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Study Abroad in Thailand with ISDSI...As we shared in our Country of the Month article, some programs in Thailand such as Kalamazoo College's International Sustainable Development Studies Institute (ISDSI) capitalize on the opportunities in Thailand to study sustainable development and related topics. Below you can read some of the inspiring comments of the students who have participated in ISDSI. "This program has changed the way I see the world and myself in it." -Ali Bakerman, 2002-2003 "The program challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone and confront issues of development that I was previously sheltered from." -Sarah Martyn, 2001-2002 "My richest moments of learning happened when I least expected them." -Nora Hauk, 2002-2003 What was the most memorable moment of the ISDSI program? "My most memorable moment from the program was trying to make dinner for the family I was staying overnight with in an Akha village. I had no idea what I was doing, and when they handed me the pork, vegetables, and garlic, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with them. The only utensil I had to work with was a machete, and I had to try to cook the meal on a piece of metal sitting on an open flame. My host family encouraged me (and laughed at me) as I worked at this for what seemed like hours. Even though my Thai language skills left a lot to be desired, I had a great conversation with them as I worked. The best that can be said for the finished meal that I came up with was that it wasn't awful, but still, although it wasn't easy, I had as much fun doing that as I've ever had doing anything." - Jordan Johnson, 2000-2001 
"My most memorable moment (or moments) was when we did our field visits. There is nothing quite like being directly exposed to things you have already learned about in class. The field visit that made a huge impression on me was when we went through Bangkok and Chiang Mai talking with prostitutes, trying to understand their situation better." - Michelle Harburg, 2002-2003
"I guess it was actually when we received our self-addressed letters six months after the program ended. We were supposed to write down things that we wanted to always remember, and it was really emotional reading what I'd written. I don't know if I have a "most memorable" moment -- not a day goes by that I don't think about my time in the program in some way. Whether it was something someone did or said during a field visit, a particularly breathtaking view of the landscape, or even something taught to us in a classroom, I remember my time at ISDSI pretty vividly and it's hard to believe it's already been three years since I left." - Stephanie Smith, 2000-2001 "I found the most memorable moment for me happened while I was living in a Karen Village. I had joined my host family for dinner in the lofted bamboo kitchen where we cooked and ate. My host mother, brother, and sister were dressed in traditional Karen garb, and my mother was busy boiling rice and vegetables in a cast iron pot over a small fire. We were all sitting cross-legged and barefoot, hungrily awaiting dinner. My host father came in and sat down and helped to cut vegetables with a machete. My mom finished cooking and ladled the rice and vegetables onto a large plate, which we all ate from. As we ate, we all started talking about what we had done that day. We joked and the kids played, and suddenly I realized that while to an outsider this place I was living looked like a scene out of National Geographic, to me it suddenly felt just like home. We were all just hanging out, eating dinner, and talking about our day - just like I would do with my own family back in the States. It was sort of an epiphany for me - I finally stopped being overwhelmed by all the physical differences, and felt strongly the community of humanity that unites us all." - Amanda Czarnecki, 2000-2001 "There were so many memorable moments during the ISDSI program. Without sounding cliché, it's hard to choose just one. I think maybe the most memorable moments were those when I was able to take a step back and realize exactly what was going on around me. One of those happened when we were hiking through Mae Hong Son, studying ecotourism and staying in Karen villages. One night in Ban Huay Hee we were supposed to meet after dinner with the entire village and the rest of the program members. I had just spent all day hiking up Doi Pui, learning about the amazing amounts the local villagers knew about how to use and take care of the forest around them. Then after cleaning up we had dinner and talked, and even though I could barely speak Thai let alone Karen, we were able to communicate through my Thai friend who translated, and all of a sudden it all hit me: I was tucked away up in the mountains inside a bamboo home eating dinner by candlelight and sharing and learning with this Karen family who lived their entire lives this away, who had lived this way for hundreds of years. After dinner, I walked outside to head toward the meeting, and the moonlight was the only thing illuminating the darkness. I waited for a herd of cows to walk by in the dark and then walked down the moonlight path toward the meeting -- where nearly the entire village had gathered. There was a sense of completeness and of absolute community that was very profound. I felt like I had fallen off the edge of the world, and finally understood it for the first time." - Matt Pieknik, 2002-2003 
"Some of the most memorable moments for me were picking coffee and spending time in the Lahu village. During that field visit we lived and worked and met with people who grew coffee, and immediately, I made a connection because coffee was something that I consume
in the States. I was struck by the fact I was observing and meeting these people who made a living
growing coffee. To see these people and how they struggled to live and also how their way of live was
different and successful was really powerful because it was the counterpart to the cycle that I participated in by buying coffee that they or people like them produced. It made me personally connect with them at the time, but also in a larger sense I became more strongly aware of the ways in which I affected globalization and then, in turn, what that word globalization meant to the lives of the Lahu people living in the mountain village in Thailand." - Lynn Larsen, 2000-2001
How has the ISDSI program changed your life? "The ISDSI program has changed my life by giving me an invaluable perspective into how the world works outside of the strict confines of my little corner of America. Unlike so many other study abroad programs that seem to just set you down in the middle of a foreign country and say, "Lots of luck, see you on the plane on the way back," the Thailand program presents the participant with a glimpse into an alternative worldview. It holds your hand when it needs to be held and forces you to work just outside your comfort zone the rest of the time. You learn to see things with a new level of depth, like looking at an object you believe to be a square and realizing that there is a third dimension to it and it's actually a cube. It's almost a platitude that you can't really hope to understand your own culture without first studying another, but I think there's a lot of truth to that. Most of all, the ISDSI program has left an indelible mark on my consciousness and imbued my understanding of how the world works with a richness for which I will be eternally grateful." - Jordan Johnson, 2000-2001 "I am now much more interested in issues regarding sustainability. I have become more aware as to how little one really needs to live. I try to apply this is in my everyday life by being less wasteful and looking for ways to save energy." - Michelle Harburg, 2002-2003 
"The program has changed my perspective in life. The entire experience furthered my interests in public interest law." - May Saetang, 1999-2000
"It has changed my life in a lot of ways. The friends I made during the program are probably some of the closest friends I have to this day. The focus of the program has led me to pursue service learning and sustainable development, and I think that I'll probably end up working for an NGO in Thailand sometime in the near future. I honestly have no idea where I would be today if I had gone elsewhere for study abroad because so much of my life focus developed directly out of my time with ISDSI." - Stephanie Smith 2000-2001 "The ISDSI program was for me the first time in my college career I had focused in depth on any other area of study aside from my major. The more I learned, the more I was surprised, because what I learned about sustainable development and the environment was so absolutely essential to our continued existence on this planet. Being on the program has given me a much wider means of understanding the way different peoples live, of how to value the environment and find a home in it, and how to take action to protect it, whether on a personal level or a larger level. The program has also heavily impacted my interests and plans beyond Kalamazoo College. Having the opportunity to become as involved with the Burmese community as I did has challenged what I had planned to do with my life. I realized that there were many other things as important if not more important than the subjects I've learned in college and anticipated focusing on in a lifelong career. The ISDSI program challenged what I know of how other people live their lives, and also challenged the way I want to live my life. It has helped me revalue what sort of things are important to me." - Matt Pieknik, 2002-2003 "First of all, after putting me through the wringer of academic rigor, culture shock, and intense experience, I came out a much more mellow, mature, and confident person. I feel that ISDSI really helped me learn not only how to effectively process complex social problems, it also gave me the tools (i.e. leadership, confidence, knowledge, and compassion) to help affect positive change. Additionally, it has made me a much more socially conscious and knowledgeable person. It has sparked an ongoing desire to learn more about sustainability, as well as to practice it in every aspect of my life that I can. I feel that because of this program, my environmental impact on the Earth is much less, while my positive impact on my community is much greater." - Amanda Czarnecki, 2000-2001 "It facilitated experiences where I began to see globalization as not only a word and abstract concept but one in which my daily life in America affected other lives and was part of globalization. It facilitated many of these kinds of experiences where things that I had accepted in the states or things I had never before thought about as choices with consequences (For example, products that I bought, resources that I used, or companies that I supported through investments or purchasing their products) I began to see a more complete picture on how these choices were part of the global economy and a global system. It raised my awareness." - Lynn Larsen, 2000-2001 Why should someone choose the ISDSI program? "Someone who wants to have their eyes opened and their life changed should enroll in this program. Everyone else should go to Europe." - Jordan Johnson, 2000-2001 
"The best reason to choose this program is for the experience; it will be different for each person. The brochure will give you an idea of what you will physically experience i.e., working on a co-op. But the experience I'm talking about is emotional and perceptual." - May Saetang, 1999-2000
"Because it is an eye-opening experience. It teaches the reality of reality." - Michelle Harburg, 2002-2003 "Participating in the ISDSI could be the most rewarding thing you do in your life. I think that what you get out of a situation is directly related to what you put into it, and you have to put so much of yourself into everything you do in the ISDSI program that you'll continue to be rewarded for years after your experience." - Stephanie Smith 2000-2001 "Because it will change your life, plain and simple. Plus you'll get in great shape, meet amazing people, eat the best food in the whole world, and have a wonderful time. It is truly an unforgettable experience." - Amanda Czarnecki, 2000-2001 "Because it's the best study abroad program I've ever heard of. For as celebrated as Kalamazoo College's study abroad programs are, there are very few others with the potential to be as challenging and rewarding as the ISDSI program is. I've never heard of another program which creates an environment in which to study and integrate into the culture of one's host country on such a wide variety of levels. The field expeditions allow you to witness and learn on the ground about issues you might otherwise only learn about in the classroom. Not only did I learn about cultural practices and "in's-and-out's" of being a foreigner in Thailand, I learned about a large range of important issues affecting people across the social and economic spectrum. Not only did I learn about Buddhism and taking off my shoes before entering a temple, I learned about how hill tribes are affected by government policies and about how the sex industry operates in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. And not only did I learn about the hill tribes, I lived with families who are affected by these policies everyday and learned from them. Not only did I study the sex industry, I sat and interviewed the girls who work within it. Everywhere we went, and in everything we learned, there was always an emphasis on meeting people, seeing the faces and the hearing the stories of real people affected by the issues we learned." - Matt Pieknik, 2002-2003 "Someone interested in experiencing a new culture should choose Thailand and the ISDI program if they find themselves interested in the environment, sustainability, globalization and human rights. I think the most powerful experiences I had came from my time studying in Thailand because of the programs experiential approach. For me, seeing the problems, seeing the people who were creating solutions to these problems, from Thais to NGOs, was much more important than anything I read about on these topics. It was very powerful for me to have the opportunity to meet and ask questions and have short homestays with these people because it personalized some of the issues, it took them from being theories and concepts and made them problems with faces, and problems affecting peoples lives who I had a chance to make some kind of connection with." - Lynn Larsen, 2000-2001 
How is the ISDSI program different from other study abroad programs?
"The difference is this: my friends who went on other study abroad programs really enjoyed themselves. I had one of the greatest experiences of my life thus far, and the only real regret that I have is the fear that no matter what I might do in the future, it may inevitably pale in comparison." - Jordan Johnson, 2000-2001 "I think it is different (and better) in that it gives students so many opportunities to learn, discuss, apply, and experience. This is a way of learning that is largely ignored in other educational programs, which are often centered around books alone." - Michelle Harburg, 2002-2003 "It will challenge you, physically and mentally, more than any other program you could choose. You will backpack with large loads, work for days in the field, meet women enslaved in the sex industry, play with children who have AIDS, and talk to Burmese refugees. But because of all of this, you will walk away with a better understanding of the place you chose to spend a semester or two of your life than most, as well as a better understanding of the reality of the world around you." - Amanda Czarnecki, 2000-2001 "Of all the stories that I've heard from the other year round programs - skydiving in Switzerland, visiting museums, and shopping at Gucci outlets, the Thailand program is the only one that takes the emphasis off "me" and puts it on "we" (the human race). From day one we were encouraged to learn as much as possible about the culture and not just view it from an outsiders perspective. This included intensive Thai, before living in villager's homes where they spoke no English. It was impressive. We spent our days and nights immersed in culture (eating their food, speaking the language, and living the way they do). We got down on our hands and knees and scrubbed nets, scooped fish, and worked in the fields. We learned about pig castration (I had to add that in), fish propagation, and self-sufficient farming. Mostly though, we learned about the people. We learned not only about "Thailand's problems," but also about problems with our country and in others too. We came face to face with prostitution, and did not learn it as a label but as seeing the people, ordinary people - brothers and sisters, children and adults, someone's loved one - exploited. It was hard to take, yet even harder to leave. If I could just share with you an ounce of love that was shared with me by the villagers I lived with (who had little and shared with us everything they had), the Ajaan (teachers) I learned from, and my wonderful friends I had by my side, it would change your life. We stayed and played tourist for a week following the program, just as I had done in Italy, Germany, London, France, and Greece; but you know what - it wasn't interesting anymore. I didn't want to be on a beach sipping a fruit smoothie. I wanted to be back with the villagers, back on the farm, working and learning side-by-side. Most importantly, it puts your life in perspective and makes you dream of living a life of service." - Kanoelehua Hook, 2002 "ISDSI provides unique class structure and learning techniques. I also think that a lot of programs try to make you feel comfortable and safe in a new place, which doesn't exactly foster growth. ISDSI doesn't coddle you; there are definitely going to be times when you want to cry, when you start thinking about going home, when you're so angry at all the injustices you are being exposed to that you wonder why you chose ISDSI. Those are the times, though, that you're really getting the most out of your experiences. Because of that exposure, because of how challenging the work is, you learn so much about yourself and about the world. You can't get that from sitting in a bar in Barcelona with a bunch of other Americans." - Stephanie Smith 2000-2001 
"It's much more challenging than the stereotype of what a study abroad program is: drinking in bars and visiting museums in a European country, and locating that one person who actually understands French or Spanish to get the answers off of. I feel like the ISDSI program demanded much more of its participants intellectually, physically, and emotionally. There was no way you could slack off, and more importantly, you didn't want to. Even if it sometimes felt overwhelming, and even if the work was strenuous, you WANTED to be doing it, you wanted to experiencing what was all around you. The ISDSI program isn't a program for someone who wants study abroad to 'happen to them.' You are provided with the tools to get involved and take charge of your experience. Maybe the best example of this is the internship. After a number of months encountering different issues and seeing how they play out on the ground, you assume full control of your own experience. The structure of the program is such that you are increasingly required to take more and more responsibility and initiative into your own hands, preparing you for your internship, when you are on your own. In that way, the ISDSI program is very empowering. By the end of the program, as long as you have exerted yourself, it's impossible to feel like you are an observer of Thai culture. You are in it, a part of it. It is swirling all around you, but see how you've integrated into it, and are having an impact upon it." - Matt Pieknik, 2002-2003
"The program differs from many other programs in the types of opportunities that it places in front of you. I have used the word facilitate because the program offers you the opportunity to meet people, to ask people questions, to work for an organization on volunteer project like the internship, but you choose how much you want to take advantage and how far you want to go with these opportunities. A person who understands this and wants to make the most out of the experiences will get the most from the program. But it is also designed well so that the experiences force everyone who participates to stretch and gain something from each meeting with villagers, or NGOs because we took time to process what we experienced and the staff were so hands on with us." - Lynn Larsen, 2000-2001 
Comments from an ISDSI intern
"Being an intern for ISDSI has given me the opportunity to really see the benefits of experiential education. I've witnessed students interacting with villagers, in their own surroundings, and taking away invaluable information that they would not have learned in a textbook. ISDSI has a way of providing a variety tools and environments for learning that engage the students on many levels. ISDSI has the advantage of having a diverse staff, including Karen, Thai, American, and Canadian individuals, all of which offer unique perspectives and ideas that help to make ISDSI an innovative and culturally sensitive program. While working in the field as an intern, I noticed the willingness of the villagers to share their way of life with students. One village leader in particular expressed his delight that students could come to his village to learn about the importance of their forest and the village's efforts to sustain it. Now he had an audience to spread his story." Ñ Amy Boom, 2003 |
