Thailand: Rithika Nurani

Program: UW Biological Sciences Research Internship, Summer

Rithika’s Major: Genetics and Genomics

What did you learn about yourself because of your experience?

During this experience, I learned that I am fully capable of being independent and taking care of myself. Being in a new country without having family or advisors there with you really forces you to step out of your comfort zone and take charge of your life. Before going on this trip, I was really nervous to do this because I had never been by myself in that way before. This program taught me that I am much more able than I realized to look out for myself and figure out how to get by, even without fully knowing the language!

How will your experience benefit you in the future?

This program benefits me in so many different ways. The memories that I’ve made will stick with my for the rest of my life! The people that I’ve met have made such a huge impact on me, even if I may never see them again. The work and research that I did on this program is exactly the kind of experience I wanted to gain to enhance my knowledge on my future career path. If anything, this program solidified that I want to go into the field of research because I really enjoyed the work that I did.

What is your advice for someone considering your program?

The biggest advice I have for this program is to make sure you’re ready for this level of independence! There is a really small number of people on this program and we all got split up. It was really easy making Thai friends and meeting new people, but there are a lot of times you may need to be by yourself and get around alone. I also really recommend trying to learn the language or at least key phrases! The people here get really happy when they hear you trying to speak Thai! It’s also a really cool language and is helpful to learn!