Journey to the Kingdom of Thai - Silpakorn Summer School 2018 (13/08/2018)

This is the first time for Silpakorn University to organize an international summer course, and much to our surprise, everything related to our trip was planned professionally: From the accommodation, to the studying and visiting schedule. Our weekdays were filled with diverse activities, mainly taking part in classes and visiting well-known tourist attractions, making some Thai products with our own hands or having short tours around the university. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the campus is really large and that it took weeks to explore the whole of it.

In terms of studying, we spent a day learning about the health care system in Thailand and visiting some Thai facilities: the tertiary care in Nakhon Pathom Hospital, the Phramongkhutlao Military Hospital and Silpakorn University Community Pharmacy. At those places, we were introduced about the organizational chart of the hospital and more importantly, the responsibilities of the pharmacists while working there.

During the time at the laboratories, we were taught about different topics that we hardly learnt at our university before, like for example: Nanotechnology including nanofibers, nanoparticles or diffusion test. And another memorable experience is when we got to make shampoo from butterfly pea and skin products with a highly attractive smell.

It would be outrageous if we forget to mention the variety of places that were visited during this trip.The culture in the land of Thailand is heavily influenced by Buddhism, so we spent much time visiting Thai temples known as wats such as Wat Pho, Wat Pra Pathom Chedi and also some spiritual buildings like The Grand Place and the Siam Museum. Besides, it is such an eye-opener to catch the sight of the scenic views of the floating market or the crystal blue waters in a beach in Pattaya. Regarding the food, the dishes were beyond our expectation. Many people say that Thai cuisines are all about Tomyam Kung and Pad Thai but in fact, hundreds of dishes had caught our eyes immediately, like: Khao niao (sticky rice), served with som tam (papaya salad) and kai yang (grilled chicken), green curry for daily meals and many multi-flavoured snacks that can be easily found in any market or food cart in Thailand.

Our last mission was to prepare a short presentation specific topics such as Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Technology, Thai Traditional Medicine or Pharmacy Informatics… We bet that working in a group formed of people from different countries would be one of the best activities you can do in a summer course. We all succeeded in forging our friendship across the borders by sharing and understanding each other. The Farewell Party was the time for students to show everyone their talents through traditional performances and also prepared gifts as a way of giving a big thank you to the Faculty of Pharmacy and all people working and studying there.

Ten days in this trip passed like a blink of an eye and finally, the time for us to leave had come. Words are inexpressible of how we all felt through our short yet memorable trip, so do not take our words for granted and go out to expericence this land for yourself. Do not hesitate to participate in an exchange program like this, just apply and enjoy many upcoming wonderful things that are waiting for you. We guarantee that it will be a one-of-a-kind memory in your whole university life.