Sawatdee Ka! That means hello in Thai. I don’t think I have ever received a warmer welcome than what my peers and I got here at Mahidol University on the outskirts on Bangkok, Thailand. After putting our suitcases in the rooms of our accommodations for the next three weeks, the Salaya Pavilion Hotel. The hotel serves as a training center for students majoring in tourism and hospitality, so it is on the top floor of the Mahidol University International College, or MUIC. It also happens to be a 4 star hotel, so that’s awesome.
We made our way downstairs for dinner and were greeted by a host of Mahidol students smearing some sort of white liquidy substance onto our faces and handing us fresh flowers that were fashioned into necklaces and bracelets. We sat down to listen to a short speech by Plai Kunjara, one of our hosts here in Thailand. He is absolutely precious and so friendly! He arranged for us see performances by traditional Thai dancers while we ate our traditional Thai meal. The food was great, but very, very spicy! We also got some impromptu performances from the martial arts club, American dance club, and cheerleaders. All of the groups were practicing in the big common space below MUIC and gladly shared their talents with us. The American dance club was what we would call a hip-hop dance team; they were really good! The cheerleaders were very different than American cheerleaders. They did very slow, movements and mostly used their arms. The lower body was hardly ever used, except to turn.
After our meal we went for a quick tour mini tour of campus on our way to an on-campus drugstore. I could not believe how lively everything was! Students were everywhere, in their matching uniforms, sitting and chatting, studying, singing, you name it! It was so refreshing to find that the store had cheap toiletries! After the $10 Pantene shampoo in Singapore, I was ready for some lower prices, and that’s exactly what I got. However, I also got a lot of bottles with Thai instructions. Food and water was inexpensive also; we got a huge jug of water for our room for the equivalent of 1 US dollar!
Apparently some Korean pop-star was performing, or hanging out, or doing something in the forum area outside the store, known as the Learning Center. Students were gathered around, and suddenly took off running after him! I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on at the time, but it was crazy!
The next day we had introductory info sessions about the campus, Thai culture, and the Thai language. Then we went on a campus tour, led by Pin and Plai (our leaders here in Thailand) and some of their friends. Campus is beautiful! There is a lot of greenery (plus giant monitor lizards walking around - scary!) and it almost has a ‘zen’ feeling to it in my opinion. It was awesome to some Buddhists shrines too!
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