Then, Now and Forever by Bing Sae Wa
Stephanie is one of my best friends and my longest friendship. In 2008, she came to visit Thailand for her first time with her family. She went to the CFPM home in Chiang Rai which is an orphanage, and she met me. She was nine years old, and I was eleven years old. Both of us were fun kids, and we loved to do activities together. I loved to hang out with Stephanie, but the one problem was language. I could not communicate in English with her even when she tried to explain a lot of information to me. The only thing that could help us understand each other was body language, and it was fun to do that. After meeting for the first time, she came back to Thailand again in 2014. Her family took me and some orphans to Phuket Island, and we went sightseeing the ocean. At that time, I started speaking English with her a little bit. Sometimes it seemed like we did not talk about the same topic and misunderstood each other. However, we kept in touch and kept being friends after that trip. Then, I got very good news to tell Stephanie in 2017, that I got a Global Undergraduate Exchange Programs (Global UGRAD). Both of us were so happy, and we could not wait to see each other. In August 2017, I came to study at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho for my first experience America. Then, I went to spend Christmas time with Stephanie in Kansas City, Missouri for my winter break. She showed me around her city, and I met her friends. We also traveled to New Mexico with her family and went hiking at Tent Rocks, Tsankawi National Monument. It was a memorable time for our friendship. Then I came back to study at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho on January 16, 2018. I am looking forward to seeing Stephanie again.
Written by Bing Sae Wa (Thailand) a 2017-2018 Global UGRAD student at Lewis-Clark State College