- Program
- Come With Nothing: The Mekong Expedition, Thailand
- Traveled
- 2015
- Hometown
- Tiranë, Albania
This alumni interview shares Besart Copa’s experience on Rustic Pathways’ Come With Nothing: The Mekong Expedition in Southeast Asia in summer 2015. Besart, from Tiranë, Albania, was attending school in Switzerland and traveled on an Ambassador Scholarship.
He recalls service work in the village of Sop Ban, reached by boat, an afternoon in the Mekong River with village kids, and what it was like to be the one international student in a group from across the United States.
Besart was granted an Ambassador Scholarship for his Southeast Asia adventures in 2015.
He is originally from Albania, but was attending school in Switzerland.
Service in Sop Ban and an Afternoon on the Mekong River
What was your most memorable moment from Come With Nothing?
“We were two weeks in the program, and we had all gotten very close with each other. The service work took place in a tiny rural village named Sop Ban, where we went by boat. It was after one of the service days when we all decided to go and shower in the Mekong River, like the water buffalos. It was magical. We were swimming and playing with the village kids in a natural rocky ‘water park’ by the Mekong shore, in the start of the forest. Quiet deep talks and loud laughters were blend together by the river’s muddy stream. Our big worries about the present and future, such as the college applications (hah!), were released to flow away with the Mekong flow. Above our heads, the clouds gathered to join our talks, and the sky started dripping. The tropical forest started trembling, as the wind fluidly stabbed the air with coco tree leafs and branches. The nature was screaming, but we all stayed there… embracing the event as an epiphany, as a moment of complete carefree and selfless state. That was a moment I will remember forever.”
Besart’s Experience as the International Student
Was it different participating as an international student? How was your experience traveling with mostly American students?
“Being an international, or ‘the international,’ was great! The people in my group came from every corner of US. My ‘foreignness’ was celebrated, and discovered with eager curiosity from my trip mates. They loved the fact that I came from a ‘dragon-hunting mystical pagan country’ such as my dear Albania. Ethan, one of my closest buddies in the trip from Texas, would not hesitate to tag everything I did as ‘so European, so foreign, I like it!’ Apart from getting extra sympathy points because of my ‘cool accent’, nothing was different for me in the unforgettable experience of the Mekong Expedition.”
Besart’s Advice for Future Rustic Pathways Travelers
What advice would you give someone that is thinking about going on a Rustic program?
“Memories can be forgotten, what really stays with you are the feelings and the change they have engraved to your soul—so embrace every moment of the trip from being there, selflessly and enthusiastically. Leave the artificial Western environment for a while and explore the mystical world of the exotic destination you are visiting next.”
Besart describes belonging in an international group and the feelings he kept after the trip. His memories concern the 2015 Mekong Expedition itinerary.
The program is now called Thailand: Come With Nothing. It runs 23 days for students ages 14–18 in northern Thailand and includes 60 service hours.
See the program page for the current itinerary and dates.
