With going home being somewhere between four days, and two months, still not sure, I've thought a lot about what life will be like back there. Something I just realized is that in Thailand, the exchange students whom I have befriended this year live much closer to me than they will when we return to the U.S., or Germany, but I feel as though the freedom I have to see them will be increased, and even possibly the amount of times I will see them in a given period may increase. Thailand is small and travel here is amazing when it happens, but I don't often get out of the house/school.

March 2nd 2016, I went to Bangkok for a super Tuesday meeting in which we saw the real-time votes being tallied for a number of U.S. states choosing which candidates to move to the next level. It was a very educational and culturally shocking place to be, because on one hand I'm still in Thailand speaking Thai to find my way to this place, and on the other I'm now thrown back into American culture and it's so strange. After that some friends and I went for a quick trip to the Siriraj medical museum at the Siriraj hospital, and put shortly, it was beautifully morbid. It was such an experience like no other, especially when looking directly into the shriveled up, leathery, toothless face of Si Quey, a Chinese immigrant who suffocated five or six Thai children before eating their hearts. This day was one of the most enriching of my entire exchange, especially since it was spent with people from the U.S.A., Finland, Thailand, the Netherlands and Portugal, so it was so filled with different cultures from around the world, and seeing the ways they all reacted to the presidential selection of the United States, and to jars filled with dead babies, was quite the day. However, all this time I was getting messages from my adviser, who had "reported me to AFS" for "disrespecting her." The whole time, however, she knew where I was and what I was doing, and she personally had not given me permission, but she told me she did not have that power and I must talk to higher up people. Therefore I did, and they said that if I go for multiple days, it is considered independent travel and must be done with a family member or teacher. However, I went for only a matter of hours, and was back before my family had gone to sleep.

Hey everyone,
I'm really sorry I haven't posted on here in so long. I've been busy creating and writing my stories in other ways, and I haven't been able to find time to write here. I think this will eventually turn into some kind of page where I post my realizations and epiphanies while on exchange, and maybe they can be of some sort of inspiration to you or just some complicated way of seeing how I'm doing.

To start us off, I often have my most interesting thoughts during rainstorms. While looking at a rainstorm just now I realized, I am probably one of the more brave and outgoing of my friends, considering I made the huge decision to spend the next year (now six months) of my life on the other side of the planet, but at the same time I do not go out often here, and the language is extremely difficult to learn, which is absolutely no problem for certain other students around the country. Putting yourself in new situations give you a huge amount of perspective on your own situation, and although I don't like to compare things, a little comparison here and there can give you a huge amount of insight on many different things.

Because I know you all love pictures, here's me with a spiny tailed house gecko that I caught.

It was a wonderful day at The Gran Palace today in Bangkok! Followed by some very cool bird noises outside my window!

4-H center, as always.

Leaving today was very sad and hard.

I'm going to stay on the safe side for now and not post any pictures of my host family, but here's my host bed room! Pretty cozy!

This past Friday I received the information regarding who my host family is and where I will be located in Thailand! I will be living with a nice Buddhist couple in Phraputtabat Saraburi, Thailand! I believe that I will be attending the Saraburi Wittayakhom School, but the school situation has been a little bit confusing. It will be very interesting to explore the area and adjust to this new life, but I will keep you all updated here throughout the journey!