When Lodi High School students left for Thailand earlier this month they had no idea they would witness a historical shift in the country's government.
On Tuesday Thailand's Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigned after the nation's Constitutional Court dissolved his party and banned him from politics for five years. The anti-government protests that sparked the step down and closed down Bangkok's airports since Nov. 25 delayed the return of the visiting students.
But the students back home are also learning a thing or two about world politics.
"I'm paying more attention because I know people over there," student Nikki Rendler said as she read about her classmate's experience in Thailand. "If I didn't know people there it wouldn't be such a big deal."
Rendler, along with other students in Janel Anderson's Modern World Affairs class, are brushing up on geography and world politics because of the events in Thailand, a country that has been racked with political unrest and government corruption. As new words like "coup" and "government unrest" show up in their vocabulary the students are realizing they have become part of the cultural exchange.
"Prior to these events occurring we all looked at this trip as something that was happening to the students in Thailand; they were going on the trip and it was their experience," Anderson said. "But with these events the kids are seeing what is happening and experiencing it. The kids are almost more connected because they see this as a larger experience than just being about those nine students in Thailand."
The students back home are even a little bit jealous of their classmates who have garnered local media attention, and to boot, get to sit on the white, sandy tropical beaches of Thailand.
But they were also concerned about the protests, which reportedly killed and wounded people in the capitol city.
"At first I was worried about them because sometimes the protestors can be violent but now I'm kind of jealous of them because now they get to stay a bit longer in the beautiful land of Thailand," students Ben Brooks said.
Anderson said her students also feel a strong connection with Thailand because of past cultural exchange programs with teachers and foreign exchange students.
The nine students, district administrator Mike Shimshak and two chaperones have been in Phuket, a resort area south of Bangkok, since last Friday, when they left their host families in the small village of Suphan Buri. The students are scheduled to fly out of Phuket on Saturday, Dec. 6 flying through Singapore and Tokyo.
High School principal Laura Love said the students, who arrived in Thailand on Nov. 12, are safe and have never been in danger of the anti-government protests. She said the group worked with their Thai sponsors and the U.S. Embassy to find the best travel arrangements out of the country. Travel insurance is expected to cover the cost of the trip's delay.
The students have had contact with their families and friends via the computer several times during the last week, and are keeping up with their schoolwork.
Love's son, Maxwell Love, who is on the trip, has kept in contact with families and friends through a blog, has served as a political commentator explaining the recent resignation of the Thai prime minster. He said the anti-government protestors don't want to leave the airport until a new government is formed and the pro-government supporters are frustrated. According to the Associated Press, international flights were expected to resume on Friday but it is unclear how the government will transition.
"We still don't know what they (pro-government supporters) are capable of. Hopefully, they too will accept what has come to be, so nothing too crazy happens," Maxwell writes in his Dec. 2 blog.
The students are expected to give a presentation about their trip to their classmates when they return.
