hoping this doesn't come out in chinese text...

So today, I'm writing from my last day here in Asia. After two weeks of traveling around Thailand and then Taiwan, I'm flying back to LAX tomorrow. I would have to say that this trip has definately been well worth it , and I am so glad that I've been given the opportunity to come.

Thailand:
so after finishing up finals, and handing out about 300 cans of red bull, it was time to prepare to leave at 5:45am to catch my 8am flight. Which was the precursor to the longest travel day I've ever experienced in my entire life. So to pull off this little travel trick that I like to play on Delta (Its not really a trick, I just think it's clever), my flight which would eventually place me in Thailand, would be routed through Chicago, then Seoul-South Korea, and into Thailand at 12:45AM on Friday (mind you I left on Wednesday at 5:45AM on Wednesday), so forget Thursday!, But as soon as I landed in Thailand it clockwork as far as intra-country travel. Leave it to the dad and family to schedule every hour of every day with some kind of activity. But I think that was the way to do it. To leave out the boring details, here was a trip snyopsis;

Bangkok (Noniburi) -> Lampang -> Chang Mai -> Chang Khan -> Nong Khai -> Sakon Nakorn -> Sariburi -> Noniburi -> Ratchaburi -> Done...So in all of that time here is what I did:

1. spoke more thai than i ever had in my lfe
2. vowed to never return to thailand until i can speak thai fluently
3. saw more of thailand than most thai people
4. got to spend more time with my family than I ever remember (good thing)
5. watched my dad drink too much wine and give more toasts than I can remember
6. finally figured out my family tree (well at least one level above)

And to be honest, travelling with the family is seriously the way to go, the supawanich's have the hookup in thailand, and i should be pretty thankful for it. so from there on... dad stays, ann goes home, and paul moves on to taiwan...(for a short 4 days)

So this is offically the first time I've stayed alone outside of the country, but i guess being abroad is no stranger to me, particualrly in asia. Taiwan is a cakewake compared to being in mainland china. since i've been here, I've really gotten a great feel for taipei, it's culture, nightlife, markets, and people. And unfortunately found that other asian americans (like me!) that i've met here are particularly unfriendly!, But it's definatly liberating to be here alone, and to be able to travel around the island on a whim, and really cater my day to what I want to see. I stayed one night in Hualien, which was one of the most beautiful area's i've ever seen in my life. (i've been to a handful), the gorge road we drove was probably the most scared i've ever been while in a moving vehicle. Whole sections (multiple) of road were constantly missing since they'd plummeted to the valley hundreds of meters (yes meters) below. Today was pretty nice since I got to sit down and do some future planning. That quiet time is somehting that I have gotten to appreiciate since being in college, it's few and far between, and it's hard to find it in a large amount.

At any rate, i must be going as someone is waiting for this computer.

From Taipei-... supa

what happened last semester??

So fast forward to December 13th 2005. School is over, I'm at home, and I'm leaving for a 3.5 week multi-continent trek tomorrow at 5AM. Wow... so that was it, fall 2005 is in the books. One would suppose that a person would start getting ancy and bored with school at this point.... I would have to disagree... as I get older, school seems to get better and better. I'm sure as a Tech person, I could make that into some seemingly ridicilious inverse graph, but for the sake of blogging, and for the sake of my readers. I'm going to keep that to a minimum. So in the next few paragraphs, I am going to sum up what my recolection of the past 3 months have been, and what its done for me.

So picking up where I left off. which I believe was late september or something of that nature, was probably around homecoming time. I think it was about the same time when school starts to really pick up, and of course with all of the homecoming activities, it has every right to do so. Looking back on my freshman year, I remember I was so scared to do anything, because I thought I would fail outta school if I deviated from my schedule. Well 5 years can really do a number on that kind of lifestyle, So this year, I tried to get my hands on every single homecoming event possible. Mock Rock, Photo Scavenger Hunt, Dizzy Jump, Mini500 (as a senior mind you...), Tech Trivia, you name it, handed out Red Bull at the Cake Race and I got the opportunity to MC the talent show, Reck Parade, and be on the field at the Clemson game,.. not a bad couple of days if you ask me... the one down side to that was when Saturday Oct 31st - night rolled around, I passed out around 10pm.... something I'm not particuarly proud of, but you can only do it for so long. So after the fun of passing the crown, I guess life returned to normal for me, not that it was weird during the past year, but I definatly liked not having eyes turned towards me as the external GT Campus rep, i felt that it was pressure lifted off my shoulders.

Since then, I've really felt awesome, and more confident about my future plans. I'm still in the same boat as far as choosing a graduate school, but at least I know it's something I'm definatly interested and passionate towards, and something I could do for a long while. In these last two months (between november and december), there have been some pretty busy weeks of school work, but I really have felt that my free time has turned into real free time. I am not nearly as involved anymore, which is great, 1. to have free time, 2. to see some of the younger guys step up and really impress ya. With my free time, I've gotten to work out more, try some new things (climbing a bit more, reading a bit more, and just being more flexible with the schedule), I just made it home last weekend, and it felt great to get back to Illinois for a while. Its strangely satisfying to go there, and feel like things have never changed. I'm sure many small town folks have the same feeling.

But in this last week or so, I've been lucky not to have too many friends graduating, but it is sad to see some of the ones that are leaving. I guess now i'm really starting to feel like the minority at GT as far as being old. I think by this time in the spring semester, I will have plenty of great memories to look back on, and will be confident that at least for me, I made college everything that I'd hoped for.

In order to do so, I need to make sure I get my list posted of things to do before I graduate, and I have a feeling that between me and my other pals, that list is going to get pretty long. Well at least for now, I am going to get some rest, In the next 3.5 weeks, I'm sure there are going to be some interesting stories between Thailand, Taiwan, LA and Salt Lake City...,

Paul