Study Abroad Advisor

Study in Thailand

Students Report on the Experience

By Jackie Vavra

A Buddhist nation of 60 million people, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never colonized by the West. This is one reason why traditional values remain very strong despite economic modernization. While many students choose Thailand because of an interest in Buddhism and meditation, others are interested in the effects of the country’s rapid economic development. Whatever their motive for coming, for most students the experience of Thailand results in a significant change in their lives.

Those American academic institutions that bring students to Thailand each year typically offer Thai language, culture, and history at a Thai university, as well as field excursions. Many offer homestays with Thai host families. As students grapple with Thai, a tonal language, they begin the semester calling the country “fascinating” and “strange.” Soon they are routinely bargaining for mangoes at the fruit market.

When Amy Croot studied in Thailand in 1996 she lived with a Thai family, an experience that she found brought her closer to her own family back home in New Jersey. Every morning, before leaving for school, her 15-year-old Thai “sister” would give her parents a wai, a traditional Thai show of respect in which the hands are folded prayer-like before the face. Upon returning home, she greeted them with another wai, her head slightly bowed.

“I was never disrespectful to my own parents, but living with my Thai family made me respect and value my family back in the States much more, especially my parents,” says Amy, now a senior at Duke Univ. Respect for elders and knowing one’s place in the social hierarchy are strong values in Thailand. Thais also believe in taking things easy and in enjoying life to its fullest. That’s why foreigners often call the country “the land of smiles.”

Melissa Mulder, a student from Rocky Mountain College, worked with children when she studied in Thailand in 1995. She is now a daycare coordinator for an NGO in northern Thailand. Melissa recalls a trek she made during her study semester to a village in the highlands that was very isolated and very poor. All the toys the children were playing with were made of tree branches and other materials from the forest. “If something broke, it could be made again,” Melissa says. “No one had something the others did not have. Going to the village gave me a new outlook. So many people in the U.S. think material things make us happy. Those children had little, but seemed so much happier.”

Visiting students also confront serious political issues. Thailand borders military-ruled Burma and other unstable countries where pro-democracy groups are challenging authoritarian regimes. On one recent field trip, a group of students drove to a refugee camp along the Burmese border to speak with the Karen, an ethnic minority fleeing attacks by Burmese soldiers. The 7,000 Karen refugees live in bamboo and thatch huts in open fields. After finishing his semester, Chaeny Emanavin of Stanford Univ., returned to Thailand with private donations to make a video about the Karen people. He plans to distribute the video in Thailand and the U.S. to educate others about the plight of the refugees.

Other U.S. students living and learning in Thailand have been shocked at the contrast between Thailand’s extremes of “development” and “underdevelopment” and inspired to do something about its many social and medical problems, such as the national aids epidemic. Tamar Renaud studied in Thailand in 1993, while a junior at Brown Univ. With funding from Echoing Green, a U.S. NGO, she and two friends returned to found the Thai Youth AIDS Prevention Project. Thai student volunteers go out to schools and, through games and other activities, teach kids about AIDS and how it can be prevented. Tamar said some teachers and officials at first were reluctant to allow her group into the schools. It took some time to build trust. Now the project is expanding.

Buddhist values--such as generosity, compassion, and consideration for others--unify and shape Thai character and make a lasting impression on every student I have had. Each day students share stories about a host mother’s patience, a Thai student’s eagerness to share whatever they are eating, a complete stranger’s willingness to be helpful without expecting anything in return.

Students have told me they have developed an awareness of others they did not have before coming here and make a conscious effort to be more helpful to others after being a recipient of Thai generosity. As a result, many students return to Thailand to give back what they have received. Others practice at home what they have learned in Thailand.

JACKIE VAVRA directs the School for International Training program in Thailand.