Our Plan

On January 12, 10 Simpson College students and I will meet at the Des Moines International Airport at 5:15 a.m. and begin our 4 1/2 month adventure as students and scholars in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  We will meet up with student #11 in Chicago and student #12 in Bangkok.  You will get to meet each student in the next several weeks.  From Bangkok we will fly to Chiang Mai in the northwest part of Thailand.  The 12 students and I will be taking courses at Payap University in Chiang Mai.  We will all take 6 credits of Thai Language and 3 credits of Thai Culture and Buddhism.  In addition to those courses, I plan to take Buddhist Meditation and I suspect that other students will choose this option.  In exchange for my room and board, I will be teaching a course for Payap University on Thai Public Health - in English, of course.  This blog will be about our experiences and our learning in a culture very different from anything we have ever known.