Twenty-one in Thailand

And so the stories of Thailand begin with a little thing commonly known in America as a 21st birthday. 

I’ve been so caught up with the moving in, trying new food, shopping at the markets, and learning how to properly pronounce “khab khun kha” without sounding like an New Yorker, that I almost forgot about my own birthday. Luckily I had my roommate Sophie to remind me - “We’re celebrating you’re 21st tonight!”

Everyone here has been so amazing. The people in my group are all very unique in their own ways. We each come from different parts of the States, each with different backgrounds, and each with different ideas. But we all share one thing in common: an open mind. Because of that, getting along is effortless. We are all so excited to embrace everything that this beautiful country has to offer. 

The people of Thailand are amazing too. They aren’t kidding when they say this is “the land of the smiles.” It’s much easier than I expected to interact through such a distinctive language barrier. And our program advisors are the best. Jha Jaah’s personality is one you have to experience to understand; you can’t be around her for more than two minutes without being filled with laughter and energy. And Tanya, Pan, and our Thai Buddies are always there to help us with anything from registering for classes, to finding those classes between the hundreds of Thai-symboled buildings and 50,000 Thai-speaking students. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the complexity of campus that kept me from making it to my first class...

The night began with a couple fancy cocktails and dinner at this place on the river further into the city. I wasn’t very anxious to order drinks as the Mai Tai’s were a little on the pricey side - and when I say pricey, I mean more than my 45 baht ($1.50) dinner. I love that the food is so cheap here :) 

But everyone was so anxious to celebrate with me. Honestly, I had prepared myself for a lesser than 21st birthday celebration, considering I would be spending it with people I had only known for three days. But they were all so eager to make sure I had a good time. Hey, I was just excited they all knew my name. I was so grateful that they cared about my birthday. 

After dinner, we went next door to a place called Yellow Bar. It was really packed and kind of touristy, so we went across the street to what seemed like an open dance floor in a glass box. We were basically the only ones there, so we had ample space at the bar. Which resulted in me taking tequila shots with just about every member of USAC at midnight...

After that we went back across the street to Yellow Bar. Let’s just say it didn’t take long for me to get lost within a mob of tourists and locals, my fellow USACers nowhere in sight. So here I am, in a foreign club, 30 minutes into the city, by myself, without the slightest idea of how to get home. 

So I decided to harass the first English-speaking person I could find. A British backpacker. Luckily he was nice and could tell I was in desperate need of assistance. He called my roommate and told her I was okay (I still don’t know how to use these phones - I’m pretty sure mine is still in Thai). Then he helped me flag down a cab, rode the entire way back to Uniloft with me, then paid for it... and I thanked him by vomiting in his lap. 

When I got home, the only thing I said was, “I am NOT going to Buddhist Philosophy tomorrow.” And I sure did not make it to Buddhist Philosophy today. 

All in all it was definitely a lesson learned to be a bit more responsible when going out to new places. But I guess we all need a good story for our 21st - you only turn 21 once, right?