Helping with Every Issue

The support staff are a crucial part of the experience here in Thailand. Through Mahidol University, there is an International Relations office, with people dedicated to helping the exchange students with whatever issue we are facing, be it visa issues, class requirements, need for a haircut, or anything else that would be easy to solve at a home university. They speak English pretty well, and are always available to go above and beyond for the exchange and visiting students. There are also Thai students that work with the office to assist the exchange students, and they’re also very, very helpful and open to meeting and helping the exchange students.

Just one example of how helpful they are- Last week, I had a co-op interview over Skype, and nowhere to do it. My apartment doesn’t have wifi capable of maintaining a Skype connection, the university locks their classrooms after a certain time, and the university hallway isn’t the most ideal place for an interview (which I learned the hard way after holding my first one there, amongst mosquitoes, lack of AC, and sounds of parade practice floating up from the floors below.) I visited the International Relations office and asked if they could help, they said they’d try, and a couple of hours later they reached out to me with 2 different options, both with AC, outlets to charge my laptop, privacy, and quiet. It was way more than I expected, but it was so natural for them to want to go above and beyond to make an exchange student as comfortable as possible. The exchange program here is one of the largest in Southeast Asia, and this is the largest group that they’ve ever had. A lot of behind the scenes work goes into making the program as fluid as possible, and the people involved really do what they can to make it the best experience possible for the students.

Another support net is here in the form of our CIS, the national program that arranged this study abroad, advisor. He is an Australian who has lived and work in Southeast Asia, mostly Thailand, for several years. He knows the land from a university student’s point of view, from a backpacker’s point of view, from a worker’s point of view, and from a manager’s point of view. He knows how to avoid scams within the country, how to stay safe, the least touristy places to go, the most fun places to go, the best ways to travel, and many other ins and outs to surviving Thailand. He’s an unbelievably helpful resource, and goes above and beyond to help his students feel comfortable and have a great time in Thailand (he’s already, in under a month, been through quite a few hospital trips and visa scares, so he’s used to dealing with exchange students!)

All of my professors here are Thai, except for one American. For the majority of the classes, the professors lecture to the students, without much discussion. It lines up with the Thai culture of respect and saving face, and is very different from the western style of teaching that I am used to. I am typically the only person to ask questions in class, and often the only person answering the rare question posed by a teacher. As a Sociology major, I love discussion, especially when it’s from people from radically different backgrounds, and it’s weird to get used to this way of teaching.

My most interesting professor is my Drug Use and Behavior professor, a teacher from America who got his MBA in England and his PhD in Australia. He owns a company in Thailand teaching cultural competency at the executive level, in addition to working on legal cases to assist foreigners. He’s very, very well-versed in the psych field and life in Thailand, and this gives him a strong lens through which to teach the class. I’m learning an incredible amount from him and his class, about both the subject matter and Thai culture. He understands that exchange students may have some difficulties getting acclimated to this way of life, and he does what he can to reach out to us and make us feel more at home. The subject material in and of itself is already very interesting (I rarely get to take psych classes!) and him as a teacher turns it into my favorite class.