My classes are going great; I actually ended up changing up which courses I enrolled in, so here's what I'm now taking this semester:
World Economic Issues
Sustainable Development
Global Health Issues
Gender & Sexuality Studies
My schedule is set up pretty nicely since I have Thursdays and Fridays off! I would have to say Global Health Issues is my favorite class, for obvious reasons. My classes tend to be very discussion-based, and its honestly very important to me to be able to hear so many different opinions about different issues that are going on.
But enough about my classes, you probably wanna know how I'm feeling here, so here we go. Remember, this is my blog and I'm not here to mitigate my emotions or hide things, so bear with me.
To be completely honest, I've had an pretty rough time here. I'm having no issues with adapting to the culture, food, language, etc. In fact, I'm learning a lot more Thai, so that's great. But, I've been dealing with some health issues and haven't been feeling very mentally-fit here. Actually, I would call what I've been going through as straight-up depression. I don't use that term lightly, because I know some people suffer from it constantly, and I don't suffer from it and never really have. I don't really know exactly how or why, but the second week here I just fell into some kind of funk. I wasn't feeling myself. But, it was more than just a funk. This felt different. I started sleeping a lot more, losing my appetite (and therefore losing a lot of weight too quickly), and not going out and participating in fun activities. My physical and mental well-being bounces off of each other and always has (maybe it's like that for a lot of people), and since both weren't good, I really wasn't feeling great. late this month, I ended up in the hospital for 4 days because I started experiencing weird physical symptoms (cracked lips, joint pain, eye pain, fatigue, lack of appetite, brittle hair). Apparently I had a bunch of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I got put on daily vitamins and I started feeling better very soon after. I mentally felt better too after the hospital visit. Those 4 days gave me a lot of time to think and reflect. I'm ready to experience Thailand again, and I'm excited to continue my health and fitness journey that I began in May. It's important to me to share how I'm really feeling, as I do not want to people to perceive that living abroad is all fun and adventure. It's pretty damn difficult sometimes. Many days, you just don't feel like dealing with the daily hardships that being a foreigner here brings. I miss my friends, my family, and the love of my life, and for some reason, homesickness hit me pretty hard this time. My oh my, how being away from Vinny has hurt. I have never felt the way I do about him. He's my best friend, and a lot of days I just want to hang out with my best friend, you feel? I miss that little brat so much that I'm flying back to Canada next month to spend my fall break with him! I'll also be taking a weekend trip to go see my friends back at Loyola! I leave October 12th, right after my midterms end. I'll be there until November 5th, and I'll get back to Thailand on the 7th. I'm really looking forward to this trip, and it's one thing that's keeping me going these last couple of weeks before fall break.
Things are looking up, and I gotta remember how lucky I am to be here. :)
Until next time,
Brandon
