I chose Elephants and Amazing Thailand to get both a focused, educational experience working with elephants and the local people, while also getting the chance to travel the country and explore the true beauty of Thailand!
Alumni Spotlight: Cailley Rawson
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Why did you choose this program?
What did your program provider assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
Rustic Pathways is amazing! They organize the entire trip for you, and even put you on the same flight as all the other students traveling to Thailand that week. There is not much that you have to do except show up!
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?
Something that I would tell another student about to embark on this trip is to have an open mind. The culture in Thailand is much different than many other countries, making it something that needs to be fully embraced in order to get the full experience.
Don't be nervous about entering another culture because once you fully emerge yourself into the local's lives, you feel like you have lived there forever!
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
An average day is busy! During the first week, at the elephant conservation, we woke up bright and early every morning in order to retrieve our elephants from the jungle. We would then bring them to bathe in a local watering hole.
The rest of the morning and afternoon were usually spent doing some sort of activity on the conservation or around Lampang, and then we returned to bathe the elephants once more and return them to their night spot!
For the second week, we traveled a lot! We usually visited one to two temples or monasteries a day, while also visiting museums and caves, getting traditional Thai massages, going on boat rides, or shopping! Overall, the two weeks are packed with fun and excitement, but be ready to crash as soon as you get back to your hotel!
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?
My biggest fear was not connecting with the people on my trip! Being 17 and traveling all the way around the world for two and a half weeks is terrifying, but the people that I met were amazing, both students and Thai locals.
I got over my fear by just being myself and not worrying too much about fitting in, which really made people feel comfortable and we were all able to become really good friends in the end!