Beyond Preparation: How Thailand Taught Me Adaptability, Courage, and Cultural Connection

by Thorndon Antipas

The summer of 2025/26 unfolded very differently from how I had imagined my final university break. As an engineering student entering my Honours year, the expected pathway was a technical internship: structured work, familiar systems, and a clear focus on refining specialist skills. Instead, I found myself in classrooms in Thailand, working alongside teachers and students in an environment where structure, language, and expectations shifted from day to day

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Our welcoming assembly at Princess Chulabhorn Buriram

Before Thailand, much of my academic and professional life had been shaped by preparation and clarity. My work across education, technology, payroll, and student-led projects rewarded planning, optimisation, and clearly defined outcomes built on constant communication. Even when working with people, success often felt tied to how well a system or lesson was designed in advance. I was confident in these spaces, comfortable relying on technical competence and preparation as the foundations of contribution.

Thailand unsettled that reliance.

The experience required me to develop and learn in ways I had not anticipated. Where preparation fell short, resilience and adaptability became essential. In and out of the classroom, clarity was often limited. Lesson details changed with little notice, shared language was incomplete, and travel or communication demanded improvisation rather than certainty. I learned that preparation, while valuable, has limits when information is unavailable. In those moments, adaptability mattered more than optimisation. Resilience was not about pushing through stress, but about staying present, recalibrating expectations, and continuing with care even as plans dissolved. Over time, I became more comfortable operating without full understanding, trusting that progress could be made through attentiveness and adjustment rather than perfect foresight.

Me running a physics experiment with students

This experience challenged a core assumption I carried into the program. Before Thailand, I often equated competence with preparation and clarity. I now understand competence to also be the ability to remain attentive, responsive, and grounded when clarity is absent, and to continue contributing without needing certainty first.

During the trip, I found myself doing things I would previously have avoided: singing on stage with a guitar while dressed as Santa Claus, cooking in front of thirty people watching my every move intently, teaching lessons on topics I once believed required expert authority, and even going to the police in a foreign country to help handle a scary encounter with a hostel owner. These moments were uncomfortable, but deeply formative. They showed me that capability does not always come from expertise, but from willingness. Being imperfect, visible, and present mattered more than being precise. Each experience reinforced the realisation that I am a capable person, that my skills and abilities are both broad and valuable.

Alongside this personal growth, my connection to Pasifika culture deepened in ways I had long hoped for but never quite pursued. Growing up, I often felt hesitant to engage fully with my Samoan and broader Pasifika identity. My hesitation stemmed from my own uncertainty, and a quiet fear of not knowing enough or being “enough” to be considered Pasifika. Working alongside other Pasifika leaders, I began to connect with my culture through the friends that I made along the trip. Through the kind interactions with my fellow interns the fear I once let scare me gave way to a steadier determination to explore and embrace my heritage with openness and respect, and allowed for a more fulfilling cultural exchange with the Thai students, as I was able to teach about parts of my culture and country with more pride and certainty

What ultimately made the experience meaningful, however, was the people. The teachers who welcomed us, fed us, laughed with us, and trusted us in their classrooms shaped my time in Thailand more than any lesson plan. The other interns provided companionship, support, and shared understanding, particularly during important holidays spent away from home. Most of all, the students offered respect, curiosity, and inspiration. Their willingness to engage, to try, and to learn reminded me why education matters, and why presence and encouragement can be just as powerful as knowledge.

Because of this experience, I now enter unfamiliar situations with less urgency to prove myself and greater focus on listening, adjusting, and building trust over time. I think differently about contribution, not as delivering perfect outcomes, but as showing up consistently, attentively, and with care.

Thailand was not simply an opportunity to teach, but to learn how to be adaptable, confident, and grounded in unfamiliar spaces. It was a reminder that growth often happens quietly, through small moments of courage, connection, and care. I leave the experience deeply grateful, carrying forward not only the lessons I learned, but the relationships and warmth that made them possible.

Until we meet again Thailand