On the last day of 2020, there are some words to be written ...

 On the last day of 2020, there are some words to be written ... 

  I still can't believe that 2020 has come to an end and going to celebrate the eve of 2021. I can't believe what's feeling now, conjuring up the nice moments that I spent on the airplane flying to Bangkok on the eve of 2020, where I celebrated it on the airplane. These memories are still fresh as they just happened now and didn't go far away from them yet. I can't believe how time is running swiftly to the degree that I don't feel the time, days, weeks, months, and years and how they go quickly. 

At this moment, I'm trying to collect as many nice moments as possible, including the stations at which I had negative experiences I went through during 2020, believing in the fact that if one doesn't learn from his/her previous mistakes in order to avoid them and make them like a learnable lesson, is like a misled person who is still not aware of the fact that the smart person doest get stung twice from the same hole, meaning that once you got hurt at certain place or context, then you're supposed to learn what was the mistake to avoid it later. However, if that mistake wasn't enough to learn from, then you'll find yourself getting hurt by the same mistake.  

 The second lockdown in Germany 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/casual-social-contacts-can-help-combat-loneliness-and-improve-well-being-during-pandemic-psychologists-say-1.5852956?fbclid=IwAR3vualBxPTxrom1NgC2wceY09l9AlYkNUv4ehjK2Ryhf8wMLhk7Bd7tYG0

 Global Studies Program (GSP) 

 10.10.2020 ... 

My student told me  

  The primary educational stage that I passed through during my childhood, specifically elementary and secondary school, shaped an abstract knowledge about my identity as an Arab Palestinian through the history of Arabic culture and science introduced in the curriculum. This knowledge could not be grasped not because it was introduced to me in a language that I could not understand, it was in my mother tongue, Arabic though, but I could not understand the fact that how this knowledge was produced by genius Arab and Muslim scientists in different fields who lived in the Middle East long centuries ago. Therefore, looking at this history, it is found to be mainly Islamic-dominated as it came into being within the Middle Eastern frontiers, which is the area that witnessed the birth of Islam in the Arab Peninsula, precisely where our prophet Mohammed (PBUH) set out on his journey of calling for Islamic message to be spread out not only in the place of birth but also wherever possible in this world. Later, in the following era, some Muslim scientists showed up mostly around Mesopotamia, delineating the pillars of science as they produced a unique scientific constellation, proved through their theories. That educational phase showed me this scientific constellation of Arab-Muslim, including Persian scientists who generated unique science and theories in medicine, chemistry, physics, optics, space, math, gravity, etc. So, the accomplishments of those prolific scientists centuries ago became part of our identity, indicating the illuminating era of Arab Muslim scientific achievements that characterized a specific period called the Islamic Golden Age that traditionally dates back from the 8th to the 14th century. They left us as a legacy to cherish and build on.

I remember in history materials at the school, as mentioned earlier, texts written about those scientists, what they came up with, and how narrating their biographies, but without indicating any fact that their accomplishments have been developed later on by their ancestors within the frontiers were those genius scientists lived or outside. Therefore, it turned out to be a mere task of informing ourselves about those scientists without tangible evidence that we have tirelessly worked on developing this legacy to cope with the modern scientific movement. Indeed, the following epoch until the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century and during the contemporary epoch, later on, Arabs had not significantly contributed to developing science to almost nothing worth cherishing or even mentioning. Since then, the science development has been characterizing the Western scientific scene. In Europe, for instance, people had managed to overthrow the church’s hegemony that had controlled the wheel of socio-cultural development during the medieval and then set off on the journey of developing science after the European mind had been liberated from the church’s control.

Therefore, as instructed, modern science was developed in the West and is still being developed there to the degree humankind conceives science as European American or Canadian, ignoring the fact that Arab Muslim scientists and scholars have also accomplished this modern science. They had to leave their homelands, seeking better opportunities to invest in their scientific capabilities and develop the scientific movement in the West, where they found a suitable sanctuary. It might not be easy to spread the belief that European science was originally European. It might not be easy to convince the general public that the sophisticated scientific infrastructure in Europe, for instance, is diverse, consisting of scientists from different nations who have contributed to developing it, or it might be unbelievable to explain to people in Europe that Arab or Muslim scientists have made their part in this scientific modernity. 

Of course, it might not be possible as long as the growth of this science is taking place within the Western frontiers or if it extends out of these frontiers, it is still Western branded, not Arab or Muslim whose groups turned out to be consumers of this modern science. I do not want to dig deeper into how this modern science came into being after it had passed through long processes of circulating premises until it came out in its modern shape. But I want to highlight the fact that why Arabs or Muslims have not been contributing to science since the ascendance of the first cohort of Middle Eastern Muslim scientists during the Golden Age long centuries ago. Why have they not built on the theories or the premises they shaped to generate new science that copes with modernity?

Such inquiries did not come over my head the first time I learned about those scientists in the curriculum or inquired about the reason why we are being instructed about the fact that science is Western while being encountered by the fact that Arabs and Muslims indeed created science. I do remember at school a patriotic teacher who began the class not teaching English but showing us how Arab nations are at the lowest rank after they had a chance to staunchly prosper and build on what our genius scientist predecessors of the ancient times left to us, and then he reprimanded all of us including himself saying “we are a backward nation, when would we achieve something to make the other modern nations proud of us?! Our science is in our hands, so why can we not develop anything? Because we are a backward and ignorant nation, we gave in to its ignorance and backwardness and did not want to develop and do anything! When will we make a new Renaissance?” The same is true with the other history teacher who used to start the class by making such comments. At the time, I did not understand what was happening until I realized what those teachers were talking about. Their provocative statements are still inscribed in my mind even though they were said to me more than 16 years ago. I am, therefore, quite aware of this reality as an Arab and Muslim. 

In the last Arabic class, my student from the UK told me in Arabic, “Muslims have not been contributing to science because they believe that modern science is secular, so they avoid getting involved. The other reason is that colonization prevented Muslims from pursuing higher education and developing science.”

I answered in Arabic, saying the first claim was complete nonsense! I cannot believe that there are still Muslims who think so; it is a mere pretext that some people pretend that secularism does not fit into Islamic values or that Western scientists created it violates their beliefs. That is an unacceptable argument if it is indeed still believable and an indicator of why Muslims have not been contributing to modern science. For the second claim, I said, yes, there is conclusive evidence that colonizers destroyed the educational infrastructure of the colonized, and so the occupiers did so to the occupied. I, however, claimed that it should not be a reason to pretend that Muslims or Arabs have not been contributing to modernity, specifically in the 21st because of colonization or occupation at all!

Why? In the current era, the physical presence of colonization has vanished; Arabs have lots of capabilities to develop science; France or the UK will not come to them asking for shutting down their universities or labs, etc., and command them, “You Arabs do not contribute to science! It is our business.” Not at all! There are many Arabs and Muslims developing science in the West who can freely do whatever is possible for that purpose in their homelands, too.

That opinion stirred up my feelings in a way that I felt that Arabs have not immensely been doing things for science, so they are just consumers. In the office where I am doing my internship, there are many shelves on which lots of books whose titles are published under mostly Western names. I did not find any books or publications written by Arab or Muslim authors, but later on, I found very few as the center cooperates with Arabic universities. That reflects that Arabs do not enrich the scientific platforms with their creativity.

This is probably the reason why people across Western societies do not believe that Arabs have magnificent contributions to science, even though many intelligent Arab scholars and researchers are contributing to science in their homelands or the West. I can see that people will not spend time searching whether Arab scientists are doing great jobs for modern science in the 21st century. They want to see tangible things on the ground: discoveries, innovations, inspiring projects, and so on, so that they can judge differently and change the anachronistic thoughts towards Arabs or Muslims. Otherwise, if Arabs, either scientists or policy-makers, do not unify their efforts for developing science and enriching libraries in all sorts of scientific fields, that dark image will keep branding us as consuming, unproductive nations.  

 The resort to virtual conferences due to COVID-19 

  

   Since the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis broke out, the World Health Organization declared that it was a global pandemic on the 11th of March, 2020. Shortly afterward, many countries realized the growing danger of this fatal virus, as the mortality rate was still and still skyrocketing; hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. On the other hand, the economic sector has deteriorated due to the lockdown that many governments reluctantly went on. Correspondingly, the international aviation movement was disabled, and many destinations were completely shut down, leaving no chance to fly over. The number of victims is approaching 1 million worldwide, and millions of infected are struggling to survive. Some of those enormously infected people succumb to death daily as their immune systems cannot resist anymore. 

Sadly, although many aspects worldwide are exerting strenuous efforts, either private pharmaceutical corporations or medical labs, to manufacture a reliable vaccine, nothing has been scientifically proven thus far. Therefore, what I have been observing in many affected countries indicates that certain aspects that claim to have invented vaccines are camouflage or kind of anesthetic injections to keep the grumpy masses quiet until further notice. Russia, for instance, has recently declared that some of its scientists had discovered an effective treatment in the labs, which was announced by President Putin, claiming that the vaccine will be available in the international market soon. Also, President Trump has shown up on several occasions claiming that U.S. scientists found the vaccine, but they need more time to verify its results and other aspects that have claimed the same. It was an arena where companies compete over a particular product to register a patent. Still, people can trust no fundamental patent to eliminate the coronavirus.

Media coverage of the dramatic developments of the virus put people under uncertainty. These narratives became interwoven, so people ended up being confused and even not believing in the novels of those officials who, from time to time, showed up announcing a new radical solution for the COVID-19 crisis. 

There is still an unreliable source to consider whether this virus will vanish soon or not, especially nowadays, as there are rumors about the second wave of coronavirus on the way. 

This pandemic has changed all walks of life, especially the economic wheel; billions of dollars have been lost. We can see many people got their businesses shut down and then went bankrupt; millions of people lost their jobs. In this battle, the academic field was not peaceful; it was also significantly affected. The campuses were shut down, and classes, lectures, and seminars became virtual domains. Online courses are the easiest way to communicate and keep the educational process running. It is an affordable method for many people; however, it turned out to be challenging for underprivileged people who need more financial capacity to buy internet bundles all the time. Indeed, recent reports proved that virtual or distance education, even though it has been a helpful sanctuary that students had to resort to, widened the gap between the privileged and underprivileged students. The latter only have the opportunity to catch up with the educational process if they have internet access at their homes.

Furthermore, I learned about some underprivileged students who used to come to the campus to attend the lectures and take advantage of the university's free Eduroam internet service. In Cape Town and Bangkok, I went through that to do my second and third semesters consecutively to fulfill the Global Studies Program (GSP) requirements, an international exchange masters program provided by Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg in Germany. Therefore, it is imaginable how challenging the situation has been during the current crisis.

Virtual education included conferences; many institutions and universities turned to holding online conferences to avoid the infection, resulting in the lockdown that restricted people's movements. Participants can not travel to different countries to participate in such events anymore. This transformation plays a crucial role in saving up the expenses that could be spent on organizing international conferences, even though it might be boring because participants prefer actual attendance to discuss topics face-to-face. 

I have attended many online conferences since I was in Bangkok this year. I recently attended three international conferences organized by the Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies (JCRS) at Friedrich-Schiller University, where I interned. The first round took place on August 9- 10, when a new association called the International Association for Reconciliation Studies (IARS) was established. The next round came to continue the presentations done by participants from many countries around the globe, professors, thinkers, and socio-political actors in their communities within the field of reconciliation. Most importantly, this association brought scholars from the global north and south to develop this academic field, which I found inspiring as it touches on globalizing thoughts as our program GSP aims to. 

The second conference was on establishing the Academic Alliance for Reconciliation in the Middle East and North Africa (AARMENA), which took place on Aug 11-14th and has almost the same plan of developing reconciliation studies in cooperation with universities in the Arab World. I had the honor to attend the panel discussion at both conferences with the academic staff of JCRS and develop the new website of this center, which was done jointly with my supervisor. 

On the whole, virtual education and related tools like conferences cannot be considered obstructive tools in the educational process. Still, in contrast, it has been conducive to fulfilling the goals of this process, although at some points it has widened the gap between students or learners from different social classes. I could assert that virtual education is better than nothing to fend off the implications of COVID-19. 

To Jena to do my internship  

Who does not know the city of Friedrich-Schiller?

Who does not know the city of Carl Zeiss?

Well, I want to say honestly that I did not know Jena perfectly until I knew those great persons and the other amazing structural components in this city: the ancient architectural infrastructure that narrates a profound history that this city has passed through, industrious sites that created the legendary Carl Zeiss as one of the most known optical industries not only in Jena or Germany but also in the world over. 

With so much to explore, I can't wait to immerse myself in this city for the next three months. My anticipation is further fueled by the prospect of interning at Friedrich-Schiller University -Jena Reconciliation Center, a prestigious institution founded in 1558.

Transitioning from Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg to this internship, I am optimistic about the potential for new knowledge, academic friendships, and understanding within the local community.

Jentower - Jena/ Private

The city is beautiful and charming not only by its nature but also by the historical fingerprints created since the eve of the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century. Many stages this city passed through to reach this very sophisticated era in almost all fields, especially the scientific and industrious Friedrich-Schiller University, has contributed to significantly building this platform by generating scientists and professionals in all fields who have done their best to make Jena great again in its bright facets that I can see.

What truly astounds me is the remarkable resilience of this city. Despite enduring the devastating traumas of WWII, including bombings by the British and the U.S. Allied Forces, and the subsequent Soviet Occupation, Jena has managed to rise from the ashes. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s marked a new beginning for the city, a testament to its unwavering spirit. This city was experiencing a chronic recession that affected its scientific institutions, such as Friedrich-Schiller University. Therefore, scientific development declined relatively, and much of its productivity was lost.

Apart from that, I can imagine that in this colorful experience, which I can categorize into three phases as mentioned, the people finally managed to coexist with the new reality after more than four decades under the Soviet Occupation. It's imaginable the socio-cultural and even psychological change that the people here went through, especially when they found themselves open to West Germany.

But, at first glance, I did not touch upon the difference. Maybe being here in 2020 makes the difference blurry or unclear anymore. This can not be uncovered unless I talk to people, but I assume the current generation, under this technological openness, crashed this difference. 

Anyway, I am fully inspired by the city and the academic, scientific, marketing, and hustling-bustling components that embellished it in each corner, which I will explore. I can not wait to enjoy this experience even though we are still challenged by this pandemic, COVID-19. It makes the situation precarious, and it might come at any moment. Hopefully, the situation will be better, as I see the city right now is stable, and not many people are infected.

I did not know that there is an institute called "Arab World Institute" in Paris 

Finally the last destination in Freiburg ... 

Ramadan is over 

Waiting until my third flight takes off

   After the Thai Royal Government declared an emergency at the end of March this year, almost the entire country went on lockdown. All stores, institutions, and amusement parks shut down their gates, and even alcoholic beverages were banned to prevent gatherings. These preventive measures are aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. 

Upon receiving the news of the lockdown, our plans were thrown into disarray. Academic tasks, deadlines, and other plans were suddenly at risk. Many of my colleagues in the Global Studies Program (GSP) felt compelled to return to their homelands, unwilling to endure the unfamiliar restrictions in Bangkok. 

I hurriedly began to prepare myself to leave for Germany, too, fearing that this situation might last longer than expected. Therefore, I had to book a new flight, which was on March 24th, after the one I had booked, which was supposed to take place on May 12th, was also canceled. 

Shortly after that declaration, I learned that most of my colleagues had left for their homelands, and only three remained in Bangkok, including me. There was a strong hope that my flight scheduled on March 24th would take off, but two days before the departure, I was informed that it was canceled. At the time, most of the airway companies suspended their flights from BKK Airport to other destinations the world over, except for some companies that kept operating, like Lufthansa, Qataraiways, Swiss ...etc. with very few trips, even a large majority of them were also canceled.  

I felt hopeless that Thailand would open up its gates again in a short time. That feeling faded when I learned that departure from Thailand is allowed, but coming to is prohibited. The journey of constantly watching out for flights and calling the airport and the offices of these airlines took me even more frustration, as they needed to give me clear answers about whether a certain flight would fly over or not. Even the authority at BKK airport assured me that there was no confirmation on any flight only the confirmation could be given on the flight that would take off today, "tomorrow no confirmation either, you have to wait until tomorrow, the flight after tomorrow we are unsure though, you have to wait until tomorrow." 

I found myself accepting the fact that "just leave everything as it is." But sometimes, I attempt to resist this fact; there are many plans back in Germany. What is the consequence of calling them off? What about my legal status in the German Federal Republic as a residency holder not allowed to overstay abroad? Shall I go back to my country, Palestine? Would Israelis allow me to travel back to Germany again? But the country there began taking serious steps to thwart the spread of COVID-19. 

Indeed, later on, the news was received that Israel and Palestine entirely went on lockdown as the positive examination of some Corona cases was discovered in the Palestinian Bethlehem city, the first place to have gone through the infection of Corona. As a result, both sides blocked down the borders, internally shut down all institutions and stores, and enforced curfews. 

Amidst this uncertainty, I realized that millions of people worldwide are navigating this unpredictable situation, compelled to adhere to the preventive measures imposed by their governments. This shared global experience was the only way to combat a virus that revealed its malicious intent to indiscriminately claim lives. The toll of this potential catastrophe was evident as the death toll surpassed 300 thousand in many countries, particularly in Europe, with approximately 4 million confirmed cases.  

While I hesitate to label the coronavirus crisis as an 'Apocalypse' at this stage, it does serve as a stark reminder of the 'Black Death' event that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. The 'Black Plague' claimed the lives of nearly a third of the European population, with an estimated death toll of 75 to 200 million. I fervently hope that we can avert such a catastrophic outcome and that our world will not be marred by such a devastating event.  

Day in and day out, I decided to stay for a month or more until further notice in Bangkok after renewing my visa at the immigration office. During this period, I learned many stories about people, some of whom I met in Bangkok, stuck in different countries. As a result, even those in Thailand cannot fly back to their homelands because airports have gone into complete lockdown, and how they are struggling with living in a foreign country where they had not planned to live for a while more than they had planned. Under this pandemic, they are challenged by many obstacles and are financially challenged as their budget covers their accommodation for the scheduled period to stay in a foreign country. They consequently are in a challenging situation where they should be careful with managing their budget. Some resorted to their embassies to file cases, but I wonder if any has worked. 

I also began grappling with the travel agency I had booked my flight tickets with. It pushed me to call their office in the USA, which was costly as I used my local number in Bangkok. After long talks, I managed to sort out the reimbursement matter for the two flight tickets on April 20th. But I have just been refunded, despite the travel agency's promise that the money will be returned after two weeks. Understandably, these agencies are under heavy pressure to sort out enormous refund requests from clients worldwide whose flights have been canceled. 

As I prepare to board my next flight, I'm filled with a mix of emotions. I am eager to leave this amazing Thailand and grateful for the experiences and lessons it has bestowed upon me. This is my story so far, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the future. 

Airways companies must take part in the international solidarity campaign in fighting COVID-19

   After I got two flights canceled while I was in Bangkok, the airline company claimed that the danger of the widespread of Covid-19 cracked down on the flights' movement from Bangkok to other destinations in the world. But it also turned out that such suspension in the work of the airlines has been paralyzed in many airports around the globe following the announcement of the World Health Organization (WHO) that all countries must abide by the rules for preventing the spread of the virus. 

These flight companies as other companies, corporations or businesses are encountered with a new reality of losing profits even their financial assets that are blocked and allocated for encountering such crisis in order to avoid bankruptcy, have also been threatened, as many companies began to show indication of bankruptcy as a result of augmenting debts. 

This outcome of shutting down strategy that all aspects; companies, stores, malls, etc. either locally or internationally were obligatory asked to follow it aiming at thwarting down the spread of Covid-19. Consequently, those aspects are incurring huge financial losses as the purchasing and selling process is totally frozen to most of these aspects, except for the food industry or food business is still operating and so as clinics and hospitals. 

In this crisis, airlines that are still operating, which is very necessary for some to keep operating as there are still many people stuck in foreign countries are in dire need of going back to their homelands. So the aviation movement should not be completely suspended. Otherwise, people will stay stuck in foreign countries grappling with different issues like, the overstay, paying expenses for accommodation and other things for an unexpected period of time, especially students who had not expected this pandemic will force the world to shut many parts down. Therefore, their financial budgets might not afford to overstay in a foreign country. Indeed, Corona crisis turned everything upside down; people can not predict what would occur in the next few weeks, can not earn more money due to losing their jobs, can not get sponsored due to the aspects that used to finance them are not operating anymore, so on and so forth.

Therefore, in this challenging time, solidarity is very important for backing each other up and alleviating the suffering of people as much as possible that results in financial hardships. For instance, airline companies that are still operating should keep the prices of their tickets fixed. However, what I have found out based on the latest experience from Bangkok, is that airline companies exploited the dire need of people to go back to their homelands to see their beloved ones, as there are no many competitors, those companies have an absolute strategy of manipulating with the ticket prices applying what so-called Auction Off system. Of course, the earlier you book the cheaper you get rule is applicable, but these companies must realize the fact that many people have gotten their flights canceled and ended up waiting for the refund, which is very difficult to get sometimes companies have very strict refund policies that push you to wait for a long time to get and even some of them do not directly refund their customers even though the cancelation was made by the airline, they just provide a voucher to the clients to use the same ticket as a credit to fly with the same airline within a limited period of time. By this way, clients are forced to fly next time with the same airline, but those clients might not be in need of travel during the limited period, what should they do? Will they lose their money? What about those who have gotten two or three or more flights canceled and have no more money to book another flight? 

They will be stuck until the airline refund or change their flight without extra fee. That is really tricky. Moreover, the prices swiftly increase, like what happened when I suddenly found a very good offer by the Qatar Airway for 493$ from Bangko to Frankfurt, the next I headed off to purchase this ticket to find out that overnight had become 1340$. I could not purchase it, I had to postpone my travel back to Germany until I find a more affordable ticket. This was unprecedented exploitation! 

Those flight companies should take part in solidarity around the world and keep their prices stable

Under Coronavirus, there is something to say ... 

Covid 19 Pandemic ... Under pressure ... under uncertainty 

Immense pressure under Coronavirus and making fears ... 

The hysteria of Coronavirus ... 

I have nothing to say on this Valentine Day ...  

The first meeting with the Thai BA student at Chula ... 

The first week in Bangkok ... 

   The new year 2020 began with a new plan after spending almost six months in Cape Town during my second semester at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with travel to Bangkok in Thailand to spend the third semester at Chulalongkorn University. I'm always excited about the new academic experience, which includes exploring the country and the surrounding society. I arrived in Bangkok on the first day of 2020 and celebrated New Year's Eve on the flight the night before. My arrival was smooth, and there were no obstacles at the airport; I picked up my suitcase and went to my accommodation. 

The accommodation is at a popular hostel, an affordable way of living I had booked before as I didn't find a flat or dormitory. The first night was awful. I couldn't sleep because some drunk guys from Spain were disturbing me. I yelled at them loudly to shut up. One of them was severely crying for a particular reason, and they were calming him down. 

Tuk-tuk is one of the popular transportation means

The owner came up to see what was going on. I told him that if you don't shut those deviant guys up, you must repay my money, and I will check out! I would not have come if I had known that such people were at your place. I hadn't expected such noise, and people don't consider other people around them exhausted after long flights and jet lag; they unashamedly shout loudly in the dorm. The hostel, despite its affordable rates, offers a range of amenities such as cozy lounges, making it a popular choice among students and budget travelers.

Fortunately, they left the next day. I continued living in and looking for an apartment. 

At first glance, I felt the city was safe while walking in the street; nobody would come up attempting to rob me off-guard. I wasn't warned of unsafety in the town of Bangkok particularly or other areas in the country in general, unlike South Africa; we had been informed of the fragile security situation, which proved to us that safety there is violated by outlaws. Up till the writing of this blog, I haven't had many chances to explore the city and tour around due to preoccupation with some matters, especially the matter of settling down, preparing for the new semester, and finding an apartment or dormitory to live in as I can't continue living at a hostel which is somewhat uncomfortable for a student where there are distraction and nuisance by some people coming in and going out of. It's like a micro global community where people almost from all countries come to such guesthouses to sleep over for one night or a couple of nights, depending on their schedules and plans. So they resort to such famous places given their low cost. I booked five nights for 1007 Baht, which adds up to almost 30 euros. Such a cost is considered very cheap and reasonable compared to paying for accommodation at a hotel. 

I have gotten to know people from some countries, from the global north to the global south, and meeting them followed with exciting discussions at the hostel, who shared their unique experiences and stories. It is the way I usually follow wherever I go on this earth, listening to people's experiences and stories, by which I can learn new lessons that are not possible sometimes to learn from books or professors. That's why I consider people at their differentiation a school where I can receive sound wisdom! 

Furthermore, sharing ideas is a very useful way of overcoming misconceptions and helping change people's attitudes toward certain cultures, religions, dogma, society, etc. This is how I make my life experiences colorful and embellished with different knowledge that I build up by meeting and interacting with people. 

Bangkok has much to offer as it has a diverse landscape created by its openness to the global community. It's a cosmopolitan city with many things to explore and pick up, but I need help figuring out where to start. Its amazement, beauty, and fascination have got me distracted. This makes me impatient and attracted to everything around me, but I should control myself and start off exploring everything step-by-step because there are many expected plans to come, including [specific plans or activities], which will be set up by my amazing friends from the Globalization Studies Program (GSP). 

A street vendor selling cooked/fried spiders&Scorpions

The famous market in the city gives a strong impetus to explore everything and reflects the Thai people's culture, who seem to be friendly and hospitable. Therefore, passing by the peddlers in the street gives a strong indication of the Thai recipes and cuisines, as clarified in some photos, like this photo where I passed by a lady selling fried scorpions and spiders that seem crispy for 150 Baht, which adds up to 4 euros each. 

Thai people and other Southeast Asian peoples, like China and Taiwan, are well-known for eating such insects and snakes. Eating this is something significantly unfamiliar to me in my culture, and I can't imagine trying to eat such a thing one day. However, It's part of their culture that I should respect. I can write this about my experience in the first week in Bangkok thus far. Hopefully, the upcoming couple of months will be as unique as I expect to add new exciting things to my memory.