Culture Ecology and Community semester in Thailand

I studied Thai language, culture and ecology but I took away with me skills for how to approach people, places and situations that I am unfamiliar with. Everything is interconnected, and knowing how to speak a new language, be a good host, ask good questions, pay attention to the landscape, learn in a cohort of students while traveling were all important skills that I had never had to rely on so much before. My semester in Thailand gives me hope that I can live or work with deep knowledge of the places I end up.

We practiced describing our semester to our friends and family before heading home from Thailand, but I still feel that I never have enough time to explain the richness of existence I felt during the ISDSI semester. As an Environmental Science major and Education minor, I feel that my biggest takeaway is that my learning in college is now more contextualized and meaningful. Close relationships with local instructors and field instructors personalized our learning about ecological, political, and social systems. I find myself remembering conversations, feelings, and personalities of Thai friends and host families as I navigate my classes. ISDSI challenged me just the right amount to grow interpersonally and intellectually. I'll never forget learning about handicrafts in Mae Hong Son, eating moo ping and som tam, and making lifelong friends from Thailand and the US.

I never know where to start when describing my experience with ISDSI, other than that it was incredible. There are plenty of accounts already about the amazing and life-changing way ISDSI approaches education, so I won't try to repeat what has already been said. Instead, I'm going to list a few things that I think make ISDSI unique:

1. Learning directly from farmers who are experiencing the challenges of sustainable development everyday gives a whole new perspective on the issue. ISDSI has an incredible relationship with all of the communities they work with. This is one thing I think really distinguishes the program.

2. ISDSI classes are challenging in a way I've never experienced before. Experiential learning sometimes feels more like play than work (I mean, you get to backpack through Thailand!), but you learn so much and it is constantly forcing you outside your comfort zone.

3. The students that were in the program with me were from all majors - environmental studies, biology, economics, and sociology just to name a few - and it was amazing how this diversity allowed us to look at sustainable development through different lenses.

4. The ISDSI faculty and staff are almost entirely Thai natives - they really put sustainability into practice.

5. Yes, you will learn to have full (if simple) conversations in Thai. I didn't think it would be possible to learn how to converse in an entirely new language in 4 months, but halfway through our group led an entire interview in Thai without a translator. I also had a full conversation with one of my host dads about Karen culture.

6. I'm still in touch with my Chiang Mai host family. Kee-tung!

7. The "this could be your classroom" promos are not exaggerating. I kept thinking those words to myself all semester.

If you like the outdoors and adventure and are looking for an immersion program that will challenge you - this is the best you can get.

The four months I spent in Thailand were the best four months of my college experience. I was not sure when I would ever have the chance to go over to Southeast Asia so I was extremely excited about this program. We traveled all around Thailand learning about sustainable development from local people. We studied forests, agriculture, oceans and the city of Chiang Mai. The best part of this program was how integrated you are with the Thai culture. You live with a host family which is nerve-wracking because of the language barrier, but at the end of the semester, everyone in the program was competent in the Thai language. But this only happened by our integration into the community. Thai culture is beautiful and lively and not to mention the food is incredible. I was not ready to leave Thailand at the end of the semester. I still talk to my host family and it has been over a year since I was last in Thailand. This program is unlike any other programs because of the experiential learning. I highly recommend this program to everyone, no matter your major!

ISDSI was the most incredible experience, and really pushed me outside of my comfort zone. The semester was like nothing I have experienced before, and I value it above most things in college for the eye-opening opportunities it provided me. The home stays were incredible, the food is amazing, and the connections I made there will continue throughout the rest of my life. It's an intense semester, so be prepared to have your brain 'turned on' for four months straight without much of a break. Sometimes that can be overwhelming, and the only thing ISDSI could have done better would be to have better mental health support/communication, or support in general for students who might be struggling, for whatever reasons. Overall, though, I LOVED and miss my semester with ISDSI very much.

This was an amazing experience that I will never forget and encourage everyone considering to apply for. The language and culture immersion was amazing, the host families and field instructors were awesome, and the locations and courses were better than I could have hoped for. Overall this was an amazing program and I am really happy I didn't choose any other program. I think every college student should have an immersive learning experience like the one that ISDSI offers. Initially I was concerned that my Thai language skills would feel useless. But that is what allowed me to learn the most from local instructors and from my host families, and even though I don't use it now I think it's what contributed most to my education with ISDSI. Be aware that a lot of the villages and home stays will be with Christian Thais, not Buddhist or animist ones like you may expect. Many of the organizations ISDSI works with and the majority of the staff are Christian as well. This is not mentioned on the website but it's good to know before you go. The internship experience was not great but the program was excellent.

Studying abroad in Thailand with ISDSI was "life changing" for me. As much as I dislike the stereotypical narrative of going abroad and coming back a changed person, I do think that the personal connections I developed while studying in Thailand will affect me for the rest of my life. My favorite parts about this program were the homestay experience where I developed close relationships with my host families -- enough so that I returned the next year to complete my senior thesis work in Thailand, and am considering moving there post-undergrad to work, mainly to stay in touch with those communities and individuals I became close with. The other facet of the program that I enjoyed the most was the intensive language learning. Learning Thai from scratch in an extremely fluid and intuitive way really helped me towards a greater respect and understanding of Thai culture and people in a way that would be impossible without the language skills.

Sustainability is extremely applicable to the current state of affairs in the US. ISDSI provides students with insight into the development of a country and its sustainable capacity.
The program can be challenging at times in terms of being in situations that may not be familiar for many students that have grown up in the US. However, ISDSI is a truly unique program, and I am extremely grateful for the people that I have met and the education I have gained.