COEUR d'ALENE - Thailand will always have a special place in Mary Conniff's heart.

The 16-year-old Coeur d'Alene High School sophomore and Hayden resident returned from the "Land of Smiles" about three weeks ago, and she is all smiles about her year studying abroad.

"Being an exchange student is the most craziest thing in the world," she said last week. " ... you're sent to a foreign country, you don't speak the language, you don't know anything about the culture, and all of a sudden they're like, 'OK, see you in a couple months.'"

Her experiences in Thailand included going to the hospital on her third day because of a massive mosquito bite, living with three different host families near Bangkok, attending Thai school and exploring the spicy and sometimes strange dishes of the Thai people.

She described when she discovered the secret ingredient in the school lunch.

"It was a brown soup. To make it thicker and richer, you would add cow's blood," she said. "In our minds that's not OK, but it actually tasted good. I'm still shocked over that."

Mary was only 15 when she arrived in Thailand on July 3, the day that began the year-long adventure of being an exchange student through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study program (YES) and American Foreign Service program. She said at first she felt isolated. She didn't speak the language and her first host family was busy and rarely had time to spend with her.

"I had to speed up my development process all on my own, which can be a very daunting experience when you also are in a foreign land," she said. "My development was a very unique way of doing it just because I was doing it in a different country and a different culture."

Mary began her application process for the exchange in winter of 2012. She completed mountains of paperwork, was chosen as a finalist and traveled to Washington, D.C., where she spent three days in orientations and interviews with 120 other students who were semifinalists. She still talks to many of the friends she made during her time in D.C.

"It was like the U.S. government was trying to do 'The Hunger Games,' but a little nerdier," she said. "It was an amazing experience to meet students from all around the nation who had the same passion as my own."

April 12, 2013, is the day Mary received the email that read, "Congratulations, you will be going to Thailand in the year 2013-2014."

"I screamed, flipped out, burst into tears, very teenage girl emotions over it," she said. "I could not believe it."

Mary spent the first part of her year abroad in the city of Rangsit in the province of Pathum Thani, then stayed in the province of Suphan Buri. She quickly learned many things about the culture: the concept of "saving face," how to greet others with a bow called a "wai" and the reverence the Thai show each other.

"Thai people are very respectful," Mary said. "It's in the way they speak, the way they talk, it's in every conversation you have. They add polite things to their sentences and words."

She experienced what it was like to have a brother and little sister when she stayed with her third host family, where she formed strong bonds. Mary also got a taste of Thai humor, which she experienced when she was called into the head director's office for breaking the school dress code. She was informed by her prankster adviser that her violation was her blond hair.

"I was like, 'What? You're so funny.' I was about to cry," she said.

Mary has plans to travel again and said she has been forever changed by the experience. She has friends all over the globe and now views the world from an enlightened perspective.

"Not only does it open your eyes, it opens you in a way that you will never be able to look the same as you used to look," she said. "I will never be able to view the world the same way that I did a year ago."

And Mary wants to encourage other young people to explore the world. As a student ambassador, she will be giving presentations about her Thailand experience and helping others to understand the importance of embracing diverse cultures.

"You don't have to be rich. You don't have to be the most academically smart kid," she said. "You just have to be willing to change yourself. You just have to be willing to take the chance, because it will be so beneficial."