






There were seven other students from my college who went to study abroad in Thailand with me, so at first, I was worried that I would spend too much time with American friends and miss out on experiencing Thailand. However, even though I had an American roommate and took my classes with Americans, I was still able to integrate into the local community. I did this by speaking Thai, making friends with Thai people and living for a while in the city.
A major thing that helped me integrate into the Thai community was learning to speak the Thai language. While many Thai people can speak some English, I still tried to speak as much Thai as I could. For example, on my second day of Thai class, I learned how to order food in Thai. Then right after that, I went and ordered my lunch using the Thai I had just learned. I spoke slowly and felt silly, but the vendor was very kind and helped me. By speaking Thai, even when I made mistakes, it showed Thai people that I was making an effort to learn about their culture. Once I got better at Thai, I was able to carry on conversations with strangers in the back of a songthaew or at a restaurant which was a lot of fun!
During my time abroad, I also made friends with a few Thai students my age. I met them through school activities.