{"id":15653,"date":"2017-06-06T13:43:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T13:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/?p=15653"},"modified":"2024-01-30T12:05:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T17:05:45","slug":"opportunity-of-a-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15657 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-2.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a>Several weeks ago I got an opportunity of a lifetime to go over 9,000 miles away from home to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience. As part of the Work Experience class at the St. Petersburg College Veterinary Technology program we were able to go to Thailand and work with an endangered species, the Asian elephant. WFFT or Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand which was about 3 hours from Bangkok is a facility that saves these endangered animals from being used in logging companies, being ridden for entertainment, and abuse. WTTF has just celebrated its 16th anniversary and was started by an ex dutch fashion designer that needed a change in his life and wanted to leave a legacy. The experience I had at this facility was probably one that I will never get to experience again. I will say that the days were not easy, with the extreme heat and humidity definitely made for a tough working environment but does not change the fact that is was an awesome experience. One particular elephant whose name is \u201cMalai\u201d and is in the pictures attached was walked in a large field right next door to her enclosure and it was so special because the Mahout (which is the elephant handler) would almost leave you and the elephant alone to make it a much more rewarding experience, it was almost like it was you and the elephant all alone and almost having this connection which sounds silly but it was truly amazing. I greatly enjoyed this trip even though it was hard work and for someone who wants to work with exotics just like this at some point of his career this has definitely helped me in furthering my experience and reaching a lifelong goal.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/category\/thailand\/\">Click here <\/a>to read other stories from the SPC Thailand Study Abroad program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several weeks ago I got an opportunity of a lifetime to go over 9,000 miles away from home to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience. As part of the Work Experience class at the St. Petersburg College Veterinary Technology program we were able to go to Thailand and work &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":360,"featured_media":15656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,826],"tags":[],"coauthors":[473],"class_list":["post-15653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-study-abroad","category-thailand"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for International Programs\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"465\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"278\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Fuller\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Fuller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Fuller\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7\"},\"headline\":\"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Study Abroad\",\"Thailand\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\",\"name\":\"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7\"},\"description\":\"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg\",\"width\":465,\"height\":278,\"caption\":\"Opportunity of a Lifetime\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/\",\"name\":\"Center for International Programs\",\"description\":\"Providing students, faculty and staff opportunities on how to become globally engaged.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7\",\"name\":\"Robert Fuller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g127c17ea8efbb65e3ca6e1a49f7fd963\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robert Fuller\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.spcollege.edu\\\/international\\\/author\\\/robert-fuller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime","description":"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime","og_description":"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","og_site_name":"Center for International Programs","article_published_time":"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":465,"height":278,"url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Robert Fuller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robert Fuller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/"},"author":{"name":"Robert Fuller","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7"},"headline":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime","datePublished":"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/"},"wordCount":319,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg","articleSection":["Study Abroad","Thailand"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","name":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg","datePublished":"2017-06-06T13:43:45+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T17:05:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7"},"description":"I got an opportunity of a lifetime to experience something that some people will never get the opportunity to experience.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2017\/06\/Malai-WFFT-e1496756149843.jpg","width":465,"height":278,"caption":"Opportunity of a Lifetime"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"St. Petersburg College Study Abroad: Opportunity of a Lifetime"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/","name":"Center for International Programs","description":"Providing students, faculty and staff opportunities on how to become globally engaged.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/#\/schema\/person\/bfc53b15effff55485d9506845af25a7","name":"Robert Fuller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g127c17ea8efbb65e3ca6e1a49f7fd963","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2bb7614e409c75dd80a36677df9872d8d601af080935a5ff2a546077252e36c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Robert Fuller"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/author\/robert-fuller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15659,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15653\/revisions\/15659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15653"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}