Written by Soumya, Southeast Asia Overseas Educator
In collaboration with our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi I’m sitting in the sweltering heat at a cafe along one of Chiang Mai’s quiet streets, noticeably still after all of the Songkran festivities and more recently, the departure of our very own Pon Lue crew. By the time you read this, you will likely be in your own beds in Portland, eyes gazing blankly… Read More
Written by Kat & Lucky, Southeast Asia Semester students
In collaboration with our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi After our brief yet amazing time in Phnom Penh, we began our 3 hour journey. Jammed into one van with our belongings, we met up with our good friend Sela, who speaks great English, and his family. We arrived at VitaminAir!
Upon our arrival, we were greeted with the peace of nature, complimented… Read More
Written by Dulce & Hayden, Southeast Asia Semester students
In collaboration with our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi We started our week off by boat, traveling to the floating villages. We met our fun tour guide Yusef. Upon arriving, we got to the nonprofit, Osmose, who provided our meals for the entire stay. After a delicious plate of rice, veggies, meat, and fruit we headed to meet our host families.
This… Read More
Written by Levi, Southeast Asia Semester student
In collaboration with our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi This last week, we traded our cushy, air-conditioned rooms in Siem Reap for cozy cabin beds with bug nets in (near?) Battambang. We stayed at Pteu Teuk Dong (PTD), a school that is part of a NGO focused on international education access and community development. We were welcomed and introduced to the program by program… Read More
Written by Southeast Asia Overseas Educators, Carol & Soumya
In collaboration with our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi We arrived in Cambodia! We spent a week in Siem Reap getting oriented to our semester, regional culture and language, learning how to stay healthy and safe, and exploring the cultural gem that is Angkor Wat. We spent time with local contact extraordinaire Cho, who guided us through three days exploring historic and… Read More
Central America Semester: “Gettin’ Giddy for Guate!” Greetings from Portland! Abby and Matt here, your Central America OE’s reporting from a cute corner cafe in Portland! We are wrapping up our preparations for an awesome upcoming 10 weeks! Today we participated in a Carpe Diem scavenger hunt around Portland, and in the process have continued learning about and getting to know one another – for example, Abby learned that Matt… Read More
Written by Soumya Sou so dai, Sabai fam. It’s your fearless knee-slapping leader, and I’m posted up in a back-alley noodle & dumpling shop in Phnom Penh as I write this, surrounded by bamboo walls, whirring fans, and the sound of motorbikes racing by. As I reflect on the last few months, you eleven intrepid, transformed young travelers who departed this morning in a flurry of hugs and oversized bags… Read More
Written By Kate and Danica Coming from Siem Reap, we went into PTD with little to no expectations. Though we arrived with low spirits, this week became one of our best. When we arrived we were greeted by Rith (the director of PTD) and a great home-cooked meal. That day we all settled in and rested to prepare for the next day. Every morning at 7 am we all slowly… Read More
Written by Ava and Sam with the group SDT. Or as it was accidentally referred to a couple of times, STD. SDT, or student-directed travel, is a time when the group is completely in charge of planning the week. We were given only a budget and a flight that we had to catch, and the rest was on us to plan. We had spent time at the Chiang Dao Youth… Read More
Written By Leora This week ended on an unfortunate note, due to mostly all of us falling ill. Though, when I could still hang in there, I learned a lot in our initial couple days of arriving in The Kingdom of Cambodia. Particularly, I learned that most of the people I have come across in Cambodia are very kind. On the first day of our travels, we planned to visit… Read More
Written By Peyton Hello everyone! This is Peyton writing to you from the beautiful Island of Koh Tao!
We started off our week here at Koh Tao after a long travel day from Surat Thani. October 21st was a half travel day and coincidentally Trev’s birthday! (Fun fact: this is Trev’s first birthday that consists of traveling on four forms of transportation: a plane, songtaos, a double-decker bus, and a… Read More
Written By Kate & Nella “Why” is a good word we would use to sum up the 3 days at the Wat Pa Tam Wua forest monastery. The night before our departure to the monastery, we had gone over what our days would look like living as monk. Several concerns were raised due to the new circumstances, which will be explained later. Due to those concerns none of us were… Read More
Written By Gabrielle Bags in tow we piled into the songthaews leaving Chiang Mai, the city that will forever have a place in our hearts. Despite the only headrest being a friendly shoulder and the cramped leg space, at some point we all dozed off in military posture. Retrospectively, this was not enough meditation prep for the Buddhist feminist retreat as many of us admitted to catching ourselves as we… Read More
Written By Claire & Dan So. Chiang Mai. What a crazy three days. On the first day, we pulled up to our hostel at around 11am, and threw our bags in the storage room so we could go out and explore before our check in time at 2. Our plan was to bathe ourselves in luxury, and that we diddd. Let’s just say Lila Massage got a lot of business… Read More
Written by Trevor Thursday October sixth: Time to set the scene. The fifteen of us tumbled out of the van, slung our backpacks over our shoulders and said a tearful goodbye to Krit and Nada. We were then introduced to our host, Nikom, who took us on a tour of our new home, the Chiang Dao Youth Camp! We got our first looks at the enormous Chiang Dao Mountain on… Read More
Written By Ava Coming into this week, the group had no idea what the expect. We did not know anything besides the fact that we would be staying with families in the Haui Hin Lad Nai village, there were possible tigers in the woods (village members later laughed when we told them how worried we were about them), and most importantly that this was a HUGE honor to stay in… Read More
Written By Kelli “OH SH*T, COME CHECK OUT THIS BUG!!” This was by far the most commonly used phrase upon arriving at the beautiful seed-saving farm known as Pun Pun. To say this week started out challenging would be an understatement, although to be quite fair the “Ajarns,” as we called the wonderful Pat Nom and Petchara from the eco-lodge, spoiled the heck out of us. Upon arriving at the… Read More
Written by Samantha S̄wạs̄dī kha! Or in English, hey! This is Samantha coming at you from a beautiful Eco Lodge in Mai Rim.
When we all met in the airport there was a tangible air of excitement and anticipation. We savored our last American meals and chatted about the mix of emotions that were shared for our coming journey. Our flights went quite well (aside from some very off plane… Read More
We’re happy to report that the Sabai group has arrived safely in Chiang Mai! They are currently making their way to a guest house in Mai Rim where they will spend their week orienting to Thailand. When you next hear from them, you can expect to hear about their first week and the Thai cooking classes, language lessons, dance and culture classes and time exploring the happening city of Chiang… Read More
Dear Southeast Asia Families,
We are excited to share that the group has all met up at LAX. I know the past few days and weeks have likely been busy for all of you prepping for this moment.
Now just the journey and the semester of a lifetime remains. The group is looking forward to getting to know one another and our friends in Thailand and Cambodia are ready to… Read More
