Practicing Sustainability & Service

We begin our travels in Sukhothai, where students are introduced to Thai language, group bonding activities while exploring the temples and ruins of this ancient capital. After two days of orientation, we continue north to Huai Lan, where we slow down and spend time in nature through hiking and exploring the surrounding landscape. From here, we visit Nai Suan, one of our longstanding community partners, to learn about grassroots conservation, sustainable living, and community empowerment. 

From here, we travel to a nearby Buddhist monastery for a three-day retreat, where students are introduced to Theravada Buddhist philosophy and practices. Through meditation, mindful living, and time with the monastic community, we explore the role Buddhism continues to play in Thai society while creating space to reflect on our own habits, values, and well-being.

Our second week centers on deeper community immersion. We spend five days in Huai Hin Lad Nai, a Karen community where students stay with local families and experience the rhythms of everyday village life. Through homestays, language learning, community activities, and conversations with local people, students explore Karen culture and the relationships between land, livelihood, identity, and community.

We then transition to Earth Home for three days of sustainable living and mid-course reflection. Students have an opportunity to slow down, reconnect as a group, and consider what they have learned so far. Through hands-on experiences and reflection, we examine how ideas of sustainability can move from abstract concepts into everyday choices and ways of living.

In our final week, responsibility for the journey begins to shift from instructors to students. In Chiang Rai, students embark on a two-day, student-led expedition, working together to navigate the city, manage logistics, make group decisions, and pursue their own learning interests. This experience provides an opportunity to put into practice the language skills, cultural awareness, independence, and responsible travel habits developed throughout the program.

We then travel to the mountains of Chiang Dao for our final two days together. Away from the pace of travel, students participate in transference activities designed to help them reflect on their experiences, relationships, challenges, and growth. We close the program by considering how lessons from Thailand about community, sustainability, mindfulness, and our relationships with place, can inform the choices we make when we return home.