Hanna's Gains

Personal Gains:

One of the most important and best things I got out of this trip was making so many great friends. The program would not have been the same without our amazing group. I not only had fun with everyone, but I learned a lot from people too. 

Elephants are my favorite animal so I was so excited to do my research project about them! But kind of scared to sit on them. Being able to interact with the elephants and see how intelligent and ginormous they are was so much fun. 

Cultural Gains:

The Baan Talay Nok children's puppet show was a very interesting cultural insight because it allowed me to see Thai victim's view and story of the tsunami instead of just reading about the event.

The events that Awe, Joom and Kun held for us like this one in Chumphon and also at Awe's house in Kuraburi let me experience real Thai culture. Both the bracelet-giving ceremony and the flower/pineapple ceremony on the last night are experiences I will not forget, especially after Cameron set the sticks on the pineapple on fire...

Academic Gains:

I learned a lot about coastal ecology throughout the trip and the extreme amount of biodiversity within Thailand. I absolutely loved learning about and doing a biodiversity survey lab on the beach in Chumphon; getting out of a classroom and into such an amazing landscape made this the best lab setting EVER. 

I learned realistic ways to make a building and the surrounding area sustainable and can take ideas from this USAID office and apply them in my everyday life. I think the other sustainable places we visited were interesting, but I feel that this place in Kamphuan was the most plausible set-up for modern-day living.