July 1st marked our first day of Thailand. I unintentially awoke early and lay in bed letting the upcoming departure sink in. I did a literally miraculous packing job. I bought way more than expected!
At 3 we left to give our presentation to the faculty of Agriculture here. They were very supportive and unbelievably kind. The Dean really wanted us to feel as though KU were another home on the other side of the world. He wanted us to feel at home. He was so wonderful. It made me tear up!
Afterwards we went to our farewell dinner at 'Dairy Queen' which was quite the opposite of what you're thinking. We had a marvelous meal with all the Thais we met (minus Minju), and we all sang karaoke. My favorite memory is singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' with Agent Jay. The Dean even sang a couple of songs as well as Dr. Motsenbocker! They had very good voices.
Yesterday, we went to the mall and purchased some flats for Pi Sue (Claire remembered her size, how awesome is that?) The thought behind it: Pi Sue wore the same pair of adorable flats everyday on our trip, and she wore them down running after us the whole time. She is about to attend graduate school in Japan. Since she helped us so much with our adventure, we felt it was most appropriate to help her in her adventure the only way we could -- with a fresh pair of shoes to wear out. We all cried.
The goodbyes were hard that night.
The next morning we woke up at 4 am to catch our flight. Pi Sue, Gahn, Ahn, and Jep joined us to drive us to the airport. The goodbyes were heartwrenching. They gave us little gifts, and the hugs led to tears.
The flights ran on in a blur. 28ish hours later, we found ourselves in New Orleans amazed at how far we had come.