Cambodia 

Cambodia with the FutureSense Foundation. An incredible experience.

Cambodia was the second life-changing experience I had abroad. Borneo was the first and it taught me that I forever wanted to be the kind of girl who travelled but Cambodia was arguably more important than that as it taught me how I wanted to travel and who I wanted to be whilst I travelled. Cambodia was my first foray into teaching English as a Foreign Language (although, 16-year-old Shayani will always claim Borneo stole that title too!)

So, let me explain…In Borneo during my 8-day stay in Bongkud, we taught English for two hours in a local school. But, really that was just a taste and though it did give me the confidence and possibly delusion of applying to go to Cambodia a few months prior to my A-Levels, it didn’t really give me any true experience with teaching. Instead, Cambodia did that. And to no one’s surprise considering what I have gone on to do, I fell in love with teaching.

Beyond that, though, Cambodia was incredible because of the FutureSense Foundation. They do the hard work of bridging the gap between different cultures and they have such a well-oiled, easy system to integrate into that makes it feel like you are making a difference from the second you step foot into the country. They make you feel important and valued and that is incredible and a huge testament to the work of the organisation.

Also, FutureSense prioritise true cultural immersion, too. Each of their programs lasts for two weeks and for the middle weekend of the trip, you embark on a two or three day trip to a historical or cultural site. For us, it was a trip to Siem Reap where we got to see the infamous Angkor Wat at sunrise, visit numerous different temples and experience a lot of traditional rituals. On top of all that, we also got to eat some different traditional food. The whole experience was utterly amazing and totally breath-taking.

Really, with all of that, it was no wonder that I fell in love with both travel and teaching English! We were supported but not coddled. We were pushed to do more but not struggling alone. We were embarking on a journey together yet had the space to find ourselves individually too. Still to this day, Cambodia with FutureSense is one of those experiences that I think about regularly and every time I think about it, I fall a little bit more in love with it.