Introduction Part 1: Welcome!

Hello. Welcome to my blog.  

As is the trend, I will be spending the first half of my third year in college studying abroad. I have been looking forward to this for years and spent long hours considering where I would travel. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine where I would eventually chose. 

In the Fall of 2013, I will be studying in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute.  In August, I will travel 14+ hours (with a layover in Seoul, Korea) to Chiang Mai to take part in ISDSI’s 17 week People, Ecology, and Development program. The course emphasizes experiential learning and aims to bridge the social and natural sciences. During the first five weeks, I will stay with a Thai host family and learn Thai language and culture. Then I will take 3 courses over 3 months, one topic each month on fields, forests, and rivers/oceans. Each course has one week of classroom learning followed by three weeks of experiential learning. During the program, I will be hiking, backpacking, kayaking and staying in villages all throughout Thailand. 

As part of the course I have my first summer reading assignment since high school. For the program I am reading Culture Shock, Thailand, by Nanthapa and Robert Cooper as well as Becoming World Wise: A Guide to Global Learning by Richard Slimbach. 

Throughout this blog information and quotes will be taken from those two books, the ISDSI website and pre-departure information, as well as Wikipedia. I'm aiming to have a mix of facts and information about Thailand mixed in with personal reflections. I hope you enjoy reading!