Pre-departure Blog

Hello! My name is Genevieve Locke. I am a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, studying Strategic Communication with an emphasis in advertising. I am also minoring in Digital Media Studies. I am the Sales Manager at the Minnesota Daily. I plan to go into a career in Account Planning. Outside of work and school, I enjoy running, crocheting, writing, and spending time outside.

I am excited to head to Thailand, and I think that the trip will help me to grow both personally and academically. One of the main things that drew me to the Thailand program is that it has an interdisciplinary lens, and the program focuses on many different aspects of Thai culture. I am excited to learn about education, diversity in Thailand, the hill tribe communities, human trafficking, Buddhism, and many other topics during the trip. I think that it will be interesting to see how the different aspects of Thai culture are connected.
I like hands-on, experiential learning, so I am excited to learn about Thai culture outside of the classroom setting. I think that this program will round out my education by broadening my cultural perspective through new experiences. Because I am going into a profession in strategic communication, it is important that I understand how different cultural backgrounds affect the way that people process messages. I hope that this trip will allow me to immerse myself in a culture that is very different than my own.
Personally, I hope to learn a lot about Buddhism on the trip. I have been very interested in Buddhism for quite a while now, so I am excited to have the chance to learn about the religion in Thailand, visit Buddhist temples, and talk to monks about their experiences. I also hope that the trip stretches me to step outside of my comfort zone and experience unfamiliar foods, activities, and places. I am very excited to see what the trip has in store!

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