Happy Mother's Day!!

I am one of those people who believe that things happen for a reason.

And Stephanie Fay Toller being my mom is no exception.

I am so grateful that my mom also happens to be my best friend. I mean, how cool is that? We can talk about anything and everything. We spontaneously go for McDonald's ice cream cones and talk for hours in the parking lot. We throw random dance parties. We have mommy-daughter cuddles.

It's pretty great, our own version of Gilmore Girls (except she wasn't a teen mom, the opposite really, and I don't go to Yale). But basically, yeah, we're the Arizona Mormon version of Lorelai and Rory.

So I would just love to express my gratitude to my wonderful mother whom I have so much fun with. Thanks for having patience with me and knowing what to say when I feel down. I'm thankful for your guidance. I'm grateful for the moments we have and I am so excited to see you in the flesh in a few short weeks.

I love you!!

(PS But, can you please stop buying me clothes? haha)

(PSS My life is so hard. Haha!)

5 Best Photos of My Trip to Thailand

I was just posing for a picture when, all of a sudden, the water show began and basically, I freaked out. Props to Agnes for capturing this special moment.

When I first saw this lady, I actually thought for a second that there was a real headless body walking ahead of me. Luckily, my common sense kicked in and I realized she did, indeed, have a head. But this picture still cracks me up every time I look at it.

Probably the most epic jumping picture I've ever taken.

Just one of those moments when your camera does everything right and you come out with a beautiful, National Geographic style picture.

My pure, unedited emotion about riding barebacked on an elephant. I was so afraid I was going to fall off and get trampled by the elephant. But after the initial 30 seconds of terror, I actually got to enjoy the awesomeness of riding an elephant. Straight up the best part of my trip.

The Island Life

Fruit shakes. Beaches. Clubbing. Snorkeling. White Sand. Sunburn. Thai. 7-11. Sea urchins.

Buried in the sand. Colorful Rooms. Ferries. Filippino band. Seafood. Banana boat. 

Night swims. Delicious fruit. Giant swing. Laundry. Fire dancers. Noodles.

Piers. Russians. Health clinics. Thai soap operas. Icecream. 

Green truck taxis. National park. Koh Samed.

Thai chocolate boy toys.

The island life.

The School Side of My Study Abroad

My blog mostly showcases my adventures of my study abroad. Vacations. Animal Encounters. Culture. Food. But my blog doesn't really touch the "real" purpose of my study abroad--to study. And since I'm hoping that someday this blog will inspire someone to take the plunge and go on a study abroad (maybe even to HKUST! Do it!!) I thought I would write a post about all the learning I've been doing at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

My Classes

Strategic Brand Management- Definitely my favorite class that I'm taking at HKUST for 3 reasons. 1) Attractive professor--it really makes a difference. 2) They don't offer this class at BYU and since brand management is something I'm interested in doing as a career, I really enjoy not having to wait until Grad school to learn about it. 3) I'm actually growing. I love classes that allow me to grow as a person or a business person (in this case). The class is pretty difficult. But I have seen my critical thinking skills get better as the semester goes on.

Mandarin for Non-Chinese Background Students- The class that tries to teach me Mandarin. It's a very interactive class with lots of group activities. My laoshi (teacher) is a really nice lady who has an adorable small child whom I get to see sometimes at random HKUST events.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Studies- Another class that pushes me to my limits, but I'm learning a lot. The whole class is learning the life cycle of a venture from idea conception to IPO (Initial Public Offering). Plus, there are no midterms or final exam. Student do have to write a business plan, which is a hefty assignment. I really enjoy the guest speakers from top ventures in Hong Kong.

Consumer Behavior- My least favorite class. The professor just lectures at us for an hour and a half in a soft voice that puts me to sleep. But despite the struggle to pay attention in class, I am surprisingly learning a lot. In Thailand, I saw consumer behavior terms in practice as I watched my fellow travelers make decisions on what to buy.

HKUST vs BYU

A question I get from a lot of students at HKUST and from home is "How does HKUST compare to BYU?" One of the nice things about UST is the smaller class size. It's nice not to have a class with 800 other students. Therefore, it is easier to participate and participation is expected. Participation plays an important role in your grade at UST. It's not enough to just come to class.

As for work load, UST is very similar to upper level classes in the Marriott School, lots of group projects and case studies. And I felt about the same amount of stress that I feel at BYU.

I do think that tests are harder at UST than BYU. They are very memorization heavy, rather than application heavy. I had to revert to studying techniques I haven't used since high school like Cornell notes.

So that's a little bit about the academic side of my study abroad.

One Month Left

I can't believe that my adventure in Hong Kong is winding down. Time really does fly when your having fun.

I can now count the weeks I have left on one hand. And they are going to be some crazy weeks with finals, presentations, and papers.

But there are some exciting things coming up to. I'm going to Beijing with my pal Melissa. Yes, I am going to see the Great Wall!!!! My Asia trip will be complete! I still have to go to Ocean Park, Hong Kong's version of Sea World. That's when I'll get my panda fix since I'm not going to make it to Chengdu (too expensive: $300 airfare, $323 to hold a panda WHAT!).

And then, I'll go home.

And I'm actually kind of excited, which is interesting because a month and a half ago I was crying about how I never wanted to go home. But there's a time and season for everything and it's time to return to the US and finish school.

But I still have a month to YOHKO it up!!

So stay tuned for the last leg of HK adventures.

Ciao!

Bucket List: Riding an Elephant

When in Thailand, you ride an elephant.

                             The unspoken traveller's code  

The last leg of my Thailand Spring Break was in Thailand's northern capital, Chiang Mai. A laid-back version of Bangkok surrounded by mountains, Chiang Mai is where backpackers go to chill and have adventures.

And I had adventures. In just one day, I took a bamboo raft down a river, rode on a cart driven by some interesting Asian oxen, and went zip-lining. But the highlight of that day, hands down, was riding an elephant for the first time. 

My first view of an elephant!!!!!

On the elephant!!

Agnes and Kay having quite the adventure on their elephant.

Elvin and I had our own adventure. As we were going along, a guy on the elephant ahead of us dropped one of his flip-flops so the mahout (the elephant trainer/driver) had to disembark the elephant to retrieve. I turned to Elvin and warned him to be careful with his flip flops and not drop them. And what happens? Almost immediately, one of Elvin's flip flops fell to the ground. So our mahout jumped down and fetched Elvin's flip flop. Annoying, but no big deal, right?

The elephant had other ideas. The elephant continued on without its mahout and with us still on its back. And it was moving. And I was having a heart-attack. Because I kind of have a history of animals running away while I'm riding them and I was sure that this was another one of those moments.

A picture of us as our elephant started to run away from the Mahout, courtesy of Agnes Mystek

At last, the mahout caught up with the elephant and everything was good. The elephant even sprayed me with water! Adorable!

On our way back to the elephant camp, the mahout let me sit in the front. It was so exciting!

Scared much?

YEE-HAW!!! 

Lions, and Tigers, and Gingers!

Here the details about that one time I went and played with tigers.

Where did I go?

I went to Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It's actually about 40 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, but just grab a songaew and negotiate a price. I think it was about 100 THB (3 USD) for round trip.

If you can't make it to Chiang Mai, there are two other locations in Bangkok and Phuket.

How much did it cost?

To play with either an adult and teenager, it costs about 450 THB (15 USD). You get about 15-20 minutes in the encounter. To play with a small tiger it's a little more. And to play with a baby tiger it costs about 20 USD. We decided to play with the adults and the small tigers so it cost 825 THB (a little less than 30 USD).

Is it safe?

There is always risk with most things we do in life. After living in Asia, driving a car in Utah really frightens me. It's SO dangerous!! As for playing with tigers, as long as you listen to your guide and have common sense, you will be fine. 

Are the tigers drugged?

No, the tigers are not drugged. We would be petting them and then they would just get up and walk away. They would also play in the pool. They were definitely alert.

 What is there to do when you are done playing with the tigers?
They do not kick you out of the park when your time is up. So we just walked around and watched other people play with tigers. There were a couple of encounters where there weren't any other people. There was one couple who was playing with a tiger through the cage. The guy would raise his hand high in the air, pretending to hold something and the tiger would go on its hind legs to take it. Of course, the guy would pull his hand away. It was fun to watch, but pretty stupid. Something could totally go wrong. We also discovered some lions in the back of the park.

There are other activities at the park. You can run around in one of those human hamster balls. There's a restaurant so you can grab some lunch. But we chose to go get fish pedicures (which is a whole other post).

How long were you there?

We were at Tiger Kingdom for about 2 1/2 hours. 15 minutes of that was buying tickets, 40 minutes of that was playing with the tigers, 30 minutes walking around the park, and about 30 minutes doing the fish pedicure. The time not accounted for was eating ice cream and just hanging out. So really, I think you could do Tiger Kingdom in about 90 minutes.

Recommendation:

You want to play with the baby tigers. I wish I had forked out a few more dollars to do it. Baby tigers are the darn cutest things ever!! Definitely what I will be doing the next time I go. (And there will be a next time!!)

If you have any more questions, just ask below in the comments or check out Tiger Kingdom's website.