Another College Tour

       Today the ducklings went on a tour of Chiang Mai University. It started out with an introduction to the people we will be working with during our stay. We also got our class schedules which has our mid-terms in three weeks and our finals in seven. We undergo six hours of Thai language a week along with cultural studies such as local history and field trips!! To more temples!! Yay.
     Next we had a tour of the university. The students are allowed to ride their bikes/mopeds around in order to make it to class on time. The campus is that big. There's also a stream running through part of it, a shrine, and another religious place. In addition to the dozen or so academic buildings, three cafeterias, and dorms. Freshmen are the ones who occupy the dorms on campus. Three to a cramped room with no meal plan or TV. We have it good at Coe.
     Then came the uniforms. Girls have a choice of a short sleeve button down shirt in either lavender or white with a skirt. The skirt can be pencil or flowy, black or purple.  I own two lavender shirts and two black pencil skirts. They are very basic so I'm considering getting some fancy buttons from the store for the shirts. Boys wear white long sleeved shirts with black pants. However, from my observations on campus today, people do not stink to the uniform and even wear street clothes to class. It depends on the teacher, according to the guide. We can also buy a little elephant pin, which is the university's mascot, for 25 baat (almost one dollar).
     The guides showed us the main cafeteria which has multiple restaurants in it. Most everyone got spicy curry (on accident) while I sort of lucked out with some bland rice and chicken. The chicken was delicious but the most flavorful item on my plate was the cucumber.
     After the tour we couldn't find Papa Duck and wandered all over looking for him. After 10 minutes of this we noticed him sitting in an area we had passed at least three times. When asked why he wasn't there when we needed him he responded "I went upstairs to take a dump and when I came down you act like it's the end of the world because I'm not there." Some of us were not amused.
     Classes start at one tomorrow with our first Thai lesson. And we get to wear our uniforms so here's to another day of putting off laundry!!