Pre-Trip Projections

Pre-Trip Projections

Going abroad, to me, should not simply be for the purpose of leisure or sightseeing. Rather, we should also take our overseas travels to be an opportunity to discover the world around us beyond the confinements of our existing knowledge. Given the research-based nature of this overseas trip, I believe I can acquire many useful skills through my adventure abroad as well. I have elaborated on what I project to glean from this overseas trip below.

Firstly, I believe the trip can train up my ability to look at issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. This is in particular in the area of my research topic, tourism. Doing research pre-trip, I am already amazed at how thinking about a phenomenon from the perspective of multiple disciplines can help me to understand it better. For example, it would be easy to conclude that more Chinese tourists visited Chiang Mai after the movie “Lost in Thailand” because the portrayal of the city in the movie as fun and naughty resonated with them (perspective of effective marketing). However, I realised that social influences also played a part for many in China wanted to visit Chiang Mai after hearing their families and friends rave on about it with gusto (perspective of social influence). Truly, looking at an issue from a monodisciplinary perspective alone will not suffice in helping us gain a complete understanding of the world around us. I am thrilled to further develop myself as a USP scholar through honing my multi-disciplinary analysis skills in this trip!

Beyond that, I believe this trip can cultivate in me soft skills we all need in the 21^st Century. Having to ponder over a research question and develop a report based on fieldwork will make me a better problem solver. Meanwhile, having to interview locals and learn how to produce a media deliverable will make me a better communicator of information to others. Good communication skills will be useful to me as a student of business school where I often have to make presentations for course projects. Furthermore, the environment of the trip is undoubtedly not the most comfortable since we will be required to do all the fieldwork research we can in a mere 9 days. Nevertheless, I see being put in such a circumstance not a challenge, but an opportunity for me to know where my strengths and weaknesses lie and thus improve myself from there. This would also represent a step for me towards attaining personal mastery in terms of character, which is a desired outcome of a USP education as well.

Next, I feel this inter-cultural exchange will enhance my college education. This is because it will allow me to understand another culture – in this case, Chiang Mai – from a first-hand point of view. Very often, in school, the only chance we get to “experience” another culture is by reading up on it or in interacting with the few international students we see in school. There will be nothing like the thrill of seeing how the descriptions and figures we read about passively are accurate in real life! I am certainly excited to see the centuries-old temple, Doi Suthep, in all its glory, hear the roar of tigers at Tiger Kingdom, and throng through Chiang Mai’s bustling night bazaars, among other activities. Additionally, going through this inter-cultural exchange has also inspired me to me pick up basic conversational Thai. Being exposed to conversational Thai not only allows me to appreciate the beauty and nuances of the language, but is a tool for me to communicate with the locals with greater ease as well. They would probably appreciate us trying to communicate in their language and open up to us more.

Personally, I hope to be able to get to know my USP batch mates better through working, living and having fun together with them on this trip. At the end of the day, I believe we should not only take away newly gained knowledge or research skills, but also leave with good memories of times spent together, for these are what will last a lifetime. Additionally, I wish to understand the Chiang Mai people’s way of life, and its development challenges. Seeing the numerous temples that characterise Chiang Mai, I am also curious about why the locals make Buddhism central to their lives, a question that will entail me delving deeper to understand Buddhism. I look forward to finding out the answers to these questions and more through this trip. Let the journey of discovery begin!