My STEP project was a semester abroad in Bangkok, Thailand. I went through the Fisher College of Business and had the opportunity to take business classes at Thammasat Business School and live in Thailand. I was also fortunate enough to travel around Southeast Asia quite a bit.
This STEP Signature project taught me more about myself and about the world than I could have ever received in a classroom. I learned so much about myself and my ability to deal with problems and how to handle conflict. For example, Thailand works a lot slower than the United States, and has a term called “Thai Time” for when they complete things later, and rarely follow deadlines or set times. For me, I am a very anxious and very on time person so learning to slow down and adapt to Thai time was an incredibly difficult process. Once I started to see how much less stressed Thai people were, I understood the appeal of Thai time and forced myself to slow down and enjoy my time rather than trying to rush through things. I also learned so much about the world by living in Thailand. Living in a developing country is such a different experience and really makes you thankful for all the amenities that we have in the United States. I took for granted food security, food regulations, having access to clean water, having access to strong public transportation, and being surrounded by people who speak your language and can communicate with you effectively. I had so many challenges to deal with, and it was only one semester abroad. It really made me think about how lucky I am in the United States and how many resources I have that make my life easier and conflict-free. It was transformative, and I came back to the United States with a completely new appreciation for the life I’ve been living.
There are so many factors that were responsible for my transformation during my STEP Signature Project. One of these was the complete immersion that I experienced. Not only did I live in Thailand, but I studied at a renowned university, and was given lots of respect by the local people. Not only that, but we lived outside the city and lived amongst the locals, who really taught me so much about their culture and their character as well. Getting to experience life as a local and taking public transportation as well as eating Thai food every day was something I hadn’t really ever had the opportunity to do when I’ve traveled in the past. Not only that, but the relationships that I cultivated with the other exchange students around the world also had a huge impact on my transformation. I learned so much about the world from my friends and they were able to learn so much from me as well. We shared our cultural differences and what our homes were like and came to such a deeper understanding for what the rest of the world is like and also how similar we all are. I lived with people from all over Europe, United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and all over Asia as well. Every day we talked and during that time I learned something new about somewhere that I had never even thought about.
Another part of my study abroad experience that was transformative were my travels in Southeast Asia. Since I only had class 3 days a week, I took many weekend trips and had once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to travel to countries I had dreamed about. I got to visit the ancient temples of Cambodia, hike in the Vietnamese mountains, dive all throughout Thailand, and visit a village in the waters of Myanmar. I never imagined I’d have these opportunities, and getting to backpack and travel taught me so much about myself and about my environment. Before I left, I was a big shopper and spent a lot of money on things I thought I needed. Once I came back, I started to become a minimalist and really consider what I need to survive. So many of the people in these countries are suffering from extreme levels of poverty, many nearly impossible to describe to people in the United States. When I was backpacking, there was only so much that I could bring with me so I was forced to strategize and pick things that I knew would give me value. This really taught me to prioritize things and pay attention to what brings value to my life. Backpacking not only exposed me to the beauty of travel but also the comfort that minimalism can bring. As I traveled more and more, I started to bring less, and I found myself freed by the ability to not have to carry around too much and still being able to get by. It also made me look at the United States and our consumerism in a different light. We’re trapped in a vicious cycle where we’re consumed by goods in a way that no one else is. Other countries, like Myanmar, are in such poverty that they don’t have that luxury so consumerism isn’t a big problem there, and it was here that I started to see how different life can be when you’re not in a constant state of buying things. When I came back to the United States, I immediately flushed out 90% of the things I owned that I knew I never used and would never bring me value, and removing that clutter has allowed me to see clearly now.
Another specific activity that had a profound effect on me was when I got to go diving in the south of Thailand. Although the experience was wonderful and amazing, what was most important was how the diving instructors spoke about the natural ecosystem and what their concerns were for the future of the waters. They frequently mentioned that the coral was getting depleted, that there was constant littering and pollution in the water due to tourists and locals not caring about the environment, and how these interactions were making the environment almost uninhabitable. For example, one of my dive instructors told us about Maya Bay, infamously known for being the filming location of “The Beach”, and while it used to be a beautiful beach, it is now getting destroyed by littering and uncaring tourists. This really got me thinking about how to be an environmentally friendly tourist, but also concerned me that nothing was getting done to help the environment. After I thought about this for a while, I started to get inspired and began designing products that I believed could be useful. It was at this point that I realized I was interested in product design, and now believe that will be part of my future career. Had I not gone to Thailand and experienced these unfortunate situations, I’m not sure I ever would have found my passion.
Studying abroad in Thailand was amazing because of so many things: it helped me find my passion, it helped me learn so much about the world that I never could have imagined learning about, and it grounded me and helped me figure out who I really was. I truly believe it was the most transformative experience of my life and has affected my perspective on everything I do moving forward.
I also blogged for Fisher if you’re interested in reading that too!