Hi, I’m Mckenzie, and I’m Studying Journalism with an Emphasis on K-Pop

After a few weeks of adjusting and settling into my classes, I thought it would be time to put up a post about how my classes are going and how they work here in Thailand.

Unlike many study abroad programs, when I arrived I did not have a schedule yet. In fact, I didn’t even know the exact class options that would be offered during my semester. Luckily, to help combat confusion or bad choices, the BJM (Bachelor in Journalism – Mass Media Studies) program here at Thammasat gave me a week to sit-in on any classes I wanted before officially enrolling. I was very strategically trying to pick my schedule to get all my classes at the beginning of the week so that I could have long weekends for traveling. I also didn’t want to take classes that would be too easy for me that I would get bored, which took out even more options. In the end, I had about seven classes or so I could pick from that worked well in my schedule.

Almost all the classes at Thammasat meet just once a week but are three hours long. So working out a schedule with all my classes early was easily possible but it does mean my first few days in the week will be basically spent in the classroom all the time.

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The first class I attended was Photography for Communications. I was really excited for this class because I had never actually taken a photography class before, all my training was just self-teaching and playing around. Instantly, I was relieved to see my professor spoke English well and was super easy to communicate with. He had also worked as a photojournalist before becoming a professor, so he has tons of experience in the field. I’ve found that enrolling in the course has already encouraged me to bring my camera along when otherwise I may have found it easier to leave it at home. Some of the projects in the class included portrait photography, landscape photography, editorial photography, and a final project centered around a theme or narrative of my choice. It’s been interesting learning some new techniques so far for even basic things like balancing ISO, shutter speed, and aperture and using flash correctly, so I look forward to gaining more critical feedback for my work and hopefully becoming a better photographer from it!

I was astounded in this class by how many students showed up late periodically through the class period. A few students strolled in only about ten minutes before the class was completely dismissed! This has gotten a little better since the first week, but what hasn’t changed is how much people talk while our professor is teaching. I just couldn’t believe it — I had a class dismissed at UW-Madison once because the professor felt like students were working on other things during her lecture; I can’t even imagine what the professors would do if students had as many loud, personal conversations while they were talking as they do during some of my classes here.

The second class I attended, on Monday afternoons, was Global Media Industries. I didn’t really know what to expect from this class, but what I got the first day was far, far from what I was anticipating. It turns out my professor for this course is kind of a big deal.

He worked for the Bangkok Post and was well-known for writing radical articles about the Royal family that kept him under the watchful eye of the palace at all times, then he was Editor-In-Chief for GQ Thailand — which is a once-in-a-lifetime position. Here are some of the pieces of fashion advice he dropped during his first class session:

“A belt is not a necessity. It is an accessory.” 

“Swag is not a group thing, it’s an individual thing.”

“Swag lesson #2: No socks with loafers. But, you must make sure your feet don’t stink.”

*He also taught us his go-to selfie face, the “pucker lips.” (more like what we’d call the pouty lips)*

So, you can imagine why I was a little confused by him. It was a little hard to pinpoint his personality on the first day: kind of a weird mix of egotistical and yet being able to poke fun at himself. However, as we’ve now had five classes with him, he has shown a great sense of humor and is a very interesting lecturer. Each one has been on thought-provoking topics for me personally, such as who controls the media and what makes the U.S. the only world superpower. The only grades in this class are based off two presentations. My first one is next week on how social media is used to give a voice to the 99 percent.

One of the other humorous things about this class is that, for some reason, every week before class starts, my fellow Thai students will take over the computer attached to the presentation screen and play, sing and dance along to K-Pop or Thai pop music videos. Of course, this is highly entertaining for me because I have never heard of any of these songs or groups, but the Thai students (girls and boys alike) know every single dance and word. I look forward to my little lesson in Asian music culture every Tuesday afternoon.

One of the most popular songs in Thailand right now is by a group from Bangkok called BNK48. I’m attaching the music video below and please watch a few minutes of it because I’ve never seen something that summarizes all the parts of Thai culture and life so well. I’m not kidding you that this song is everywhere; I step in a mall, it’s playing. I sit at a bar, someone is playing an acoustic version live. I go to the traditional football game, BNK 48 makes a guest appearance to perform the song after the game — it’s everywhere. 

Next morning, I went to Interpretation of Current Affairs. I was somewhat comforted as the professor laid-down some ground rules: don’t come in late, don’t talk while he is talking and don’t eat in class — this was much more the structure I was used to in class. This class basically consists of analyzing current news to sort out the truth, fact, and nontruth and search for deeper meanings and impacts of news stories. A lot of the stories brought up are Thailand current events, so it’s intriguing having a way to keep up-to-date with what’s happening here in Thailand. For example, one week a Thai celebrity accidentally posted her boyfriend’s dick pic on social media which began a classroom-wide conversation on “if size really matters.” Other big news includes a Deputy Prime Minister who wears too fancy of watches, a CEO who poached black panthers, and, Thailand news aside, Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy has also been frequently discussed.

My final class, luckily during the trial week, on Tuesday afternoon, was called Creativity in Strategic Communication, which I was excited about, thinking it would be about creative advertising campaign messages. As soon as the professor began to talk, I realized there might be a little problem. Her English just wasn’t as strong as my other professors had been, and I was struggling to understand. All the sudden, without going through the syllabus or being introduced to what the class would cover, we were told to pick groups (Reminder: I knew no one in this class) and make a video using just the prompt…

“Impossible is Nothing. Love.” 

I was so confused. I had no clue why we were making a video or what it was supposed to be about. Apparently, the Thai students in my class were confused too because she explained everything to them for the next few minutes in Thai, telling me she would “translate later” which she never got around to. Another point, she wanted us to work on the project until 6 pm that night even though the class was only supposed to go until 4:30. I hated to be “that” foreign exchange student, but I had plans to go into the city and check out more of Bangkok after class, and I still had no idea whatsoever what I was supposed to be doing. So, knowing I was still in a trial period for classes anyway, I excused myself and decided I would enroll in a different class.

That different class ended up being Announcing in Broadcasting. It was canceled the first two weeks because the professor had to be a substitute anchor for a Korean news station (I think?) and then we had another two weeks off for the university sports week, so we met for the first time in February. This professor is incredible. She’s so smart, sweet, nice, and speaks clearer English than I do by far. Although this class is a little easier for me, so far, since I am a native English speaker and my Thai classmates are challenged to speak in their second language, I think I will be challenged when we get sent out to do field work and make real broadcast news stories. Finding people to interview will push me out of my comfort zone a bit more.

So, there you have it! A quick glimpse into what my weekly class schedule looks like. Through it all, I’m happy to say that I feel like I am learning and interested in what my professors are teaching here. It’s such a great experience to be able to study what I’m passionate about on another side of the world!