Instructor Intro: Kate Sabo

Southeast Asia Gap Year Semester instructor, Kate Sabo, says...

Xin Chao Travelers!

My name is Kate and I'll be one of your program instructors throughout SE Asia this Spring. I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce myself - after all we will be sharing a bamboo hut together, crawling through caves, traveling by every form of transportation, and maybe even having to endure a bout of traveler's diarrhea together. I'm sure by the end of our semester together we will all know one another maybe a bit too well!

Devin, Caitlin and I are so excited to to meet you all and experience, engage and grow as a group during our travels in SE Asia. I've lived on this side of the world for almost three years, also as an outdoor guide in China and Malaysia, and have most recently been rock climbing in Patagonia. I derive the most pleasure from my travels on bike, boat or climbing rope! I love engaging with the natural environment and the rural communities that support and cultivate it.

Originally from the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, all I've ever wanted to do is build a sustainable life abroad. I went to college in Oregon where I studied Cultural Anthropology, which is pretty much the study of human culture, and wrote my senior thesis looking at different forms of tourism and how these styles of travel negatively and positively influence local communities. I found myself fascinated by different ways of living and the range of human experience and how the modern world impacts all this.

I will shamelessly admit that it was the allure of delicious food that originally drew me to Asia (this is still true I have a serious soft spot for Penang curry). But after having worked in Vietnam and traveled SE Asia I came to see these countries as incredibly diverse, even within their own borders. Religiously, geographically, culinarily - histories of war and famine, coups and trials for democracy. Pacific Discovery has sent you a suggested reading list and I highly recommend learning a little history and culture before we embark on our travels together. Each country we'll be visiting has its own painful or heroic history which is written in the landscape and the stories of its people. We’ll have the opportunity to experience this diversity first hand through service projects, treks, exploring temples and ancient ruins, through individual interactions and activities that will engage and submerge us in the culture that surrounds us.

I have strong memories of navigating through stampedes of motorbikes laden down with unlikely cargo in Vietnam, poorly singing late night karaoke in Thailand, getting lost in the sounds and smells of Cambodian marketplaces, watching the sun go down over the Mekong. I'm looking forward to making new memories with this group of diverse individuals. It is my hope that we come together with different passions, skill sets, insights and observations, to foster a more in-depth and complex perspective of international engagement and overall experience of SE Asia.

So, I'll see you guys January 23rd! I'll be the overly-enthusiastic one at the airport waiting area :) In the meantime, please message me if you have any questions regarding packing or worries small or large. And get to know each other! Chances are if you have a question, everybody else is wondering the same thing.

Travel safe and see you in Thailand, Kate