Seriously Bummed

I am not often one to complain about things, and I really do try to take out the best aspects of programs, but I was honestly quite disappointed with my experience at MUIC through Globalinks.

I'll break it up into sections...

Academics: The school is, as almost all the people in my program (50+) said, "a joke." It hardly feel like university at all. From my experience and from what I heard, people either had NO homework the whole time (which means your grade weighs entirely on a midterm, final project, and final exam), or were completely overloaded and way too harshly graded. The teachers are not keen on giving exam guidelines, and a few of them (Americans & Europeans) were brutally racist against Thais and openly talked negatively of Thai students, saying how they were less intelligent than International students right in front of them. Ick. One of my teachers admitted that he gave a class average of 60% on our midterm exam to SCARE us into paying attention for the rest of the term & studying harder for the final. Really sketchy.

Also, the International Relations Office people at MUIC who are there to guide and aid intnl. students were very kind and often helpful, but had serious communications issues. The guidelines for payments we had to make at the beginning of the trimester were very unclear and many people lost money over it. Also, required forms were emailed to us to be filled out for the school and there were many glitches on the form sites, re-dos, and re-sends. Quite frustrating.

Living Situation: The Green Park Homes Village is not apartments, but dorm rooms in a shared building with one common space where (when I was there) exceedingly LOUD, painfully immature American gals congregated to drink, shout, and talk shit about everyone & everything. I was miserable and there were about 6 girls out of 30 or so who very obviously kept to themselves in their rooms because being in the common space was so unbearable. The space is kept clean, however, by an absolutely charming maid, and all the basic necessities of living are provided. No printers, though, so you have to do that at school. Oh, and the internet was slower than 1990's dial-up. I kid you not. heh...

Cultural Immersion & Program Admin: Aaron Clark was amazing. He was our Globalinks Residence Coordinator and he gave the company a great name & face. He took us on a 3-day tour of Northern Thailand and was funny, kind, caring, straightforward, and informative. He left us his contact info and was available the rest of the quarter, but we only really saw him again once or twice, which was fine.

Thailand: The country itself is beautiful and variegated. Much to see and do for very little money. Awesome food and extremely kind, accommodative people. Bangkok, however (or rather, the outskirts of Bangkok, which is where the school and dorms are), was not ideal. The smog is so thick, you can see it dissipate at a certain height and turn into sky. Acid rain. The city felt very overpacked, but if you like a lot of activity, this wouldn't be a problem. At a moment of clear traffic, it should only take 20 mins. to get into the city center from the dorms, but more often than not, there is infamous traffic and you can count on 1.5 - 2 hour journeys into the heart of Bangkok MOST of the time -- really.

If you head out of the city, though, it is glorious. The Real Thailand. The northern countryside is lush and spectacular, the southern beaches and islands are tropical and post-card perfect. Chiang Mai is a much clearer, humbler, and more relaxed city surrounded by mountains. A great place to visit on a weekend if you can endure 9-14 hour bus/train rides. The island of Koh Phangan (off southern coast) offers many yoga & meditation retreats for the spiritually-minded. Neighboring islands have full moon parties if you want to get rowdy and experience Thailand's tourist party scene. It is WILD.

Overall, I disliked the school experience intensely. But I enjoyed the country very much, though it requires much patience, as it is still developing, and things like traffic, transportation, dining, etc. are not always perfectly smooth experiences. But that is much of the charm! If you are patient and kind, Thailand's beauty will unfold before you.

The school, however, was naught but a drag, and I would never recommend it to anyone.

Also, Globalinks kind of ropes you into paying over twice as much for housing as you would pay if you simply went and arranged your own housing through MUIC beforehand. If you go the convenient route and have Globalinks set up housing for you, expect to be bummed out when you go to school and find that the cost of living is so low that you could have saved about $500 finding boarding with your own efforts.