Sort of Legal

For a long time, I thought I wanted to live in a big city.  

In college and for some time after, I Boston was my dream city.  I couldn’t tell you why.  I’ve [still] never been, know very little about the city, and if I had to choose and MLB team would go with the Yankees or Cubs.

When applying to law schools, I seriously contemplated DePaul in Chicago for its health-law program, was accepted, and enjoyed a fun weekend visit to the school and the city.

But there was no way to resist the pull of Florida’s in-state tuition and so I attended Florida State University (Go Noles!) where I had also done my undergraduate.  It was a good call.

After law school in 2009, not the high point in the US’s economy, I found myself willing to work in any city (with a few exceptions like Tallahassee) that would take me and where I wanted to live wasn’t a priority.

I ended up getting an offer in Jacksonville, Florida, where my parents live, and after a short stint in the suburbs moved to Jacksonville Beach for about three years and then to Encinitas, California for the past three.

There was never a conscious turn away from the desire to live in a city just a slow fading of the thought replaced by a love for coastal life and being able to walk to the beach and low-key bars and restaurants.

Yet, I think the interest in trying city-living still lives somewhere in the back of my mind and eventually I may try it full-time.

But for now, I’m fulfilling my big city fantasies by spending six days in Bangkok.  I’m four-days in and so far it’s been great.

I’ve been staying in a one bedroom condo in Thong Lor area complete with full kitchen and washing machine on the porch.  There are many ex-pats and foreign workers in the area, but there aren’t overt tourists like on the infamous Khao San Road.  This has made it feel more like I’m living here and that is exactly what I wanted for this first leg of the trip.

My past few days have been “same same but different” (where does that phrase come from?) from days at home.

My first night, I was exhausted so I watched Netflix and slept just like I would at home.  My schedule the next two days was pretty much: wake-up, find place for coffee, find place for work, work, and work-out with food, beer, and texting friends and family mixed in at random intervals.

All-in-all quite similar to what I’d be doing in the US except that everything around me is completely different and so the experience feels completely different in a way that is energizing (or maybe that’s the car and motorbike exhaust – tough to tell!)

I have two days left in Bangkok but at different lodging starting tomorrow.  Part of me wishes that I had booked the AirBnB condo I’m in now a bit longer but I guess it’s better to leave a tiny bit before you’re ready than wait until you grow tired of a place.  (And I’m confident that what is to come will bring great experiences as well!)

More on the details of BKK in future posts….