Kat’s Adventure Abroad, Part Five

by Katherine Diaz Villegas

One of my biggest surprises at the Hong Kong location is how much traveling we can do for our field trips. For specific majors, bigger trips are offered for certain courses. When I first received my syllabus for one of my courses, I noticed a week of the course was skipped over. Out of curiosity, I asked my professor about it and in result was unexpectedly invited to attend a six-day trip to Sri Lanka, an option for specific classes in fashion marketing, fashion design and interior design.

The trip was scheduled for around midterms, and that made my decision to go much harder. I first spoke about the trip to my family where I was expecting a quick no, but instead got a quick yes. After that shock, I went to my other two professors to speak about what I would be missing if I did go, expecting them to tell me all the consequences of missing a week of class. Instead, I received a lot of support and flexibility on my projects, not on due dates or expectations but how I was able to turn assignments in from abroad.

Somehow everything worked out, but I still decided not to go — the morning after my decision, I spoke about it again to those close to me and suddenly said yes before I could change my mind again. As the trip and my decision were quite spontaneous, the time flew by and suddenly I was packing my bags to leave the next day.

It was midterms the week I was leaving and I had been busy finishing my work for my classes and whatever I needed to do in preparation for the time I would be gone, so I had only glimpsed the itinerary of the trip. The main idea of the trip was centered on sustainability and how factories were exceeding those criteria, but when I arrived in Sri Lanka, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The country itself was beautiful and reminded me a lot of my home in Colombia. The six days we were there were packed with incredible opportunities. We arrived late at night and started the trip the next day bright and early. We went to a local design school, Academy of Design (AOD), where we met with amazing students to talk about their work and do a workshop together. The latter half of the day was spent in an incredible shop, Paradise Road, where I splurged a bit too much and relaxed in the café hidden in the back.

The next day was mainly spent at the Selyn factory, a fair-trade company that produces their own products. We toured the production factory and fiber-dyeing location, and saw the handloom weaving of the fabrics they use. After getting a full tour of the supply chain you would learn about in class, the last stop on the tour was their retail shop. The day came to an end when we arrived at our next hotel for the night. On the rest of the trip, we would visit two more factories where we had more detailed tours and learned more on the specific productions of larger scales and brands whose focus is still on sustainability.

One of my favorite days, even though it’s hard to pick, was the day we explored more of the cultural aspects of Sri Lanka. We started the day with an early hike up Sigiriya, an ancient rock with ruins of a castle at the top that is part of and protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage site for its role in the Silk Road. Following that, we traveled to one of the most incredible hotels to have lunch and get a tour detailing the architecture of the structure and how it plays into the sustainability of running the hotel. Leaving the hotel, we drove for a bit and when we stopped, there was a parade of Jeeps waiting on the other side of the road. We ended up going on a Jeep safari to see elephants, and it was one of the most magical moments of my life.

Sri Lanka was a life-changing experience that has made me question a lot about how I want to move forward as a fashion design student. It helped me realize mainly to be conscious and to always search for a better way for the future.