Christmas: The Analogy Of Life After Exchange

As Christmas rolls around the corner, It is nearly impossible not to feel homesick. Which is kind of strange considering I am at home. Honestly I try not to use that word anymore, because for us exchange students, and world travellers, the word home becomes unbelievably confusing. We have a different sense of home. We understand that home is not where we lay our heads to sleep, but something infinitely larger and more meaningful. So I avoid it as much as I can. Because home for me sometimes means sitting outside 7-11 in 40 degree weather eating a banana cake, and sometimes it means sitting on my bed watching the snow fall as I drink hot chocolate.

I also try to avoid using the word family. Because honestly it just creates a giant tangled up mess in my heart. Yes, my bloodline and relatives are family to me. We are related, and I care deeply for them. But I also have four other moms, Ba Air, Mae Jim, Mae Jip, and Mae Mew and four other dads, and eight other brothers and sisters, and this huge amount of love from my other family Olivia, Dani, Robby, Shara, Sofia, Erika, Meg, Gabi, Carlie, Gerardo, Zeke, Timmy, Allen, Marliee, Carlos, Henry, Sophia, Ana, CJ, Lucie,  Rox, Teahlean, and Cartoon. How am I suppose to untangle that huge knot? Ya blood may be thicker then water, but that should never be able decipher who is in my family.

Christmas is a time for both family and a sense of being at home. But how can I celebrate Christmas, and feel fulfilled,  when my definition of family and home have drastically changed. Three years ago christmas for me was spent under the christmas tree with my bloodline family and it was perfect. And last year it was spent exploring Bangkok, watching an elephant ride a tricycle, and sneaking all twenty something members of my family into one room so we could read christmas stories together. and it was perfect.  But how will I ever be able to blend those two christmas's together? Christmas will never be the same, because I will never be the same.

Its hard to explain. But my view on christmas is basically how I view my whole life now. I have changed, and the world around me is spinning much slower then me. I had purpose before, I had purpose during but where is my purpose now?

My Advice To You

I am guessing a good percentage of the people reading this are not exchange students so you would not understand that although I am in a foreign country, I am not on a vacation. I don't wake up everyday with huge plans to go adventuring, or plans of going to amazing places to take pictures to share on social media. Instead I wake up and live my life. Sometimes living life in Thailand means taking an adventure up a mountain to a beautiful temple, but more often then not living in Thailand is just going to school, drinking coffee with friends, or laying in my bed with the AC blasted as I watch Netflix. I too before I became an exchange student, thought that my year abroad would be filled with crazy adventures, and ever lasting stories of how amazing Thailand is. Not to say that I never had crazy adventures (because i did), and not to say my year wasn't incredible (because it was) but at the same time me going to Thailand wasn’t some relaxing vacation, it was a year of my life.

With my last few weeks approaching quickly, I have really been taking the time to look back, and reflect on my year. There were multiple times where Thai culture and way of life drove me insane, there were multiple times where I wished I was just back home in my own big comfy bed. But as I reflect back on my year I can only feel grateful for my experiences here. I see the things that drove me insane about Thailand as something I am going to dearly miss. I wish and wish for more time to eat incredible Thai food, and I pray for just a few extra hours to live my life here in Thailand. 

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone who is reading this post right now, it would be to be content with the life that you live. Take time each day to appreciate things you have never taken the time to appreciate, like the tree in your front yard, how you feel when you sit on your favourite couch, the way your parents look out for you (even take time to grateful for the experience of getting in trouble), appreciate the scent of your favourite coffee shop. Take time each and everyday to be thankful for something new, and take the time to appreciate the little joys in your life. You may feel like life goes on forever, and you have time to be thankful later, but after living an entire life in one year, I can tell you, as things come to an end one of your biggest regrets will be the fact that you didn't take the time to appreciate the things you have/had.

Exchangeitis and Loss

“as you waste your breath complaining about life, someone out there is breathing their last.”

If you ask any exchange student what exchange was like they will not hesitate to tell you that it was the best time of their lives. We get this weird disease that I like to call, Exchangeitis, when we are addressing the life we lived as an exchange student. For those of you who are unaware the suffix -itis is used to indicate swelling… So Exchangeitis is the swelling of exchange. For some reason us exchange students suffering from Exchangeitis, happen to just forget all about the hardships of exchange, and we can only recall the incredible times we have had. Like the time I got to ride an elephant, or when I spent five days on the beach with my best friend, or when I made life long friendships with people from all over the world. 

For those of you reading this you are probably wondering where I am going with this and I am also sure most you know that only a few days ago it was easter. For me its a time to be with your family, to stuff your face with chocolate, to take a break from a busy week at work/school week, to relax and forget about all of your stresses. For others it is a religious weekend, and for those who do not celebrate easter it is just a nice three day weekend. As an exchange student in a buddhist country I did not celebrate easter this year. Holidays in general are just a good way to relax, and be happy with your families. Unfortunately this year Easter Sunday brought pain to some of those closet to me.

To be honest I wish I could get some Exchangeitis right now, but unfortunately I am in a period of grieving and understanding. Two things happened on Easter this year, two tragedies. First off on your Sunday night, and my Monday morning I was woken with an abundance of text messages from one of those closet to me. My boyfriend of two years, Jacob, had texted me in a time of need. On the evening of easter, Jacobs house caught fire and burnt to the ground. Luckily no one was home (other then the cat), but unluckily they were left with nothing. They are saying it took twenty minutes from the time the house caught flame, to the time the house was burnt to the ground. Most of the things in the house were just material items, but some things they lost will be nearly impossible to replace. Like awards they had won, souvenirs, photos, and most of all some of their most valuable memories. It is unfortunate, and I would give almost anything to be by the sides of Jacob and the rest of the family. Unfortunately being 11,587kms away there are only a few things I can do to show my support. It is one of those times, that you wish you could teleport home in order to give everyone huge hug and remind them of how grateful I am to have them in my life. It is an unfortunate event, that will take some time to come to terms with and be okay with. I am sorry for the Silvernagles loss, and I wish I could be there physically to show my support.

The second thing that happened may be a little bit more difficult for me to understand, and to come to terms with. For those of you living in the Calgary area, I am sure by now you have heard about the tragic accident near spruce meadows that took a teen mothers life. And if you have not here is a news Article  on it (I would explain myself but I am in a cafe and would prefer if people didn't witness me crying) on easter Sunday Airdrie was faced with tragedy as we lost one of our. Some people lost a sister, some lost a daughter, some lost a friend, some lost a little light at school, some lost the love of their life and one in particular lost their mother. Rachelle Goudy was seventeen years old, and only four months ago had given birth to a beautiful baby. Rachelle and I were not particularly close, but the passing of a young person is never easy on anyone. Although we were not close I still have multiple memories of Rachelle. We often ran into each other when changing classes, going out for lunch and leaving school for the day. She was always right by my locker chatting with friends. Rachelle was that girl in Bert Church that everyone knew. She was loud, she had a smile that stretched on for miles and she could make absolutely anyone laugh until they peed their pants. You could just be walking down the hall at school and you could feel her presence. She was full of joy. It did not matter who you were, Rachelle Goudy would have easily been one of your best friends, it did not matter if other people thought you were cool, or lame, or popular and it didn't matter who you spent your weekends with or what you spent them doing, you could have been struggling with a mental disability, or struggling with sexuality, Rachelle would have been friendly to you. You could have never spoken to her, and she would have had your back. She had a heart five times the size of anyone else at BCHS, and i think it has made loosing her extremely difficult on all of us. Even those like me who were never all that close her. My heart goes out to the Goudy family and all of those closet to Rachelle. 

Exchangeitis is one of those unavoidable things. We get it because when we come home, we don't remember what the hard times felt like, instead we remember how incredible it felt to grow from them. But today i am not a sufferer of exchangeitis, instead I sit in this cafe and I remind myself that being hurt, angry, scared and sad are all natural feelings. Grieving is natural, wether it be the lose of material items, memories, or losing one of those who is closest to us. I sit here and I attempt to understand why the world turns in such tragic ways. I am trying to come to terms with the fact that being an exchange student has put me 11,587kms away from those suffering from this great loss, and the small text messages and the quick facetime are some of the only things i can do to show my support. I hope for all of you exchange students reading this you remember that exchange is hard, and that is what makes it so beautiful. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt, but also remember that being hurt and down is okay, because those are the moments you will grow the most from. For all you none exchange students reading this I hope that tonight you hug those closest to you and remind them how much they mean to you. 

Playlist To My Year

"Funny how a melody sounds like a memory"

Well Officially I have been here for a whole seven months, and I decided it was a good time to share the songs that remind me of my exchange year and all the memories I have made here. 

Music is one of the few things that a person can always carry with them. Good music is known to draw out emotions, recreate memories, make you forget or even get you dancing. As an exchange student I strongly value the power of music. I have uploaded my playlist to 8Tracks to share it with everyone http://8tracks.com/jenna-bocking-5/adventure-is-out-there . There are twenty-one songs on my playlist each carrying a special memory for me. Some I listen to forget. Some of them I listen to have a dance party in my room. Others are songs with lyrics that make me cry, and smile. A few of these where belted out by 28 exchange students on a bus as we raced down the winding roads of Thailand and of course I even included my favourite Thai songs. So take a listen if you wish too, and if not you are missing out on the Thai hit Where Is The Toilet. Thats a real bummer for you...

In Other News: 

Here are my most recent events

• Booked my flight home July 6th :(
• I had a Thai dance performance and the president of my school (who taught the princess of Thailand, how to play Thai music) gave Olivia and I each 100bhat
• I got a gym membership 
• I ate an abundance of Ice-cream
• A good friend from Airdrie came to visit!
• One of Olivia's best friends came to surprise her (I helped sort of)
• I purchased a Polariod camera 
• A few of the Chiangmai students and I had a fire at the waterfall
• School is out for summer
• I ate a Jelly fish (it was surprisingly okay)
• I had a cultural awkward moment when I decided to put my runners in the washing machine (oops)
• And I celebrated my first Chinese New Years (a special thanks to my host family for making me a real participant and giving me some nice red envelopes filled with money)

Also be on the look out for new pictures to be posted, I have not had time to edit them yet or even upload them to my computer.

An Open Letter To Future Exchange Students

Dear Future Exchange Student,

You are literally about to be birthed. You might not realize it yet, but you are currently stuck inside the womb of your exchange. Thats right, you are a high school student who just so happens to be stuck inside of a womb. 

You were just recently conceived. You sent in an application, sat through a terrifying interview, maybe you took some type of tests and most likely you wrote some kind of essay. You were at first an egg and if you as an egg were anything similar to me, you probably checked your email at least fifteen times a day, and you most likely sat in front of your phone for hours on end, until you got THE email or THE call. That was the moment that you turned into a fetus.

 If you are reading this and you have never been an exchange student you are probably thinking I have lost my mind, and this might be the strangest comparison you have ever read. But I swear it will eventually make sense.

Now you will sit inside the womb until you are birthed. You will sit inside that womb, growing and kicking. Your physical being will be outside of the womb, going through out daily life. You will sit in class in your last semester of school, you will look like you are paying attention but in reality you are somewhere else. Your brain is suffering tsunami tide after tsunami tide as you fill it with every expectation, curiosity, worry and hope. Instead of your hands shaking when you pick up your pencil to take your final exams, your hands will shake every time you check your email, because you are waiting to hear from your new families. You will grow a little bigger with every goodbye you say, and every last time you have. There will be moments when you feel one hundred percent prepared and then there will be moments when you cant help but worry about everything. Extreme joy and extreme sadness will come and go. You will find out your due date, and that is when crunch time comes. You will grow as much as you can, saying goodbye to all the things you will miss, researching more about your country, attempting to learn a nearly impossible language, and packing up all of your things. Before you know it the date will come, and wether you feel ready or not you will be born. 

Your parents will drive you to the airport, and you will open the car door with your shaky hand. You will pick up your fifty pound suitcase and lug it into the check in line, you will say your final goodbyes, and then with out thinking you will cross the security line at the airport. Where if you were not already crying before, you most likely will be now. People will look at you strange, because your exterior is a teenager, but what they cant see is that you have just been birthed and had your umbilical cord cut. 

As an exchange student you are forced to grow up very quickly. You will get off of the plane in your new home, and a group of people you have never met will greet you, and your life as a toddler begins. You are now expected to learn the customs, and the culture of this strange foreign place, and you are expected to simply just pick up the language as if it is nothing. When in reality as a baby you learn to communication, customs and culture throughout the first few years of your life. As an exchange student these critical years of learning are smashed together and shrunk down to become three months. These three months will be hard, you will struggle. You will struggle because where you are living will probably be strange, you will struggle cause no one will understand you and you will struggle because at times you will feel alone. You will miss your life before birth, you will miss the food you ate before, and you will miss little things you never thought were possible to miss, for example I miss reusable water bottles. It will be strange. These first few months as a toddler will be a real struggle but eventually you will move onto your teen years. Which at first glance may seem easier, but you will continue to face challenges even in these years.

Just like every teenager you will probably go through some type of rebel phase. Wether that be breaking rules, testing limits or just complaining about every little element of your life. It is natural. You are growing up and hormones are happening and stuff. You with out realizing it will start to mature. You will grow into a person who you have always wanted to be. You will become more independent then ever. You will continue to miss things from “home”, but you will look back and it will seem like a completely different life. Days will continue to slip away, and before you know it you will be an adult.

You finally feel like a real person. You have figured your self out. You have probably been through a self realization. You can communicate your feelings. You have become someone. Someone completely different then who you were before you were birthed as an exchange student. The days will continue to slip away until you only have a few left in your host country, and you will realize all of the amazing things you have done with your eleven month life. Now I do not think I have much to say about this whole adulthood stuff, as I do not think I have gotten there yet. But what I do know is that as the days turn to night, I am running out of time. I will soon be faced with a big decision, as I fly thousands of kilometres home I will have to make the decision of wether I return to the person I was before, or I continue to carry on my eleven month life.

So exchange students who are in the womb. I just thought I would let you know that you are the lucky few who get to experience being birthed during your teenage years. You are the lucky few who will understand living a double life, and you are the lucky few who get a real say in who you will grow up to be. Do not take this whole growing up thing for granted again. Take every day into your hands, try your hardest, take every opportunity you given and live your eleven month life to the fullest.

I Found The Answers

Before I left on my exchange previous exchange students, and people who where involved in the program kept telling me how much this single year would change me. They mentioned how I would discover myself, become more independent and most of all how much I would mature. I remember my Grandpa saying to me “every one year of exchange, is like maturing five years in one”. So by his count, I guess I am almost twenty-two years old (if you are reading this Kendra, we are basically the same age now). I was forewarned that when I returned my family may struggle to understand me, and I would most likely return to the loosing a majority of my friends. I understood I would change, but I didn't understand that my reasoning for going on exchange would change with that. Pre exchange I was not actually fully aware of why I had this strange desire to leave my entire life behind and start new. I didn't know myself as well as I really thought I did. 

Before Exchange

During Exchange

When I applied for exchange people kept asking me why I wanted it. I gave the basic exchange student answer “I want to learn a new culture, I love traveling, I want to learn a new language, and I want to create global connections.” I did not actually know the truth as to of why I was so willing to give up everything I ever knew, in order to start all over again. I didn't actually know until a few days ago I was sitting in one of my favourite cafes. Just a few tables away from me sat a girl. Her headphones were in, and the rest of the world was turned off. Her laptop was open in front of her, and to her right a notebook filled with notes. You could tell by the way she occasionally let out a sigh, and by the way she rested her head on her hands and rubbed her eyes, that what ever she was working on was causing her stress. For some strange reason seeing her this stressed out girl, made me feel... homesick? Who would have guessed that I would feel home sick for stress.

For those of you who know me, you know that I love to ware myself thin, and that I struggle to say no to things. You know that I live this hectic life attempting to split myself between school, leadership, theatre, dance, family, a boyfriend, all well attempting to maintain a social life. You people who know this are probably thinking ‘Jenna, are you insane? You were a walking disaster because of this. How on earth could you miss stress’. I am not insane, but other then that you are right. I was a stressed mess. I procrastinated, I cried, I complained, I got angry and I even shut down at times. But the truth is I was actually really grateful to have all of these things in my life. I was not homesick for stress, but I was homesick for being busy. I was home sick for being kept on my toes, I was homesick for busy weeknights, and packed full weekends. I was home sick for having a project to focus on, I was homesick for having a routine to perfect and I was home sick for working hard. Today I even got home sick when I saw a picture of dancers from my studio reading ‘early morning practices’, WHAT!! Me homesick of early morning practices. But honestly, it doesn’t matter how much I complained, because deep down inside I was actually happy to be doing this stuff. I guess being away from it all really made me realize my hunger for learning, keeping busy, and pushing myself to my limits. 

Leadership

Family

A Boyfriend

Theatre

My attempted social life

School

Dance

So there you have it. I have officially found the reason that I was crazy enough to leave my life, friends, and family behind. I also found the reason why I got myself involved in so many things. I enjoy pushing myself as hard as I can because I know as long as I am trying my hardest in the end I will be happy with my results. I like to keep busy. I like to learn, and I love having a project to work on. For all those people who questioned my choices to jam pack my schedule, you now have an answer and to answer those who asked me why I wanted to go on exchange, the answer is simple. I enjoy pushing myself into uncomfortable situations, I like to work hard and I like to push my own limits.

Me planting rice in Thailand

Please excuse some of these randomly inserted pictures. I thought they might make this look less daunting to read...

130 Things About Thailand

Well since I have officially been here for half of the time I will be staying I figured it was time to share some facts about Thailand with you.

General Information/ Customs

1. There are 77 different provinces in Thailand

2. This means basically every new city is also a new province

3. Thai people do not like feet, so don't point with them, or touch anything other then shoes, and the ground with them

4. Opposite of the feet, the head is precious. So do not touch other peoples heads. It is rude

5. Religion and the monarch are part of literally everything in Thailand

6. Thai people love white skin

7. Thai people hate the sun

8. There is this thing called a Thai kiss. Don't be afraid when you get one. Basically the only way to explain it is a really intense sniff

9. There are no sidewalks

10. Two lanes of traffic actually means four lanes

11. When in the north of Thailand there is no such thing as a straight road

12. From Chiangmai to Pai there is a road that has 762 curves. It takes about 3 hours to get there but is only about 80kms away

13. You do not see elephants roaming around

14. But you do see chickens, cats, dogs, lizards and sometimes the rare rat

15. Cigarettes on the tv are blurred out, but you can see all the live action blood and guts you want on the news

16. Riding in the bed of a truck is normal, don't be concerned when you see about fifteen people in the back going down the super highway

17. People will chew with their mouths open

18. They will also talk with food in their mouths

19. But make sure to cover your mouth when using a tooth pick

20. No one washes there hands after going to the bathroom

21. There is no toilet paper, only a garden hose.

School

22. When talking to a teacher you should be physically lower then them. This means most of the time you must kneel to talk to your teachers

23. When passing someone older then you in the hallway make sure to wai to them

24. In most schools you do not wear shoes into the classroom

25. Sometimes you don't wear shoes at all in school (yay for really really dirty feet)

26. Virtually everyone buys lunch at school. It is rare for someone to bring food from home

27. Every school has uniforms, even university

28. Instead of handing in assignments, students hand in there entire notebooks

29. There is an assembly every morning

30. At morning assembly be prepared to sing the national anthem, pray and say some other stuff that i honestly still don't understand (oh how I love the old Thai language)

31. It is not abnormal for a Thai teacher to just randomly cut off some boy students hair if it is to long

32. Student bathrooms are probably the nastiest things on this entire planet. I do not believe that they are cleaned all year. So ask your advisor if it is okay to use the staff bathroom

34. Every single student takes notes the exact same way. No questions asked

35. Students are passive about learning here, they may study a lot, but there hands are held through the entire process.

36. There is little room from imagination in school

37. School is all about memory and there is little to no application of what you have learned

38. Example of #37. Memorize the periodic tables first 5 elements of every group and then recite them. But never will you do a chemistry lab.

39. Do not be surprised when random cats or dogs come into your classroom. They are usually friendly.

Laws, Government, and The Monarch

40. There is indeed a military coup. 

41. No the country is not dangerous or scary because of this.

42. It is illegal to talk ill of the Royal Family

43. For the month of December most people wear yellow to celebrate the Kings birthday

44. The current king was crowned in 1946. 

45. He holds the record for the longest reign in the modern day monarchy

46. It is illegal to step on a bill or coin, because it has the kings face on it

47. The king and queen currently live in a hospital in Bangkok where they have lived for the past five years

48. The King has a bad cold and he is making a recovery- says every Thai Person 

49. I don't think there are any traffic laws. Whats so ever. 

50.  It is not required that you move out of the way for an ambulance, police car or firetruck.

51. I don't know about anywhere else but in Chiangmai, the officers part of the military coup are really friendly and great people to talk too.

Food

52. It is nearly impossible to remember all the names of the food you eat.

53. Each region of Thailand has its own style of food

55. The food in Thailand is either unbelievably delicious, or absolutely awful. There is no in-between

56. Koi Soy (spicy noodle thing) eat it. Always

57. Pad Thai is delicious but you will get bored of it

58. Massemann Curry (chicken, red curry and potatoes) is life

59. People don't eat with chopsticks

60. We eat with a fork and a spoon. No knife

61. Kha Kai (coconut milk soup)  is real good. I can never get enough

62. Prad Praew Wan (sweet and sour stir fry) will forever be one of my favourites 

63. Fruit and vegetables are always fresh here

64. There are no chemical laws for farming. So make sure to wash it well.

65. You will eat rice with everything

66. They love to fry stuff

67. They do not get rid of the fat on meat

68. Roti sounds strange, fried dough, an egg, possibly a banana, a buttload of condensed sweetened milk and a scoop of sugar. Sounds strange as heck but don't knock it tell you try it. This is the reason I have gained 5kgs.

69. Be prepared to try strange things

70. Do not ask what something is until you try it

71. Sometimes your best option is to close your eyes and eat

72. They love eating butter

73. They love processed food that doesn't need to be refrigerated. You just need to pick it up off the shelf at 711 

74. If you are planning on staying an extended amount of time consider buying calcium pills. They eat very little of it.

75. Although lots of food is spicy, they also have lot of sweet foods.

76. Sticky rice goes good with everything

77. Fake Chinese food in north america is often much better then the fake chinese food severed in Thailand

78. Fish come with their heads on, also often they still have scales and have not been de boned. Just eat around it.

79. They don't refrigerate eggs.

80. Rice, eggs, pork, shrimp, chicken and fish are staple foods

81. Moo Ping (pork on a stick) is delicious, but often the bottom piece is just a big chunk of fat.

82. I don't mean to scare you with these facts. Thai food is amazing, eat it. 

Important Langauge Skills

83. If your skin is white you will be called farang. It doesn't matter if they know your name. 

84. Do not be offended by the word farang it is not suppose to be offensive it is just how they identify you.

85. Sleepy and tired mean completely different things

86. If you are sleepy it means you want to sleep

87. If you are tired to means you probably worked out to hard

88. They don't understand the difference between brother, uncle, and cousin

89. If someone is older then you, put pee before saying their name

90. If someone is younger then you put nawng before their name

91. Everyone in Thailand is a big family. So you may call the lady severing you coffee aunty.

92. If you don't know someones name, guess if they are older then you or younger then you.Then just call them Pee or Nawng

93. The Thai alphabet is long, but don't let it scare you. Once you put some work into it reading and writing it isn't that bad.

94. The tones and vowel lengths are hard. My best advice is just say the word, and see if they understand. If they don't say it with a different tone. They will eventually get it. 

95. If you are a girl you will use the word ka at the end of your sentence

96. If you are a boy you will use krap at the end

97. Ka and Krap have no meaning but it is polite

98. You will also hear na at the end of lots of sentences. This also means nothing. It is just fun to say, and is considered to make your sentences less serious.

99. The language is really simplified. for example:

I am going by car : Pai Rot (go car)

Advice For Future Exchange Students

100. Remember it is very disrespectful to talk back or disobey someone who is older then you

101. Unless you never use Facebook like me, consider making a new page just for Thai people

102. Thai people love to take pictures, especially with the exchange students. You will be a professional model by the end of your exchange.

103. Rotary here is not always gender equal, it is unfortunate, but it is part of the culture

104. You are on exchange to learn the culture, not to change it

105. But that doesn't mean you can't teach them about your own culture

106. Make friends with rebound students, they are incredible

107. They do things very differently here, and it isn't just natural to adjust too it. You may need to work at it

108. Try your hardest to stay positive

109. If you have a problem, talk to someone about it. But Thai people are usually not super straight forward about things, so just be careful with wording.

110. Sa Bai Sa Bai (everything is all good) is the Thai attitude. So if you are having serious problems and talking to a Thai person about them is not helping, don't be afraid to contact someone from back in your home country

111. It is very common for Thai youth to be shy, so you need to put yourself out there. They will not come to you. You need to go to them. 

112. The first few days of school every single person will just stare at you. 

Random and Stuff I Forgot To Add Earlier

113. There are no drying machines

114. You do not wash your undergarments with your clothes they are washed separately

115. If you are a tourist things here are very cheap

116. If you are living on what a Thai person makes it is very expensive here

117. They do not respect copy right or patent laws here. So when you see ads for Victoria Secret swimsuits, do not expect the store to have anything similar to that.

118. It does not matter how thin you are, you will most likely be called fat

119. They think people for Europe and North America only eat bread and ham and cheese sandwiches

120. Thai people are usually really friendly, and very kind. I am more scared of foreigners then Thai people.

121. Yes it is normal for babies to be on motorcycles

122. Do not be scared when random people approach you and ask to take a photo with you, or of you. 

123. Thai people do not understand sarcasm...

124. There are 711's everywhere

125. You could do your grocery shopping at a 711

126. They literally use plastic bags for everything. They put things in plastic bags, just so they can put it into another plastic bag.

127. The most common conversation topics are, "is it delicious?" and "is it beautiful?"

128. If you think people in North America are addicted to there phones, just wait tell you see the Thai people

129. Thai people love using stickers and emojis to talk online

130. Thai people do not wear thai pants. In fact most thai people usually dress quite formal. So Thai pants should really be called tourist pants. (I love these things, they are the comfiest pants in the whole world)

Conclusion

Life in Thailand is very very different from life back in Canada. For me it was a huge culture shock. Even to this day I continue to learn more and more about Thailand. I am in no way an expert on Thailand, and these facts are mostly bias, and from things I have experienced. Everyone will experience Thailand differently from the way I have. I love Thailand, it is a beautiful country and I wouldn't change the fact that I get to do my exchange here, for anything else in the world.