Hi hi again dear family and friends! It’s Sienna yet again, and I’m gonna bring you the blog for our recent week: the Student Planned Module (SPM). We spent some time in both Vietnam and Cambodia planning our first week in Thailand, in Chiang Mai to be specific. I’m sure after hearing that you’re eager to figure out if we’re all still alive, which we are. I promise. We’re adulting and we’re doing it well. Anyway, let’s start!

Planning:

The actual planning days were pretty average, we would find a cafe and sit down, using Becca’s computer and Hadley’s iPad in order to book a hotel or AirBnB and focus on budgeting our money. All of us had subconsciously taken up roles:

-Wade had taken the leadership position, keeping everything and everyone organized, also making sure to dip into whatever research he could.

-Noelle had helped everyone stay on task and thorough, and helped Wade lead the group, as well as helping with research.

-Johnny gave ideas and followed through with his research on those suggestions, as well as helping to research hotels and AirBnBs.

-Simon helped research the hotel we stayed at, going on different websites until he eventually found a hotel we trusted.

-August researched temples and activities, as well as relaying to the group anything interesting he found.

-I worked mostly on researching and Google maps, going through blogs and ratings and travel websites.

SPM Week 

The SPM week started on our first day in Thailand, March 28. It didn’t start until we landed in Chiang Mai, and once it did our LOWs (Leaders of the Week), Johnny and Noelle, took it instantly upon themselves to help keep everything flowing. Since it’s a STUDENT Planned Week, all of us have jobs, our LOWs helping to set that up in an organized fashion. Wade took charge of transportation, luckily finding us a quick van to take us from the airport to the hotel. Thus the jobs looked something like this:

• Transportation — Wade was transport guy. He used Southeast Asia’s version of Uber, Grab, to book us vans big enough to carry all our bags when we were changing locations and red trucks— songthaews — for more casual transport around the city. He would also navigate us as we walked from place to place. He was highly efficient and always got the group where we needed to be seamlessly.
• Budget — Johnny and Noelle, our LOWs, were on top of budget. They were calculating how much we spent each day and readjusting our daily budget accordingly. They split budget up into categories like food, activities, and transport. They would also help take out cash when we were running low and pay for meals and activities.
• Food — Wade, Noelle, and Simon took charge of meals! In the first part of this week, this meant researching restaurants in budget that had lots of options for everyone. It also meant making game time decisions when a restaurant we thought would work didn’t (i.e. out of budget or not great options). These three did an incredible job giving us access to northern Thai food and fun refreshing drinks this week. The second half of the week these three took the lead on grocery shopping, prepping meals and buying ingredients. Wade, Noelle, Johnny, and Sienna cooked us a delicious dinner of chicken/tofu rice bowls one night, and Simon and August made yummy rice noodles and vegetables the next night! Shout out Wade’s chicken marinade.
• Activities — August, Johnny, and I were in charge of activities for the week! We came up with a thorough plan that walked to a bunch of temples in the old city very efficiently, allowing us to see a lot in one morning! We also had to pay attention to the budget and coordinated getting to cool activities like a cooking class and a zoo, but more on that later :).

March 28:

On the flight to Chiang Mai, the SPM had not started yet. A lot of us were incredibly energetic and excited for this week, or just had a ton of caffeine. I’m not too sure which. When we landed, Wade ordered us a van, the driver being a face we’d eventually get used to. When we got to the Sabaidee Hotel (where we had booked), there was free time for a while. It was a very chill day since we had travelled for so long, having dinner and some of us taking time to ourselves while others watched the sunset or hung out with each other. It was a great way to start the Student Planned Module week.

March 29:

On this day we all had so much fun. There was almost no SPM planning, since we had a pre-planned orientation with an organization called ISDSI (International Sustainable Development Studies Institute). During this orientation we were provided lunch, Thai language classes, and a history lesson in the governmental system and cultural heritage, though I’m not entirely sure how much of that I can share.

Going back to the language class, we split into groups of 4 and went into two separate classrooms. My group, Becca, August, and Wade, had a very fun instructor. She taught us how to count to ten, how to say triple digit and double digit numbers, basic phrases, and compliments. There was a 5 minute break during the class in which we all went outside, where I personally had fun speaking some of the Thai we had learned. All of us ended up having fun during the classes, making jokes and laughing with each other at mistakes but also learning a lot! We were given lunch, most of us walking on the slack line on the campus with help and success. After lunch we had the history/culture lesson, and some of us went out walking when it ended to try and find money exchanges. With no luck. Sigh. Anyway. (We eventually found one, just an hour later on the way to dinner)

After some free time in the afternoon, we went to dinner at a sushi restaurant which was near a big night market filled with some cool gadgets and gizmos. We had fun walking around there together on this night!

March 30:

Today was a great day of walking around temples! We spent hours walking around the area of our hotel, to so many different Wats (which means temples in Thai). They were all very beautiful, we even went to the biggest one, Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan. Surprisingly, there were very few people and tourists exploring temples, and to be honest at first I was worried we weren’t supposed to be there. But as we wandered it became clear these temples were a point of pride for the city and important for us to learn about. We got lunch when we were done, and had free time until 3:30, when we left for a cooking class.

The transport to the cooking class was provided by the company, and when we got in the van to be honest I was a little surprised to see other people there. I thought the class was small and would just be us 8, but these people were very fun and kind, so hey, it worked out! We drove to a market, in which our teacher, Cream, taught us about the ingredients in every dish and had us smell all the different spices and garnishes. It was a 5 course meal! FIVE! And we made all of it, and it was actually edible! Isn’t that amazing?! Your kids and friends and family members actually made food without burning it, we’re such adults now. They even played music at the cooking stations, a lot of older 2000s songs or 2010s songs, but that also meant everyone knew the words so…needless to say it added to the atmosphere. The food was genuinely incredible, and we got recipes after as well. We were all incredibly tired, I think I personally was in the heaviest food coma ever. We had options to pick from for each course — appetizer was either a fresh spring roll, friend spring roll, or papaya salad; then we got to choose a rice/noodle dish and a soup; the main course we chose from 4 different curry options; and for dessert we all made mango sticky rice colored blue from butterfly pea flower!

March 31:

This was our last morning in the hotel. Though it was a very enjoyable time, during breakfast we were harassed by pigeons. Which was absolutely terrifying. But also silly. There were three of them and they were persistent. Little feathered gremlins. After breakfast we finished packing, brought our stuff into the lobby, and went to the Lanna Folklife Museum. It’s a beautiful building, with so much to learn about! There was a lot of information on Buddhism and the culture and religion of Thailand, and we all found something interesting. We even found a Thai New Year zodiac thing, which Hadley and Simon spent around 30 minutes looking up which animal they are. Then the rest of us joined in when we reached the area. We spent some time here, then went back to the hotel and set off for our AirBnB in a different area of the city.

The house we stayed in is large and wooden, and the outside looks slightly overtaken by nature but the inside is neat and beautiful. I personally loved the aesthetics. We all got settled into our rooms, and then went out grocery shopping at a nearby store. Making the ultimate decision to make a burrito bowl, making chicken instead of pork since I’m allergic (so kind), and making tofu for Hadley (so sweet). When we got back to the hotel, Noelle, Johnny, Wade, and I stayed in the kitchen to make dinner. Wade spent some time mixing together whatever he could to make a marinade for the chicken. He used apple juice, chili sauce, and some sort of spice (it was in a different language and google translate wasn’t working). It tasted AMAZING and really added to the chicken. I helped to slice and keep the kitchen clean. Noelle made some superb guacamole, as well as cooking some onions and sweet potatoes together. And Johnny spent his time on washing and cooking the rice, though the rice cooker was broken so he spent like 40 minutes holding the cook button. Wade worked on the chicken (as mentioned earlier) and it was probably some of the best chicken I’ve ever had. Becca came in to cook some tofu, using the same delicious sauce. We used a speaker and had some banger music on, making the entire experience incredibly fun. We called everyone down, and when done praises were sent around, and then Hadley, Simon, and August cleaned up the big mess. Overall we all did our parts and had fun doing it, and no one even got hurt or anything. So it’s a win.

April 1:

We made breakfast today, it being mostly eggs and toast, but hey! We still did it. Wade cooked fried eggs, I cooked scrambled eggs, and everyone had toast to their pleasure.

After breakfast we discussed for a while and finally settled on going to the zoo/aquarium. The walk there was only about 30 minutes, and it was incredible to step up to the giant and intricate entrance. It was interesting to see whatever animals were out, though it was a hot day and most of them were shy, so there were some we just didn’t get to see. But that’s ok! Because we still had a great time observing those who were active. Especially the spider monkeys, watching them calculate how to escape but ultimately being too afraid of the moat to follow through. We spent some time, then went to lunch at a cafe nearby. There was some debate, then finally the group decided on heading back to the aquarium portion of the zoo. It was an incredible building, with large tunnels of small shark species and large fish. We were all sad to go, but we did nonetheless.

We exited the zoo/aquarium property and went straight to the grocery store, preparing for a rice noodle dinner and eggy breakfast. After grocery shopping we walked to a gelato place, where we all got two scoops of ice cream, some having cute animal faces on them using crackers and chocolates. This time during dinner cooking there wasn’t much I could do to help, so I focused on keeping things clean. Wade worked on chicken again, Johnny chopped and cooked bok choy, and Noelle once again cooked the sweet potatoes and onions. Simon and August came in soon after some of the preparations were made to cook us some delicious rice noodles. The dinner was spot on, entirely amazing, sparkles and shimmers, and I was glad to do my part with Becca and Hadley and help clean.

Our evening circle this night was also very fun, sharing advice others have given us, and, much to my personal joy, played Sardines! It’s a hide and seek game, in which one person hides, and everyone else has to find them. Once they do, said seeker has to hide with them, until the last seeker finds everyone. It’s a personal favorite of mine, and I’m very grateful to our LOWs, Johnny and Noelle, for having the group play it.

April 2:

Today is the last day of the SPM week. Once we reach Bangkok, it will be over. In the morning it worked around the same as before, but this time there was yogurt and pastries and chocolate milk in fancy glasses as well as eggs and toast. We all packed our things, and got into the last van Wade will ever have to plan for this trip. It was the same driver as we’ve had two times before, which was both lucky and funny. The drive to the airport wasn’t too long, and when we got there we found our terminal and sat down nearby. Then most of us went to wander, exploring the small area around the terminal. Since there was still enough SPM budget, we all got drinks (coffees, teas, shakes, or hot chocolate) and enjoyed it thoroughly. After Becca and Hadley confirmed SPM is officially over, Johnny and Noelle celebrated together for successfully leading during this exciting and challenging week. We found a nice place for lunch, then boarded the plane. Which is actually where I’m writing this. On the plane. Thus marking the end of SPM officially.

Sorry this is such a long blog! I just really enjoyed this week, and want all of you to enjoy the stories we all have to share. It was incredibly fun, and I think we all proved to ourselves and whoever else that we are capable of being adults. Can’t wait to see what happens next for our group, especially moving to southern Thailand! Ciao for now!

• Sienna