First Day of Classes!

Today was the first day of school!

We have two classes on Tuesday and two classes on Wednesday which makes traveling really easy. We are a really great group too Ashley, Jacey, Saskia, Melanie, and I.

For Ashley, Jacey, and I we have Business Ethics, Principles of Marketing, Business Finance, and Product Operations Management. They are year 1, 2, 2, and 3 respectively which means that we are able to meet more people. The teachers are all really great as this is basically the Harvard of Thailand. A lot of them are American and one is a Very successful business man who is still on the board of directors of 3 different companies across 3 different countries. He is really cool and while I don't think the class itself will be overly strenuous or difficult I think the biggest benefit will come from hearing about his experiences and perspective on things.

Getting to and from school can be a bit of a task though. We have a few options. Taxi - somewhat reliable but hard to hail a cab from Nonsi. Uber - kind of expensive. Grab Cab - I haven't tried it yet but I think its cheaper than Uber. The problem with these is that the traffic is awful and Uber is about 2.2x the regular price for busy time pricing. The other options are the motor bike where you get on the back of a motorcycle and its basically terrifying for me and they weave through traffic like mad men. Everyone says they're not that bad and one girl last year took them every year but I really don't think I could do it haha. And the last option is the shuttle bus directly from Nonsi to Chula. It is free and the traffic is easy because it leaves early at like 8am. I like it the best because it is free and all the rest cost money and then the traffic is better and I feel safe haha.

Getting back is also a bit of a challenge. If you leave directly at 4 I think it is fine (I've never done it yet) but if you leave any time from 5-7 (or even more) the traffic is absolutely awful and a lot of taxis won't take you... I've never seen such picky taxi drivers... They'll turn you down if the traffic is bad or if they simply just don't want to go where you're going. They're also rather tricky all of them really. You really gotta be smart about how you bargain. They will jack up the prices if you're not strong and know what you're doing. I'm still not convinced I have realistic prices down yet.

I am getting better though with the language. Beyond Hello and Thank you I can now say left and right and give any taxi driver directions to Nonsi which feels pretty good.

Other than that school is pretty nice so far. The food in the cafeteria is great, seems healthy, there is a ton of variety, and is so cheep. My meal was 35 baht ($1) and then today my meal was only 28 baht so a little less than $1. They really are my favorite part of the day.

Ashley and my first day at school!