Chiang Mai, Thailand

Why I chose to go to Thailand: I chose to explore Asia because I have a strong desire to better understand another society founded on cultural values almost completely absent from those inherent in American society—ideas like:

collectivism, where the group is more important than the individual;

polychronic time, which is not seen as a limited commodity but instead as a robust mix of millions of events all happening at once—where your life truly consists of the unexpected things that happen to you while you're making plans;

honor, where your words and your deeds must match;

the internal sense of duty and obligation, where your life is made of the relationships you create and maintain, not how much you earn, or how great your achievements are.

What I've already learned about Asia has made me see that the American way is NOT always the best way, and that perhaps we must learn from different perspectives—perspectives that sometimes turn our philosophical hierarchy on its ear. I want to be changed by my experience in life-altering ways. I was looking for an opportunity that would shake me at my core to allow me to decide what I truly believe—in order to decide outside of the framework of American culture who I am and who I want to be.

What I identified as the greatest challenges facing me as I began my study abroad program: Perhaps the most difficult thing for me when going abroad will be the separation from those I love. I'll miss my family's private language — full of math and programming references and linguistic snobbery, and brimming with inside jokes about my stubborn Taurus brother. I'll miss my dad the compulsive door locker, and my telepathic momma Llama and our incredible coincidental jokes. I'll miss the love of my life, who gives the best massages and reads to me at night, who makes me laugh longer and harder than anyone I know by merely being his ridiculous self, and who made me instantly believe in love at first sight. And I'll miss my best friends, whom I have often adopted as siblings. It may be nearly unbearable to lose close contact with the amazing unconditional support I get from these people, and to miss their strikingly beautiful personalities, radiant intellects, and endearing eccentricities — what am I going to do without the people who give meaning and value to my life? But I know that as I grow, our relationships will too. By learning more about myself I will have more to offer to our mutual growth and ever-strengthening bonds. I know that in cultivating myself, I cultivate a better and stronger us.

How life abroad might be easier than life at K: Study abroad offers you a time—be it three, six or nine months—where you get to step out of your life, step out of your pressures and responsibilities, step out of your routine. Circumstances force you to reflect upon your life, to reflect upon who you are and who you want to be. You are also given — if you choose to accept the gift — the ability to see things from multiple and often conflicting perspectives. Study abroad, then, is one of few times in your life that you are essentially left to your own devices. You employ ingenuity and self-reflection to make important realizations and hard decisions, without the added stresses of your life back home. In short, study abroad gives you space and time to breathe in a new way—a way that is often obscured and choked by the chaos in our everyday lives.

How this class helped me prepare for study abroad: I was taught to value my education as one of the few things that can never be taken away from me—as one of the few things that is not only mine forever, but is also something that is under my care, and is up to me to cultivate. This is why people say that education makes us free. I have recently become increasingly aware, however, that the ultimate purpose of education is not to indoctrinate us with facts or theories, but to give us the vocabulary to describe our lives, as well as the ability and desire to do so. That is exactly what this class has done—it has given me the tools to think more precisely about and relate to the events in my life especially in its most confusing and difficult moments.

How I'd like to describe my study abroad experience, as if I were speaking of someone else: At the age of 20, Sandra Larson chose to transplant herself. Looking for truly different soil to foster her growth, she decided to venture to Asia. When she got there, it wasn't just the soil that was different--it was the sky and the sun and even the water. Sometimes the wind and the rain tore her delicate culture-cultivated roots. Sometimes the heat scorched her tender heart. Sometimes she wilted, exhausted and embarrassed and lonesome for home; and sometimes she felt like she was almost drowning in a sea of the unknown—unknown people, unknown customs, unknown words, and unknown places... Slowly, though, she began to understand, began to feel the rhythm and absorb the logic of her new environment. Slowly, she began to adapt. Sandra understood that changes were taking place in her self and her relationship to the world, and she embraced these changes. Upon her return home, she realized that she had become a plant different from any other. She had gained perspective, had changed on the inside, and had grown to see things anew. Sandra Larson is now a student of the world, with new roots, and the ability to appreciate her place as a spectacular form of life on earth.

See contact page to arrange a speaking engagement.

Read excerpts from my letters home.