It's day 1. And I'm nervous.

I have to admit there's something a little unsettling about stepping off a plane alone into a country where you don't know a word of the language and the alphabet looks like gibberish. Beautiful gibberish, but gibberish nonetheless. My arrival in Bangkok was, to say the least, confusing. None of the guidebooks I read on the plane (not even the one my dad gave me that "exposed the heart of Amazing Thailand") could have prepared me for my arrival. So far, no one speaks English. Not the cabbies, not the airport employees, not the driver from my exchange program at Sasin (who I finally found after 30 minutes of searching, attempting to communicate, and almost-crying - which is sort of like crying but not really because I don't want to admit I almost cried), and definitely not the staff at my new home, Sasa International House. If it wasn't for the three other exchange students in the airport pickup van with me, I would have spent my first two hours in Bangkok in complete silence. But I got lucky. And I even got to make a few friends. Aside from the broken hot water spigot and the lizard who slept on my door frame last night, Sasa House should make a nice home for the next month before my home becomes a backpack. My bed is hard as a rock, the sheets are itchy, and my relief from 24 hours of traveling was a freezing cold shower, but hey, I'm in Thailand. It's my first day in Bangkok and I'm gearing up to meet some Kellogg friends to explore the city. My goal: try not to shop. At least today. The guidebooks are filled with pages on Thailand's teeming counterfeit market, and I can't wait to get my hands on some ripoff Seven jeans, but I have to remember I have until March. Plus, it's next-to-excruciatingly hot and I don't want to be wearing jeans anyhow. I hope you all enjoy this blog. I plan to stick to it as much as I can (no promises...those who know me well know I have many intense, fleeting passions in both personal and professional pursuits...remember that time I decided to become a witch?). One of my goals for this trip was to keep an electronic record of my itineraries as I go along to share with family and friends, so I figured I might as well just do that now. Hello from Bangkok. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bangkok, Thailand