Pre-trip Reflection

In the University Scholars Programme, there is a great focus on having “an intellectually stimulating environment” that presents students with an enriched and diversified academic experience. Indeed, going on an overseas study trip can provide us with an experience not easily replicated in classrooms, or anywhere else in the local context. Having been to Bangkok before, I managed to have a first-hand experience of the deep-rooted traditions and rich cultural diversity of Thailand. Now that USP is offering the opportunity to go on an overseas programme as a group, I anticipate and look forward to seeing a different side of Thailand through the beautiful city of Chiang Mai.

Personally, I feel that this intercultural exchange is able to enhance my college education because it confers us with a greater capacity to stretch our thinking and to become more perceptive. This exchange propels us to think of issues that we may not have given much significant consideration to in the past. My group’s topic is Sustainability and the focus is on the elephant populations in Thailand. My sub-group will also be working specifically on the topic of elephant poaching and the ivory trade, subject matters that I have never truly pondered over in an in-depth manner before. Even in the early stages of preparing for the project, I can strongly feel that the project has already made me more reflective and appreciative of what is around us. I think more extensively about how others and myself have been viewing animals (maybe as commodities) and about the importance of animal preservation with relation to different stakeholders. Additionally, I also realized that my mere excitement at taking the elephant ride when I was previously in Bangkok – without greater thought of the plight of the animals – is perhaps too simplistic an attitude. Thinking critically is indeed a valuable skill befitting of a USP scholar that I am also hoping to hone and develop further while on this Chiang Mai trip.

For this Chiang Mai trip, groups will also cover a wide range of topics that are vastly different, from sustainability to heritage to youth culture. This range of variety is not just found across the groups, but even within the groups. I am certain that for most groups, we have peers all from different majors and colleges within NTU. For instance, just for my sub-group alone, I find that I have peers who are majoring in business, psychology, biological sciences and environmental science. This overseas trip therefore allows us to work with people who are training their expertise in different areas and provides a platform for us to integrate our knowledge from various disciplines to work on a common problem, highly in line with the USP being an interdisciplinary programme.

I hope that through this Chiang Mai trip, I can develop myself not only in the academic sense, but also gain more intangible values such as tenacity, resilience and teamwork. One other unique point about going to Chiang Mai for the overseas trip is also that we will all be in a country that speaks a language that most of us do not know. Although that may present itself as a complication and obstacle, it can also train us to work around unfavourable situations and to have greater confidence to communicate and display knowledge that we have acquired, albeit imperfect (such as when trying to speak to the locals in the little Thai that I have learnt from the USPeak Thai workshop). Lastly, I wish that through this trip, we can forge stronger interpersonal relationships, make new friends and bond as a batch. I truly look forward to having a fond experience that I will always remember.