helping me or hurting me

i really want to learn muay thai, even better would be learning muay boran. but there aren't any schools for muay thai in my area, so i've been using vids and books. i have a friend who's been taking TKD (proper instruction) for several years and me and him spar fairely often. but i wonder if this isn't going to make it that much harder to learn when/if i go to thailand. what do you guys think?
right now other than the sparring i shadow box and excercise (push ups, crunches, etc.)