My Thai Experience with Rustic.

This past summer I went to Thailand with Rustic Pathways. It was a a little bit more than a two week program which combined teaching children english at Thai schools while helping create a foundation for a new kindergarten, as well as an elephant conservation program. Rustic was really good about making our accommodations nice as possible. The food that our chef, Chris, made for us as well as the students and families who lived at the base house was amazingly good. I was able to try so many new foods, including insanely flavorful fruit such as rambutan and mangosteen. During the first week of the program I was able to create really good friendships with not only the students who came to Thailand with Rustic, but the Thai locals as well. I really liked getting to engage with some of the Thai students who were around me age because I was able to get an insight on how life is in different parts of the world. Getting to hear various stories about little parts of different people's lives and how they got involved with rustic were some of the best stories I've ever heard in my life. Then the second part of the trip began and I got to go spend all of my time with elephants. I absolutely loved getting to learn more about how intelligent they really are. Elephants are so emotionally motivated, and they remember who humans are. Knowing that I could make an impact on these creatures lives was very special to me, and it changed my life forever.