Finals in Thailand

I love Thailand, and more than that, I love Thammasat. We have finals this week. Back at home this means cramped libraries, 24-hour coffee houses, and a sense of panic erupting from every bleary-eyed student who discovers the school printers are malfunctioning.

I didn't expect the same from Thammasat. That's fair to say. But when Jon and I headed to school today to photocopy our accounting course packs, what I really did not expect was for the campus to be empty. Cafeteria closed. Libraries locked. Lights off. It was a ghost town.

We were in such disbelief we just roamed the dark hallways, laughing to ourselves at the absurdity, and appreciating possibly the greatest cultural difference - at least the most surprising - we've encountered in this country.

I'm close to being done with school. I've finished with two classes and have two more to go. The last one will be the worst - three hours of grueling management essays - but it's the one class I have a very good shot at getting an A in. I got an 82 on the midterm, not great by UT standards, but that was the highest grade in the class! Must be some massive curving going on. In my other classes, since we don't get grades back, I honestly have no idea how I'm doing. That took me a long time to get used to, it really did. Thailand is no place for someone who likes to calculate grades.

With the wrap-up of school also comes the wrap-up of everyone's time here. Alex already left, and Lilly is effectively leaving tonight. (She's actually staying the summer, but tonight was the last time most of us will get to see her, since she's visiting Cambodia in the morning.) I, like Meris and most of us, am getting pretty depressed about leaving. It doesn't help to count down our time, either, which I can't seem to stop myself from doing. "But we only have x amount of days left," seems to be the phrase of the week. I wake up sad and don't know why, and then I think about going back and I remember. It just sucks.

Mai pben rai, I know I'll be back, and hopefully soon enough to experience the same Thailand I did while I was here. In the meantime I should get excited about fusion sushi, Tex-mex, and finally getting to hug my little brother.