Easing into school

Here is the view from my balcony as I woke up this morning; I practiced using the panoramic function on my new camera:

I was so caught up in getting here and experiencing it all that it was sort of a jolt when I realized that I started school this week! It's orientation week for the international students, which means 2 hours of Thai Language class every day and lots of meetings with administrators and city tours and campus tours and meet'n'greet sessions with other Thai students.

Today we met with Adam Dedman, the head of our program, as well as all of the professors with whom we can take classes for this semester. Other than Thai language, I will be taking 'Buddhism and Thai Society,' 'Economic Development in Southeast Asia: The Case of Thailand and Cambodia,' 'Gender Identity and Sexuality and Transformation in Thai Society,' and 'Southeastern Asian Performance & Dance.' Each of the classes is very different, and they all seem to be with great professors. I'm happy to say that I'm excited to start classes!

At the end of August, we will be taking an excursion trip into a village called Mae Chaem. I don't have a lot of details yet, but I'll keep y'all posted.

My Thai Language class is so fun! My Porfessor's name is Gai, we call him Loong Gai. 'Loong' is a term of endearment comparable to 'uncle.' Generally, it is most respectful to greet a professor as 'Ajan' but Loong Gai says it makes him feel too old. He is very energetic and is eager to help us learn Thai. Today we practiced using our face muscles to make the sounds of the alphabet. Like many other Asian languages, intonation is a key element in Thai. I learned how to say a word with 5 different sounds, which produced 5 different meanings...very cool. It's a hard thing to get used to, and I'm nervous about messing up and offending someone! But so far in my Thai-speaking adventures, I've found that people are very appreciative of 'fa-rang' (foreigners) just putting the effort into speaking a little Thai even if it's wrong. My mouth and jaw are sore from practicing all of the different words and sounds, but I am so excited to be learning a new language!

Tonight we have a formal dinner of welcome at the Chiang Mai Cultural Center in the city!
More updates and pictures after tomorrow's city tour!