When I first moved to Laos, I lived in the capitol city of Vientiane for almost two months with all of the other Fulbright English teachers. It was easy to integrate into the culture in Vientiane because it's a large and very modern city and people from all over the world live there. This means there are many different kinds of food and cultures in Vientiane - Italian, American, Indian, Mexican, Lao, Thai, Chinese and so many more! Vientiane was very similar to a large city in the United States (like New York!) except everyone speaks Lao instead of English. It was also easy to live in Vientiane because I had a group of 10 other people who were traveling with me and were able to help me if I needed anything.
When we were told which schools we would be teaching at, I was shocked to find out that I was the only person from our group who would be moving to Luang Prabang. I was so scared. I was going to have to make new friends, try new foods and get around a new city all by myself, without knowing how to speak Lao! At first, it was a little difficult, but my mom told me there are two good ways to make friends and feel at home in a new place. The first is to always say yes to trying new things, and the second is to be proactive and ask people to do things with you.
