is this the cream of Thailand? really? can you imagine students from Europe or US doing this? I can hear them now chanting like 12 year olds

Yes, in Ireland (Europe). They can be a bit annoying, but they're supposed to be annoying. They're students after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHnKjYpwH0Q

Edited June 23, 201313 yr by I Like Thai

I have two daughters who both graduated from CMU. I don't know to what extent they participated in undergaduate silliness, but even if they joined in with alacrity it didn't leave any lasting psychological scars.

My eldest went on to get a masters degree in International Law from Chulalongkorn, and a subsequent appointment to a government ministry. She was recently chosen to represent Thailand at this summers UN International Law Fellowship program at the Hague. She leaves for the Netherlands tomorrow afternoon. We're all quite proud of her.

The Thai educational system - with all its faults - works very well for some.

My wife's elder daughters are both CMU Graduates and have done very well both here and abroad. Our daughter went to school in Australia for a while and we were quite happy with her schools and the results. However, when we came back to CNX and she re-entered the Thai School System, we discovered that her school life in Australia was more like "Play School." Bottom line..... Don't "knock" the Thai Education system!!

It seems to me that public education worldwide leaves a lot to be desired.

But that's not the voice of experience speaking - I quit school at fifteen to work on construction jobs in the West Indies for a year, then went to the Art Students League of New York until I was twenty. After that, trying to make a living as an artist while knocking around the world - and being knocked around by it.

I first came to Chiang Mai in 1978 and have called it home ever since.

No regrets.

This is Thailand and the Freshy activities is Thai culture. It's not the USA, the UK or any other western country. This is normal for Thailand. The reason it seems strange is because you are a foreigner. Someone who grew up in a different culture. You speak a different language and probably dress differently than most Thai people. In fact, they probably look at you and have similar thoughts about how you behave, dress, and speak. That's ok too. It's normal. This is Thailand.

O (orientation) week it is called in Australia and the Thai version doesn't sound much different.

I think it has been going on since universities first opened. It was when I first learnt how to handle a hangover. I went on to do a PhD (hons.) in hangovers.