JOURNAL WRITING:

First week:

My First Semester of College:

The first semester of college for a young man or women can be a monumental step in their life. In my case it was. It was the first time that I had been away from my home in foreign land, Thailand. I was not necessarily scared to be away, but I was a little worried about the transition from the skate free ways of high school that I was very used to. The schoolwork was not the only thing that was on my mind as I made my way into the college atmosphere; I was also thinking about doing things on my own and budgeting my time completely by myself.

When the first week of classes started I was still worried, somewhat, of the step I was going to have to make in regards to the quality of work that I was going to have to do in order to pass with decent grades. In high school I had made procrastination and I have to regret later but as now I was in college I should not repeat that mistake. The first semester of college was free as we used to study the general courses.

Second week:

Life as independent person:

All my life, I dreamed about going to college. I never thought about what I would major in, but I have been doing a lot of thinking. I always wanted to play badminton for a college team because that was one of my dreams while I was growing up. But my dream was later crushed, after I got eliminated because I stopped focusing on my school work, and I needed to get back on top of my school work. One of my biggest motivators is my mother, because she has done so much for me, so I could have a life. She never did, and she is making sure I go to college, because she didn't have that opportunity. But getting to college is easy, as most people think. I am willing to do whatever it takes, because I really want to be somebody in life, not someone who has to sit and wait around, depending on others. I am a very independent person, just like my mother.

Third week:

A good Room Mate

Often in the past I used to wonder about leaving home and what I would do when I did, would I go back-packing and see where my travels lead, or go to university and further my academic studies or maybe just get a job and move out? Whatever I decided to do I knew that I would need someone with me as I did not like the thought of living on my own and I certainly knew that I would not be able to afford to do it alone. I realized that I would need a roommate at some stage and started to think about the qualities that I would look for in someone who would be a good roommate, as they would have to be temporarily sharing my life.

The first question that came to mind was would I get good roommate? Now i think i had got the good roommate which is from same country with same cultural identities. As per my opinion my roommate should be friendly who is ever ready to help me when I am need of his help, should understand me as well I should understand them which is necessary for everyone to be friendly. They are my good friends as well because we had been together in high school also and we know each other well. Thump up my roommate!!!!!!

Fourth week:

My Future Lifestyle

The actions that I take, the way that I think, and the decisions that we have made will affect the type of lifestyles you will be living in the future. My future lifestyles will determines the kind of people I hang out, the kind of characteristics I hold, the kind of education you get from your lecturers, etc. That’s why is important to know the kind of lifestyle I enjoy the most living in, and start working towards that lifestyle while you still I am still young. Although there are many components that I will use for working towards my future lifestyle goals, but education is the main component out of all, which in this 21^st

 Century without education is like an empty bottle. For me if I have education then my future lifestyle like full of happiness!!!hahaha!!!!

Fifth week:

My Personal Goals

I believe that the first step towards setting and achieving the personal goals is that you must realize I have to prepare for the future and not wait for it to happen. My life in retrospect has had many changes and twists; it is in a constant state of development. It really forced me to focus on my life and how it has changed as I have matured. Setting goals has forced me to take a look at my values.

I have always wanted to have a angel I am in love with, a job, happy and good and discipline children and a house in the suburbs. But now, after living life and surviving some defeats I realize that there are no guarantees in life except the ones we choose for ourselves. I think that once I begin this journey hope that everything else in my life will be in to balance. There are many steps I had to take on this journey of self-discovery. So therefore, I need to be preparing for the future as we know that future cannot be predicted but we can build a future as what I am doing now is the future for mine.

Sixth week:

Life choices

As I open my laptop for a new day of a higher education, I find myself contemplating why am I here and what is it I expect to achieve from my efforts at the University of Shinawatra. As I reflect, I see myself travelling back over the years of missed opportunities and life experiences that brought me here. They bring me through a time which is full of twists and turns and where the colour of the leaves on the trees turns rapidly, but the grass on around the surrounding are evergreen.

This place is my life. The turns I’ve made have focused me in directions not all would want to choose. The twists I’ve encountered have empowered me, given me perspective, perseverance and have brought me prosperity. But a turn I made almost a decade ago has given me great regrets, the regret of never finishing school, the regret of a deficient education. I often ponder my regret and ask questions about the importance, viability and priority of continuing school has for me. The questions include things like; why should I continue my education? Why not continue to grow in society the way you have without higher education? Is learning a priority? Am I motivated to enrol?  As for me life as an individual very difficult to take decision because as we know that the decision I took before are regretting now. Therefore, life is full of choices but i have to be careful while choosing these choices as it is my life!!!!!!

Seventh week:

Memories Never Fade

We call a person who has lost his father/mother, an orphan; and a widower a man who has lost his wife. But the person who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a mother, by what name do I call her? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in hopelessness. Losing a mother is just as hard as losing my hope for my life. My mother was like my best friend, my life, and my soul mate. When I lost her I felt so many emotions I could hardly express myself. I separated myself from anything that tried to make me feel better. It took me a trip back to childhood memories with her, a food I used to eat from her mouth, love she has given to me was unexplainable, she is the one to show the right direction in life. But she left me alone in this world which I cannot explain my gratitude to her. Hope her soul may reside in peace, and praying to be her son in the next generation. For me, these memories will never fade as she was the one who make me as a person what i am now because of her.

Eight week:

College Frustrations

Nothing is more frustrating to a student of college than being dead broke. Tests, past due homework/assignment, project, and pop quizzes don’t even compare to being a dead broke student. Being broke is like having a car without any gas that cannot move further. My clothes become tattered and shrunken, my food stores are barren and dust laden, and my stomach growls every so often to remind to feed or that I am hungry. The worst thing about being a dead broke student is that every semester the cycle starts over again, which repeat the same things. As my seniors friends say that college life is the enjoyable life but for me college life is like a prison with the book. Sometimes I get the frustrations that I could not get a time to eat the food. And also so stressful lives always have to do research. Ahh!! So stressful having class for three hour lecture. This is the frustrations of college for me!!!

Ninth Week!!

Visit To Art Gallery:

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.- Henry Ward Beecher.

The art studio took place on Friday 20^th of January at the V64 Art Studio located at 143/ 19 Changwattana, Soi 1: Yak 6- Vibhavadi 64 Road, Bangkok. Art. By the time we reached there our Ajaan introduced us with organizer Ms. Heidi Elizabeth from Britain. She told us that the artists whose are participating are from local and abroad.  

         This can be mainly attributed to the remarkable achievement of balance that is portrayed by the work of artist. The painting is in almost complete equilibrium as form, color, and mass on both sides of the vertical axis are almost exactly identical. By having such a smooth and balanced composition, the work elicits a tremendous amount of stability & unity. The closed composition of the painting forces the eye directly inward into the focal areas of the work which in turn causes the person viewing it to remain fixated on many small details not ordinarily valued in many other similar works of art display in that gallery which is all expression of the artist.

         Art has always been a significant part of any culture and society. Famous artist are the people who make a contribution  not only to the world’s cultural heritage and so Ms. Heidi told us that the artist present here is on the process of becoming famous.

         In the art studio the art that as done by the artist was very beautiful and so creative but yet very meaningful and mind catching. The art that I really like was the mixture of different colors. Artist mainly concentrated on the color rather than the sketch. In his art the artist tried to emphasize the mixture color represents the change in different seasons. Like green represents spring, red represent summer, blue represent winter and yellow represent autumn. From this painting, I knew how the artist tries to expression their feeling on painting.  The artist told me that to do the painting they usually take more than one week. The work done by the artist depends on their hard work and dedicated to their work.

        The visit to the art studio was a wonderful trip to know more about art in this modern world. From this trip I knew that different people has different opinions about the arts. And has different point of view on the paintings.

Tenth Week:

Dreams and Experiences

When I was in high school, I had a scary dream. In this dream, I was chased by my ex-girlfriend. For many who regret that they ever left a past lover behind, this might have been a good dream. But for me, this dream became one of the scariest dreams that I could recall in my recent lifetime. In this particular dream, my ex-girlfriend happened to be a mechanical robot. She, or should I say “It”, was equipped with many harmful weapons and looked incredibly indestructible. When she was so close to me that I could feel her breath on my neck, I woke up. I could not remember having a dream that was as scary as this. 
That day, I saw her at school and I nearly jumped when I first saw her. I half expected her to have some kind of harmful weapon in her hand. I saw her many more times that day, and each time I saw her, I made a conscious effort to keep my distance. Deep down I was scared of her. To this day I can’t look at her without thinking about one of the scariest dreams I ever had. I had never given thought to the power of a dream.

Eleventh Week:

Parents Love

Children are wonderful. Their beauty and inviting dependence brings palpable meaning to life, a voice that speaks the purpose of life. Their beauty contains our truth, the truth of our purpose here on earth. Their beauty and the feelings they invoke within us are sufficient to know what we should focus upon. Sacrifices positive discipline, and values parents implant in their children will help them determine the person they grow up to be. A child is like a sponge that absorbs their parent’s thoughts and viewpoints that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. 
Parents make great sacrifices for the care of their children. Day after day, parents protect their children from danger, attend to their cries, and reassure them after a bad dream. Parents give up necessities for their children every day. We cannot return back our parent love. I love my parent. I LOVE YOU, MISSING YOU A LOT!!!

Twelveth Week:

My Life now

That buzzing in my ear, I couldn’t get it to stop. People told me that I was mad and they told me to get a life. I'm without music, without sound - my life now.
I think that the music of today has negatively affected so many young teens.
It is sometimes music that influences people to turn to gang violence, underage sex and suicide. If you take the time to sit back and listen to the lyrics of some raps, then you'll really understand about what I'm talking. Life for me now is full of enjoyment where usually people enjoy in this stage. And on thing to be happy in life totally depend on the individual person. If they take life as happy then life is happy, if they take life as full of suffering then life is full of suffering.

Thirteenth Week:

My Personal Strengths

Every person’s character is made up of certain personal strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses help define who we are and our individuality. Our strengths are the things we are most affective in. They are usually what we are known best for. However, our weaknesses, while also being a part of which we are, they are the things we can improve on. My strengths and weaknesses have a direct impact on my work environment, family life and learning team. It is my duty to use and improve them to ensure that the impact is a positive one.
I must say, and without boast, that I am extremely dedicated person. Dedication is my personal strength. I display my dedication at work. I take my job very seriously. When I am giving a task, it is not just my goal to complete it but to complete it to perfection. I make myself very flexible. 

Fourteen Week:

Punctuality:

Punctuality is a good quality. Punctuality is quite a kin to regularity. Regularity means working as per rules, regulations and programme of time.

Punctuality means working as per the programme of time. Punctuality involves time factor. We are to see that we are working strictly according to the time fixed. This is punctuality.

If we be punctual, we can finish up our work at right time. Punctuality checks unnecessary wastage of time. Time is very valuable for us. We can save it only by punctuality. Time and tide wait for none. Seconds, minutes, hours and days pass by in right order. There is a maxim "We should hold the time by the forelock". If we be punctual, a single second of us will never go waste. The English men are very punctual. They put on wrist-watches to exercise punctuality. But we, the Indian put on wrist-watches only as ornaments for show. We cannot progress. If we do not be punctual. Punctuality helps us in our progress. It also saves money in other ways. There is a saying. "A stitch in time saves nine". So, if we take our food punctually, we will never be sick and so we will never have to spend money on medicines and doctors or to worry our near and dear ones in this connection. And this principle applies well in all other cases.

Everybody should be punctual in his everyday life. Every students should make a habit of punctuality. The people who have become great in their lives are very punctual. Punctuality is the first condition for becoming great in life. So, punctuality should be the motto in our life. We should not only be punctual ourselves but also advise others to be punctual.

Fifteen Week:

An ideal life for student:

Student life is the formative period. A student should lead an ideal life. Therefore he should culture he following virtues.

High ambition:

High hope leads to high position in life. Hence, a student should pitch his hope high.

Thirst for knowledge:

A student should bear a thirst for knowledge. He should read a lot of good books, magazines and newspapers.

Study:

A student should develop the habit of study. He should be voracious reader. He should not read blindly. He should read intelligently.

Keeping good health:

A student should keep himself healthy. For this he should make clean habits. He should take regular exercise. He should breathe free air. He should have free light. He should eat proper food. He should be self restraint. He should take enough rest. He should have sound sleep.

Good manners:

A student should know manners. He should know how to behave properly. He should be obedient to his elders. He should be loving to his youngers.

Discipline:

A student should possess a high sense of discipline. He should be regular and punctual in all his works.

Other qualities:

Patriotism, social service, frugality and devotion to God are some other conditions for an ideal life for students.

Student life is the formative period of man. If he neglects it, he will spoil his long future. So, to lead an ideal student-life a student should culture the qualities which have been mentioned above.

Sixteen Week:

The land of the thunder dragon

The kingdom of Bhutan,' the land of the thunder dragon ' lies in the eastern Himalayas bordered north by China and on all other sides by India. It has very high mountains, fertile valleys and thick forest forests.

The first hereditary King of Bhutan was installed on 17 Dec 1907. An Anglo-Bhutanese Treaty signed in 1910, placed Bhutan's foreign relations under the supervision of the Government of British India. After Indian became independent, that treaty was replaced in August 1949 by the Indo-Bhutan Treaty of Friendship, whereby Bhutan agrees to seek the advice of the Government of India with regard to its foreign relations, but remains free to decide whether or not do accept such advice.

King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk was succeeded in 1972 by the Western-educated 16 year old Crown Prince, Jigme Singye Wangchuk . The new King stated his wish to maintain the Indo-Bhutan Treaty and to strengthen friendship with India. Bhutan joined the UN in 1971 and the Non-Aligned Movement in 1973. In 1983 Bhutan became a founder-member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Bhutan is a monarchy, without a written constitution. In 1092 the Tongsa Penlop (the governor of the province of Tongsa in central Bhutan), Sir Ugyen Wangchuk, was elected the first hereditary Maharaja of Bhutan. The Bhutanese title is Druk Gyalpo and his successor is now addressed as King of Bhutan. From oct 1969 the absolute monarchy was changed to a form of democratic monarchy. The National Assembly (Tshogdu) was reinstituted in 1953. All Bhutanese over 25 years may be candidates. Ten monastic representatives are elected by the central and regional ecclesiastical bodies, while the remaining members are nominate by the King, and include members of the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) and the Royal Advisory Council. The Royal Advisory Council (Lodol Tsokde), established in 1965, compress 10 members. Council of Ministers is know as Lhenhye Shuntsog.

Recent reports indicate that the mountain kingdom is inching towards democracy. A political transformation is under way, its main force being the reformist monarch Jigme Wangchuk. A Royal edict placed before the 510-member National Assembly in June 98 said a to-third majority in the House could force the king to abdicate. The Assembly (its term 5 years) will also thrown up the Council of Ministers, one of whom will remain as chairman for a year.

There are 20 districts. A Nepalese minority makes up 30-35 % of the population. Bhutan by world stands is one of the poorest countries. Its economy is largely a subsistence economy. People are engaged in subsistence farming; and barter in practice. The transition to market economy has changed social life. Life expectancy : 49 years. Urban population is 7 % . Large deposits of limestone, marble, dolomite, graphite, lead, copper, slate, talc, gypsum, berly, mica, pyrites and tufa have been found.

Chief crops: Rice, millet, wheat, barley, maize, cardamom, potatoes, oranges , apples. Extensive and valuable forests abound. Livestock includes cattle, yaks, pigs, sheep and goats, and poultry. Industry: Food industry, cement, etc. Trade with India dominates.

Free education is available, but there are insufficient facilities to accommodate all school age children. Many students receive higher technical training in India. All Bhutanese national are obliged to wear the national costume. Under law, Bhutanese women are treated as equal to men. The Government of Bhutan has chosen National Happiness as the index of progress, the major components of which are : environment protection, economic growth, cultural promoting and good governance. Cultural Promotion includes spiritual and ethical values. Technological progress may become a curse rather than a blessing if it is without ethics.