Settling down in Bangkok

Wow, I never thought I would utter the words "settling down in Bangkok" but here I am checking in with my friends and family back home letting them know all is well with my new apartment! I arrived in Bangkok 6 days ago from Saigon and have loved the new place. My new roommates are awesome (Tiffany and Mary Katherine) and we have already made our small apartment like home. We got really lucky and were given a very nice apartment...the only hitch is that there are 2 beds and 3 people. We all decided that it was more important to each have our own bed for 6 months than a couch, so Tiffany has claimed the couch for now. Not your typical apartment set up, but it has worked for us so far! The first few days were filled with trips to Thailand's version of Wal-mart, the Tesco Lotus, getting supplies for our apartment. Everything from towels, to pillows, to trash cans. Those days were long but definitely necessary so we could nest in our new home.

We had a few days to rest before class started and I'm delighted to say that it was mostly filled with trying different foods! And every single meal is better than the last. We all exclaim loudly while eating with stuffed mouths, "Oh man, best food I've had here! I am definitely coming back for this tomorrow!" But so far, we have eaten different foods every time because the allure of trying another amazing dish is stronger than that of eating what you already know will be delicious. I'm sure eventually we'll have a dish twice from the same restaurant, but for now we are happy trying new ones. My technique has proved to be quite successful so far: I walk up to the stall, look at the vender and say "one" while holding up my finger. Sometimes if there are different options I point to the foods, but mostly I let them fix up a dish of steaming delicious food and surprise me. It has literally worked every single time. At first, the other students would ask me "What did you get? What is in your dish? Should I get that dish?" I would just laugh and say...I honestly have no idea what I am getting, but I am sure it will be delicious.

We started class yesterday and it has been going very well. I am not quite in school mode, but I'm sure it'll kick into gear before the first exam. I'm taking Environmental Chemistry now and it is being taught by a UNC Professor, Richard Kamens. The 15 of us all meet and get fried egg, minced pork, and rice outside our apartment  every morning and walk the short 7 minutes to class at 10am. Not a bad life, right? I could definitely get used to this.

I'm sad to say that I don't have a photo to upload because I haven't been taking ANY photos for the past 2 weeks. I don't know what has gotten into me but from the last 10 days in Vietnam I have 2 photos...ugh. I'm hoping that Ty and Jessica can fill in the gaps from our last week and a half in Vietnam and I'll start taking more shots in Bangkok!