Sawadee Ka From Thailand - flying and arriving

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Blog Posts for January 4th and 5th:

We are off to Thailand for our J term Senior Nursing Practicum and I am feeling very tired as I settled into my new home on campus. Going through Dulles airport, we settled into our terminal and I began to see our future flight unfolding. The flight attendants were dressed in their blue and white uniforms, which I found very interesting and definitely of Asian fashion. Once we boarded, I found I was sitting next to an elderly Korean couple who looked very stern and didn’t seem happy to have me sliding in to the window seat. I had hoped to sit next to someone I knew but in the end I was fine and felt comfortable, ultimately an opportunity to start working on my professional goal to be flexible with whatever comes our way. During the flight, the elderly man next to me and I bonded over how to find the headphone jack and made small talk throughout. They were flying home to Korea after a family visit and he informed me “this was his least favorite part.” The language barrier was huge and I didn’t understand too much; when the flight attendants came to our row I got to hear their instructions in Korean first before the turned to me and summarized what they said in English.I found each meal interesting and yummyand wished I could sample each option! The flight attendants were persistent with drinks and wipes for hygiene and I appreciated that especially after many hours in the inside seat. During bathroom breaks, I took advantage of the time to talk with my classmates and the passengers waiting for the bathroom and met some great people. Thought it was very interesting how one could purchase makeup, perfume, snacks, toys, and personal items on plane as if it were a mall; I have never seen that before! Many passenger took advantage of the shopping and I was very intrigued about how this was an option. Maybe I’ll look into it on the way home J





I was able to sleep, though it was hard, and watched many movies (Goodbye Christopher Robin, The Glass Castle, and Loving Vincent), worked on crafts, listen to their music selection and read the novel I brought. By the second flight, about an hour in, I was beyond tired and found it difficult to fight sleep and stay awake. I slept and gained energy for the most difficult and strenuous part of the day, arriving! When we landed, collected our things, and went through customs, we waited for our luggage and found all we needed. The best moment, which I wish I was less tired for, was meeting my buddy Meji. We have been talking for a few weeks over Facebook messenger and have shared a bit about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, and our favorite things. He saw me right away and greeted me with a jasmine lei, which smelled amazing considering our current stinky, sweaty, traveled state. I was glad to see I recognized him and we took picture together. He and the other buddies were very accommodating and loving, carrying our bags and overall helping us out. We climbed into the big bus and got to see a bit of the Chiang Mai city, which I thought was beautiful yet mysterious in the dark. Our buddies pointed out a few locations for us and the festival we will be visiting. They shared their names and who their buddy was and we shared ours, each receiving loud clapping and fanfare over their small presentations. The buddies had a lot of energy and excitement, which gave us enough to get through the bus ride. They helped us into our apartment homes and helped us find our way around; I admired their excitement and readiness to embrace the language barrier to communicate and care for us.

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