Kailyn Smith (recreation and health education)
Kailyn Smith, a third-year student majoring in recreational and health education, is currently completing an international work term in Thailand working as an Outdoor Education Intern at UWC. Kailyn’s decision to pursue her program at UVic was motivated by her lifelong passion for athletics and her dedication to health and wellness.
“My primary objective is to help create engagement and participation in the outdoor education program across various grade levels. This involved teaching, facilitation, and project developing. The work environment is mostly spent outside teaching sailing, kayaking, and rock climbing.”
Highlights of working in Thailand
“The highlights of my time living in Thailand is the laid-back culture; even walking on a hectic, busy, rush hour street I still feel a sense of calm and peace. Eating here has been amazing!
Authentic Thai food is everywhere and so cheap – I can get a meal for less than $5.00. My favourite thing I have experienced is going snorkelling at the nearby islands with some friends I met at work and seeing turtles and a jellyfish that was about 5 feet in diameter!”
Adjusting to a new language
Living in a country that primarily uses a different language is one of the biggest challenges Kailyn is currently adapting to.
“I’ve learned basic Thai words and have gotten confident in using them, but I cannot explain or speak to people beyond a simple conversation. This makes it hard to connect with people and solve problems if something goes wrong. A funny example of this is there’s this market by my house that sells mangoes and I have tried to buy a mango from there twice and they wouldn’t let me buy it and I have no idea why.”
Benefits of an international work term
"I’m proud of myself to take the leap to do something like this. For me, it was a last-minute opportunity and without getting the chance to fully think about it, I said yes.
Travelling on my own has been a different experience and it’s been a lot of stepping outside of my comfort zone, which has made me do a lot of growing that I wouldn’t have had without this experience.”