Free Time in Chiang Mai Thailand
During my time in Thailand, when we did not have classes, we would often go to cafés to catch up on homework or walk around Chiang Mai’s night markets. We had classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, with history class in the morning and Thai class later in the afternoon. After Thai class, we were given stipends for dinner, so we had the freedom to go to restaurants or come back to the house and order food. Then we had our internships on Tuesdays and Thursdays and would sometimes have group meals and occasionally have stipends for dinner.
On Sundays, I would always go to the night market to get dinner and walk around. The night market had everything imaginable; there were Thai massages, hundreds of food stalls, keychains, and jade. You name it; it was probably at the night market. The night markets were also a great way to be immersed in the language and, of course, to learn the bargaining culture, which took me a while to adjust to. Our Fridays were usually free, and for most of our Fridays, our instructor would plan group activities like watercoloring, Muay Thai classes, or hikes. There were also Fridays that were completely free, which I often used as a day to get ahead on homework.
While we were in homestays, our free time looked a little different. When we didn't have class or our internships, sometimes our host parents would take us to the temple. There was an occasion when I joined one of my peer’s host families, and we all got to dress in traditional Thai clothes and experience what a traditional Buddhist ceremony was like. Though I wasn’t able to fully understand what the monks were saying, it was incredible to have the opportunity to be so immersed in Northern Thai culture. There were also times when my host family would take me to the Sunday morning market, where my host mom would buy groceries for the week and insisted on stopping at every stall to ask if I wanted something from it. When we were not off with our host families, we would all go to a local café to do homework or visit each other's houses and hang out. No matter what we were doing, we were all having an amazing time on our Civic Semester!