A reflection from the only boy at the Summer School, on friendships, solitude, and the small freedoms of a bigger city.
By Wan Tim · The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The SOC-ENVI International Summer School 2026 was hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, in partnership with the Democratic Education Network at the University of Westminster, London. It ran for a fortnight in July 2026 and brought together undergraduate and postgraduate students from Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and the United Kingdom to work on sustainability, social innovation and community-based development, in the classroom and in the field.
I did not want to go. I wanted to leave Asia, not to stay in it. Two weeks later I flew home with new friendships, a scooter’s worth of small freedoms, and the strangest luxury a Hong Kong student could bring back: time with myself.
I did not want to be there
In July 2026, I was nominated by my university, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to attend a two-week Summer School at Kasetsart University in Bangkok. The topic was sustainable development at local levels, a response to the environmental threats now facing every living creature in the world.
To be honest, I did not have a big interest in this Summer School at first. I had always wanted to leave Asia, not to stay in it. But by the end of the fortnight, my first academic trip outside Hong Kong, I was surprised to find myself genuinely glad I had gone. Some of the moments felt almost magical.
The night we stopped being strangers
The first magical thing was the people I met. I am not an outgoing or extroverted person, and I usually need a lot of quiet before I open up. Fortunately, our group had a few talkative girls who could carry a conversation for the rest of us, and slowly, without me really trying, we became friends.
The most unforgettable moment was the field trip to Laem Phak Bia. One evening after dinner, we stood outside our rooms and started asking each other honest questions. How do you maintain a good relationship with your husband? How do I find a perfect boyfriend? We began sharing stories about our own relationships, listening to each other across the differences of country and language. People are more able to understand each other’s stories than we usually assume.
After that night, I felt the distance between us shrink, even though we live in completely different countries and cities. That, for me, was the most magical moment of the fortnight. When we want to get along with people from different cultural backgrounds and different languages, sincerity and honest sharing turn out to matter far more than where we started.
Two weeks of me-time
The second magical thing was the surprising power of me-time. As the only boy among the participants, I rarely joined the girls’ shopping trips after class. We were simply looking for different things: figures for me, cosmetics for them. That left me with two full weeks of solitude after every day’s lesson, which I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did.
Why does that feel so special? Because I have never spent this much unbroken time with myself in Hong Kong. In a city as small and dense as ours, it is too easy to reach friends and family. The furthest journey between two points in Hong Kong takes barely half an hour. In Thailand, the space around me suddenly grew. The malls were larger. The distances between them were longer. And in that extra space, I found a quality of time I do not usually have.
“In that extra space, I found a quality of time I do not usually have.”
A scooter as a small gift
The third magical thing was a small gift I did not expect. In a small, dense city, life is often about rules. In Thailand, and on the Kasetsart campus in particular, it is common for students to get around on scooters or electric bikes. In Hong Kong, the use of electric motors or bikes is strictly prohibited without a government permit.
Which meant that, for two weeks, I could use a scooter freely in Thailand in a way I never could at home. I treated it as a small gift, and I mean that literally.
What I’m taking home
Finally, I would like to thank everyone I met in Thailand and everyone who made this opportunity possible. Two weeks does not sound long, but I am carrying more of it home than I expected: friends who now live in cities I have never visited, a taste of solitude I had never allowed myself before, and the small memory of moving through a quieter street on a scooter, in a country I only came to reluctantly, and left with real warmth.
About the author
Wan Tim is a student of Religious Studies at Shaw College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He joined the SOC-ENVI Kasetsart University International Summer School in July 2026 as part of the CUHK cohort.
That sounds like a really valuable experience. It’s interesting how much you can learn about yourself when you’re just exploring on your own.