Coming home from trips is always hard. I remember coming home from my first trip and feeling completely empty. The trips average at 10 days but in those 10 days you get so used to being around all the foreigners, you get used to feeling at home, you get used to speaking English again and not worrying about the culture that much, you just get used to being in a group of your friends. When you get back to your host family it’s like you have to adjust your mind all over again and it’s hard. This time coming home from the trip was easy, yes I had fun, yes I was with a group of foreigners but for the first time it felt like I was going home after a trip not like I was going to a host family after my trip and that is an amazing feeling. We got home and went straight to the new shopping mall that opened close to my house to go and get some things for Tata who was leaving for Canada soon also to go on exchange. Sitting in the car one the way to the mall we had four people, all exchange students at some point, P’Nong 20 years ago, myself almost at the end fr my exchange, Cienna in her first month and Tata 2 weeks away from starting her exchange, sitting there you realise how the exchange program really brings people from all of the world together. Shopping is always fun and if you get to spend time with amazing people and have great food while you’re at it why not. On the 16^th we went to Cienna’s school to see what subjects she would be taking and once again it was like sitting right in the middle of a flash back, the confusion, the fear, the uncertainty it seems like it just radiates out of new exchange students. On the 16^th we went to another shopping centre and this one I know pretty well so myself and Cienna got to walk around while P’Nong and Tata did some more shopping. There is something about walking around alone and being able to pick what you will be doing that day without a care in the world that makes me feel so free. We walked around the whole day did some shopping, ate a lot of food and drank an insane amount of coffee. This might be hard to understand if you are reading this but days like those mean the world to me and I want to remember days like those. On Sunday die 17^th Joy took us to the Royal Palace Wat Pra Kreaw. Walking to and around the Royal Palace is like walking in an oven, it’s about 40°C outside and you are walking in the sun. walking around at the Palace feels like you are in another time, yes you are around all these people but it feels so calm, so quite. You hear monks praying, you see the sun glistening on the shiny tiles and gold and silver these temples are made from. You are in-between these big buildings that have been there for the longest time but you still can’t believe they are real. When you walk into the temple grounds it seems like you walked into a mystical magical world and you struggle to keep your mouth from hanging open. We walked around we took pictures with some Palace guards and almost died of heat but it was amazing to see. We escaped the heat for a few minutes by going inside one of the temples, once you step in there it’s like all of your worries were left outside the door. The inside of the temple is painted so well it’s hard to imagine a person could actually paint that, the gold and silvers trees and ornaments are so beautiful it’s hard to wrap your brain around them being right there in front of you. It’s so nice and cool in there and you walk into complete silence, you sit on the floor and you just get lost in it all, it’s so peaceful, so calm it’s such an amazing feeling. We saw the clouds getting quite dark and decided it would be best to start leaving so we got onto a boat and made our way to the train station by boat. A river boat in Thailand is the most chilled out transport system ever. If the boat arrives at the dock somebody blows a whistle and you jump on, there in so limit to the amount of people that can fit on that boat if you can still stand there, there’s still space on the boat. A lady comes around and you give her your money and then you jump off wherever you want to jump off, it’s scary and great. We then mad our way to Central World by train and had lunch at my favourite restaurant just when it started raining outside. There aren’t a lot of days that go perfectly from beginning to end but that day was. The Monday afternoon after school I and Cienna had a few minutes to get ready for our Rotary clubs birthday event; we did our hair and our make-up and then went to the venue to be dressed in traditional Thai outfits. I love traditional Thai outfits they’re so pretty and so ladylike and I love it. We ate, danced, laughed, saw some of the other exchange students and I threw a glass of water out on myself classy right? We got some pretty nice photos out of it so I’m thinking it was well worth it. The rest of the week was filled with monsoon rain and school and I loved it. On Sunday the 24^th I stayed up all day and all night, partly because Cienna talks in her sleep so I couldn’t take a nap and partly because we were waiting to take Tata to the airport. We left the house at 2AM and got there at 3:10AM. We then checked in her baggage and sat in a coffee shop until it was time for her to leave. Seeing her face when she was saying goodbye to her family broke my heart because I knew just what she felt like in that moment, I knew how much it hurts. I gave her a big hug and she whispered this might be the last time I see you and that made my cry, she is such an amazing girl and I hope I will get to see her again someday. Then she made her way up the escalator and didn’t even look back, she was on her way to a year in Canada and I hope she has the time of he life. In just a few days I will be going up that same escalator, into the same international departures gate but I will be going home. I will be saying goodbye to this home and going back to my family. I can’t even wrap my brain around the fact that this year is almost over.