Beyond our Journey

Last week in Thailand and South Korea!

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:07:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

This is Mina! I'm sorry I haven't been updating in awhile. I have been lagging the past couple of weeks because we just came back from Korea just about 2-3 weeks ago.

Anyways, our last week in Thailand has to be the saddest week ever. I even almost cried during the movies when I came to a realization that this will be my last cheap movie and last day in Thailand. *Tears* For the last few weeks we went to all the markets and malls that we know we will definitely be missing once we get back to the states. We also went to all of our favorite restaurant in Rangsit, Pathum Thani so that we can get all the memories we can soak in. I know that I got to see all the people I wanted to see before I left. ^_^ It was a great sight to see. :) Its even sad last to leave my second real home. The people or the staffs at Muang Ake mansion are the most sweetest people ever! They are so helpful when we needed a place to stay. I recommend to who ever is going to study abroad in Thailand and with the USAC program you guys must go stay and rent an apartment at the Muang Ake Mansion. Staffs are nice and rent is cheap comparing to where we are leaving now. Its a big room and bathroom is only about $300 for rent, plus internet, water, and electricity! And if you have a roommate even better! Split it! :) There's a tip for everyone! Its close by to school you can take a taxi if you're lazy to walk its a 34 baht ride or take the free van shuttle that goes every 15 min - 30 min its right in front of your building so you will never miss it!

This is where we were staying.

Back to Korea subject! :)

Korea was amazing! I love it there so much! I want to return. 5 days wasn't enough, it needs to be longer. If I have another chance to study abroad again my next choice would definitely be South Korea! Seoul was a great city! I love it there. We went to many palaces in Seoul and many great tourist areas such as Myeong-dong, Lotte World shopping area, Hongdae, Hongik University, and Namdaemun market area. We also went to Nami Island which was very beautiful and romantic. Too we didn't have boyfriends otherwise it would have been perfect! LOL. The last night we went to the Hans river. It was beautiful. Very peaceful. I have to say that Seoul or Korea is a very lovey dovey country/city. Its like the land of LOVE! Haha. But all in all I enjoy Korea with the all the great foods and shopping stalls, booths, and shops. Its definitely a busy place. For me, I like it when its a fast pace environment so no complaining to me. But overall my trip and studying abroad has been a great experience. I would never in a million years regret this. As for now, I believe that those past 6 months has been the best part of my life ever!

So true! LOL. Just so many! :D

Okay, that's all for now. I know I still haven't updated to all the places I went but everyone can check out my pictures and video section if you want to see all the places I have been to and have done while studying abroad in Thailand! Here is the link to my website http://www.minakc.wordpress.com I am very thankful this opportunity and I hope that if anyone has a chance and opportunity like I did that was given by the USAC and the Gilman Scholarship should most definitely take it! Its an opportunity of a life time and the best experiences you can ever get it! GOOD LUCK to who ever is going to study abroad this upcoming semester and to whom is ever thinking and deciding upon it you can email us or social network with us and I am more than welcome to help you guys out! :)

Don't forget to stop by my personal site for more pictures and blogs!

http://www.minakc.wordpress.com

We ♥ THAILAND with all our hearts! :D

Love, MinaKC

dreamworld

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:16:00 +0000

phuket and Koh phi phi

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:09:00 +0000

ending of usac

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:04:00 +0000

1st movie

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:04:00 +0000

paragon

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:58:00 +0000

kwangsi waterfall

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:57:00 +0000

hmong town, laos

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:41:00 +0000

mekong river.mp4

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:40:00 +0000

ayutthaya

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:40:00 +0000

2pm event

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:19:00 +0000

OX CARRIAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:19:00 +0000

chiang mai part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:20:00 +0000

chiang mai part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:58:00 +0000

chiang mai part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:00:00 +0000

grand palace

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:29:00 +0000

Touring the Grand Palace with USAC and Rangsit university!

siam square

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:28:00 +0000

touring siam square!!!

Future Park/JJ/ night market

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:21:00 +0000

Us giving you readings a glimpse of Pathum Thani!!!

first week

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:11:00 +0000

Our first week in Thailand!

RIC's school trips, events, volunteer! Yay USAC!

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:09:00 +0000

Hello!
Its Mina!

Check out my site! http://minakc.wordpress.com/

Now I'm here to talk about where RIC has taken us during our time in school. RIC has taken us to many places and I enjoy all the trips that I have gone to with RIC. Its was very educational, but also eye opening at the same time. When we got here about a couple weeks later we went on a Bangkok tour to the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha and the Vimanmek Mansion. All of this had to do with the Thai King's. Everything that I've looks amazing. Then our second trip was to Ayutthaya. I thought that this was very interesting because it felt like we were really there at that period of time because everything looks very ancient and all we saw was the ruins of Ayutthaya. I find it amazing that everything is still here till this day even though it had happen hundreds or thousands of years ago. This is where they also shot the movie Mortal Combat. It has a nice feel to it knowing that you are stepping on a ground that a very famous movie was film at or to just even stand that use be called a kingdom before. The weekend after that we took a 3 days and 2 night trip to Chiang Mai. We went to many places in Chiang Mai. I'm glad that they took us there because we were able to go to so many places and do many things. We actually got to go up to the Hmong villages in Chiang Mai which got me excited. I was got to waii the buddha. We got to see the waterfall and do rafting along the river and much more. So by far I had lots of fun at that trip the most from the other trips that RIC have taken us to. Then the last trip was the Nakhon Nayok for the end of the semester. It was camping we had to share one cabin with 20 girls. It was fun! I LOVE THAT TRIP THE MOST! It was something so different! We got to do ice breakers. This trip was with other Thai students and we had to work together. I enjoy this trip so much. We did lots of different courses around the site and try to have the best score. I did the zipper falling, rock climbing, and many more activities. I think our group was awesome! We all worked together to help each other get to our goal. I always wanted to do this kind of thing and activities because I find that Thai college students really have everyone interact with each other so we can break the ice. We also did water rafting which was awesome! I had so much fun! There was so much laughter, smiles, and screaming going on that it brought everyone to an excitement. Overall, I'm glad that I went on this trip. I did not regret it at all. These were all the trips that is provided by RIC and is already been paid for through USAC the ones that has to pay are the ones that are not in the program so consider yourself lucky if you are in the USAC program. :) I have pictures up for the Bangkok tour trip. I did a blog on that and if anyone wants to see more pictures just click on any of the pictures and you get see more pictures from the trip. I still have to blog about the trip to Chiang Mai. I will do that blog as soon as possible. I just want to show everyone what the university has offer and why USAC is such a great program. I still have blogging about Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia to chit chat about.

Some of the events that we have done while we are going to RIC is one of the most important event which is the International Day at the RIC. I thought that it was cool that we have everyone from all around the world representing their country. I never new there was so many people from so many country outside of Thailand. I also participate in this event and I was representing the country Laos because it is one of my nationality. We also did our own booth and represent three different country which is Laos, Cambodia, and Hmong. We did a great job on our appetizers. Although our food wasn't really cultural-like dish, but its like an asian american dish. :) It was a success! Everyone wipe our table clean! We did a club sandwich and fruit cups topped with whipped cream. It was delicious. It was simple yet amazing! Everyone seem to love it because they keep coming back for more. We didn't even get to serve it to our professors. That's how great we did it. I'm just kidding. :) Apparently, some people didn't know that you can eat your fruits with whipped cream. How can they not know that?!?! Its like the best thing ever! :) Then we did the event for the end of the semester for the foreign exchange and USAC student. We all earn certificate for going to school and being apart of the Rangsit University. I got two certificate because I was able to volunteer at a hospital and teach english to the students. I had an amazing time teaching english if I had the chance to do it again, I would say yes in a heartbeat. "Listen to my heartbeat." :) Just wanted to add that there. :P They were students ranging from ages 15 to 30 years old. They are patients that are in the drug rehabilitation program. We also did a ceremony award from them at the end because they complete four weeks of english learning. Going back to the Going Away Party for us they served us plenty of yummy and delicious food and fun performances. Within our class there was many things we can do and participate in like the international day, temple boy where the guys go to the temple and live in the temple for one week then we have english teaching at the drug rehabilitation hospital, we also went to many different field trips for classes like the temple morning market by the Chao Phaya river, meditation at the temple, art gallery show, etc.... There is just so many things to do. Next blog will be about my adventure and experiences through out the three months and the things that happen to my friends and I while in Thailand. Alright, that's all for tonight! GOOD NIGHT! SWEET DREAMS!

Here is the picture of us at our booth during International Day. I know its a bit crappy but hey everyone still love it!

Here is the blog about Bangkok Tour. Do check it out. I did not write much, but its more of pictures.

Bangkok Tour

And I upload all my pictures here so if you want to see more pictures and what I have done so far please do check it out here is the site

Minakc's Flickr

Please stop by! Leave me comments!

http://minakc.wordpress.com/

-Love,

MinaKC

Crib touring

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:51:00 +0000

Here's us giving your readers a tour of your penthip apartment!

Leaving!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:25:00 +0000

HI READERS!!!!

Here is our latest video!!!! Check it out!!!

Our first week in Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:56:00 +0000

Sawat di ka...Our experience so far in Thailand has been extremely great. As you can see we are still trying to adapt to the environment here in Thailand. We are doing great so far, nothing has gone wrong so far. The weather here is extremely different from Fresno, California. It is super humid and hot, you will only experience a cool breeze once in a while. Well, to tell you the truth only me and Mai Chia have been complaining about the weather here so far. Theary and Mina seem to adapt to Thailand already. Our first tour that Rangsit University provided for USAC students was the Grand Palace. We all meet in front of the school building and left Rangsit around 8:30 A.M. and got to the Grand Palace within 45 to 50 minutes. It wasn’t that bad of a ride, since it did not take that long to get to our destination.

This is some brief information about the Grand Palace. This is located in Bangkok one of the city most popular tourist place. It was built in 1782 and for 150 hundred years it was the home of the Thai king. Even though the Grand Palace is quite old indeed, it continues to have increasing numbers of visitors. The Grand Palace has beautiful architecture and many detailed drawing in the temple. These drawing are based on story of King Ramma the 1st. It is a very popular story in the Thai culture. This story is still known today. The temple still remains in the heart of the Thai culture. This is why this place is open for tourist.

The Grand Palace is a great experience for me. It was super awesome to see the temple and the unique design and the many different temples. I am a Christian and I don’t know much about Buddhism. Most of the Thai people are Buddhism there are only a few who are Christian. The Buddhism by far seems to be interesting from what I have heard from my Thai Civilization professor Prinda. There are many things that I have discovered about Thailand and it quite different from Thailand.

Well, here is a just quick summary of our first touring experience in Thailand so far. We will be updating more soon. Sawat di ka!

Why Thailand?

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:35:00 +0000

Hi viewers!!! Sorry for the slow updates, its because the internet is extremely slow do the the dial up connections. But here is an update of us discussing how we came upon our conclusion of choosing Thailand. Enjoy and we'll try to update more!!! So STAY TUNED!!!

Hi World!

noreply@blogger.com (Flower4) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Hi World!

So the four of us are here in Theary's room. We just went to get our passports done. Now we are waiting on getting our plane tickets and getting our housing set for Thailand. For those of you who don't know us, we are currently California State University, Fresno students and we are going to study abroad in Thailand during the spring of 2010 semester. This is Mina by the way, I am the one writing this blog and getting our site ready for our study abroad project. There are four of us going to study abroad in Thailand which will be Theary, Mai Chai, Txung (Sue), and me! Right now Theary is on her macbook, while Mai Chai is drinking her Peach Tea drink from sonic and Txung's wandering around. We're having a count down for our departure. As of right now, we have 2 months and 27 days left! Everything is so crazy and hectic, but I am very excited! There is so little time and so much to do. Please join us and read along by following us during our process of getting ready for Thailand and our experiences with our lives abroad!

Hello everyone!

This is Mina! I'm 20 years old and a junior at Fresno State. I am a marketing major with a minor in mass communication & journalism. I love music and I would like to work with music for the rest of my life. I hope that I will be able to work with the best music and artists world wide. The reason why I am going to Thailand is to study more about my Thai culture. I was always raised up knowing one side of my heritage which is my Lao nationality and also being raised in an American lifestyle, but now I want to learn something new. I want to be able to learn how to read and write in Thai so that it will draw me closer to my culture. I am also going so that I can learn more about how marketing and the mass media work internationally. As of now, I am excited for the next chapter to my life.

AND DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME ON MY PERSONAL BLOG!

http://minakc.wordpress.com/

Nothing has been updated yet, but I will soon, after I get my school work and scholarships out of the way.

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Sa wat dee ka, this is Theary here! Like Mina, I'm also 20 Years old and currently attending CSU Fresno. I'm majoring under psychology with a minor in child development, the opposite of Mina right lol. Just to give you viewers a heads up, we're all from different majors but we all have the interest of studying the world outside of the US. Why Thailand? There are many reasons for this, but my main reason is because I have intentions of studying Buddhism and families from Southeast Asia. While growing up, I've never took the time to get to know my parents original heritage. I've been sucked into the American World that I've forgot to get in touch with my own heritage. I hope Thailand will expose me to my parents heritage and I also hope that Thailand well broaden my knowledge about the world outside of this American block. I'm excited and thrilled for this future adventure!

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Hello, This would be Txung which is pronoun like Sue, I'm 19 years old turning 20 on October 23rd. Well, if your wondering why I choose Thailand to study abroad. There are many reason to why I choose Thailand. I want to explore and learned about the different aspects of culture around the world. My parents were born and raised in Laos close to Thailand. I would like to have the same experience my parents have gone through. For example, my parents lives in Laos compare to American made their growing experience different from mine. Since I have grew up in California, I do not know what it is like in another country. I am looking forward to a great semester in Thailand, I am very excited for this adventure.

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Hello there, this is Mai Chia the last one of the four to post on this blog. As it has already been mention by the other three but I too am a junior and is going to study in Thailand. I am so excited at this point but also have a mix emotion of fright and excitement. The thoughts of going to a different country to learn the different lifestyles and try to assemble that into your lives. Maybe it wont be as much as we thought it would be but it's going to be an experience. The best way for a person to learn is to go out and experience it for oneself. That is exactly what I am going to do.

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A Little introduction from us LIVE!

Ramdom Moments

MIna

Theary & Chia

Txung