Post Trip Reflection: Identity

As once said by Ernest Hemingway, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” In all our preparation before embarking on this overseas study trip and a goal in mind to research on our topic of youth culture, our time spent in Chiang Mai was altogether a mix of emotions, adventures, and stories to tell. As put by the American novelist, it was what learned over the course of this journey, about Thailand itself and the youths, about ourselves, as well as about working with our peers that was most important, regardless of the outcome of our project. Just as the leadership amazing race was planned, the objective was never to complete the route, of which I only came to realize later, but to actually collaborate with our groupmates and discover ourselves to work on our areas of weakness in the future.

Rereading my pre-trip reflections which seem so long ago that I had written them and as someone in a sense different than who I am now, many of my expectations have indeed been met. I have certainly gained a better understanding of Chiang Mai as well as put to use the new skills of data collection and methodology in our fieldwork. Having spoken to various people with such different backgrounds, I was able to find out more of Chiang Mai than what I could have researched as who would have a better, truthful view of Thailand than the Thais themselves? This firsthand experience in gaining knowledge of youth culture has shown how Singaporean and Thais have a spectrum of similarities and differences on what makes a youth and their identity through social media. It has led me to be grateful of living in this modern city while at the same time thankful that I could have a personal experience of such a rich culture to compare to.

In addition, as I had expected, we did meet some obstacles especially in our first discussion and interview at Mae Fah Luang. Despite the troubles we had in our hypothesis and the need for changes in our survey questions, we powered through this slight restructuring and came out on top. Being adaptive in this aspect, we were able to work with new realizations of the social media situation in Chiang Mai. Learning more about the freedom of expression in Thailand or the lack thereof, and the government policies in place to curb critical posts of political issues via surveillance, I am thankful to live in a society that is relatively more liberal and accepting of differing views. Having my share of feeling different and a little sense of belonging at times in Singapore, I love celebrating differences and sharing with people of different walks of life and to think that this is rarely done in Thailand, I feel very privileged. It is difficult to imagine as well as to do, to conform to the majority of the population and to live in fear of having a separate perspective. Aren’t the differences and uniqueness of each and every individual that give us our identity and a more wholesome and rich society?

In studying the link between youths of Chiang Mai and social media and through trying to decipher what their collective identity was, I too learned more about myself and discovered the beginnings of an identity I was slowly forming. Throughout the trip, I was incredibly aware of how privileged I was living in such a sheltered environment such as Singapore and Canada. As we travelled around this northern part of Thailand with accommodations in hotels and public transport of buses and red taxis, I realized how much I took them for granted and rarely spared a thought about these necessities and opportunities given to us. From this overseas experience, I was reminded to always seize the opportunities we were blessed to receive and make the most of it, as well as to proceed with an open-mind and an open-heart. One regret I had when I returned from Thailand was that I had not spent enough time exploring its ruggedness and the call of nature to go sightseeing or hiking. Rather, I had been so caught up in the commercial aspect of the city with thoughts only of shopping in the night markets or how to bargain that I had forgotten to appreciate Chiang Mai’s natural beauty. It was a disappointment to myself for forgoing the chance dig a little deeper in this sense when I had been given the chance to travel to Thailand.

Furthermore, in this creation of an identity I had yet to call mine, I had a vision of a person I wanted to be of which I had gotten an idea through TOPS. This multidisciplinary program has helped pushed me out of my comfort zone, encouraging me, at my own pace, to gather the courage to step out during our fieldwork to achieve our project goals for data collection. Moreover, through the leadership workshop and amazing race, I gained a better insight of my strengths and weaknesses which left me with not only New Year’s resolutions of having more self-confidence and being more vocal but also an area to build up as part of my identity I wished to achieve. This incredible opportunity to travel to Chiang Mai under USP has been enriching in filling me with this new global experience as well as equipped me with qualities and skills to further work on. Simply put, being a work-in-progress, this overseas study trip has placed bricks in building an identity that would be valuable in not only my studies but in my future career prospects.

Just as we had met our tour guide Mr Happy on this trip, we did indeed literally find a little pocket of happiness in travelling to Chiang Mai and learning more about the youth culture together as a team.  Of course, our journey has not entirely ended as there is more to do and more time to be spent working together. Returning to Singapore, I feel that my group has gotten much closer and the way we interact with one another has changed in the sense that we understand one another better. Even more so, I feel closer to my USP peers, as if we have an inside joke that we share or a secret only we know. Despite travelling to Thailand as one community, we rarely had time to spend altogether given our differing itineraries but within our group I felt that our friendship has grown stronger as well as fostered new ones with peers I had never spoken too. Looking forward, this USP TOPS is only the start of more adventures to come with the other USPians and a great stepping stone to strengthening the bonds within our community with this privileged, unique experience that we share.

“Travel is more than seeing the sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living” (Miriam Beard) Leaving off with this quote, I am incredibly grateful to be a part of USP and to have been given this opportunity. With new memories and new stories as I had hoped to take away from this experience, travel has indeed changed me in many ways.