Let's keep this one brief.

Well my school looks remarkably like a palace, it's a little disconcerting honestly.  Not that I don't appreciate the painted dome ceilings or rooms made out of gold, it's just a stark contrast to how people live in the real Thailand.  I've seen a pretty decent chunk of the world, and I can't help but wonder if a little modesty could have freed up some resources for more scholarships and grants for students who otherwise could not afford tuition.

It's also a bit strange to receive so much special treatment as an American at this school, particularly a Loyola student.  Guards and attendants tend to look the other way at misbehavior, the school goes out of its way to do extra for us- everything is just made a little easier.  I love and appreciate this, but again, I hope this doesn't instill an undeserved sense of privilege in me that I probably have enough of from being male, middle class, and white.

I'm getting a bit closer with my group, which is good.  I think I've been moderately successful at overcoming how shy and disassociated I naturally am, although I haven't made enough of an effort with the Thais.  I'm going to try to change up my schedule to take more classes with local students to force myself out of my comfort zone more, and try to take initiative to get things going myself.

I really hate blogging: this still feels rather self-indulgent.  So I'm just going to cut to a couple observations to round it out:

-Finally getting Mcdonald's was a miraculous meal that may have rivaled The Last Supper.  I can already see a new Dan Brown book about this.
-Contrary to what The Hangover II shows you, no one rides elephants down town.  Everything else was pretty spot on.
-Our National Anthem gets totally blown out of the water by the Thai anthem.  We need to do some new composing and step our game up.
-I think we should have a king.  Everyone loves the Thai King.  Just makes the whole country feel cooler.  I nominate Justin Timberlake.  Anyone who brings sexy back must be some kind of royalty.
-In an hour, I'll be 20 here but only 19 to my friends back home.  Sweet contradictions.
-No matter where you go, you cannot fucking escape fucking Nickelback.  I'm usually going to try to avoid that kind of diction in this blog, but holy balls they suck.