A Once in a Lifetime Experience

Sawasdee Ka (Hello in Thai) I first found Loop Abroad through a suggested post on Facebook, and my first thought was "there's no way this can be legit or real" but the more I looked into their website, the more I knew I had to go on this trip. I was a second year college student at the time and I want to go to veterinary school after I finish undergrad. What immediately drew me to this program was the itinerary and all the experiences I will receive just by going on this two week trip.
For starters, my mom is extremely strict and protective, to the point where I wasn't allowed to sleep over at good friend's houses when I was younger, so I knew getting her onboard for this trip was not going to be easy. Jane, the director, was absolutely AMAZING because my mom probably emailed her nonstop asking all different types of questions about safety and Jane took the time to answer each and every one. She also gave us the option of video chatting moms and their children who have previously gone on the trip to prove that the trip is in fact safe. With Jane's help, my mom was convinced to let me go on the trip! Usually everyone accepted into the program fly to JFK airport to meet before they all fly together to Thailand, but coming from California, my mom didn't want to spend more money flying me to NY, so instead I flew to Thailand on my own from SFO. Jane was completely understanding and she coordinated with my mom to make sure that I was taken care of. I was originally going to arrive a day early and Jane was ready to accommodate me, but instead my flight was delayed and I only showed up a couple hours before the other girls arrived. Jane was at the airport waiting for me to make sure that I was not lost when I first showed up in Thailand. Also at the end of the trip, instead of flying back to NY with the other girls, I left a day early to meet my mom in Singapore. Jane and Addam were both very helpful and made sure I got to the airport on time and to my terminal safe and sound before they sent me off.
Overall the staff is absolutely amazing. Noom and Aum were basically our caretakers for the entire trip and I have never met more kind and considerate people in my life. They always made sure that we were comfortable and had what we needed. There was a time where my earring broke and Aum offered to go to 7/11 at 11pm at night to get superglue, which is so incredibly considerate of him. They made sure that if we didn't enjoy the food or have enough to eat, they would give us something we would enjoy. I felt completely at home with them, and Noom's lovely wife would cook us breakfast every morning. The accommodations at Spicy Thai Hostel in Chiang Mai are great!! Air conditioned, nice beds, wifi, tons of furniture, and it felt like home. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to talk to family and friends back home, but the wifi in the Hostel was great and there was sometimes random parts in town that had wifi, but it was nice to not be on our phones the whole time and to just take in the experience. The showers felt outdoorsy and there were some geckos that would join us, but there was hot/warm water for the majority.
What was really great was that the group of girls I was in only had 10 girls, which made it easier to get close and have more experiences since we are a small group. All the girls were incredible and I miss them all to death!! I still talk to a couple of them on the regular, pretty much daily and they have become my best friends. I'm actually visiting one this summer, so from this trip, you can make life long friends. All the girls are interested in the veterinary field so it wasn't hard to get along with everyone, and since we all came from different parts of the states and even Puerto Rico, everyone had a different story and it was so awesome to get to know a different culture.
I am an extremely picky eater, and that was the one thing I was most worried about when coming to Thailand, but every night I found something that I enjoyed. Noom and Aum make sure that they take us to good restaurants with yummy food that everyone will enjoy, and they accommodate vegetarians and such. The food was SO GOOD. I also made sure to pack snacks from the US because I was so afraid that I wouldn't like anything, but I ended up sharing the snacks with everyone because I knew I wouldn't finish them.
The actual hands on work at the ARK was extremely beneficial to my learning. I had no veterinary experience prior to the trip, so I felt as if I was going to know nothing, but I wasn't the only one. Hannah, our veterinarian, is so great! She's down to earth and you can tell she really loves her job. Being able to go from giving a dog a physical to helping neuter a dog is absolutely amazing and wonderful experience.
Besides working at the ARK during the day, there was lots of downtime at night, sometimes we went to awesome night markets and shopped around. We were always in groups of at least 3-4 people and we had cell phones with Jane, Addam, Noom, Aum, and Hannah's numbers in case we had to call them. There was not one time where I felt in danger when walking around with a couple of girls from my group in the night market. Jane sets specific times where we are supposed to check in when we are separated for short periods of time and there are consequences if one shows up late, so everyone made sure to show up on time.
During the second week we went to ENP, and it was an experience of its own. Waking up to elephant calls and having meals with elephants wandering around in the background is so incredible. We did so many hands on things, my favorites were bathing the elephants and tubing down the river. There was one guy named Toby and our vet Hannah who took care of us there and we learned so much during that short week. There were two elephant vets that we worked alongside and it was so cool to see how different vets work in different cultures. Being so close to elephants let alone touching them and helping clean their wounds is something that you can't just do anywhere. The cabins we stayed in didn't have a closed roof so we did sleep in beds with mosquito nets and the bathrooms were outside, but thats the fun of going to a new place with new experiences. There were times that we had to take bucket showers, which I actually enjoyed after a hot day of working, so its kind of like a fancy camping! During our time at ENP, we went to a local school and got to play with the kids and it was so interesting to see schools from different cultures!
Jane and Addam make sure that we have a wonderful itinerary, from climbing a mountain to visit a sacred temple, to cutting down a cornfield with machetes, to seeing the lady boys on the last day (which I sadly had to miss out on), but this trip wasn't just a "veterinary trip", it gave us a glimpse of Thailand and the awesome things that we can do. We even hung out with baby tigers and bigger tigers at the Tiger Kingdom!! I legit cuddled a tiger!!!
I can never stop talking about this trip even though I went almost a year ago. I loved it so so so much!!!!! I wish I could go every year, and I most definitely would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a dip into the culture of Thailand and also get awesome veterinary experience. We calculated it and we got 80 hours of experience under a direct vet, which looks awesome on your application and resume! This is seriously a once in a lifetime experience but I am planning on making it happen again!!!! It was SO much fun, and seriously one of the best things I have ever done in my life.
Kòp kun ka for this experience Loop!! (Thank you!) &&
Chăn rák kun ka Loop Abroad! (I love you!)