sarahv

You are right, foreigners don't seem welcome in Thailand. I was in Thailand for a year as an exchange student at a prominent university in Bangkok. I paid fees higher than the Thai students, but yet I was treated like a 2nd class student. We are not allowed to partake in student organizations, we are not given proper student I.Ds, our campus wi-fi was shut off a month earlier than our program end date, and every time we went into the library we would be given cold stares by the librarians, who would always question our identity in trying to prevent our entry. The Thai students in our classes would completely ignore us foreign students. Mandatory group projects were a nightmare, as Thais refused to acknowledge us as part of the group. At the university there isn't a language barrier either as most students there are fluent in English, so I can't understand what their problem is. I did occasionally meet the odd friendly Thai student, but these were few and far between. I also had my purse and smart phone stolen while at school. I went to report it stolen at the nearby police station per the school's instructions but the police refused to let me talk. As soon as they saw me come in the station, they said, 'No!' and handed me a paper with 'tourist police' on it. In Thai, I explained that I wasn't a tourist but a student and was instructed to come here by my school, but they didn't care. I then complained to my program advisor who is Thai, and he ended up returning to the same police station with me, and I got the report I needed within minutes. The sergeant said that he didn't understand why they sent me away as they have a translator in the office.

The Thai exchange students that come to my university in the U.S. do not have to put up with this discrimination as they are treated as equals there. They are entitled to the same privileges as the non-foreign students. I don't understand why Thailand wouldn't want exchange students. We pay higher tuition fees, some of us volunteer for Thai NGOs, and in our free time we spend money at restaurants, bars, and tourist attractions. I really love Thailand, however towards the end of the year I felt relieved to leave and get away from the racism. Being considered 'the other' all the time gets pretty tiring. When I first came to Thailand I thought about returning a year later as an exchange student again but this time to conduct research for my Phd (which could take years). However after this experience, I don't want to come back. I'll be choosing another country to spend my grant money at instead. Thailand will continue to lose money on potential long-term exchange students if their attitudes towards foreigners doesn't change.