Thailand Adventures: Chiang Mai University

I will be attending Chiang Mai University while being here for the first four weeks. Since the program is through Cal Poly and meant for Cal Poly students, I will be taking two sociology classes from a Cal Poly professor (Dr. Kerbo), not a CMU professor. Basically, we are just borrowing CMU’s classrooms for Cal Poly’s own classes (there are also engineering classes offered). I’m also taking a humanities class that’s required for everyone, and this class has guest speakers each time (I’ve had a lecture about Buddhism from an ex-monk and a lecture on the Hill Tribes so far). It’s pretty cool – I have class from 1-3 (one of the sociology classes) and then 3-5 (humanities) so I have time in the morning to explore the city (or even sleep in if I’m hung-over…haha, kidding). The most days we’ll have classes in a row is 4…this past week I had three days of class, and next week I have 1 day of class (crazy!). I know I’m here in

Thailand

to learn and to experience, but I’ll be honest: I really do feel like I’m on vacation most of the time. :]

On the first day we arrived at CMU we were greeted and welcomed by the head’s of the Humanities department. We were lectured about the school and about the culture of Thailand and then we were brought to lunch by a bunch of Thai students who speak (or are learning) English. I met this girl named Poi who reminded me of Snow White (fair skin, black hair, and a big red bow). She had a bunch of Disney paraphernalia too, which was kind of weird for a college student, but Asians are crazy like that. Their cafeteria was full of different vendors (that were super cheap!) and then we ate. Afterwards we went to the bookstore and then back to the classroom to have our first Thai Language course (part of our humanities lecture).

We are to have 9 language courses while here in Chiang Mai so we have can communicate with the locals a lot easier. Class is pretty fun – I have some entertaining kids in it and learning the language is cool but I’m not going to lie – Thai language is a little bit hard to pick-up. There are just so many different pronunciations and it’s hard to keep them straight! I’m sure I’ll get it though, it just takes time.

I forgot to mention things about clothing at CMU. You have to have your shoulders covered, no open-toed shoes, and you have to have your legs covered down to your knees. The Thai students have an actual uniform which consists of a white button up blouse, and black skirts (girls) or bottoms (boys). I’m glad I don’t have to wear that, but I hate wearing closed toes shoes! Thankfully, with all this hot clothing on, our rooms are conditioned and have fans. Sometimes, it even gets freezing cold in the room to the point we want air conditioning off!

Overall, I think that school should be pretty easy (I hope!). Thankfully, my classes I’m taking require only reading, one midterm, and one final, but we’ll see how that goes.

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