This first week of our first field course has been challenging. It is the only seminar week and the next three are in the field, so it has been extremely front loaded. We have covered a considerable amount of reading and lecture on Agroecology and sustainable food systems.  Even if I’ve only retained a fraction of what I’ve learned (hopefully, i’ve retained a bit more) then i feel like i know a lot about conventional and sustainable agriculture and agroecosystems.

When I haven’t had my head in a course pack, I’ve been enjoying the independence of living in an apartment in down town Chiang Mai. For the first time since arriving, I have direct and open access to exploring the city and its beauty and culture.  Our apartments don’t have kitchens, so we have to eat out at every meal.  This has been a great opportunity to explore the local day market, the even more convenient night market, and the different streets and sois in the area that are filled with little ran ahans (food restaurants).  If you can wrap your mind around it, I have eaten a serving of Pad Siew from the night market for only 15 baht. That is roughly 50 cents American! I almost cannot believe I have ever paid 10 or even 12 dollars for the same amount of food in America.

Of course, i’m all about the experiential.  Starting Monday, fifteen other students and I, along with two field instructors (one Thai, one American) leave Chiang Mai for Mae Taa village south of the city.  I will spend a week there with a host family all the while continuing the academic reading as well as writing, working in the fields with the family on their farm, and doing other various academic field activities and testing our thai speaking abilities.  Afterwards we are headed to the Upland Holistic Development Project for almost two weeks.

I anticipate these next few weeks to be challenging in a different way than I am used to, in a way that I will feel genuinely and utterly exhausted, mentally and physically, once we return to the apartments almost three weeks from now, still having to finish writing my final seminar paper. But, right now, i’m excited for that feeling. Be back in three weeks with adventures, pictures, stories, and hopefully, things i can’t even anticipate.