Study Abroad and Domestic Study Away

Since coming to Thailand I have absolutely fallen in love with so many aspects of the culture and the country. Chiang Mai is a beautiful city with a fascinating mix of urban downtown areas and heavily forested mountains. Getting to explore has been one of my favorite parts of living here.

So far I have had the opportunity to go on numerous trips and tours, as well as just going out on my own with friends, to see the amazing landscape around me. Early on in the semester we all went up to Doi Suthep, a famous mountain temple about 40 minutes away from our dorms by car. Getting to explore the temple, in spite of a rather heavy rainstorm, was the first experience that really hit home for me the fact that I was in Thailand and getting to experience a completely foreign culture. Another of my favorite experiences was getting to take part in a puja during a Ganesh Chaturthi festival here in Chiang Mai. While I felt out of place, I loved the opportunity to take part in a religious ceremony that was completely new to me, and I felt incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to partake in something like that while I was here in Thailand.

One final experience I loved was hiking the Monks Trail up to Wat Pha Lat temple. I did this with a friend on a Saturday morning and we both found the temple to be amazing. Hiking nearly an hour to get to explore the temple was worth every step and the views from Wat Pha Lat down to Chiang Mai were some of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

While I sadly don’t have room here to talk about every incredible experience I’ve had here, I would like to thank Ms. Rebecca McGowan for helping financially enable my time abroad. This has been an eye opening and life changing experience, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate.

Visiting Doi Inthanon Waterfall: