- January 17, 2015
- 11:43 am
- Eman El Bakry
- no comments
Day 8: The Last Night
I can’t believe this trip is coming to an end, it feels like it was just yesterday that we arrived at Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. However, I couldn’t ask for a better ending to this trip which started off with a day at the Pattaya beach. It was nice to wind down after a long week of events and a schedule that was running nonstop. I actually feel great because I never noticed how much can be done in one day and plan to try to be more productive once I am back home (not sure if that will actually happen though!)
The beach was of course great and the weather was perfect. It was very much a touristic spot and the only Thai people were selling products or offering services. I later asked why that is and it is because Thai people do not like to be exposed to the sun, so they will normally be on the beach in very early hours of the morning or later hours of the afternoon. Another interesting thing about the sociocultural environment that I hadn’t noticed right away, was that the color of the skin of Thai people represented their class because only those who worked on the fields or outdoors had darker skin. It explained why all the high end advertising was of lighter skinned people.
What I enjoyed the most was having the entire day to really catch up with everyone and reflect on this journey as we were approaching the end of it. I am so happy to see how positively everyone was affected by this trip. We were all especially touched by Cambodia and were discussing different ways we can contribute or how we can help. Something that we all agree on is that this experience, no matter how much we talk about it to our friends and family back home, but only us 25 people on this trip will truly understand and know how we each felt being here. We definitely got a lot closer to one another and share certain things in common that bring us together; which makes sense since we all chose to take this course. I believe I will have many long term friendships as a result of this class.
We ended our night with one last dinner on the lake and a closing note from Professor Shultz. Then we headed to Skybar, also known as, the rooftop scene from the Hangover 2 movie. The place was breathtaking on the 64th floor looking at the entire city of Bangkok and was extremely popular, thanks to the movie. Again, amazing how marketing and celebrity endorsements can do to a place or product!
We were all determined to stay out till it was the last we could because we didn’t want to say any goodbyes. It is such a bitter sweet feeling because we all don’t want this dream like trip to end, which means we have to go back to reality, and we are all definitely not ready for the weather back in Chicago. However, I think we all also agree that we are leaving at the peak taking with us all the greatest memories and I personally look forward to getting back and seeing everyone again.
I am so grateful for this course and for the people that I met throughout it, especially thankful for Professor Shultz, who made this experience happen; couldn’t ask for a better group or professor to be on this trip with.
Here’s to new beginnings, new friendships and new adventures!