Please Remind Me To Breathe

It's been three weeks already, and as I'm writing it, you all should be fast asleep. Every (week)night, when I crawl into bed around midnight or 1, my roommates look at me like I'm crazy. Though I'm the same crazy person who comes home at very odd hours on the weekend, so I guess it's the same.

I have 2 roommates here, Shirley and Hao Hao. Shirley is a 1st year business major and Hao Hao is a 3rd year information engineer (comp sci engineer). Shirley's very active with her business club, and since she's from Hong Kong, goes home every weekend for a tutoring gig. Hao Hao is from mainland, and always always busy with some programming homework or such. Last time I asked her what her assignment was, all I got out of it was that she was trying to do a remote login to something or other. That's insane. Even more props to her, because I don't know any computer science engineers at home. Both are very nice and very friendly and helpful, though always busy.

My bed in my room is 3inch thick piece of foam. Or something like it. It's like sleeping on a board. Though since I'm usually exhausted from the day that I tend to pass out. Despite not having central heating here, I don't feel it, since IT ISN'T WINTER! It was a lovely 75 degrees the other day and I attempted to do some of my reading outside. It didn't work because all I wanted to do was nap, and read up on Thailand.

I am backpacking across Thailand in a mere week and a half. I will be in Thailand from the 1st to the 17th. The exact details are unknown, and that kinda freaks me out. I'm sure that I will be fine, as I am a competent, politically correct adult, I don't think I'll be tossed in jail for being offensive to the royal family. But it's still scary, as I don't speak a word of Thai. When I backpacked across Europe, that was with Kara, and we planned everything down to almost the last detail. We had reservations, hotel addresses, plane/train tickets, itineraries and in case of emergency contact information. And EVERYONE SPOKE ENGLISH!! This time around, I got my plane tickets just yesterday, and I haven't even booked my hostels yet....

Also, I'm traveling with 2 fellow exchange students, both from the States. One of the students I've known less than a day, the other I've hung out with fairly regularly since I've been here. But again, NOT KARA. This isn't an ode to Kara, just reiterating the fact that I'm going with strangers to a strange land... I'm just trying to remind myself to breathe, and to think rationally. Sometimes it helps to have the correct amount of oxygen to the brain, I believe it promotes rational thinking. And besides, it helped A LOT to have the person you're traveling with know you since the 4th grade. It makes for a slightly easier time.

Maybe it's a sign that I've grown up since I last backpacked. Which I have, especially since the tender age of 18, and we were just fresh out of high school. If I were to do Europe again, which I will sometime in the near future, I'd do it completely differently. I hope this will be a great exercise in relaxation, spontaneity, and an overall embracing of the short time we have here. Besides, who can stress when there are tigers and beaches?

Someone please remind me to breathe.