The Student Planned Module (SPM) is a component of every ARCC Semester. This 3-5 day block is intentionally unplanned by the ARCC office, so as to provide an opportunity for each student to work within the group to plan activities, accommodations, transportation, meals, etc. Students are given basic parameters around safety and a budget with which to work, but are otherwise free to research and explore what they would most like to do as a group. Working together they must put together a proposal for their instructors, who check for any potential issues. Once approved by the instructors, the whole group departs on their adventure!

We awoke early on the morning of March 31st in our hotel in Phnom Penh and headed off to the airport. After arriving, we said a heartfelt goodbye to our wonderful tour guide Vey, and then, after a one-hour delay, boarded our flight to Bangkok a little after 10 am. Unfortunately, due to this delay, we weren’t able to make it to our second flight and ended up spending the day at the airport, eventually boarding our flight to Chiang Mai at 9 pm and arriving at our hotel at 11 pm later that night to officially begin the four days of our Student Planned Module (SPM).

On April 1st, our first day of our SPM in Chiang Mai, we spent time exploring the city, seeing Buddhist temples, and walking along the San Kamphaeng highway market. There were countless stalls with food, souvenirs, clothing, and more, in addition to a high school marching band and dancing along the street.

On April 2nd, we spent the whole day at Doi Ithanon National Park, which is the highest point in Thailand, and marks the end of the Himalayan mountain range. We undertook an incredibly scenic hike through the mossy jungle and grassy hillsides, visited the royal twin pagodas, and swam downstream of the Wachirathan Waterfall. At nighttime, the group walked through the massive Sunday market, buying more street food and perusing local vendors.

We spent the morning on April 3rd visiting the Chiang Mai Zoo, where we saw a towering giraffe stretch his neck high in the air to get a taste of the yummy green leaves hanging from the trees above, majestic lions bathing in the sun, hungry hippos opening their mouths wide to get a taste of treats from tourists, and many more animals prowling in their enclosures. Later that day, we visited an insect museum and learned about mosquitoes and malaria before spending the afternoon with free time to ourselves.

On the final day of our time in Chiang Mai, we took a cooking class where, with help from instructors, we made traditional Thai dishes like Pad Thai, Red and Green Curry, Khao Soi, and more before enjoying our creations for lunch. We then visited Doi Suthep for sunset, where we had a great view of Chiang Mai from above. Afterward, we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant, where we were blessed with massive portions of sushi. The group ate like royals that day and set down for the night with full stomachs, ready for travel the next day.
– Professor Matt

As part of the Student Planned Module, students were required to write a short summary of what they individually contributed to the experience: 

In the Student Planned Module, I mainly researched activities and figured out ideas from a family friend that had visited Chiang Mai. I also worked on researching and planning Doi Inthanon National Park, which is a challenging site to see with it being 2 hours outside of where we stayed in Chiang Mai and nine-thousand feet in elevation; certain spots of the park need tour guides to access these sites. With the transportation, there’s one thing that was an absolute superhero of the trip, songthaew. Songthaew are red trucks with covered benches in the bed, roll cages, and handles; they made our lives infinitely easier in getting around Chiang Mai.
– Bodhi

I helped with researching both the hostels and activities. I spent time looking into the hostel prices and finding room arrangements that would work for the group. I also put together the initial day-to-day schedule of the activities we chose, although my schedule was eventually tweaked a bit as we had to adjust to fit in the budget.
– Matt

During our SPM, the miraculous Megan was put to the task of locating transportation to the airport from the hostel. She and Mr. Matthew were in charge of all transportation around Chiang Mai; however, they quickly discovered that there was very affordable transportation located all around the city in large red trucks called “songthaew”. The two also sought out shelter during their stay in Chiang Mai, and indeed shelter it was. They discovered a simply adorable hostel with a gorgeous sculpture garden and pond in the front lawn and an amazzzzzing massage parlor located in the downstairs part of the institution. The miraculous Megan also booked transportation with the Doi Ithanon National Park to be picked up and taken around the national park. We thank the miraculous Megan from the bottom of our hearts for her hard work and dedication.
– Megan

For SPM, we split into groups to plan our trip. I helped find activities to do in Chiang Mai. With the help of Google, we found some fun things to do around Chiang Mai, like Doi Inthanan, Doi Suthep, the zoo, and a cooking class. We had to figure out what could fit into the budget, so we had to cut some other activities out. We planned to get a tour guide at Doi Inthanan, but it was too expensive. Instead, we just got a driver, and we explored by ourselves. I was also the Leader of the Week while we were in Chiang Mai, so I had a lot of responsibility for figuring out where we were going to be eating lunch and dinner, as breakfast was included in the hotel. As leader, I was also in charge of day-to-day logistics, such as the timing of activities and meals, and I worked with the group to make sure everyone was heard.
– Kira

For the SPM, I had two roles. I researched activities to do in the area. I was able to find popular attractions along with fun things to do. I also was in charge of maintaining the budget while in Chiang Mai. Making sure we did not go over budget and spending an accurate amount each day.
– Fallon

For our student planned module, I helped with budgeting and writing all of our ideas out. I made a spreadsheet with all the prices of the activities and added everything together. During SPM, I will be writing the actual prices of everything down and keeping track of how much money we spend to make sure we don’t go over budget
– Riley