students here were raised in international schools, or grew up somewhere else and moved to Thailand, or had parents from other countries and were raised here. This makes the university a cultural melting pot, and also increases English-speaking abilities, as an international life tends to do (not to make a Western bias, but English is typically the common language spoken between people from different countries, at least in the vast majority of my travel experience.)
The Thai students also really enjoy making international friends. They often make the first move towards starting a conversation or making plans, and, for the most part, they genuinely want to help the international students in any way that they can. Every week, I receive a few invites to dinner that Thai students are arranging, where they want to drive us to a new restaurant or show us new food or just sit down and get to know us more. Once the friendship is in place, there is no shortage of attempts to make plans, and it’s incredible to explore Thailand and see it from a local’s point of view.
Living in apartments that Thai students also live in is another very helpful way to meet locals. In elevator rides or on the roof or in the pool, it’s very typical to strike up a conversation with any Thai person around, or them striking up a conversation with you. Because of random conversations like these, I’ve been to a Thai soccer game that my friend was playing in, gone to a dog café to play with dogs, and explored the campus of one of the best and oldest universities in Thailand.
The most interesting thing that I’ve purchased abroad is probably a painting. I found it in Chiang Mai for 200 Baht, $7ish USD, and it caught my eye as I was walking past the stand. It’s painted on a thin canvas, and depicts a few simple houses in the middle of a river, with trees surrounding the river. It’s simple enough to fit well in any room, but noticeable enough to stand out as a handmade piece of art from another country. The depiction of the landscape and architecture will also serve as a nice reminder of my time here when it’s back in my apartment. And, of course, it is an incredible value for under $7 USD.
Adjusting to using a different currency was not something that I expected to have difficulty with prior coming to Thailand. Everything is cheap here, the exchange rate is about 1 Baht to 36 USD (and has actually fluctuated quite a bit since we’ve been here,) and full meals can be easily bought for 30-40 Baht. The part that was difficult for me to grasp was how much I was spending off the start. Things are so cheap, but buying lots of cheap things gets expensive very quickly. It’s easy to justify buying a dessert for $1, but when you buy 5 or 6, and make this mistake several times a week, it can add up quickly. A pair of pants here for 200 Baht isn’t worth $7USD. It’s worth 5 meals. Or 2 shirts. Or 3 taxi rides. The key to budgeting properly is not converting the currency to my home currency and justifying spending by that route; the key to properly budgeting is judging something’s value relative to the value of another something, within that country. I wouldn’t be spending nearly this much in relative USD, so I shouldn’t do that in the local currency either. Once I realized this, I became a lot more hesitant with my purchases, and the black hole that my money was falling into eventually closed.
