Conclusion Chapter

I never thought that at the end of this Semester I would have taught more classes than I could even come up with at the beginning.

But still I found myself standing in front of a class, teaching mostly confident and actually having fun, instead of being afraid of failing terribly.

This Semester had a lot of surprises in stock for me, but that’s exactly why I came here, and I would totally do it again if I could.

One of the biggest amazements for me was that I didn’t experience the culture shock as much as I thought I would. I must admit thought that the language baffled me more than I expected, and I became used to feeling a little lost wherever I was going. But Bangkok is an interesting city to get lost in during the day, because of its hidden colourful markets, delicious street food stalls and shining monuments everywhere. Like a fellow traveller said: It’s so chaotic, but everything works somehow because of it. I reached a point where the cities liveliness was becoming a bit overwhelming for me, but now that I’m leaving soon, I will miss it dearly.

Suan Dusit University felt very professional and welcoming at the same time. Everything was planned and prepared for us, which was a big contrast to the city. It felt like our safe haven in the midst of chaos. We received a lot of interesting lessons in different areas and I’m happy to say that I finally feel ready to cook Thai food for my friends and family (which is the best gift I can bring home).  The Arts & Culture classes stuck with me a lot, because they gave me very useful insights in etiquettes, behaviours, traditions and different types of art in Thailand. I am interested in art history and it helped me to understand more of the stories in all the amazing sights and temples. 

Every Friday we had the great opportunity to be accompanied by fellow students to explore the city and to get a better insight into the treasures of Bangok.

It really was an amazing time filled with new friends, a lot of adventures and new interesting insights.

I was always delighted when I got the chance to discover new places in Thailand, be it with professors or with friends. Chumphon with the street food festival, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Lopburi: I simply love the south of Thailand. The food gets a lot spicier and the settings more and more beautiful. I had a moment once, when I was sitting in the turquoise sea, looking at a sunset and thinking to myself that I made a really good decision coming here to study abroad.

I have yet to discover many more places and I’m very excited for my upcoming travels next month.

At the beginning I was always very worried of misusing certain words or embarrassing myself (or others), because I’m not used to the customs in Thailand, but I was unnecessarily scared. 

I observed that manners are indeed very important, but people are very understanding and humorous. So as long as you know the basic manners and go into every interaction with a respectful mindset, there is nothing to worry about.

In the first 2 months of coming here I (mostly unknowingly) searched for patterns or things that felt familiar or foreign, because I wanted to understand this new culture. Gladly I reached a point where I gave up comparing things which just shouldn’t be compared and realized, that I can understand it more, when I leave myself and my culture completely out of the equation. 

In that way I just absorbed what was happening around me and stopped to analyse so much.

This change of my approach probably came over time and maybe developed with my host family in Trat as well. 

There we got the chance to totally immerse ourselves in the culture and daily life at the school where we did our internship. Teaching was very exciting and a bit scary in the beginning, because of our lacking experience of standing in front of the class and the language barrier. 

We developed our own teachings with some help and in the last week, we didn’t even worry about it anymore.  Even though it was challenging, I’m happy that the school was so understanding and I’m sure that we had a lot of insights which will assist us in our future.

Even though I already miss my family, friends and my partner very much, I’m very sad to go home so soon. All these experiences and influences the last couple months left me a lot more curious and reflected than I was when I came here, so I can’t wait for my next opportunity to go abroad again.