Agroecology and Entrepreneurship - Coffee, Cacao and Cannabis

Through middle and high school I studied foreign language, but it wasn’t until I studied abroad that speaking a foreign language became something to love. When learning new words each day in class meant further possibilities to relate to host family members, vendors in the market, and people on the street, I was hooked.

I have been curious to learn more Thai as well as other languages since. There is a significant presence of Chinese people in Chiangmai and around the world, and I would love to learn Chinese. Now that I’ve acquired an ear for one tonal language, I’d love to take on the challenge of another one.

I would love to see the study abroad industry as a whole become more centered on community-based learning experiences. A lot of students go abroad and have an overseas experience on a university campus with a group of similar-minded similar-aged university students.

I think it’s important that students are pushed by their programs to know and appreciate the local people. Just as the tourism industry has the potential to exploit local communities for big business profit, international education can also make the mistake of capitalizing on local cultures and aesthetics without compensating local people for shared space and resources.

I’d like to see education programs put more work into building long-term relationships with local people for the benefit of not only foreign students’ learning but local people’s livelihoods.