Bangkok weekend getaway

So, after a few days of settling in Hua Hin it was time for an excursion to the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. This was a trip destined to be both for pleasure and business. Let’s do the business part first, shall we??

One of the key persons behind the project of studying in Thailand is Håkan Alm who has his own business here in Thailand and at the same time works at the School for business and informatics at the University of Borås. He also has a position with the Thai-Swedish chamber of commerce here in Bangkok that enables him to interact with Swedish people working in Thailand as well as Thai companies doing business with Sweden. Every first Thursday of the month there’s a group of people that gets together for a relaxed social gathering at a local pub. For the first meeting of the year Håkan had arranged for all of the students to join in.

The meeting began at six o’clock and continued for a few hours where we had a few beers, some really good food, but most importantly made new contacts with people who are either executives or owns a business in Thailand. The time in Thailand aims at developing us as individuals as we are put into a position where many of us has not been before, far away from home where it is hard to communicate because of language barriers, where your best friends and family are far away. The meeting we had on Thursday aimed at trying to get us students in touch with some of the people who might be able to help us out with internships for those who wish to stay a few extra months and gain some invaluable knowledge and experience. To the best of my knowledge the meeting was a great success and some serious networking took place. I know that a few people have already sorted out where they want to do their internships and some have almost sealed the deal! Companies that were represented at the meeting were Nordea, SEB, Oakwood hotels, Oriflame and ScandAsia, just to mention a few.

Stay tuned for an update regarding the rest of the weekend in Bangkok!

For now, peace out!

Last Week in Bangkok

My last week in Bangkok and Thailand has come upon me. Im having mixed feelings about going home but it is time to go at least for this timeJ

This last week I have been working in the Marketing office, where I have seen how they work with things from pricing to different kinds of promotions. I have been helping with as much as I can but I mostly learnt a lot from watching the people working in the office.

On the schedule for the last couple of days is football, some dinners and finishing off with a farewell party night. Its going to be a lot of fun but I will for sure miss Thailand. This is the next last blog I will write, the last one will be when I landed safely in Sweden. Hope you had use of some of my tips in Bangkok and the beautiful country of Thailand. See you!

Pilip

End of the season party and more experience from working

This weekend we had an end of the season party with the footballteam. We started off playing some bowling and I think I did my worst performance ever but it was still a lot of fun. After that we chilled out by the pool and enjoyed the sun for a while it was so nice. Continued the day by having a really good Swedish buffe with herring, salmon and knäckebröd. And then finishing off with getting our prize for ending in second place in the league. It was a good day with a lot of laughs.

Everything is good at work I am learning a lot of new stuff. After a couple of weeks in the front office I have been helping in the reservations office and the last week in the accounting department and more specific cost control. I am learning a lot and I really like the experience I get from working here in Thailand. The next week I am going to be in the Food and Beverage department and that will be completely new stuff for me so lets hope they are nice to me. I will tell you all about what I will do there soon.

Pilip  

Peasoup evening

Tonight I have done something I never thought I would do in Thailand. I went to a Swedish peasoup evening where we had a tryout tasting for Swedish peasoup and pancakes for upcoming bigger events for Swedes in Bangkok and Thailand. It was a really nice evening with around 20 Swedish guys eating, chatting and trying the homemade punsch together with the food. It was for me a real success, I loved the soup and everything else.

To finish of the evening we went to the rooftop bar Nest and listened to good live music and just relaxed with a beer. It was still an early night because I had to work the day after.

About the work, everything is going really well. I'm learning a lot about the hotel business and when I try to see things from the perspective of my studies I really feel like the education International Business Engineering is applicable in a lot of different departments and that feels really good.

Pilip

Internship in Bangkok

Last week I finished my studies in AIT university with the final exam in thai political economy which was a really hard exam. But I already got the results back and it turned out fine. I passed the course and it was pretty good grade also, so I am happyJ

Directly after school I decided that I want to have some working experience from Bangkok also so meanwhile Ive been studying I been looking for internships. I met a really good guy which was the manager of Rembrandt hotel in Bangkok. We managed to work a good thing out so that I can learn as much as I want in the hotel business and meanwhile they get some extra staff and also some new eyes watching their everyday work and who knows maybe I can provide some good ideas for changes in this business. I am going to do this for two months and then Im going back to Sweden for some summer partyingJ

My first week I have been standing in the reception, so that I learn about how hotel works with all booking systems, guest registrations and hospitality. So now I just started my second week in the reception and I really like it. Being able to help guests with different questions and meet a lot of different people. I will probably go to other departments next week but that will be decided later. I really fell that the Internationell Business Engineering program that I am in has contained some really good courses to go into business and find things to make more efficient.

I will soon get back with more details in what I will do for the next couple of weeksJ

Pilip