Day 4: Orientation and Zoo

Today dawned bright and early and late. I hopped out of bed 15 minutes later than I was expecting to, tugged on my uniform (yes. I said uniform) for school and snagged toast at the cantina before heading off for class registration. Luckily, USAC loves us enough that they gave us a more well-rounded breakfast.

During our breakfast, we received a more in-depth talk about the campus, our expectations of it, and got a more detailed overview of what we will be doing whilst in Thailand. We also got our schedules and talked about ways we wanted to get involved on campus! I, unsurprisingly, asked if there was any type of dance club that CMU offered. It was understandable why the phrase "dance club" confused Malisa initially... I had to explain that I meant 'organization where people dance' and not a bar. Furthermore, our instructors Jah Jaah and Tanya encouraged us to volunteer while in Thailand. That discussion ended in me getting an internship with Jah Jaah as a TA to her in her class for "English Oral Expression." I'm SO excited for the opportunity and I can't wait to help her out and meet some of the English students at CMU! After sorting out everyone's schedules, we were fed lunch and the ICCE students left so we could further our discussion of Thai culture.

First Day of School Picture with Anette

The uniform is a symbol that "all students have equal right to learn no matter social status"-Ajarn 

Another Ajarn, the Thai word for "professor" showed up and, in his words, "taught us only the basics of what we needed to know to survive in Thailand." Ajarn was hilarious and sassy and had studied and been a TA at the University of Miami. Two of the most important things he taught us were "mai pen rai" and "jai yen yen."

"Mai pen rai" loosely translates to "it's okay, don't worry about it" and "jai yen yen" means hot cold cold, but actually means "chill out." The Thai people are very relaxed and see the world in a more relaxed fashion, whilst in Thailand, we were strictly instructed to "be okay. Enjoy life and stop the worry." According to Ajarn, the Thai people are so relaxed because it's always summer. "When you only ever have one season, you're not in much of a hurry to do anything. It's too hot to move fast anyways."

How Insanely pretty is CMU campus?! Can you even see the students?

After our talk with the Ajarn, all of the non-ICCE girls ended up going to Chiang Mai Zoo! The Zoo can be seen from the front gate of campus and it took no time at all to get there! (we even got a discount because we still had our uniforms on) I had a blast and it was great getting to spend some time with the ladies in our program! One of the best things about USAC is that everyone here is so gung-ho to go out and leave no stone unturned- I love that everyone always wants to go together as one huge group. And as one huge group, we had an awesome time hanging out with (and feeding) the animals!

The Chiang Mai Zoo also double as a botanical garden

The zoo was surprisingly lax- I could've reached out and touched one of the hippos at one point

Two of the white tigers

I GOT TO TOUCH AN ELEPHANT! Only a taste of the elephant riding I'll get to do while on the Hill Tribe tour!

lovely grammar waits me there as well

Lingping! The Panda born at CM Zoo!

Chanelle and I are are happy with our panda family

Lauren and I on our way out!

After the Zoo, I was exhausted and got to relax for a bit before hitting up Airport Plaza mall to catch dinner with Chanelle and Summer. Tomorrow's the first day of classes and I have to wake up early so that I can get ready and take a taxi to class by 9 a.m! Can't wait to get my feet wet at CMU!

Love,
Haley