On Friday morning, a huge bus picked us up from our dorm for the three hour drive towards Koh Samet which is an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Having finished our first class on Medical Anthropology, we were joined on this trip by several Thai students who would be studying with us in our second class as well as 2 new American students and 1 Canadian student. During our bus ride, we sat with our assigned roommate (Thai students were matched with non-Thai students) and got to know everyone. The American students were even given Thai nicknames- mine was Me-ow (very fitting given my love of cats). Most of the others' nicknames had meanings like "sweet" or "orange," mine i just the noise that a cat makes but it was still exciting. We finally arrived at a dock where we got on a speed boat to Koh Samet. We had no idea what we were getting into. The speed boat ride was probably scarier than touching a tiger and I spent half the time being concerned that I was going to be thrown from the boat as, in true Thai fashion, there seemed to be no speed limit or any other safety measures taken for our ride. Once at Koh Samet, we headed for the beach immediately and swam until getting ready for dinner. Our dinner was a delicious seafood feast organized by the program. We ate at a long table right on the beach and after we were all very full there was an amazing fire show performed by 2 young boys and an older man. Later we headed to a beach bar closer to our resort where we took part in some fire limbo... Thailand has a lot of safety regulations (not). I even got to swing a chain with a fireball at the end of it to light the limbo pole on fire. Saturday and Sunday were incredibly relaxing and were just spent on the beach getting to know our new Thai friends who are all so friendly and nice. Our professor joked that all panels who plan on making decisions should start with a relaxing trip to the beach in order to create a good environment before intense discussion. Now that we have Thai students in our group, the dynamic has changed completely. It is so great to have students our own age to show us around, help us with the language and culture, hang out with, and generally get to know. I am so excited to participate in class for the next two weeks with them! Even having all just met, Koh Samet was so much fun because all the students were so welcoming, helpful, and generally excited about the opportunity to meet us.
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| Boat ride |
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| Playing with fire |
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| Fire Limbo |
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| Beach at Koh Samet |
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