Hello, my name Tanaporn Pornyng, you can call me Nook, it is my nickname. I come from Chonburi, it is located southeast of Thailand, two hours from Bangkok (capital). I’m a foreign exchange student from the International Student Exchange Program. There are many students around the world who are interested in becoming a foreign exchange student in the United States, although only a few have this fantastic opportunity. I think I have "good luck," although it was never easy for me. As far as I know, this is the hardest year for students who wish to be an international foreign exchange student.
Actually, 2020 was a hard year for everybody due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Thailand was less affected by coronavirus than the United States. When watching the media from Thailand, and seeing it was a United States Presidential election year along with heavy rioting in the US, made it very hard for me and my family on the decision to continue with my choice of being an international high school student.
The kingdom of Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia. We are composed of 76 provinces. We also have a population of over 66 million people. Thailand is the 50th largest country in the world. It is located near the equator so the temperature ranges between 70 to 85 degrees. Thailand has a lot of interesting things to see and do. You may need to plan a visit. We have a special culture that can only be found in Thailand, the land of smiles.
Now I will tell you about an exciting part of my life. When I first arrived I was very nervous and scared. I had limited English skills, plus all new cultures and traditions. Moreover, COVID-19 made things more difficult than it should be. My flight to the USA was on August 30 at 11 p.m. ICT(Indochina time). Myself and eight other international students were told we couldn’t go to the USA by transit via Germany, which was my ticket. We had to change our tickets while in transit. It was scary to us, we had no way of knowing how we would ever make it to our host family. However, we did it! It is a common rule when something happens we just have to handle it with our mind.
When I was young, I never thought about studying abroad or having an adventure in another country before. I was in grade eight and that changed, I went to the United Kingdom or England. It was the first time that I went to another country. It was very amazing and I was so excited. At that time, I received new knowledge that the world has very many amazing things waiting to be explored. I decided one day I will become an exchange student in the United States of America. It was a big dream for a student of a middle class family and life had me fighting to achieve it.
Life has been hugely different here, more than I could ever imagine. Everything is different! Religion, animals, pets, family, school, food, entertainment. I'm grateful to now have two sets of family in two wonderful countries. I'm excited to continue learning about the world and life adventures.
