Week to Date: the Cliff's Notes Version

It's about time I told you about my weekend and my first few days of school.

Let's start with my weekend, where I last left off. As you know, I went to Ko Samet - a nice island about 4 hours south/southeast of Bangkok - with some of the other exchange students. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We arrived in Ban Phe, the mainland town that the ferry to Ko Samet leaves from, around 6pm, so we were on the ferry around sunset. By the time we got to the island, it was dark, so we first found a cheap bungalow just off the beach and then headed to the beach to check out the water and have some dinner. The little stretch of beach we were on had quite a few dining bars lining it - we sat at a low table with some cushions around it and had some positively delicious food - I myself went for the shrimp since we were in prime territory for something fresh! There was live entertainment during dinner - fireworks going off, wish lanterns being sent up into the sky, and even a firetwirler showing us his skills. Afterward, we went back to the bungalow for the night - one bungalow, two large beds, two blankets, and six people. Yes, we're cheap, but it was worth it, considering we paid about 120 baht each for the night (less than $4). The next morning was interesting - apparently, the bungalows we had chosen were doing construction literally RIGHT NEXT TO OUR CABIN. And they started at 6am. Needless to say, that was NOT pleasant. Good news is, though, the beach was absolutely beautiful! White sand, bluish-green sea, vendors accosting you every five seconds... wait, that wasn't as exciting. But the weather was great during the day - not too hot, the water wasn't too cold - the only problem with the weather we had was at night, because the bungalow would get REALLY COLD, and we only had the two blankets - I ended up using towels to cover up the 3rd night, just because there was hardly enough blanket for three people. We met up with another group of exchange students the second day and ended up going to a seaside dance club that night. It was a wild club, so many people there, Thais and tourists alike. I think one of the exchange students ended up having an "authentic Thai experience" with one of the Thai girls, if you know what I mean *wink*. Here's where I break to tell you a funny story:

So the people I was with were Danielle (my roommate), Alex (a girl from NC), Greg (a guy from Canada), Martin and Michael (two guys from Austria). Danielle and Alex decided to go to bed early that night, and didn't go clubbing. Greg and Michael went back to the bungalow a couple hours later. Martin and I decided to stay with the other group of exchange students at the club for a while longer. Well, a while later, I started to look for Martin, because I didn't know how to get back to our bungalow from the club; he was nowhere to be found. So I called Alex and got directions. Unfortunately, I got lost and ended up spending 15 minutes just trying to find my way back to the main road. Eventually, Martin calls me: "Hey, come back to the club, and we'll go back to the bungalow then!" Ok, so I head back to the club. Alex calls, and I tell her I'm going to meet Martin. About 5 minutes later, Alex calls again: "Um, yeah. Martin just walked in the bungalow." Ok, so now I'm SOL. Barb (another exchange student), offers a place in their bungalow for the night if I couldn't get back to mine. But Alex sends Martin out to find me. Later, I hear that Martin "tried" to find me (he was a little drunk), and came back 2 minutes later, forgetting what he was supposed to be doing in the first place. They send him out again, and he finds me, and I eventually get back to the bungalow, safe and sound. About 5 minutes after getting back, Martin bolts up from where he laid down, looks around the cabin, and asks: "Hey, did Denise ever find her way back?" Uh, yeah Martin. You're the one that brought me back...

Anyway, the rest of the trip went off without a hitch, and we made it back to Bangkok in time to prepare for the first day of school.

The first day of school was... much different than first days at UT. I kinda felt like I was back in high school; the Thai students tend to form cliques and sit in their respective groups in class, and they also all know each other. They all had the lecture notes for every class already, printed out and ready to go - or else one person would print them out and then make copies for everyone else. Being exchange students, we had no clue we were supposed to already have the notes before class... the first day of Finance was excrutiating without those notes. Finance is the only class I have with a Thai professor, or ajarn, as they call them. (Of course, I also have a Thai teacher for Beginning Thai, but I'm talking about strictly academic courses.) My marketing professor is extremely cool; he owns a couple Mazda dealerships here in Thailand, but since he isn't needed constantly for that job, he works as a teacher at Thammasat also. I think Humanities will be my favorite class, just because the material is more interesting to me than the "Time Value of Money" or "the 4 Ps"... our first homework assignment in humanities is to watch Troy (yes, the one with Brad Pitt) and The Odyssey; the professor's reasoning is that it's more fun to watch these movies than read Homer to learn about them. Beginner Thai was quite a trip. There are letters I've never seen before and sounds I've never made that I'm now trying to learn. The way the class is structured, we're lectured for 1-1/2 hours and then we have a 1 hour practice session with a TA. Yesterday, we learned useful words like "eat", "go", and "rice", and phrases like "What is your name?"; and of course, "rhinocerous". No lie.

Anyway, that's my week so far. I would put up some pictures, but I'm having issues with Flickr at the moment (I can't upload more than a certain number of pictures per month?). I might see if I can get a link to my Facebook photo albums, and just show you from there. I'll let you know.