Studying Econometrics all the way from Thailand
Dear students and members,
Today, I will give you guys one of the most unique and show-stopping insights into what my life in Thailand is like while doing a full-time Bachelor in Econometrics (first year). I will be touching on the topic of the daily struggle that I faced such as time zone difference and feeling lost at times.
A little information about myself, I am 20 years old from Thailand and I have lived in Amsterdam for almost 2 years now and lived in Delhi, India for 4 years (2010-2014). I attended an American school in my hometown of Chiang Mai and graduated back in 2019. I came to Amsterdam in 2019, as a student in Biomedical sciences here at the VU. However, towards the end, I realized that my brain capacity is quite low, and I am way more into mathematics. Hence, the reason why I switched to Econometrics and I am really enjoying it so far.
My day doesn’t really start until the late afternoon due to the 6 hours time difference which honestly is pretty good because I can get in more hours of sleep and not wake up early!
Getting back to the main point of this story. It’s super weird to be able to follow a full-time study all the way from my home in Chiang Mai, Thailand. If you guys don’t know yet, Chiang Mai is one of the biggest cities in the northern region of Thailand. My day doesn’t really start until the late afternoon due to the 6 hours time difference which honestly is pretty good because I can get in more hours of sleep and not wake up early! However, this can be really bad during the exam week, because once I started my exam at midnight, and ended at almost 4 am. I try to keep up with the Amsterdam time, so I don't miss out on anything important.
To treat myself for studying all day, I go out to eat with my family almost every evening during the week.
I start my day with a giant cup of coffee to help me get through the massive amounts of lectures and homework. Add to that, my grandmother would make me Thai breakfasts and lunch every day which usually consists of sticky rice and some assorted meats or curry. Home Cooked meals are always the best. Before getting into the study, I check my student email and plan out my daily tasks. This really helps me keep up-to-date with classes and helps me keep track of what I need to accomplish at the end of each day. After that, my days during the week are pretty boring, consisting of only studying and napping occasionally. I do lectures and homework week-by-week, that way I will never fall behind. At the end of each study session, I try to organize my notes, so it’s easier to study when the exam gets closer. To treat myself for studying all day, I go out to eat with my family almost every evening during the week. I know, this may sound absurd, because eating out in the Netherlands can be pretty expensive. But hey, eating out here is incredibly cheap and I can assure you that you can do it every day.
With Corona going on right now, I try to attend all the tutorials and any possible live lectures, just so I feel like I am actually part of the University and also to ask any questions that may arise during studying. Occasionally, I would host a Zoom study session with my friends, so that we can accompany each other and not die of boredom from studying. Fast forward to the weekends, honestly the most fun time ever, I take every weekend off except when it’s closer to the exam period. My city has incredible amounts of cafes and restaurants with so many varieties of good food (not me gaining so much weight since coming back from Amsterdam). I spent most of my weekends exploring all the different cafes, restaurants and going to places with my friends. I would call myself a party animal due to the fact that I go out clubbing very often on the weekend. Some of you may be wondering how I can go clubbing here in Thailand. This is because we have little to no local cases each day, so I take advantage of this and party my life out (and obviously try not to drink too much and pass out).
To keep up with the social life at the university, I try to attend all the events hosted by Kraket such as Valentine's pub quiz which was super fun! I am hoping to attend more of these events, so I can connect with my fellow classmates. I am also part of the social event committee for the Erasmus Student Network, so occasionally I would host online events with my committee members (you should definitely join!). This is it, as there's not much going on in my life right now. If there’s anything you want to know about me, feel free to contact me. I will be back in Amsterdam beginning of May, so if any of you want to hang out or meet up for coffee, hit me up then!
