Music is Universal

Yesterday was our first day digging into the clinical work we will be doing here in Thailand. We immediately went to the College of music at Mahidol University and had music lessons from Modang. We learned three new Thai children songs, Including "Mary had a little cat," because there are not lambs in Thailand (it's super adorable). We practiced A LOT. After we worked on our Thai music we had a discussion as a class about the differences in health care between countries. It was VERY intriguing and really helped us learn the importance of perspective as music therapists.

Then, we went to lunch with the Thai music therapy students, who are all very nice and some very outgoing. The college of music has a great food court with cheap delicious food. Talking to the Thai students was very interesting, and I hope we become more acquainted with them in the future!

After lunch we had time to catch up on our journaling and practice the music some more. We spent a good amount of time working on the Thai adult songs which no one is really comfortable with. The down time was much needed.

At 4:30 we observed a music therapy session and it was WONDERFUL. Even though the entire session was in a language we don't know much of, we still understood what was going on because the structure, principles, and purpose of music therapy is the same in every country. Music really is universal and can affect people all around the world.

This is the giant gong that is right next to the Music Therapy office. 

 Becca ringing the gong! 

For dinner we went to Tip Samai! The place where Pad Thai was invented! And yes, it did live up to the hype we gave to it. Most delicious Thai food we have had yet! 

 This is what we look like when we get ready to pose for a picture in front of the famous Tip Samai. 

The original Pad Thai!