let me catch you up

Since my last post, I can't remember what all happened. It feels like 2 days packed into one-every day. We experience so many new things in a day that we get tired a lot quicker than in the U.S. In Bangkok we went and saw the Emerald Buddha, which is super shiny and a very big deal.
Our trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was one of the most memorable things that has happened so far. It was an overnight train and very utilitarian. The bathrooms were super scary, but overall it was a great adventure. I'll post pictures of it later, because as usual, blogspot is being frustrating with pictures. But when we woke up around 6am, we could see the mountains and the train wound it's way through them, which proved to be a beautiful sightseeing opportunity.
Drexler bought Chang, or really cheap Thai beer, and everyone drank some. (It's really gross, so I stuck with my nom blouw, which is water :). We were picked up from the station by Chiang Mai University people (one of them was the head of the English department), and given necklaces of jasmine. Personally, I think Suwanne just knew we were going to smell after being on an overnight train :) but they were pretty.
We're staying at Mountainview guesthouse, which is by the Chang Pjuak gate. Chiang Mai had a wall around it a long time ago, complete with a moat. Thus, there are still "gates" in tact, and we live right by the white elephant gate. It proves useful for telling song tao (truck drivers, who are like cheap taxi/bus drivers) where we need to go, because they all know the Chang Pjuak gate.
We are now official students of Mau Chau (Slang for Chiang Mai University), and we are very obvious about it by our white blouses and black knee length uniforms :)
The university is beyond beautiful, as it is located on the side of a mountain. Emily, Emilee, Hailey, Alex and I do most of the adventuring together (Jacquie and James usually go off and do there own thing). We have found cool places to eat, shop, and hang out. Last night we ended up in a beer garden type place. By the time we sat down we realized we were the only girls in the entire place besides the waitresses. The cool part was that we thought it was a karaoke place, but it turns out they have bands there.
We were treated to a Thai band that played American covers. My favorite part of the night was when the adorable sweater vest wearing lead singer began singing "play that funky music white boy." His English was barely understandable, but we recognized alot of the songs and could sing along, overriding the fact that we couldn't understand his English vocals.
Another language clash was when a biker gang cat called us when we were walking to the fruit market yesterday. But Thai boys catcall American girls by saying "I LOVE YOUUUUU!" and making the call me sign....definitely something that will make you laugh.
I'll try and post pictures of our adventures later.