Hey Everyone,
Since I've only been here for 5 full days, I haven't been blogging but instead trying to settle in and acclimate to my new home, so I was going to use yesterday as an opportunity to update you on all the SUPER exciting and amazing things I've been doing here so far. Unfortunately I ended up being hospitalized for clinical dehydration caused by food poisoning for 12 hours sooooo I didn't really get around to it. Bummer.
In just two hours I leave for a 5 day home stay in the Hill Tribe villages of Thailand. I'll be doing volunteer work, learning to cook, exploring the area and living with a Thai family! I am so so so excited but of course I won't be able to blog while I'm gone.
SO, here's the scoop. Upon my return I will post two posts. One, covering Saturday-Tuesday and one covering my home stay. I have a LOT to talk about so be sure to check back with me on Monday!!
Love you all!
xo Zoey
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Oh Boy.
Well folks, I'm here. Alive.
I had no internet access while traveling so I'll have to fill you in on the last 48 hours of my life. I had over 30 hours of travel time so there is a lot of material to cover but I'll do my best to keep it concise.
My last full day in the States as all business. I (finally) finished packing, ran any last minute errands that needed doing and then it was off to the airport. There, my mom and I met my dad and we said our farewells over a heaping plate of colorful nachos. As we sat there, I realized that this was it. The moment I had pictured for the last 8 months or so was actually happening. I was saying goodbye to my parents, goodbye to anything and everything familiar and of course, to the old me. I was about to change in an instant and continue to rapidly develop, improve, grow and be constantly changing and challenged. From the moment I said goodbye I would be alone. Really alone for the first time in my life. No one to help me, guide me, or support me. I had to do this all on my own. Somewhere in my mind, I expected that I wouldn't feel ready and would probably melt down, but I did feel ready. I remained calm, collected, and confident, simply accepted that my life was changing in monumental ways, and trusted the Universe to help me stay on the right path.
So, I boarded my plane on Emirates Airlines and loved it immediately. It was HUGE. 88 rows of 10 seats, and 2 LEVELS. WHAT?! I kid you not, ladies and gents. Each seat had a pillow, blanket, headphones, socks, a sleep mask, a tooth brush and toothpaste in neat little packages awaiting us. The seats were very spacious and I had a seat between me and another person so we both had a little extra room. On the back of the seat in front of me was a TV with tons of free music, movies and television shows. So of course, I put on Tangled while I ate my delicious spare rib dinner. Then, I put on Pocahontas before settling in for a nice 7 hour nap. mmmm. I awoke to beautiful violet lighting and little lights that looked like stars which turned to a calming soft orangy-pink before watching a full season of Family Guy (sorry mom) and eating a scrambled egg and hash browns breakfast.
here's a picture of what the inside of the cabin looked like:
My second flight was considerably less luxurious but I still had free television and good food. After 5 hours on that plane, I was finallyyyy in THAILAND. I had landed in Bangkok. Here is what I saw out my window as we descended
:
When my nausea started to subside, I decided to try and write more to put in the blog later. Just as I sat down to begin, a young American girl asked me for the time and then plopped down next to me. We talked for the better part of two hours. She was also on an exchange program, although not the same as mine. Her name is Nicki Naylor and she is an Enviro major at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She was so friendly and really made me feel at ease in a foreign place. It was so comforting to talk to someone who was going through the same thing I was. We bonded over California connections (she is from San Fran originally) and the fact that we bought the same school shoes. Adorbs, I know. This is not her first study abroad experience so she was able to provide me with some valuable insight from prior trips to Indonesia and Costa Rica. We looked over her Thai Phrase book, giggled, shared stories and even switched seats to sit next to each other on the plane. We exchanged information and I hope to meet up with her while I'm in Chiang Mai. Here is a picture of us on the plane:
Later, Sam and I met up again to see if we could walk to a near by store to pick up some things we needed like bedsheets and hangers. We were told that a group of students was meeting later to go shopping at the street markets and then the mall so we decided to give ourselves a campus tour until dinner and then a half hour after that we were to meet up with the group. Everyone that I've met so far from my program is REALLYYYY nice and friendly. We are all American so far (I've only met half the group) and so we have a lot in common. We all smushed into the back of one of those taxis seen above and gabbered for the 30 minute car ride to the street market and the mall. Everything here is so beautiful and cheap. I can tell this is gonna put a dent in my bank account. After the mall (which was very American although Pizza Hut was like a nice, sit down establishment, HA) I came back and met my roommate. I don't know how to say her name but she is very sweet and we get along quite well. I really lucked out. I will attach a picture as soon as I take one. I went to bed around 11:45pm here, but was only able to sleep until 3 am. So, I got up, watched some shows on my computer and began typing this post.
So, here we are at the present moment and I have to say, my emotions are REALLY mixed. I am so happy one moment and tearful the next. I know this is where I need to be right now. I understand that it's time for me to learn some seriously value life lessons about myself and the world from this but I seem to fluctuate between feeling utterly overwhelmed and completely confident and competent. I don't know a word for how I'm feeling. I'm overjoyed that I've met some super nice people already and that really puts me at ease, but then I look around and realize that I'm basically all alone in a place that feels like another planet. I just need to ride this wave of emotions and let myself settle. That's the best I can do for now, and my best is usually good enough. :)
Until tonight, my lovely readers.
xoxo Zoey
I had no internet access while traveling so I'll have to fill you in on the last 48 hours of my life. I had over 30 hours of travel time so there is a lot of material to cover but I'll do my best to keep it concise.
My last full day in the States as all business. I (finally) finished packing, ran any last minute errands that needed doing and then it was off to the airport. There, my mom and I met my dad and we said our farewells over a heaping plate of colorful nachos. As we sat there, I realized that this was it. The moment I had pictured for the last 8 months or so was actually happening. I was saying goodbye to my parents, goodbye to anything and everything familiar and of course, to the old me. I was about to change in an instant and continue to rapidly develop, improve, grow and be constantly changing and challenged. From the moment I said goodbye I would be alone. Really alone for the first time in my life. No one to help me, guide me, or support me. I had to do this all on my own. Somewhere in my mind, I expected that I wouldn't feel ready and would probably melt down, but I did feel ready. I remained calm, collected, and confident, simply accepted that my life was changing in monumental ways, and trusted the Universe to help me stay on the right path.
So, I boarded my plane on Emirates Airlines and loved it immediately. It was HUGE. 88 rows of 10 seats, and 2 LEVELS. WHAT?! I kid you not, ladies and gents. Each seat had a pillow, blanket, headphones, socks, a sleep mask, a tooth brush and toothpaste in neat little packages awaiting us. The seats were very spacious and I had a seat between me and another person so we both had a little extra room. On the back of the seat in front of me was a TV with tons of free music, movies and television shows. So of course, I put on Tangled while I ate my delicious spare rib dinner. Then, I put on Pocahontas before settling in for a nice 7 hour nap. mmmm. I awoke to beautiful violet lighting and little lights that looked like stars which turned to a calming soft orangy-pink before watching a full season of Family Guy (sorry mom) and eating a scrambled egg and hash browns breakfast.
here's a picture of what the inside of the cabin looked like:
After 12 hours in the air, we descended into Dubai. Although it was morning back home and I'd awoken not too long ago, the sun was setting on Dubai as we landed. It really is as beautiful as everyone told me it would be. I then killed four hours in the Dubai airport which was easy to do considering its one of the wealthiest places on earth. The airport was like the nicest high end mall ever and there was a LOT to look at. After grabbing a banana and some water I decided to sit down and write down my thoughts to later include in this post but realized DUN DUN DUNNNNN. I had NO PEN. So, I got back up and wandered around the airport aimlessly trying to locate a simple writing utensil. NO WHERE could I find a pen. Finally I found the most beautiful souvenir store. It had the nicest things like big gold vases, expensive clothes, hand crafted goods, and last but not least in the very back of the store I found this tacky, hilarious pen. It has a camel charm and flag of Dubai charm and camels in sunglasses on it. WIN.
My second flight was considerably less luxurious but I still had free television and good food. After 5 hours on that plane, I was finallyyyy in THAILAND. I had landed in Bangkok. Here is what I saw out my window as we descended
(notice my plane is made by rolls royce)
I had to walk about 5 miles from one side of the airport to the other (some distance was added in because I went the wrong way for a REALLY long time) I was ushered through customs where everyone was so friendly which made me optimistic about the Thai people in general. After my visa was stamped I found my way to a Dunkin Donuts (win again) where I bought a glazed donut and a bottle of Evian for 185 baht or about $6.00. By this time I had been traveling for a full 24+ hours and it was starting to catch up to me. I was totally nauseous and feeling very ill. I just curled up in the fetal position and camped out in a chair in the Bangkok airport for 3.5 hours. When my nausea started to subside, I decided to try and write more to put in the blog later. Just as I sat down to begin, a young American girl asked me for the time and then plopped down next to me. We talked for the better part of two hours. She was also on an exchange program, although not the same as mine. Her name is Nicki Naylor and she is an Enviro major at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She was so friendly and really made me feel at ease in a foreign place. It was so comforting to talk to someone who was going through the same thing I was. We bonded over California connections (she is from San Fran originally) and the fact that we bought the same school shoes. Adorbs, I know. This is not her first study abroad experience so she was able to provide me with some valuable insight from prior trips to Indonesia and Costa Rica. We looked over her Thai Phrase book, giggled, shared stories and even switched seats to sit next to each other on the plane. We exchanged information and I hope to meet up with her while I'm in Chiang Mai. Here is a picture of us on the plane:
Once I landed in Chiang Mai, I found my ride and talked to a really nice boy named Sam in the taxi on the way back. He is from Maryland and on my program as well. They don't really use lanes in Thailand and cars, trucks, and mopeds just scurry around one another so that was a bit of a stressful ride. The taxi we take around looks exactly like this:
Later, Sam and I met up again to see if we could walk to a near by store to pick up some things we needed like bedsheets and hangers. We were told that a group of students was meeting later to go shopping at the street markets and then the mall so we decided to give ourselves a campus tour until dinner and then a half hour after that we were to meet up with the group. Everyone that I've met so far from my program is REALLYYYY nice and friendly. We are all American so far (I've only met half the group) and so we have a lot in common. We all smushed into the back of one of those taxis seen above and gabbered for the 30 minute car ride to the street market and the mall. Everything here is so beautiful and cheap. I can tell this is gonna put a dent in my bank account. After the mall (which was very American although Pizza Hut was like a nice, sit down establishment, HA) I came back and met my roommate. I don't know how to say her name but she is very sweet and we get along quite well. I really lucked out. I will attach a picture as soon as I take one. I went to bed around 11:45pm here, but was only able to sleep until 3 am. So, I got up, watched some shows on my computer and began typing this post.
So, here we are at the present moment and I have to say, my emotions are REALLY mixed. I am so happy one moment and tearful the next. I know this is where I need to be right now. I understand that it's time for me to learn some seriously value life lessons about myself and the world from this but I seem to fluctuate between feeling utterly overwhelmed and completely confident and competent. I don't know a word for how I'm feeling. I'm overjoyed that I've met some super nice people already and that really puts me at ease, but then I look around and realize that I'm basically all alone in a place that feels like another planet. I just need to ride this wave of emotions and let myself settle. That's the best I can do for now, and my best is usually good enough. :)
Until tonight, my lovely readers.
xoxo Zoey
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Pre-departure Thoughts
I wanted to put something up here before I left so that I could look back at the end of this experience and remember how I was feeling. My purpose for writing a blog is not only to keep my friends and family up to date on my day to day in Thailand without having to send a billion individual emails and such, but because I anticipate that this will be more emotionally and spiritually enriching than I could hope and I wanted something to look back and reflect upon. Killing two birds with one stone I guess you could say. At this point, it all just feels so surreal. I literally cannot believe that I'm going to Thailand. I've spent MONTHS building up to this, and now only one week remains until I cross the globe. I have NEVER in my life been so far from home. I haven't travelled much outside of the U.S. and I certainly have never been anywhere by myself. It's so much more than that, though. I am preparing to be utterly alone for the first time in my life. I'm about to learn how to be truly self-reliant and independent. I don't suppose you can actually "prepare" yourself for that, but I'm trying. I don't think that at any other point in my life this would have been possible for me. I feel as ready as I'll ever be. I have some predictions about the kinds of things I will learn about myself and the world, but I have no expectations. Just hope that this will be as wonderful as I imagine, and faith that I will be led exactly where I am meant to be at all times during this journey.
Love,
Zoey
Love,
Zoey
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