After 7 weeks of commuting 2 hour or sometimes 3 hour round-trips for work at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, setting up reactions and purifying the products, crossing my fingers in hopes that my NMR's came back confirming the identity of my (target compound!) products...
The end of my Thai REU program sponsored by the NSF is now drawing near.
How am I feeling? Sad that I'm leaving Thailand, but ecstatic about seeing my friends again in the U.S.
Anyhow! Yesterday (Saturday), we had our final presentations where each Thai REU member and a few of the Thai graduate students gave ~20 min. presentations covering all of our research findings.
P'Koy (my grad student for the past 5 weeks), Me, and P' Top (my grad student for the first 2 weeks)
Or... lack of?? Because our program was cut short two weeks, and since (ideal) results just always take a long time to actually achieve in chemistry, I think that most of us ended with the conclusion that we could have set up more reactions, collected more data, etc. had we had more time.
But, of course, all of us are so glad that the program actually took place, in the first place.
Although some people still message me from time to time asking me how things in Bangkok are, reminding me to be careful and TRY not to walk near bombs or red-shirts, I've almost completely forgotten that the protests occurred in the first place.
Of course, this is because I was not actually in Bangkok in May, when the protests turned extremely violent, shutting down businesses and forcing residents to become prisoners within their homes, wondering when things would return to 'normal' again.
The only memories that I have of the protests are the anxieties I had about possibly not being able to come to Thailand for my research internship in the first place, scrambling Plan B's in my head as to what to do with my summer, and having my brain feel like it was burning every single time I tried to call a United Airlines representative asking about whether I'd be able to waive the fee for having my flight be altered "due to the political crises in Bangkok that I have absolutely no control over."
What I can say, now, is that the city seems to be trying so hard to improve its image to the world. Bangkok residents have a severe dislike for Red-shirts and vow to never let anything like protests, that'll damage their beloved city, ever happen again. Shopping centres are blazed with sales, to promote consumerism. Every Thai person I talk to always remind me to tell my friends to visit Thailand, sometime.
In fact, most Thai people haven't really travelled outside of Thailand, not only because of how expensive it is in OTHER countries, but because apparently the government itself promotes Thai people to travel within Thailand for vacations, in order to promote the Thai economy and thus, keep Thai money within Thailand and help benefit their own country.
And with everyone saying how much they love the king, and the fact that Mother's Day in Thailand is the Queen's Birthday, and likewise... Father's Day is the King's Birthday... it's amazing just how nationalistic everyone thinks in Thailand.
But, get this:
The country was called 'Siam' until 1939, when 'Thailand' was then coined apparently to make Thailand appear more modern and sophisticated to the rest of the world.
'Thai' actually means 'Freedom,' and according to Wikipedia, "The Thai use the phrase "land of the free" to express pride in the fact that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia never colonized by a European power."
It just makes me wonder about developing countries and how much effort they put in to make themselves have a bigger respect and presence in the world.
Even when I was in Brasil, it always seemed like even the everyday people I talked to wanted to make known to the world that their country was great, and were reminding me (there, too!) to tell all my friends to come to Brasil sometime to expose more people to their country and spread the word that Brasil is, indeed, a developing and growingly powerful country.
sidenote - I cannot WAIT to take one of my classes this coming semester, 'Urbanization in Developing Countries' to hear the views of Professor Ananya Roy, reflect upon my experiences in Brasil+Thailand, and just, have my mind blown!
A common observation that I've had is, that, as nationalistic/proud citizens of 'developing' countries are to be a part of their own countries, they still seem to view the United States (even though we certainly have our own share of problems) as a role model for what to become.
Makes me wonder about my own loyalties...
Like, sure, I'm American, but... I actually used to have some personal resentments towards saying that I was actually American, a few years back. Well, okay, this was largely due to the president at the time and the fact that I did not want to associate myself AT ALL with him. Thus, I'd call myself just, 'Californian,' or 'from around Los Angeles.'
And, I find myself being very 'un-American' whenever I'm with friends who use references from American sitcoms, and I have no clue as to what they're talking about, forcing me to give the reasoning that "my mother is very Japanese, and I just wasn't exposed to things like fast-food, U.S. sports, or FOX/ABC/NBC that often."
Anyhow. I say all this, but I admit.
I cracked, today. I couldn't help it.
I just HAD to sit myself down at a hotel buffet where they served pancakes (even if they were SO tiny), maple syrup, waffles, sausages, and omelettes.
Aka... a pseudo-American Breakfast.
I got to admit. As much as I love Thai food, here, breakfast... is just best done, the 'American' way. And although I was able to get some satisfaction from mini-pancakes with syrup, I cannot WAIT to eat the REAL thing once I'm back in the states. And, while we're at it, I'll have a side of eggs with hashbrowns, please. 
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