Mikaela Vournas
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Mikaela Vournas is an anthropology and geography senior and Mustang News study abroad columnist.
There are three phases a study abroad student theoretically goes through while abroad: honeymoon, hostility and home. I have been in Thailand for approximately two months, and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I skipped the hostility phase completely.
The honeymoon phase was very real. Breathtaking landscapes, friendly people, $1 beers; I found myself thinking I would never want to leave.
I fell in love with Thailand over and over again with the break of each new day. There seemed to be endless possibilities for exploration. I wandered the bustling streets of Bangkok, spent days of complete and total bliss in awe of the utopic beauty of the southern islands. I reexamined the meaning of life atop the mountains of northern Thailand.
Chiang Mai, the city in which my program is based and my university home this semester, reminded me of a larger version of San Luis Obispo. Coffee shops spot the streets, the foothills of the Himalayas hug the city’s boundaries, the nightlife downtown is buzzing and markets peddle fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.
Slowly, like most things in life, the feeling of awe and excitement at every corner dwindled slightly over time. Classes took up most of some days, I started catching up on sleep and I got a reality check via my bank account.
Many of the shocking and uniquely Thai aspects of life stopped receiving a second glance. Seeing mothers holding their sleeping infant with one arm and driving a motorbike with the other, joining cabs with Buddhist monks dressed in orange robes and bartering for everything slowly became my new normal.
Nevertheless, being in Thailand is still amazing.
I got into the habit of going to a few great restaurants and coffee shops all the time. This allowed me to actually get to know the owners and further explore the menus. I began to finally understand my way around the city, and a renting a bicycle gave me even more freedom. When I leave for the weekend to visit other parts of Thailand, returning to my apartment in Chiang Mai always feels comforting, like seeing an old friend. These are the feelings I associate with the “home” phase.
I never felt hostile.
Maybe Thailand is easier to adapt to, or maybe my educational background and manic fascination with culture prepared me for experiencing a way of life different from my own. Regardless, I never felt — and don’t anticipate ever feeling — hostile toward the people or culture in Thailand.
There are things that could potentially be frustrating to a person raised with Western values or ideals. Everything operates on “Thai time,” which is to say that people show up to scheduled events when they decide to — this includes professors and class. And sometimes plans will fall through with no real explanation or forewarning, such as my 8 a.m. Saturday field trip that our professor failed to show up for.
I think the key to coping with these cultural differences is to view the situation from the other culture’s perspective. Being ethnocentric will only make the situation more frustrating.
I learned to embrace these cultural quirks. I realized that “Thai time” benefits me when I am inevitably late to class, and that it is really just one aspect of a simpler life most Thais partake in.
I am absolutely not perfect, and there will always be tests to my patience (humidity). However, I find it constructive while abroad to get out of the mindset of classifying things as good or bad, weird or normal and right or wrong. I learned to take things for what they are, and embrace the inherent beauty.
Of course, all of this is based on my personal experience. For me, Thailand is a honeymoon turned into a home.
I recognize there is always the chance that the hostility phase is yet to come. However, that is difficult for me to imagine as I write this sitting in my favorite café, sipping fresh coconut water and admiring my scenic surroundings.
This place is as good a home as any I have experienced.