The past four months of my life have been spent exploring the vibrant, welcoming, and (extremely student friendly!) city of Madrid. Before I left Australia I didn’t know what to expect from Spain, I was overwhelmed with excitement and nerves at the same time. When I arrived it was December 31st, the middle of winter in Europe, and what I thought (as a hater of the cold) would be the most unpleasant climate I’d experienced in a long time. Needless to say I was wrong, and that my six layers of clothing weren’t warranted in Spain’s mild Mediterranean winter’s, which aren’t all that much colder than Sydney’s. I chose a good city, I remember thinking.
Since that time, I have learnt what Spain is really about, and what an amazing experience it has been. If i could sum it all up into a few words it would be; socialising, nightlife and culture. There’s not a time of the day (or night) that the streets aren’t bustling with happy people of all ages, eating, drinking and getting along. I also learnt this on my second day, when I made the mistake of sleeping all day due to major jet lag, and so decided to go for a walk at 1am to get something to eat. At first I didn’t like my chances of finding anything open at this hour (Sydney mentality), but I was shocked when I found a cafe with at least 10 people inside eating. Weird at first, but I got used to it, and will definitely miss it.
I am studying at IE University Madrid, a small, but good quality and international student friendly school about 20 minutes from where I am staying. They facilitated an ‘Exchange Student Tapas Night’ in the first week, which made it so easy to connect with people and make friends. Student’s from all over the world are studying at IE, and I have made friends with people from places such as America, Holland, Sweden and France whom I will never forget. I’m currently renting a place in the suburb, or barrio, of Malasaña, which is a charming, fun and youthful neighbourhood renowned for it’s awesome cafes and bars. It’s probably the most funky place in Madrid, full of street art, op shops, and of course hipsters.
The next biggest highlight for me about studying in Madrid, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, is the inexpensive, diverse choices of places to travel you have right at your feet. From visiting Morocco one week you could be at Ibiza the next, (and for a return flight of around 50 euros why wouldn’t you?!). In a week or so I will be heading off on my backpacking adventure around Europe for two and a half months, because let’s face it, it takes 24+ hours to get to Europe from Australia and I probably won’t be able to come back here any time soon. Although…. then again I might! 🙂
I would recommend Madrid to anyone who wishes to go on exchange, and it’s true what they say, studying abroad is an experience of a lifetime!
On the 29th of January, I arrived in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It was hot, humid, and the scent of floral air fresheners seemed to follow me through the airport, but little did I know that by the time the month was over, I would grow completely immune to all of this and I would have had one of the most fulfilling experiences I could have imagined.
I completed the full Yogyakarta/Jakarta program organised by International Internships. This involved spending one week in Yogyakarta which would give an introductory insight into the area’s culture and history (and importantly, food), followed by a three week internship in the country’s capital, Jakarta.
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta, or ‘Jogja’, is one of those places where you find yourself smiling a lot. Indonesians smile a lot in general, but I met so many bright, funny people in Jogja that it was impossible not to join in. The Australian students were paired with a buddy from Universities Islam Indonesia (UII) on our first night over bakso (a meatball soup) and avocado juice, and we would visit many historical sites and come to learn about Yogyakarta from their perspectives over the week.
We learnt about batik, which is the traditional Indonesian printed fabric, visited the UII campus, explored Borobudur and Prambanan temples, walked through the Sultan’s Palace, squealed through a jeep tour of the volcanic Mount Merapi, sang with our buddies at karaoke, and had amazing language classes that would come in usefully throughout our entire time in Indonesia. It’s a place I’ll undoubtedly be visiting again in the future, because it’s a creative city surrounded by greenery, rich history and religion, with so many warm people.
Jakarta
And then Jakarta came along. I hadn’t experienced much of a culture shock travelling from Sydney to Jogja, but went through hints of culture shock after the trip from Jogja to Jakarta! We met our buddies from BINUS university who would be undertaking the internships with us, and they were again our source of local knowledge, and seeing Jakarta from the perspectives of students living in the city. Although Jakarta had a high population and we seemed to spend far less time outside than inside air-conditioned buildings, I had an eye-opening time there. The Australian students went to three different workplaces with one Indonesian student in each group. Working in our group internships, we learnt about the cultural differences in the workplace, but constantly, I met Indonesian people who were considerate and so willing to have fun.
As part of the project my workplace had provided us to work on, we were required to organise interviews with experts in Indonesian corporate law, foreign investment, property and market trends. Going out to visit real business people who had knowledge about Indonesian business opportunities and shortfalls was fascinating. With the Bahasa language skills learnt from the classes in Jogja, as well as the phrases our buddies had been teaching us, I felt like I could lessen the gap between me and the people I met. This ranged from practising Jakarta slang on our office security staff, to directing Uber drivers, to thanking the experts in Indonesian business who we met. Jakarta is where parts of traditional Indonesia meet and live alongside skyscrapers and suits, and every day was unlike the day before.
Indonesia had faced terrorist threats and attacks in the weeks prior to my arrival, but I never felt unsafe or unwelcome. Instead, I was greeted warmly, shared so many giggles, and spent time in a country I might not have considered visiting before. I learnt that there are corruption issues and laws that aren’t enforced effectively during our visit to Legal Aid and speaking with business people, but Indonesia is aiming to become a developed country by 2020, and from speaking with our Indonesian buddies, it seems like progress is coming along well. Terima kasih to everyone I met throughout my journey in Indonesia. It’s one that will stay with me for a long time.
To celebrate my 52nd day in America, I decided I would quickly write a blog post about my experiences so far. So as the title goes, I am currently studying at Miami University located in Ohio, NOT University of Miami, Florida. It’s a long story, so I recommend you googling it. I will be honest and say this school was placed on my preference list because it was ranked as one of the top party schools in America, (#19 on the Princeton Review list) which was my sole purpose of studying in the States.
So Ohio is pretty much cold all the damn time. Arriving here on my first day, it was -14 degrees celsius, and I nearly froze to death. Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio is about 2 hours away from Columbus, Ohio. It’s basically a small college town where the majority of the population is made up students. As you would picture a small, college town, everything is accessible by foot which is extremely convenient. All the bars and restaurants uptown are a 10 minute walk away, while classes on campus are a 10 minute walk the other way. There is always a reason to drink every night except on Sundays because most bars are closed then, but even so, no one wants to drink 7 days a week. The party scene here is definitely a lot more fun (and cheaper) than it is in Sydney. Obviously with local bars come specials, happy hour, etc. The Greek life here is also quite big (or it just has a heavy presence) and I have so far experienced a few frat parties and normal house parties, just by putting myself out there and befriending the local students.
I live in a sorority dorm (this college is a bit weird because they force the sorority girls to live in dorms rather than allow them to have houses like the frats do) but it’s still a lot of fun, and majority of the girls are quite nice. The convenience of the location is my favorite thing about the dorms though.
In saying all of this, I haven’t JUST been partying. Even though Oxford is in the middle of nowhere, I have done a few weekend trips to Columbus, Chicago and Indiana (where I went skiing for the first time ever)!
Skiing at Perfect North Slopes in Indiana
Chicago with my roommate!
Coming to such a small town, after living in Sydney was a slight adjustment, but I honestly love it. I love that you can walk everywhere, and how all your friends are just around the corner from you. I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by and wish I had applied to study for the whole year rather than just 1 semester. This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and everyday I am here I try to make the most of it because I know it’ll end very soon.
In 2 weeks we have Spring Break to which I will be soaking up the sun in Miami, Florida (I really need it- I am so pasty right now), and 2 weeks after that I will be back in California for COACHELLA!!!
If you’re considering going on exchange, don’t even think twice! Best decision I’ve ever made!!!
My time spent in Wuhan at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) was a great experience. Wuhan is one of the major cities within Central China. Because of this, less foreigners frequent the city as they would Beijing or Shanghai. This means what I was exposed to was a very traditional Chinese culture, free from many more Westernised influences.
The Chinese themselves were very friendly. Perhaps it was due to the fact that there were not too many foreigners in their city. Regardless, the citizens were always patient to listen to my broken Chinese and were very generous and welcoming in restaurants and bars.
Plenty of train lines intersect in Wuhan because of it’s location in Central China. Due to this they say that Wuhan is the best city for catching long distance trains. A great place which was only about 1 hour away by train was the Three Gorges Dam, the biggest dam in the world.
If any other student does come to Wuhan it is important to know that there are not many native English speakers there. And by not many I mean during my whole 5 months on Wuhan I only met 2 Americans – they were the only native English speakers I had seen. The rest of the students in my class at least we’re South American, French, Russian and German. For me this was great as I was able to practice my Spanish a lot and a little Portuguese with my South American friends. So if you want to practice a European language whilst also learning some Chinese then I highly recommend Wuhan for that purpose.
And also if you do study Chinese language at HUST then be prepared that the course is pretty intense. By the end you will have achieved HSK 3 (The Chinese language proficiency test.
All in all I had a very fun experience in Wuhan and I highly recommend others to interested in language and culture to visit there.
After two and a half weeks in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, I have been able to test out some commonly-held beliefs about this country, Mythbusters-style:
Switzerland is unbearably cold: FALSE
I arrived in Switzerland expecting coldness akin to nothing I had experienced in my life, living in the warm Land down under. While Switzerland is still at 0 degrees Celsius, I found it actually warmer than both Japan and London in winter. I’ve even experienced colder days in mid-winter Australia! I’ve partially put it down to the fact that there’s very little wind in Bern, so wind-chill is not a factor. Talking to residents here, they also comment on how Bern has been unseasonably warm this winter, with an unprecedented heatwave in summer the year before.
Switzerland’s living costs are high: RELATIVELY FALSE
Yes, the exchange rate is pretty grim right now; if I had visited Switzerland five years earlier, my Aussie Dollarydoos would be worth about 30% more. However let’s not forget that Sydney is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. If we can survive in Sydney, we can survive in most other places. Whilst Bern cannot be considered a “bargain city”, relative to Sydney prices, living costs are reasonable. I will mention that cheese and other dairy products are inexpensive here, which is something that brings be great joy as a cheese-lover.
Swiss Chocolate is good: TRUE
I’ll admit that I’ve only had a fraction of the chocolate I plan on consuming during my 6 month stay here, but everything I’ve had so far has been wonderful. Even cadbury-tier chocolate in the supermarkets here tastes like Ferrero-Rocher x1000. Every Swiss I have talked to so far has recommended Läderach chocolate- while these chocolate blocks come in at around ten dollars AUD for one hundred grams, apparently they’re definitely worth it.
While I’ve settled in a little, I know there are still so many more myths to bust during my time here. So for now,
One week from now, I’ll be on my twenty-something hour flight to Geneva, the first step on my journey to Bern, Switzerland. Unbeknownst to most people (or at least most of my friends), Bern is the gorgeous capital of Switzerland. It is at Bern University that I will be undertaking a semester of study. Incredibly excited and simultaneously ridiculously nervous about living and studying in a foreign country for six months, I know that, at the very least, this experience will be life-changing.
Arriving at Geneva in the afternoon, I’ll have several hours to get to Bern and make it to my apartment building before they close for the day. If my suitcase isn’t the first piece of luggage coughed out by the pick-up belt at the airport, I risk missing my train to Bern, arriving before 5pm (or as they apparently say in Bern, 1700), and spending the night on the street! Just kidding. I’ll still have full access to my room, and just have to postpone my building orientation to the next morning. J
The exchange department at Bern University has been incredibly efficient, friendly, and helpful with all of my questions, and have even matched me with a buddy as part of their program. Communicating via email and broken (on my part) German, she’s taught me that a “J” after a sentence in German means “smile”. J I plan on using it all the time now. J
After two years of core (and semi-core) subjects at UTS, I’ve decided to use all of my saved-up electives on wonderful Swiss-relevant subjects. Fun Fact: Switzerland had the highest EPI (Environmental Performance Index) in the world in the 2014 report. Therefore, it follows logically that I (studying IT at UTS) should take a course in International Environmental Law. J
With only a week left before I journey to a new city (and a new country… and a new continent), I hope that I’m as prepared as I can be. I have my “Switzerland” OneNote Notebook loaded up with all the information I’ve found so far, whether it be about phone plans, travel plans, or how to say “I am lost” in German (“Ich bin verloren” if you ever need it). At this point, I guess the only thing left for me to do now is hop on the plane and experience it all for myself! J
Thanks for reading (I may have been too liberal with my use of the “J”s),
When everyone asked why I was going to study in Bangkok the only answer I could give was, ‘I want to try something different’. Boy I’m certainly achieving that here! I’ve been in Thailand for about 3 weeks now. Today is my third day at Chulalongkorn University and I’m starting to get used to wearing a uniform (it saves having to choose an outfit everyday!), going from the hot and humid city into really cold classrooms because they don’t seem to know how to set the temperature on the air-conditioning and I’m slowly adjusting to ‘thai time’ (10 or 15 minutes late all the time).
Chulalongkorn University
Before coming to Bangkok I had never travelled to Asia before so I didn’t know what to expect. Bangkok is as everyone always describes it, busy and dirty but there is so much more to it! The markets, street food stalls, temples and of course the night life! I haven’t had a chance to properly explore Bangkok yet as we had a week off uni and travelled to the islands down south.
Nang Yuan Island
I travelled with some of the amazing people i’ve met over the last few weeks from all over the world. We sat on night buses for hours, slept in hostels for $3 a night, lay on remote beaches on uninhabited islands, climbed mountains, explored caves, danced and laughed around a fire on the beach and the list goes on.
Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park
I’m really looking forward to this semester, I’m the only exchange student in most of my classes which gives me the chance to create relationships with the local students. I also can’t wait for the many more trips around Thailand to come!
Here’s a quick snapshot of my fist 3 weeks in Oslo
When I landed in Oslo it was dark, cold, and rainy; not a very warm welcome from the city that was to be my home for the next six months.
After a day or two when the jet lag had worn off and I had settled into the accommodation I began to realise what Norway is about. Oslo is an awesome place located at the northern tip of the Oslofjorden, a long strip of water that stretches inland from the North Sea, and surrounded by snowy, rolling mountains. The city is small compared to Sydney with roughly 600,000 people although depending on the time of day it can feel just as crowded as back home. Many of the locals do not have cars and use the super convenient public transport system which include trains, buses and the metro which makes it travel very easy.
Oslo is a funny city and the atmosphere is constantly changing. For example on Sunday’s the entire city shuts down. The only stores that are open are convenience stores and the city feels sort of like a ghost town. However during the week in comes back to life, people are buzzing all around the city even when it’s dark (4pm). It wouldn’t be uncommon to see people riding around on cross-country skis to take their dogs for a walk. Norwegians love being outside and the cold weather never seems to bother them.
So far it has been pretty full on which is been perfect and an easy way to meet new people. Some of the various events have included karaoke, bus tours, pub-crawls, hiking trips, skiing and a few free dinners that are a decent break from my crap cooking.
Probably the best thing though is there’s just over 250 exchange students who are all in the same boat. I made good friends with the people in my building and last weekend we rented a car and drove to Sweden for some cheaper shopping and a boozy lunch. For some exchange students it’s similar to home but at the end of the day everyone is here to have a good time, meet new people and hopefully get a bit of Uni done on the side.
I’m very happy with my choice in Oslo and looking forward to the next few months ahead.
I signed up for the Cambodian arts and culture BUiLD program because I wanted to learn how to apply the skills I have learned at university in the real world. I also wanted to learn how I could use these skills to make a difference in the world because when I leave university I don’t just want a career to make money, I want to be able to help others. In reality I learnt this and a lot more. The trip involved four weeks of working to develop a social enterprise called Lightbox in the small town of Kampot. Lightbox was developed to regenerate Cambodian arts and culture and provide a sustainable source of funding for a local not-for-profit organisation called Mayibuye that offers free creative education to children in rural areas of Cambodia.
My trip began with one of the most stressful plane flights of my life. Being a nervous flyer I had difficulty getting onto the plane to being with so, the 8 hour flight was going to be challenging. Once I got onto the plane I was seated between two women who were both incredibly friendly. However, the world runs on irony so naturally one of the women was terrified of flying. From the beginning of the flight she was crying, grabbing her seat and swearing. This made me feel a thousand times worse but in my nervous state I knew I had to do something to manage the situation because other customers were looking around rather concerned.
I introduced myself and started to talk to her about my fear of flying and how I dealt with it. I spent the next 8 hours explaining the various sounds and movements of the plane, holding her hand and silently freaking out to myself in my head and hoping I wouldn’t die in a plane crash. Much to my surprise, my strategy helped and while I was struggling internally, the rest of the people on the plane were able to relax. The rest of my Cambodia trip involved many of the same themes as that terrifying plane flight; massive challenges, facing my fears, communication, leadership, learning, experiencing things I never had before and meeting new friends.
The first week involved meeting the group, learning about social enterprises in Cambodia and the Cambodian genocide (which wiped out almost all of the intellectuals and artists in the country), running arts and craft classes with the children from Mayibuye and learning all about Lightbox. Week two was all about market testing. This involved cleaning the Lightbox premises and preparing it for our market testing event, promoting the event and sourcing everything we needed. The event we held was called StepUp Cambodia, it included traditional and contemporary dance performances, dance classes and a bar (which we had to set up because the Lightbox premises didn’t have one). We made flyers, painted, cleaned, launched a crowd funding campaign, bargained with locals, networked and promoted our hearts out. In the end, our hard work paid off as the event was a massive success and was an incredible learning experience for everyone involved. By the end of the week the group was completely exhausted and well and truly ready for our three day weekend.
Our persistence in week two set us up well for week three which was incredibly intense. It was focused on developing a massive (80+ page) business plan, branding for Lightbox and a pitch to sell our idea to investors at the end of week four. The final week (week four) was just as intense as we had to finalise our business plan and we found out we would not only be pitching to investors from around the world but also, to representatives from UNESCO. As the finish line loomed all-nighters became a common theme and with many tired people the amount of tension and conflict increased. In spite of this, our group continued to communicate effectively and produced an incredible business plan and pitch.
What I have outlined above is only a tiny snippet of one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My journey involved everything I have written and a whole bunch more. It’s something that’s so hard to explain unless you’ve lived it, everyone should experience something like it at least once in their life. I left Cambodia a changed person, found a piece of myself that had been missing for a long time and took with me friends, lessons and experiences that I will have for life.
After over 24hrs of travel due to booking my flights late I finally arrived in Phnom Penh! Upon driving out of the airport my first impression of Cambodia are its crazy roads! Almost the first motorbike I saw had a mother, father and two young children on it. What was most surprising was that the parents were wearing helmets but the children were not. The rest of my first day consisted of visiting the Central market to get a phone charger and adapter. This involved riding my first Tuk Tuk which is so much fun and so affordable! Later that day our team leader, Zoe, arrived as well as one of my other team members Adam. That night we went to a restaurant on the river front called ‘The FCC’ which Zoe said is a bit of an establishment here in Phnom Penh. We also visited the night markets before walking back to the hostel and going to bed exhausted!
Having a proper night’s sleep meant we were all ready to start the day with some more exploring. After a quick breakfast at the hostel, two more team mates arrived. Guided by Zoe, we decided to all visit Phnom Wat, a temple in the city. We were lucky enough to experience traditional music and see the local people make offerings to Budda and pray. After this we walked to the national gallery to view some of the ancient Cambodia sculptures from places such as Angkor Wat. After our busy morning it was time to eat again. We settled on having lunch at the restaurant of a local organisation which trains street youth in cooking and hospitality. Hopefully we can find inspiration from places such as this when devising our own business plan in Kampot.
5/1/15 – 6/1/15
Before we departed Phnom Penh to travel to Kampot, Zoe suggested that it might be a meaningful experience for us to visit the genocide museum in Phnom Penh- the high school that was used as a prison during the civil war. The prison has been left exactly as it was found when it was liberated, creating a ghostly feeling about the place. This was a valuable and moving experience as it helped communicate the magnitude of the death and injustice that happened during that period in Cambodia. We then hopped in another Tuk Tuk and had the privilege of vising the iconic ‘White Building’ (that is now grey) in the centre of the city. It was built in the 1960s as public housing and now is an entire community within itself. We were specifically visiting a social enterprise that is based in the White Building called ‘Sa Sa Art Projects’ who aim to create community engagement and support contemporary Cambodian art. That day we had lunch at yet another social enterprise called ‘Daughters’ which trains and gives jobs to former women sex workers. We finished the day with a 2.5 hour bus trip to Kampot then a welcome dinner and drinks with other Lightbox and Mayibuye volunteers.
The 6th was our first serious day of work. The day started with splitting our project into two parts (marketing and strategic) then brainstorming our objectives for the week. This brought us to lunch at the local social enterprise called ‘Epic Arts’ which employs and trains disabled people in Kampot. We also checked out the space we will be working with at Lightbox for the arts space and bar we are going to make the business model for. The final activity of the day was a team building exercise before making the schedule for the rest of the week.
7/1/15 – 8/1/15
Wednesday the 7th was a day used to gather background information about what is currently in Kampot as well the viability of our idea of a gallery/bar. We started off this research by conducting SWOT analysis’s of businesses and social enterprises in the region. This was useful in starting the critical thinking process. We then decided that gathering primary information would also be useful. We wrote a number of questions to ask business owners and tourists/expats in the Kampot area. I went to other guesthouses in Kampot to speak to guests about whether they would be interested in an art gallery/bar. The response was mostly positive and also gave us some really valuable feedback and inspiration. From that we were able to construct a customer profile which will help shape the development of the business further.
The next day we had the privilege of vising the local state school where Mayibuye (partner organisation to Lightbox) runs arts and culture programs for its students. We provided some craft activities for the kids to do and they performed a few of the dances they had been learning through Mayibuye. It was great to see the impact that Mayibuye is having as well as seeing first why the success of Lightbox is vital for the funding of the Mayibuye program.
9/1/15 – 11/1/15
I spent the last working day of our first week developing our crowd funding campaign. We decided to go with the crowd funding platform Indiegogo due to the fact that their fee structure seems the most desirable. We set a goal of raising $8000 in 30 days, it might be a stretch by I think we can do it! That afternoon we filmed some interviews with Zoe and me to include in the video for our fund raising page. Looking back on the week I can see we have come so far already and are really gelling as a team. I can’t wait for next week. But first a relaxing weekend that involved a trip to the women’s spa and 21st birthday celebrations for one of the girls in our group.
12/1/15 – 18/1/15
This week was all about beginning to make our ideas a reality! We knew on the Friday, Lightbox was having an event which would give the Mayibuye kids a chance to perform as well as giving us a chance to test our initial vision for Lightbox. The week started off researching where we might source the materials such as furniture as well as deciding on a food and drinks menu. However, as the event was on Friday we had to pretty much get straight into it. I had developed a mood board on Pinterest which guided how we decorated the interiors. This included painting the cane furniture white, buying indoor plants and getting a local woman to make us cushions from fabric I bought at the Kampot markets. We also had to do a lot of promotion for the event, mostly in the form of handing out flyers around Kampot. Our biggest challenge was probably the budget as the only money available was the $600 people raised before we came to Cambodia.
The Friday of the event was an intense day as everything had to be put together at the last minute but it was a great night! A decent crowd turned out for the dance performances and most people bought at least one cocktail although the tapas weren’t as popular (despite being delicious!). Holding the event was a really valuable experience as it indicated what worked, what didn’t, and what we could do differently.
As it is about half way through the program, myself and 4 others took a mini break to Kep, a beach village about 30 minutes from Kampot. It is very quiet but it’s great to chill out in preparation for next week!
19/1/15 -23/1/15
This has been the most challenging week of the project so far. The number one aim for this week was to work on and complete the business plan. Whilst we are not yet done, I am so impressed by how hard everyone has worked and what we have been able to achieve. We already had a half completed business plan which the co-founder of Lightbox wrote which has been a useful source of information but otherwise we had to start again! This really highlighted how great it is to be on a trip with people who are from all different University faculties. We were able to utilise the skills of everyone in one way or another. For example, the person who is majoring in accounting did the finances while the girl who is doing design has done all the design work.
Next week is the pitch to investors, so I imagine we are going to be working very hard in preparation for it. But first, we have another three day week which we are using to go up Bokor Mountain and have two nights in beach town Sihonoukville.
24/1/15 – 30/1/15
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more hectic we have managed to move things up a notch! Everyone is adding the final touches to the business plan which we planned to have finished at the beginning of the week however it is continually being proof read and edited. Thankfully, the line was drawn on Thursday afternoon. It was a great feeling compiling all our hard work together and sending it off to be read by investors! That night and the following morning focus turned to the pitch which was scheduled to take place over an internet meeting on Friday afternoon. Three of the most confident speakers in our group were chosen to lead the pitch with everyone else stepping in during question time. Overall the pitch was a success and went very smoothly. Everyone was knowledgeable during their speeches and in answering questions. It was also obvious how attached and passionate we had become about the whole project. After the pitch we celebrated by having a night out at our favourite bar, listening to live music. This was a great way to round of an incredible experience with incredible and passionate people. It is something I will never forget and continuously look back upon when informing my own life.
Chulalongkorn University
Nang Yuan Island
Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park
Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park
