Welcome to Vienna, the city where things are just.. right!

First off, congratulations! You’ve chosen the right place to be for the next semester or year! This small testimonial/guide will give you a brief idea of how to survive happily in Vienna. Let’s kick off with the four necessities in life, shall we?

Place to stay…

Different dorm, different lifestyle HausPanorama –The true Melting Pot Haus Panorama fits best for those who are looking for multinational experience given the fact that students from many diverse nations stay here. The kitchens are shared among each floor, thus habitants are granted abundant opportunities to socialize. There not is reasonably priced and the rooms and facilities worth the pays. The location is perfect, only 15 minutes away from the university.

HausErasmus–Paaaaarrrrrtyyy!!

HausErasmus is basically a large collection of American and Canadian students, so this is the place meant for those who lead lifestyles with lots of parties! The rooms and facilities are nice, but there are higher prices to pay than HausPanorama, ofcourse. About 20-30 minutes away from the university. Close to shopping street (MariahilferStrasse)

OEAD Guesthouse of the Viennese Universities (Molkereistrasse)–Where privacy comes first.

Guesthouse Molkerei is most suitable for those who want to avoid parties and noisy chaos. It gives habitants extremely high level of privacy, but that trades off with less friends around. The rooms and facilities are great and the pay is slightly higher than that of HausErasmus. Takes 20-30 minutes to the university, but close to city center.

HausDoebling–Down-to-Earth living

This dorm is quite old and smaller than those mentioned above. Well, it’s slightly cheaper than HausPanorama and is walkabledistant from university

Clothes to wear..

Different season, Different clothing

Winter

Preparing a few warm garment from Thailand is smart, but do not bring too many.Winter clothes are also available in Vienna at acceptable prices and you can always buy more as needed. The winter chill is not that severe, so don’t buy coat for extreme minus20-30 degree. The color most commonly wore are plain colors like black, grey and white. Lucid colors can be odd.

Spring & Summer
During spring you can merely take off your coat and wear light jackets, pull-overs or longsleeves. During summer, wear what you normally wear in Thailand.

Food to eat..Food for thought..…and survival

Supermarket

Penny Market and Zielpunkt are some examples of low end supermarkets. There are no premium brands available here. Billaand Hofer are mid-end supermarkets with more varieties of products and brands. (Hoferchickenisgreat) Merkur is a bit more upscale than those above. However, sometimes some items can be cheaper.

Fast Food

Kebab stands operated by the Turkish are all around, usually nearby U-Bahn stations. Variety of Kebab menus and pizzas are available at cheap prices.

Proper Dining

Wiener Schnitzel (European-style Tonkatsu) is Viennese specialty. Goods schnitzels are available in the restaurants and heuringers (vine yard restaurant). Ask your senior friends for suggestions.

Medicines to take..Yes, you can get sick..

It is highly advised to bring some medicines from Thailand. However, do not bring too much, you’ll end up having leftovers. If you run out of medicine, you can visit Apotheke or the pharmacy. You’ll see a lot of these symbols (see below) around the city. But if your medicines are to be delivered from Thailand, make sure that the meds are sent in small amount to avoid problematic issues with the customs.

Studying in WU

No matter where you study, hard works and determination are required to achieve. The grading system at WU varies depending on the professors in charge, so it is recommended to read course descriptions prior to registration. Signing up is done via online on the first-come-first-serve basis. Be prepared to do fast clicking.

Most courses in WU are not too tough if you pay attention in class and study. Some classes require class participation, so do participate, and show the world BBA’s potential! Professors here are open, do not have to be afraid or shy!

Enjoying Vienna

Forget driving. Easy access to everywhere with Public transportation! There are many attractions located around Vienna. Visiting each spots is very easy with public transportation means. Major tourist attractions include the imperial palaces of the Hofburgand Schoenbrunn. Cultural highlights include the Burgtheather and the Wiener Staatsoper, and the Vienna Boys’ Choir, as well as excursions to Vienna’s Heuriger districts.

In Winter, do not forget to visit the colorful Chirstmas Markets and iceSkating at Rathaus. Heuringers are also a must. In summer, the fun rides in Prater (ThemePark) await you. Night concerts in Schoenbrunn palace garden and picnic along the Donauinsel are some other things that you should not miss!

Thank you BBA for this great opportunity! We’re grateful!

By TirapongWajiraprechapong(Tor) and NattapornSiripanitwattana(Nut)

Firstly, UVic provided us to experience cultures and Canadian Activities through cultural shows and various exciting activities i.e. rock climbing, canoeing, and hiking during the Adventure Tours. We also showed Thai boxing and our traditional festivals. It was so much fun that various people from different parts of the world joined Thai dance with us.

The academic life in UVic and Thammasat are similar in terms of level of difficulty and workload. Fortunately, students don’t have to compete against each other, since all UVic classes base their evaluations on the same standard i.e. 80% or above will get A-.

We also experienced learning Calculus with the Canadian students in Faculty of Math in the first semester and had a final exam with more than 800 students at the gym! Studying in Canadian environment engaged us in the interactive environment where people actively demonstrate their opinions and share their work experiences without any reluctance.

There are many choices for residences, including on-campus housing, off- campus housing and home stay. However, we all chose on-campus housing and stayed in the same dormitory, called Ring –Road Hall. The food card will be assigned to each student and they can use them in cafeteria and dining halls in the university. Our dorm is mainly for first year students, therefore, it is usually lively and filled with events especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Moreover, our dorm is remarkable for fire alarm ringing. Although there’s a policy that everyone needs to stay out of the building until the officers ensure the safetiness, however…as this usually happens, we just turned off the speakers in our room and continued sleeping. It is our funny experience when we think of it.

Various clubs and volunteer works can be found here. The club day will be arranged to introduce the clubs to students at the beginning of each semester. Those are mainly language and sport clubs i.e. Japanese club, Korean Language club, Fencing club or even outdoor club. Furthermore, you can engage in local festivals through volunteer works and make friends! There‘re Victoria Film festival and Victoria Chocolate festival that you can shake hands with filmmakers as well as enjoy Chocolate Sushi!

Our friends from exchange students were just awesome! We learnt that Chinese used by Chinese people and Hongkong people and different, as well as learnt how to say” Full” after finish our meals in multiple languages. It’s unbelievable that we came to

Canada, but we also got Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Singaporean or even Brazilian friends. We enjoyed travelling, watching movie, clubbing having potlucks and had a great time together.☺

 Although Victoria is a small town, there are many interesting places to be visited. Downtown in Victoria is gorgeous. It is surrounded by English-style buildings which sell souvenir, chocolate, etc. There is a big department store where you can enjoy shopping during grand sale period. Downtown is not the place only for shopping. If you love partying at night clubs or pubs, you need to visit downtown again at night .

Walking down a little bit, Victoria’s landmark is there. It’s Victoria Parliament which located in the area called Inner Harbor. Most of the scenes in the postcard are taken here. The illumination of Parliament building at night is what you can’t miss. Across the Parliament, it’s very luxury hotel in where Queen Elizabeth used to stay and had afternoon tea. In the same area, there is a park called Beacon Hill Park. Here, you will have a very good spot to picnic on sunshine day.

Near the university, there is a mountain called Mt. Tolmie where you can see the whole little town. It’s also very beautiful when you go to see sunset there and it takes you only 10 minutes traveling from UVic. Actually, there are many mountains that you can visit which will give you a different view to see the whole town. Butchart Garden is another popular place where you can see various colorful flowers and strange trees.

It has illumination at night in December to celebrate Christmas time. As the most British town in Canada, you can see British style building when you go around the town, especially in Oak Bay. You will fall in love having an afternoon tea in cute tea shop in Oak Bay. The places we talked about are just some part of Victoria. Go and feel how nice it is yourself. You will definitely love this small town as we do.

But being UVic student does not limit you to exploring the streets of Victoria, we can also travel to many other great neighboring cities such as Vancouver and Seattle. In Vancouver, we can enjoy a bigger city than Victoria and experience its more urban environment. Despite the crowded streets, Vancouver has a beautiful park called Stanley Park and stunning beaches for chilling or hanging out with friends.

It’s almost the same as my hometown at Bangkok; the only difference is that, people in Vancouver speaks English. It is worthwhile to try out the nightlife in Vancouver too. There are many clubs with different styles to suit your needs. A four-day stay should be enough for exploring Vancouver.

Next, we’ll move down to Seattle. For me, it is a shopaholic heaven. There are tons of shopping malls and huge outlets where you can enjoy shopping while paying much lower tax than in Victoria. There is also a market called Public Market, which sells super-fresh seafood and has wonderful bakery shops. The original Starbucks shop is also located there too. You shouldn’t miss it! Seafood restaurant in this market is so fresh and the unique way people savor their seafood there is fun and exciting to watch and learn.

You will be never eat like this in Thailand. In Seattle, there is an outlet where we shouldn’t miss. You can buy almost every brand you want such as Coach, DKNY, Diesel, Banana Republics, CK and Hollister. But be careful you’ll spend lots of money in one day. Space needle is also one of the major attractions for tourist. However, I feel that Seattle is a bit more dangerous than Victoria because there are so many homeless people walking around at night. Just use common sense when traveling the Seattle streets and you will be fine.

I felt very lucky that I didn’t have to worry about my transportation to my dorms because Mccombs business school gave me the shuttle bus voucher, which take care everything for me. I was lucky again when I met someone at my dorms who was driving out to HEB (the closest large and cheap supermarket) so I can buy lots of stuffs in my very first day in Austin.

That night, the series of fortunate events still kept going when I met Thai girl who accidentally was my neighbors and also gave me lots of advice on how to live in Austin. Also, the orientation helped me a lot on where to eat, what to do, how to open the bank and mobile account and how to travel around the city. The first week went past easier than I expected (Thank for those fortunate events!!!)

When the classes began, I really felt nervous at first because I was going to study in no.1 accounting school in the world. Most of the classes required participation and assigned you a number of cases and projects throughout the semester. But believe me, if you can study and survive BBA Thammasat, you can study and flourish anywhere in the world. It’s quite surprising that they always begin working on their projects and studying at very last minute so it’s common that you will find your group very busy the night before due date and sleepless before the exam.

Is it boring to live in Austin? Of course not, Austin is labeled as the capital of live music so you can enjoy the “free” live music every week. There is SXSW (south by southwest) where the musicians all over the world come and show what they got. Everyone really enjoyed it, even me, who doesn’t know much about music still can move my body and jump around like a little penguin.

If you are shopaholic, there are many shops and malls to serve your appetite. Buffalo exchange is very famous for the second-hand clothes; you will find almost every brand you can think of. There are also Barton creek and highland mall which offers you Macy, Dillard and JC penny. The outlets at San Marcos offers very discounted price of the various brand.

However, it’s difficult to get there by yourself if you don’t have car. Therefore, you have to rely on others’ generosity. Everyone, including me, in Austin loves exercise. I went to the Gregory gym to work out and shape my muscles 3 times a week in order to stay firm all the time, which turned out that I was able to achieve it (in my opinion). I played soccer with someone I initially didn’t know every Wednesday.

 Also, I achieved my target to show how wonderful Thai player can play (in my mind). I played racquetball with Tracey, my best friend during my exchange, every Friday. I can borrow the equipment from the gym, just by showing my student ID card. Again, I achieved my objective to compete her in tight match (I guess so) although I never won.

From the fact that there are people from every region of the world in Austin, I could try something new everyday if I want. Thai Tara is the good choice for me if I miss Thai food while buffet palace can well replace Yaowaraj despite different style. Good Korean food can be found in the Korean market located 10 minutes away from the campus by bus. I can go to Zen for Japanese food and Pho for Vietnamese food. Five guys and burger is the best choice for burger, my friends told me that it is the best burger they’d ever had.

Double Daves’s pizza can fill up your stomach whenever you are hungry with its buffet style. Tiff or Treats’ snicker doodle cookies and Amy’s ice cream Mexican vanilla flavor are things that you can really miss for dessert if you have a chance to take your step on Austin. All mentioned are located within 10-15 minutes from the campus.

The international office always organized some trips for the exchange students to travel and have fun together. I went to San Antonio and enjoyed the Alamo, very historic site, and riverwalk, the more than 10 km path along the beautiful river. There are bars and restaurant along the riverwalk that you can sit and enjoy the beautifulness of nature.

I went to NASA to see the demonstration of space operation. I witnessed some bull riders struggling to stay on the bull and some fell off the bull in Rodeo Austin. I also went to enchanted rock and Frederickburgs, the mini German town, where I could try some German pastries and see German architecture.

Tears dropping from my eyes when I left Austin are not because I felt sad but happy. I am happy that once in my life I can have such valuable and wonderful experience. I know I can’t be this happy without BBA Thammasat who always gives me the chance to improve and proudly call myself as one of the best student in the world. I would like to thank BBA’s ajarns, staffs and everyone involved to let me know how tears of joy are.

By Thanan Limsaiporm (Nun) BBA#15

This seemed like I have just been overstated, but the one who has stepped in will realize that this is definitely true.

USC, University of Southern California, particularly Marshall Business School, is ranked as one of the United States’ top business schools and is well-known among international universities. Students here are from around the world with no limitation of race. Professors are proficient with their knowledge and experience; they are very friendly, active and professional.

My impression about teachers at USC is that they are well-prepared with samples and cases, as well as some valuable guest speakers from famous global companies. Students are also energetic, class-participated and, especially, very punctual which made me afraid of being late at first.

The first week of arrival is the toughest time of all, just like Alice in Wonderland – scary and lonely but excited and full of fun. It was at night in the beginning of January when I first arrived in Los Angeles; however, there was no need to be scared. But you need to be a little prepared for transportation, since traveling in LA can be very difficult if you are new and do not have a car. “Supershuttle” is recommended as an airport shuttle which is safe, reliable and worthy.

For the accommodation, I preferred the university’s dormitory – check housing.usc.edu for your information – which is cheaper, safer and easier to meet new friends. My apartment, Regal Trojan, is located about 3 blocks away from USC which is an average distance among all USC housings.

Many people said that the location where I lived is one of the most dangerous, but if you behave well, not staying alone and be where you should be at night time, then there is no need to be worry. In terms of traveling from home to school, bicycle would be the best choice because it is fast and convenient; nevertheless, USC tram is also available which is safe and free!!

When staying in LA, food has never caused anyone a problem! You do not need to bring much stuff since you can buy it there. There is also a kitchen in most of the USC apartment which I really enjoyed. Furthermore, one thing that you should not miss, “Pinkberry,” my most favorite frozen yoghurt, is a must for dessert as well as “Cheesecake Factory.” Unfortunately, a paragraph would not be enough to write about food in LA, therefore it is another worthwhile experience to discover and try many kinds of food around the world in one place.

Traveling in LA is not as difficult as it may seem. Buses are also available, although some people think that it is dangerous since those who take buses are big-fat-Mexican and working class people. Nevertheless, traveling with a few friends in a day time is fine. Practicing metro.net is also helpful. Purchasing a car can be useful if you like to travel to many places and if you have an international driving license; however, it is quite an expensive choice. Befriend with ones who have car is the most recommended alternative.

The most important thing to do in LA is to travel as many places as you can because this is one of the most visiting destinations in the United States. Apart from Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Disney Land and Universal Studio, you should visit beaches (This is California!!) and art museum, and you should attend some sport events, for example, Dodgers game and LA Lakers to complete your American experience. Moreover, USC students are renowned for their partying and clubbing, but ones must always know themselves and set limitation on their own. Lastly, thank you BBA Thammasat who has given me such a valuable experience in my life. So be prepared, get ready and Fight On!!

By Maysirin (May) Siritantitam BBA#15

Santa Barbara (SB) is a nice small city of only 2 hours driving distance from Los Angeles (LA). It also has a convenient municipal airport but both flying and driving will take around the same time. Attend the international students orientation and you will meet loads of international student including exchange students from all around the world. It was indeed a very warm welcome from UCSB staffs.

Moreover, you may win some prizes along the line of food and drinks or even a bicycle. Believe me, bicycles will make your life at UCSB a lot easier. Everyone tends to have either a bicycle (or a skateboard) to cruise around the campus. It is extremely convenient and you will have a 99.99% chance of buying one.

Regarding the place to stay, UCSB offers many dorms and apartments on campus. Non‐university‐owned places are also available next to school in a community called Isla Vista (IV). If you are the type that “going party” is one of your basic needs, then read no further on this
paragraph. IV, especially Del Playa or DP will be your answer… Anyway, all the dorms are located inside the campus and university owned apartments are next to the campus. Normally the people who live in a dorm are either freshmen or sophomore.

Meal plans have to be purchased since all the dorms do not have cooking tools. Others stay in an apartment or in Isla Vista. From our own experience, university owned apartment is the best choice around, particularly an apartment complex called Santa Ynez for undergraduate students. Though if for somehow you ever manage to get in a graduate housing called San Clemente, letting it go will immediately mark the word stupid on your head! It is the best of the bests!

IV life is definitely interesting as it is a small town full of UCSB students. Not to mention that our campus is right next to the BEACHES! There are IV beach that lies along Del Playa, Goleta beach that is located just next to UCSB’s famous Henley gate and you can even go to downtown ones. Goleta beach is well known to be a place for some nice barbeque parties. If you are a person who loves relaxing beach atmosphere, UCSB is just the place for you! Don’t forget to wake up early someday and run to campus point or bike to Goleta beach just in time for sunrise!

It is totally worth it. Also, you can grab your mat and bike to the Coal oil point in our west campus for a beautiful sunset (guaranteed by all visitors). Be sure to go there an hour ahead of both the sunrise and sunset time and you will see how stunning California sky can be especially when it’s changing colors. IV also has a lot of good food and most of them open until late hours or even never close at all! Our favorite places are FREEBIRDS, Silver green,and Woodstock Pizza.

Groceries shopping is simple. You have Costco, Albertson’s, Vons, Indo China Market, and some other local convenient stores. Although Costco is the cheapest one around, you need to pay for membership and will have to buy in a bigger lot. If many of you are going together, share for the membership fee and go shopping together to reduce your expenses. This can be really helpful, trust us. And if you somehow want to get Asian spices or ingredients, stop by at Indo China Market and they should have most of the spices you may need without the need to go down to LA. Some of you might like organic food. You can get them at the IV food co‐op. They even offer fresh peanut or almond butter that will go really well with your bread.

On the academic side, all the UC campuses use the quarter system as opposed to our semester system. Each quarter consists of a period of 10 weeks including mid‐term and final exams. Each quarter will go by extremely fast especially when you take classes with 2 midterm exams. This is normally the case for accounting or finance major people. So plan your schedule well since you will likely need to study continuously! …

Class registrations are done online on a system called GOLD on a first‐come first‐serve basis. You will have to inform the department of classes you wish to take prior to your registration period so that all those classes are cleared for any prerequisites you may have trouble with. Do not wait too long because there might be tons of people competing to get in the same class as you. After the class is full, you will then need to “crash” into the room and tell the teacher directly. In a normal situation, you should be able to get in unless the classroom is physically full. Play safe by telling the department early and you should never have such a problem.

Now we will turn to topics like places to visit and things to do while in Santa Barbara. Transportation within Santa Barbara and even to some cities close by is totally easy and convenient. Only by being a student of UCSB, all the bus fares are fully subsidized. Show your UCSB ID card with a registration sticker placed on it and you will never ever pay for a metro ride. Downtown is a great place to go hang out, do some shopping, or to dine out and reachable from UCSB within 15 minutes by taking bus number 24X. Yogurt Land and Pink Berry are our favorite yogurt refreshments.

While in California, it is absolutely 100% sure that you will want to go to big cities like LA and San Francisco. A car rental service called Enterprise always waives the underage driver fee for any UCSB student under 25 but over 21. Plus they may have 50% discount for you if you are doing a weekend rent! So our advice is to check out the promotions they may have and then you can enjoy any trip within California with a really low cost! Oh, keep in mind that there is only one certain branch of Enterprise on Hollister Road that will charge you 0 underage fee. Make sure that you are dealing with this branch.

People who are of the night owl type will probably enjoy life at UCSB the most. It is also known as the 2nd ranked party school in the U.S. There is even a group on Facebook, “The most intelligent party school of the nation”, as a guarantee.

Enjoy your stay in UCSB as much as you want. You will never find it the same as anywhere else in this whole world!!!

By: Jirapong Kitsanayanyong, Isaree Wattananithiporn, Viwantip Wattanavichaikul and

Kan Chokrungvaranon (BBA#15)

University of California, Santa Cruz is not one of those places that students have in mind when choosing where to go abroad because of its relatively suburb location and unknown reputation. My first impression while taking a shuttle bus to the university and being astounded by the number of trees in the surrounding was: would I be able to stay there for the entire semester?

Despite all these things, the first week, let alone the whole quarter, went by too quickly taking into account all the activities that they had for the students. Each college in the university had different welcoming activities during the first week. Luckily, I was able to get into the International Living Center (ILC), which comprised of both international and domestic students.

The people there were so friendly and warming, which made you feel as if you were living with your family. The activities at the ILC were very exceptional because we often do things as a community, such as trips to San Francisco and Six Flag, dine together for birthdays, and cultural nights. At the same time, the first week was pretty hectic due to the confusion of being in a new environment and also a huge list of to-do things, such as enrolling for classes and attending orientations.

UCSC offered a wide range of classes from theater arts to economics. In addition to the academic classes, there were many other recreational classes to enhance your skills during your free time such as surfing, ballroom dance, massage, and archery. Academically, I found UCSC classes slightly less challenging than TU BBA courses. One of the reasons might be because BBA had already provided me with a solid foundation.

However, the laid-back and friendly environment there had made studying more enjoyable. One of the differences I found was that most of the classes at UCSC had both a lecture and a discussion section, which required students to apply the knowledge they learned in class to real life situations. Also, there was a student center where students could seek academic help from tutors free of charge. Additionally, study groups were very common, particularly before exams. Thus, there are many options that could be used to enhance your academic progress.

UCSC is one of the most unique campuses in the U.S. due to the fact that it is located in the forest and by the ocean. This allows it to offer many different recreational activities for the residents, such as mountain biking, surfing, canoeing, and hiking. One of the strangest activities that has become a custom for UCSC students is the naked run during the first rainfall of every school year. Don’t miss it because it is a once in a lifetime experience!

For nature lovers, you can walk around the campus to observe many wild lives, such as raccoons, squirrels, and deer. If you’re lucky you might find a yellow slug, which is the school mascot. For party animals, there are usually many small parties around the university. Most of them are house parties where you get to spend time with your closest pals. This is a great way to get to know new friends.

Moving on to the surrounding of the university, Santa Cruz is a very unique town, located only an hour away from San Francisco. The town itself is a very romantic and interesting place to explore. Downtown is just approximately 10 minutes away from campus. The most famous tourist attraction is the Boardwalk, a seaside amusement park, where you can enjoy the beautiful view of the beach while riding on a roller coaster. The town also offers many extravagant local restaurants even though the university dining hall foods are tasty as well. Very close to the campus is Totoro, which offers a variety of many different Japanese rolls. Thai food is also very popular, but few restaurants can make authentic Thai taste.

Most of the food here is made from organic ingredients because there are many locally grown agricultural goods. The Farmers’ Market is a famous place for getting fresh and good quality local produce like peach, apple, vegetables, and is opened only once a week.

As for accommodations, the two main available options are university housing and apartments in town. Accommodations outside the campus are often cheaper, but less convenient. Each college in the university has its own housing and a different theme for each residence. If you choose to live on campus, you will be required to live in the residence of your choice of college. Most classes are within walking distance from your residence, but free buses are also available to take you around the campus.

Grocery shopping can be hectic sometimes when you don’t have a car. Be sure to develop your arms and legs muscles to carry your grocery up the hills of the campus. The four main grocery stores near the campus are Safeway, Longs Drug, Trader Joe’s, and New Leaf Community Market. Safeway has a wider range of product selection, but slightly higher prices. New Leaf Community Market carries only natural food, which specializes in local and organic products. Asian grocery stores are only a bus ride away to a nearby town called San Jose, the biggest city in Northern California.

I have learned so many things from this wonderful experience. It has broadened my perspective and also taught me to grow as a person. The advice to you all is to seize the moment while you can. Enjoy every minute of it because time flies when you are having fun. By the time you know it, you’ll be packing your bags, wishing it isn’t over. I’m very grateful for such an amazing program from the Thammasat University. I would like to thank the BBA office and the International Affairs Office for handling everything so well and for offering me such a remarkable opportunity.

By: Patravadee (Pueng) Manutsathit, BBA 15

The language barrier [they don’t speak English or if they do, they speak broken English], culture shock [the unisex toilet] and the bureaucratic, complicated, and inefficient administration systems in everything, all of these make me scream out loud and ask myself ‘why am I even here?’.

My school is located at the poshest area in Paris where you can see a big chandelier inside a glamorous apartment. My school is relatively small. It is just 2 buildings connected with each other, not a real campus. I was a bit disappointed at first but later on, I found out other schools in Paris are all like this due to limited space. The registration process is somewhat confusing. You need to do the ‘contrat d’etude’[learning agreement] online to reserve a seat for the courses.

After that, you need to see your academic advisor to sign your contrat d’etude and go to each department to enroll the courses again to confirm. Although it is time-consuming process, Dauphine allows you to have 3-week trial period to sit in and see whether you want to take it or not which I think it is fair and square. The most exciting one next is to see new friends. There is a welcome party for exchange students to become the real ‘Dauphinois’. Moreover, there is a party on every Thursdays which is randomly held in different bars/clubs.

Apartment hunting is incredibly hard in Paris. The cheapest that you can find is around 500 euro/month and of course you have to be very lucky. Dauphine offers you housing as well called ‘cite universite’ which is located in different areas. The biggest one is located 2 tram station away from Chinatown. Normally, you have to live with a roommate and shared a bathroom. The cost of living in Paris is expensive.

The decent meals in a restaurant cost at least 20 euro. A can of Coca Cola costs 1 euro. A single trip metro ticket costs 1.6 euro. A bottle of Evian water from the automatic machine in the metro station costs 1.7 euro. A sandwich costs around 4-5 euro. An instant noodle [Mama] from Chinatown costs 0.3 euro. So the best way to live in Paris is to cook. Don’t be surprised when you come out of the supermarket and spend almost 100 euro for just a grocery shopping.

Paris has a lot to offer especially to people who are really into art, cuisine and fashion. I was surrounded by many luxurious boutiques and world-class museums. I always wonder why everyone is falling for Paris. After I had been there for a year, Paris is not just a romantic city. It teaches me one of the most vulnerable lessons of all. It helps me to know what I want in life and shapes me to become who I am today. Je t’aime Paris.

May Sasiporn Mewongukote BBA#15

University of Ottawa is located in the heart of the nation’s capital with a total population including students, teaching and supporting staff of over 30,000 people. The university’s unique programming offers students the flexibility of completing assignments in English or French as the city is not only the political Capital but is also the cultural centre of Canada and is the bridge between the French speaking people of Québec and the English speaking people of the rest of the nation.

In addition, the Telfer School of Management who is part of BBA Exchange Program’s partnership program has been included in the Princeton Review’s ranking of top business schools since 2005. We have learned that study method was similar to studying at BBA, only it required a little bit less effort and participation to get A.

The first impression about the weather was that it was -2°C on the day of arrival (Dec 28). Well, it was just spring during the season as the Canadian said…because just a few days afterwards, the temperature went down to -30°C!! (My Chula friend who was an exchange student at University of Ottawa for the same semester said that it was even colder than North Pole.) Surviving such weather seemed impossible, but in reality it is achievable.

Surviving materials are of the followings: Knitting-wool hat, earmuff, woolen scarf, duck-feather coat (recommended as a woolen coat might get wet when snow melts on it), snowboard gloves, long john, woolen socks and snow boots. However, the weather got warmer in April and the last snow appeared around Easter break just before final exams. Along with increasing temperature, snow melted and water-proof shoes would replace snow boots. By the end of April, 20°C-30°C could be reached.

The housing Ottawa had prepared for us was Marchand Residence. It was a dorm especially for international students (both exchange students and students from overseas) and freshmen. Lounges were on even-number floors and pantries were on odd-number floors.

There, we had met and made lots of new friends with varieties of backgrounds, for example, Australian who boiled water with stove rather than microwave to make hot drinks for almost every hour, Korean who was about to cry on the last day we were together, Irish who was so fond of Thai food and asked to TASTE it every time we cooked and Canadian who tried to speak Thai with her incredible Thai accent. Moreover, we had encountered with four more Thai exchange students from Chulalongkorn University!

Although Ottawa appeared to be a government city rather than a commercial city and China Town in this city should be named China streets as there are only two blocks rather than a town, we did enjoy ourselves especially with appetite.

One of our memorable eating trips began with taking a bus down to China…err town for good Vietnamese Phở in one afternoon after class for lunch and then continue sitting (chill chill), drinking icy bubble tea (ชา ไข่มุก) in a warm Bubblicity shop while watching snowflakes (snow storm applied too) dropping down outside the shop’s window. After we had enough rest, we just went grocery shopping in Asian shop followed by having dinner at Korean restaurant nearby.

Canada seemed to be a place with plenty of wild animals such as moose and beavers and lots of thousands-year maple trees in most of people thought. Well, the reality was as mentioned above, but not only nature that could entertain us. The city of Ottawa had something for everyone. For those who enjoyed great food and exciting nightlife, Ottawa offered the Byward Market Area which during the day was a bustling farmers market and in the evening transformed itself into a social gathering spot by offering restaurants for every appetite and night-clubs for every type of music lover.

In the winter, Ottawa’s Rideau Canal became the world’s longest ice skating rink (we did not forget to have a bite of beavertails, the most famous pastry, with a sip of hot chocolate during a break from ice-skating.) and it hosted the exciting Winterlude Festival which boasts outdoor entertainment and fabulous ice sculptures.

A little bit away from the city, we took a trip to nearby province Québec to join the not-to-miss winter festival and the breath-taken ice hotel which was all made by ice at Québec city. Moreover, when the semester ends, we took an opportunity to pay Niagara Falls in Toronto City a visit. In addition, a trip to the U.S. such as New York, Florida, San Francisco, Hawaii and L.A. was so unforgettable.

Taking a chance of being an exchange program is not just an opportunity to study abroad, but also is a valuable time frame we had gained experience of living on our own, adjusting ourselves to the differences in culture, language and appetite. As relationship made will not fade away, experience earned will not depart from our memoirs.

By Nitchakarn (Peemai) Lorchaiyanan

First day was like you were a mouse in a cage and then were released in the land of nowhere …or snow. But the second day was full of fun and excitement. Decided to go exploring the area, we had found out that despite the coldness, Minnesotans were warm at heart. People are incredibly nice than you could have imagined. We did not know anything, directions, transportation services, the necessary things and places in the city.

Fortunately, there were many local people in the city that were friendly, generous and willing to help us when we were in trouble. In addition to that it was not so difficult at all to make friends with someone just walking to them and simply say “Hi” and start the conversation. During the first week, the exchange coordinators at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management were ones of the people that significantly helped us to settle there by arranging 3-day orientation illustrating all the information that we needed.

Because we lived in residential hall, most of our food is in Middlebrook Hall’s hand. We bought a meal plan which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were times that the dining hall was close or our appetites seemed to be lost due to repeated meals that we had been fed. But no worries, you still can find plenty of food to eat at the restaurants in Dinky town and university area and it comes with student price and discount most of the time. Do look for a book of discount coupons on benches around the campus. You don’t want to miss that.

Minneapolis campus is divided into 2 sides by Mississippi river. They are connected by a bridge. Carlson School is located in the West bank area and it was not difficult at all to travel around the campus since there’s a bus connector free for everyone and it runs every day. Moreover the public transportation is quite convenient. There are buses and light rails in the city.

The light rails take you to most places such as Lindberg and Humphrey airports, uptown where it lays chic and modern restaurants, downtown; a financial district and Mall of America; the largest mall in America. (Oh! Have I mentioned that there is no tax on clothes and shoes in Minnesota?) All you have to do is going to their website, select your destination and you are good to go with all the information on the screen.

Activities such as parties, seminars, work shop, iceskating, free movies, bowling, concerts etc. are everywhere in the campus. It depends on how eager you are to seek for one. Minnesota Daily and wall post around the campus are good sources. Every other week there was a party for International students where you can get to know more people from around the world.

For those of you who are aged more than 21, pubs and bars are extremely near. Good news for ladies…lady night at Sally’s every Wednesday will cost you a price for night out at 0 dollar!

Moving on to some Academic stuff, shall we?

Classroom atmosphere prepares you to deal with corporate America. Most class needs your participation. And what I mean by that is not attendance. Professors will expect you to contribute to the class. In other words, HANDS UP, QUESTIONS, ANSWERS, COMMENTS and DISCUSSION are expected. These are very important and it makes a significant difference to your grades.

Group work also a part of every class. You will get to do a group project with your assigned classmates. Most classes are case base. Therefore you have to read the case or assignment in order to contribute the class. We normally spent time for our study, did the assignments and prepared for the classes during the weekdays while spent time for our relaxation during the weekends. There are a lot of work loads for each week but certainly if you put efforts into it what you get at the end is satisfying.

All and all Minnesota is a very lovely place to live. We really feel that this was one of the best alternatives for BBA students to gain experience from studying abroad. The institution is well established with well reputation especially in the Midwest. For those of you who are going there for Spring semester, a little suggestion, do pack warm! And for those of you who are going for Fall, it’s Spring time ☺ Whenever you’re going though, we wish you luck and a great fun in Twin Cities.

By Piyaras Uboldejpracharak & Achara Ornveerakul

Get ready to live like a penguin

Montréal offers you count les s extraordinary experiences. One of those is the opportunity to live in a refrigerator. At Montréal, the temperature could be as low as minus 30c and it barely goes above 0c in the winter (which begins before the time you arrive and ends by the beginning of April.) The city is very white and pretty with snow during this season. Still, a lot of walking and sightseeing around town during this time is not recommended as you might end up standing frozen like a statue outside.

Hence, BE PREPARED for the coldest of the coldest cold winter. Some time you might start to believe that you actually live in the North Pole and might see penguins walking just around the
corner. So, remember to wear many layers of clothes so that the warmth will be kept. Don’t forget to buy a lot of warm winter clothes from Thailand as it is a lot less expensive and you would need them since your first step outside of the airport. Dress as warm as you could and you will be safe.

McGill requires you to work hard

McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management is no arguably one of the world’s leading schools. Thus, you can expect hard courses, hard grading and tough competition. Keep up with your study, be responsible and you will do just fine. If you have any questions, ask your professors, they are very kind and helpful.

Concerning registration, every student has to register online via a system called MINERVA on a first come first serve basis. Check out McGill’s website for the registration date as you will do it at the same time as the other students. Try not to be late though as the courses, especially Finance ones, are always full incredibly fast. However, if you could not register in time, don’t worry. Go talk to the counselor on the orientation day and your problem will be solved.

Don’t just study! Go play!!!

Go and check out what Montréal has in store. Ranging from delicious food, fun shopping, exciting skiing/snowboarding, joyful snow tubing, chilling in the parks, taking a bus visiting towns near-by, etc Montreal does have a lot to offer. In the spring/summer time, Montréal is like another city. You will discover things that you did not know that it exists before as they were all covered by snow.

Around the month of May, the city is very pretty with the cherry blossom trees. I would like to advise you to stay until at least the end of June as there will be many summers activities going on, such as the reopen of La Ronde which is one of the Six Flags amusement parks, the jazz festival, etc.

Bonjour! Comment Ca Va? @#$#&*@#%!@?&^

Since McGill is located in the heart of Montréal, the largest French-language city outside of France, language could sometime be troublesome. Knowing a tiny bit of French would help you live in Montréal happily. You may consider packing French-English dictionary as a helpful tool, especially if you plan to venture outside of downtown Montréal. Taking a French course at McGill’s language institution is a good idea but make sure you have time for it. Since it is a six-credit course, it will require a lot of time and efforts which might affect your other studies.

Getting around the city at ease

Navigating around Montréal is relatively easy. You can choose from Métro(subways), bus, taxi or even walking. Montréal offers you an ‘Underground’ which is a path right under the ground. With this, you will have the opportunity of hiding from snow and coldness while you walk around the town making your trip a little bit more enjoyable.

Be careful, traveling by using the Underground could sometime be confusing, so find a time to explore the map beforehand. However, if you ever get lost, just ask the people around you, they will be more than happy to help.

Merci Beaucoup!!! Thank you very much!!!

For this last part, I would like to dedicate it to my family, my friends, Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy and, certainly, my beloved BBA program. Without you, I would not have such a splendid experience. Thank you so much millions times!!!!

Montréal’s must see

1. Old Montréal

Here, you will find stunning historical buildings, cobblestone streets, a café culture and luxury French restaurants. The most beautiful church I have ever seen in my entire life, the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, is also located in this area.

2. Quebec’s local dish: ‘Poutine’

Poutine is the dish of french-fries piled high with gravy over the top and covered in curd cheese – quite tasty but very unhealthy. You can find this dish all over the city but the most famous one is at La Banquise.

3. Juliette and Chocolat

This small charming place on St. Denis is a must for any sweet tooth craving a fix! Go any time, breakfast, lunch or dinner. You will find innumerable dishes and endless hot chocolate, crêpe and ice-cream variations.

4. Schwartz’s

Located on Saint Laurent Street. This place offers one of the world’s most delicious smoked meat sandwiches at a very reasonable price.

5. Jean-Talon market

Jean-Talon is a must-see for anyone who fonds of eating. At this lovely open-air farmers market, a variety of good food at a good price could be found. Don’t forget to check out the famous fried squid and the home made ice cream.

BY PIMCHANOK ‘TYPHOON’ INGKAKITTI