EXCHANGE STUDIES REPORT

Transcription

1 EXCHANGE STUDIES REPORT University: Chulalongkorn University Exchange programme: Bilateral Exchange Exchange term/s: Autumn 2012 Student: Robin Martinsson 1

2 Introduction From August to December 2012, I did one semester at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. It was an amazing 5 months that I m happy to have experienced. Chulalongkorn University, or Chula, is the oldest and most highly regarded university in Thailand. It feels good to have been a part of it. I sure miss wearing school uniform while riding a tuk-tuk eating fresh pineapples. I will try and share as much of it as I possibly can in this report. Before departure There are several important things that need to be done before departure. Purchase plane tickets. Once you know the start date of the semester, book your ticket right away. On you ll find the cheapest flights. Obtain a Visa at the Thai Embassy/Consulate. You will need to bring your admission/acceptance letter from Chula along with your passport and two passport pictures. It was really stressful for me since I didn t get my admission letter until a week before my departure. They will issue you a single-entry Visa for the duration of 90 days. The school will give you another letter so you can renew your Visa before it expires. Or you can just leave the country and re-enter Thailand again with no Visa, this will give you another 30 days. If you would like to travel a lot I recommend you to get a multiple-entry Visa. I did stay with my single-entry and just renewed it. Make sure you plan what to do about your Visa before leaving so you don t pay more than you need. Vaccination. The vaccines I took were Twinrix, IXIARO (Japanese encephalitis), Typherix (Tyfoid), Dukoral (Cholera). Try to take the vaccine at least one month before leaving. Pack wisely. Bangkok is by average the hottest city in the world. I ended up wearing only half of the stuff I brought. You might want to bring at least one or two pair of long pants many of Thailand s tourist attractions are its Buddhist temples which require you to wear shirts with sleeves and long pants. Also, many clubs won t let you in if you are wearing shorts. Many places are air-conditioned so you might need a sweater to keep you warm on long bus or train rides, sometimes even in Chula s classrooms. I would also recommend bringing a converter for some of your electronic equipment. The electrical outlets in Thailand are 220V. Arrival and registration If the school is assigning you a buddy, a Thai Chula student who will be your guide through the semester, he/she might pick you up at the airport. This buddy will help getting you the school uniform and picture, mobile phone contract and stuff like that. The registration will take place on the orientation day. 2

3 Finances I had the same finance as I would have on a semester back home. It was definitely harder to live on when being abroad. I got a lump sum of it all when leaving Sweden. And for me, that made it hard to hold on to. Studying abroad naturally gets more expensive considering all the things there is to do. It is important to leave yourself a buffer in case any unexpected circumstances arise. Accommodation I stayed at Asoke Residence. We had three choices by Chula; Evergreen Place, Asoke Residence and Nonsi Residence. There are usually four people to an apartment and to people to a room for 10,000 baht each per month plus utilities. We ended up paying approximately 13,000 baht per month. I visited all of the hotels and I highly recommend Evergreen and Asoke. They are both pretty close to the university. From Asoke it takes about 10 minutes with MRT (Bangkok s subway). The service is great! The rooms are being cleaned two days a week and you can ask them to do your laundry for only 100 baht/kg. Plus the staff is really friendly. Academic matters As most universities in Thailand you have to wear uniforms. Girls have to wear a black skirt, a white blouse with Chula buttons and a Chula pin, and a brown belt with a Chula belt buckle. Guys have to wear black/navy blue pants, a white button shirt, and a belt with a Chula belt buckle. The freshmen have to wear a tie. Registration is done in person when you arrive at the university. Class schedules may still change during the first two weeks of school, so you might have to rework your schedule around a couple of times. Each class is usually 3 hours long starting from either 9.00 AM or 1.00 PM. I took four 4 th year courses which I thought would be kind of tough but the 3

4 workload was really not. Some material is very interesting because it is taught by professors who have experience working in various places around the world. My schedule was from Monday to Wednesday with one class a day which gave me a lot of free time. The good thing is that most of the exchange students have basically the same schedule so you ll always have company on your trips. The majority of Chula s international students are in BBA/EBA (Business/Economics) so I did not meet a lot of international students around my faculty. Most of the time I was around Thai students which I thought was fun and interesting. Thai student s English skills differ, some speaks fluently and some can barely speak. If anything, I did learn a lot of the Thai language! Language and culture At the orientation they told us we could, if we d like, take a Thai language course. Unfortunately I didn t attend this class. I did learn some Thai through some friends though. The culture is one of the reasons why I loved my stay in Thailand. I visited a bunch of temples and ruins. During my stay I witnessed a couple holidays, one of them Loi Krathong. Chula has their Loi Krathong celebrations by the school pond. The act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one s grudges, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. This lifestyle Thai people has, not to express a lot of anger when something bothers you, is a thing I really admired. One of the things I miss the most is the food! It feels like yesterday I was walking to school in the morning with sticky rice and chicken in a plastic bag. Be careful what you eat at first though. I did not eat anything off the street during my first week in Bangkok. General What to do in Bangkok? It all depends on what you find entertaining, there is something for everyone. I personally loved exploring the city; tuk-tuk and motorbike rides, shopping and the clubs. But my favorite form of entertainment in Thailand was traveling. Going to the islands is a must if you re doing an exchange in Thailand. It s absolutely beautiful. Faculty of Engineering did not arrange any events for international students so for me there was not much activities going on at school. But outside school the events never stops. Since I was set up with business students at Asoke I did spend my free time with them. Transportation is very cheap all over the country. I just want to warn you about the taxi/tuktuk/motorbike drivers. When going by taxi, make sure the taximeter is on (set on 35 baht). And if you re going by tuk-tuk or motorbike, set up a price before getting on. Otherwise they might give you a high price. Also you should be prepared on drivers want to drop you off by tailor shops (who works with this driver) and try to sell you suits. I got myself an international driver license (for driving a car) before leaving. I didn t get in a situation where I had to show it, but if the police are asking for it you better have it. It costs 200 SEK. If you -as me- can t live without your mobile phone you should go to MBK (tourist popular shopping mall) and get a prepaid card or a new phone. There are cheap phones everywhere. 4

5 Summary I am so glad I did this semester. I remember being nervous going all by myself to a continent I d never been to before. There were many good moments and several bad moments as well. Wherever you go in the world there is a chance to experience both. I take the bad with the good and consider it a learning experience. The reason for doing this was to leave my comfort zone, put myself in situations I ve never been in before. I wanted to grow on a more personal level. I feel like I ve achieved this by taking advantage of all the good moments and channeling all the bad moments into life lessons. I m thankful that I was able to go on this exchange. Where else in the world would I be able to ride elephants, sunbath on a rooftop, lying on beautiful beaches, and at the same time completing a semester? 5