How to Fall in Love

I left for Thailand with a duffel bag of clothing and return plane ticket for a week later. When I arrived at the Ricefields Base, I knew that neither one of those was going to be enough. I set aside some money for laundry, and called my mom to let her know that I needed to be in Thailand for not one week, but two.
I made that call to my mom only 3 days after I got to Ricefields. In just 3 days, I had fallen in love with the Base, with my new friends, with the entire rustic staff, and of course, with Thailand. After we set up my extension, I was off to Bangkok on a side trip with some of my new friends. Little did I know, that side trip would bring me so close to them that I would be buying plane tickets to New York to visit them when I got home. When I parted ways with my friends in the Bangkok airport, I cried until after I got on the plane alone. Then I opened up my envelope of notes that they had written to me the night before and cried again. Sincerest apologies to the flight attendant that had to keep bringing me tissues.
I only spent 2 weeks in Thailand, but it felt like 3 months, and honestly, it wasn't quite long enough. I completed 4 different community service projects, and received my Wilderness First Aid Certification, and I still feel like there's more that I could have done.
In the end, it's good to be home and eating something other than the amazing Thai food from base (a white girl misses her Starbucks!), but next summer, my friends from Bangkok and I will be running wild in Cuba, making more memories together, and falling in love with Rustic Pathways just a little bit more.