Drug Use and Behavior Class
My most interesting class is Drug Use and Behavior. While it’s not very influenced by Thai culture, it’s still very interesting to study it here. I was very close to pursuing psychology, and I rarely get to take psych classes, so when I do have the chance to they are typically my favorite classes. The class surrounds drug use and behavior from a societal, historical, and biological point of view. It discusses drug use and development over time, how they’ve affected society, and how they affect the body. It’s incredibly interesting to me, personally, although there is only input from Thai culture when the Thai students speak up about their knowledge surrounding drugs. Unfortunately, they don’t speak too much, as the teaching style here is more towards lecturing than discussion, but it’s very interesting when they do speak. The level of drug education in Thailand is not nearly as advanced as in America, and the drugs themselves aren’t as prevalent within the youth population, at least within this university, so there are a lot of misconceptions and ignorance surrounding drug use and danger. The cultural differences are very interesting, and it’s right up my alley with my fascination with all things psychology and sociology.
Another aspect of this class that interests me is the professor; I mentioned him in a previous blog, he’s come from a diverse background in many different professional applications of psychology, and it’s very interesting to learn about Thai culture through his experiences and studies. He’s very well-versed in the culture here, and the differences between this culture and western culture, and he discusses some of it in his lectures. Hearing about the differences between Western and Southeast Asian culture from someone who lives it, both in an academic and professional sense, is a very fortunate experience, as I can’t imagine there are too many people who are experts in both cultures, nor would be able to teach about them in such an interesting way.
My favorite place to study, as of today, is my room. I, fortunately, haven’t needed to spend too much time studying, outside of the past two weeks, which were a series of midterms in 3 out of 4 of my classes. This is the first time that I’ve had my own living space, and it’s nice to be able to relax, set my own pace and environment, and study as necessary. I’ve set up a desk specifically for studying and focusing on my work, so it’s easy for me to stay focused and minimize distractions. Another benefit of studying in my room is that it’s in very close proximity to many people that are in my other classes and facing the same midterms as me, and studying with them definitely makes it more bearable. The libraries on campus are nice to study in, as are the various cafes spread around the massive campus, but the necessity of catching a shuttle home makes me reluctant to spend too much time in the library for fear of missing the shuttle or wasting time sitting and waiting for it.
