UGM EXCHANGE STUDENT Q&A - OUR INDONESIA EXPERIENCE

hi guys welcome back to my channel today i am so excited we are doing a q a with my fellow exchange student catherine we're going to be answering some questions that maybe you have about our time on our year abroad in indonesia so i'm here today with fellow exchange student and very good friend catherine and we're here today to answer some questions about our time in indonesia so in case you don't know me already my name is chloe i was an exchange student at universitas garcia murder in indonesia and i study um full time at the university of birmingham studying anthropology and political science hello the university of birmingham no relations so hi my name is catherine i study international relations at the university of birmingham and i studied at ugan in georgia with chloe for eight months until we had to come home because of coronavirus so our first question is why did you choose indonesia specifically jakarta and what did you expect before arriving i chose again it was my first choice we got to put seven and um i really didn't know anything about it um i i'd done lots of research but i wanted to go somewhere completely new to me and somewhere yeah i've never been to asia alone in southeast asia or indonesia before um and it just sort of ticked all the boxes of criteria that like i wanted to be able to try and learn a new language although as you can see i don't know how well that went um and the opportunity to sort of travel regionally as well as um in the local area um it had really like the just biodiversity i'm really into um wildlife and nature and i really wanted to experience that and we definitely got to sort of having a reticulated python in our garden that was really cool and mountains to hike and i knew it was a student city and had lots of different universities and so i knew there'd be a lot of young people and lots of people um from different areas that we'd get a chance to meet so that's why i chose it yeah yeah so i was in a little bit of a different situation to you katherine i didn't initially choose indonesia as one of my year abroad options i was placed there by my university and i have to admit i was a little bit nervous because i didn't really know much about indonesia even after it did a lot of research quite i was really excited and i was ready to kind of really get into this opportunity but i was still a little bit apprehensive as i couldn't really find much information about the university online or what it was like to live there and that's what really kind of inspired me to make my video about my time in indonesia which you'll be able to find here so yeah i didn't really know what to expect before arriving but i just wanted to make sure that i went in with an open mind and kind of embrace all the experiences and opportunities that indonesia had to offer [Music] so the second question is what were you looking forward to the most about indonesia and georgia specifically for me it was definitely experience a culture completely different to my own um and the opportunity to travel to amazing places i was really excited to traveling um places not so much on the typical tourist track and really as an anthropology student as well really experiencing and getting to know indonesian culture i found really exciting so mine was actually really similar to what you've just said i didn't really have many expectations again i struggled with the lack of information before we went out there so i think it's really great that you're putting these videos up on youtube um but yeah just sort of the adventure of it all and the chance to study in another institution um with my classmates but i didn't know what to expect um so like you i was just trying to go out there with an open mind and see what happened question number three what were your first impressions of doctor carter i guess it was quite overwhelming um it was really hot and um the food i think definitely stood out from the get-go um and just generally people being quite kind and helping us out because you know we didn't have any we were just we went out there and we stayed in the hostel for a few days um until we found somewhere we could live um for the longer term and so and people being kind and helping us out with that um but yeah it was it i also really remember it was we went out there and it was just before independence day and so um all the streets and everything were decorated the 17th of august and there was bunting everywhere and it was just so beautiful and i remember thinking i know what they're preparing for this big celebration but i really hope it's like that all year round um which unfortunately the bunching did get taken down but it was just so lovely to see so yeah i completely agree i think it was quite overwhelming um definitely i'm not really used to being anywhere with loads of scooters around so the driving culture was completely different as well as it is really humid so you've got so much going on around you as well as climate being really hot and you're in a new city you're trying to find your way around i think it is it's while it's really exciting as well it can be quite overwhelming um but i think you really do settle into that and you get really accustomed to the ways and like ways of living in georgia and um completely miss it today [Music] question number four did you experience culture shock and what were the biggest cultural differences and how did you adapt so i didn't actually experience culture shock per se um i think maybe because i expected it the cultures were so different i wonder if culture shock sometimes feels more extreme when you're going sort of maybe from the uk to the us where the changes are smaller so it kind of creeps up on you instead what i felt i experienced was cultural fatigue um which i thought i coined this term i felt so clever because a few months in i was like you know i'm just feeling sort of what i could only describe as cultural fatigue and i googled it and i didn't come up with that term it is it's a thing um but i was just sort of getting frustrated um irrationally at some of the differences and just sort of feeling quite worn down um i guess like you have your picture taken a lot of zaboolay and it can get quite tiring it's just quite different um and i i really went out there wanting to be um very respectful and i don't think i appreciate it out there until i went out there how much you need to appreciate that you will make mistakes and you kind of have to forgive yourself for that but just go out there with the right intentions so things like um doing lots of research and making sure um like basic things like you know to give like money or hand things over with your right hand because you're left hands for bathroom business and like addressing people respectfully as like pat and boo um i remember like it was quite a big thing for me when um quite early on um one of our chloe's buddy um from the uni was driving us to like the freshers fair event and um we'd been talking to him about things we could do to not offend people and then later on in the night when he was dropping us back um i offered him petrol money which is like the most polite thing you can really do here as a student in the uk because you kind of you know everyone's not got as much money as a student so like the most polite thing to do is you offer the student driver a little bit of money to cover the petrol costs and um chloe's buddy informed us that actually like me doing that was really offensive because it was kind of putting monetary value on our friendship and instead i should offer to sort of um like maybe take him out for a coffee sometime or um reciprocate some other way um that's not like necessarily tit for tat and i found that really interesting and it was quite a big wake-up call early on that you can make um mistakes um and that's okay you just need to learn from them and keep keep trying to be better yeah i definitely agree with you on the cultural fatigue um it definitely was like a slow process um i think kind of living in another country it's a very physical thing as silly as that sounds and you're constantly especially with a different language you're constantly trying to translate and be respectful and over time that does take quite a lot of energy but little things i think that found really helpful was kind of having little reminders of home whether that's food or like items in your house that kind of resembles something familiar um so it's not completely different all the time and i think that found that really helpful for me personally other aspects of adapting to the culture i think i was really conscious of like catherine said like um making sure you're really researching talking to other people there like about what's respectful and kind of yeah making mistakes as you go and like understanding where you're going wrong and how you can be better and other things like you know changing the way you dress like potentially what i'd wear in europe wouldn't really be what i'd wear at university in indonesia and that's completely fine i think it's just adapting to different cultures but the biggest thing i think that really helped our time there is that we both went to indonesian language classes and i think that really um heightened our experience to another level i think we experienced so many more things because we had that language practice that perhaps we wouldn't if we didn't make a conscious effort to adapt and assimilate into the culture question number five what are your best memories of your time there so for me and there were so many memories i can't really it's really difficult to pick just a few out um but definitely a highlight was it was such a random situation and i think even now i look back and it just was such a funny and amazing experience but um we me and catherine we were sitting on a bench one day outside ggm and we i think we were waiting for something we're waiting for a taxi i don't i can't remember but um a lady came over and started talking to us and she was really nice and um i don't know just talking about her and her life and asking us questions as well and it ended up that and she ended up inviting us to her sister's wedding and you know i think again going back to that kind of mindset of embracing opportunities and saying yes to everything and we said yes and we went along and the next thing we knew is that we were dressed in traditional javanese clothes and hair we had the full hair makeup and wardrobe done everybody was dressed to the nines um and then yeah we went to the wedding um there was about a thousand people there um and it was just so interesting experiencing another wedding in a different culture and i think it's something especially if if you're a traveler or if you're there on holiday you wouldn't really experience unless you're in kind of that situation where you just happen to be there it was such a great experience um they put us right in the front row and what i love most which is i think something that can really bring back to weddings here is that throughout the ceremony they were giving you food so you were just eating as the ceremony was happening you're not waiting for a wedding right here you're not waiting for an hour to the ceremony to finish so then eat it was happening during the during this time and i thought that is really great um but yeah it was amazing they were singing they tried to get us on stage one point which honestly i was like please that yeah stage fright was happening um but yeah overall it was such a fun experience and we ended up going to like a swimming place after and yeah definitely one of my favorite memories so yes i agree with chloe like the wedding was obviously a big standout um it was such a privilege to be able to go also when we visited komodo national park um it's one of the most beautiful places i've ever been um seeing the wildlife and just the beautiful nature and we stayed on a boat and we did sort of a liver board and we got to go to quite a few of the different islands um in the national park and see the komodos um and go for hikes and we got to swim with turtles and we swam with manta rays which was a real highlight for me i i had a little cry after we swam with the banters i was just so awestruck um it was incredible um yeah just a very very happy memory and seeing all um of the bats flying at dusk flying away that was incredible as well um yes we were really lucky to be able to go there and there's there's so many standout memories but um komodo was very special so on the topic of travel um are there any places uh you'd recommend travelers of georgia or just indonesia in general should go so firstly um anyone going to indonesia go to jogja don't just go to bali um there's so much more like indonesia is just such a vast archipelago and even though we were there for eight months and months and did our best to explore i still feel like we only just scratched the surface um so once you're in jogja don't just go to pram banana bora bador although obviously they're both incredible temples um there's more to see and if you're staying in the city try to venture a bit away from prairie town street where most of the tourists stay because yeah there's just so much to see um i'd really recommend going to cottage day and where our bahasa tutor elin took us for a day and we had the best time and we explored um we saw the mataram cemetery and we went to the markets and we saw all the old parts of the city um and we went to see the haunted house where there's a puchong and that was amazing it was um so much fun um there's just so much to do the crafts in the bantal area going to the waterfalls i loved hiking the mountains go hike my baboo explore around merape national park there are lots of waterfalls to see and dieng plateau and the chicken church we went to the chicken church twice i love the chicken church um although it's technically a dove everyone calls it the chicken church um yes just i'd highly recommend and then i also would say kalimantan even though i didn't i went to malaysian borneo and spent a lot of time there but um i'd have really liked to see the indonesian part but as i was traveling alone um the infrastructure it's a bit easier to get around in malaysia so i was recommended i should go there but if i went back i'd definitely like to cross the border um and see indonesian kalamantan and because it's just such a beautiful island and again the wildlife and the natural beauty is unparalleled [Music] yeah i definitely agree there are so many hidden gems like in and around jogja that you probably don't typically find on the like the you know tourist guides um it really takes like google maps zooming in word of mouth um to find these places especially waterfalls we found some amazing waterfalls and swimming spots like at the end of our stay there and we were like how did we not know about this all along um but yeah there's some real highlights in jogja such as the chicken church was so fun in the more southern part of the city there's so many places you can make things like silver um so shout out to romeo at his silver studios and we went there quite a few times and made pure silver rings from scratch they were so much fun to make and kind of another one of those things that you really didn't expect yourself to be doing um when you arrived at your year abroad and such an example of like you know we're saying yes to things where it can take you other um amazing places visited that was kind of in and around georgia was pashitan i think we went there quite a few times um it's about a three or four hour drive from jogja on the coast um but it's such a it's a really nice town um where you can surf there there's a few little surf hostels and it's really nice to kind of get away from the city go to the beach um learn to surf if you haven't before or kind of practice some skills and kind of experience kind of life in the more rural areas of indonesia i'm talking about indonesia more generally of course everybody goes to bali um i loved it there i think it's amazing place um but especially we really ventured up and went into the north um i think there's some real gems up there if you want to get away from kind of the tourist kind of area and you want to see something a little bit more authentic to indonesia like we found in georgia especially egypt if you go across the border to java from bali that was an amazing experience and seeing the blue fire in the volcano is it a volcano i can't remember but it was amazing it was really fun um and going and hiking up at four in the morning it was a really fun experience i really wanted to go to bromo that was something that was on the list but unfortunately i think due to the circumstances leaving we were planning to go literally a few weeks after we left but due to covered we had to leave really abruptly and unfortunately did not end up going to bromo but have the incentive to go back one day [Music] question number seven what was the situation regarding how you left so yes it was very abrupt and very sad um i feel so lucky that we got the eight months we did but we were meant to be there almost a year um and so we had so many more plans and essentially we were actually in singapore for the weekend which is crazy um and the situation i think as it did for a lot of people with the virus escalated very rapidly so we were traveling we didn't think that that it wasn't irresponsible at that point there wasn't any um sort of suggestion um that we might want to um be going back at that point and then i got a text from our norwegian friend saying she was booking a flight home to norway suddenly and um it just the situation just changed um and we were getting lots of messages through saying class were cancelled at the university so we got back to jogja and we were getting lots of different information through our housemates were from germany and the netherlands and their governments were telling them different things um than what our governments were and i think we kind of well at least i sort of wanted someone to say to me and tell me what to do um which you know it was just so it was such a difficult we there was nothing i wanted more than to stay in georgia um i completely fell in love with the city and it felt like sort of it was going to be all over too soon um but eventually we spent a few days thinking about it sort of lots of sleepless nights and then we talked to the embassy and made the decision that it was right to come home and booked a flight the next day which was the right thing to do because sort of the borders were shutting behind us and we were having friends were having their flights cancelled and they were getting stuck at different airports um and it was it was really sad especially since we just we'd moved into a different house and we had different housemates we were just getting to know and get close with and it was very abrupt um but on the positive side it does mean that i definitely want to go back to georgia very soon and sort of um there are a few loose ties like chloe said going to bromo we wanted to see the prambanan ballet we didn't do that um but i feel very lucky we got the time we did and i think it was the right call to come home and be with our families especially since it was so uncertain no one knew what the pandemic would turn into yeah i mean i was there the whole way with catherine so my story is pretty identical but it was such an uncertain time um i think you know especially being there like you're only getting fed the news um you're only kind of understanding the situation from what friends of family and saying and you know what you're reading in the news so there was an element i was kind of like how much of this is being exaggerated how much of it is i was always taking it seriously but you know when you're not in the midst of the whole when the whole situation is escalating you're kind of like yeah everything is really really uncertain um and the kind of the manner we left was so abrupt i feel like um i remember arriving home and was like how am i here like it has happened so quickly um but it's definitely given me the incentive to really want to go back as soon as we can and as soon as it's safe to do so so the eighth and final question is what do you miss the most and would you go back so the first thing that comes to my mind is definitely the food um honestly i think about the food every day i have tried to recreate it myself the amount of nasi gorengs i have made is insane and none of them come close to the food we had in indonesia another thing is the climate um you know we came back here in march when the weather in england was getting a little bit better but still it was nothing compared to how the weather was in indonesia even in rainy season i miss rainy season and in the uk it's not even a nice rainy season it is just grey and drizzly like it is today um so what i would give to be back in sunny indonesia i also really miss um kind of being immersed in a different culture and kind of spending time learning about it more and you know even if you're there for eight months you really don't get a full picture of it and i don't think maybe as a foreigner you ever do but that kind of constant process of always learning and kind of just being more interested and i think i really miss that um so yes i would agree the food i could talk about indonesian food until the cows come home um most specifically nasi pachel my favorite ever um i felt a little bit in love with that dish um also um my favorite from the one room i didn't go um nasi goreng as much as oraca rick because i like the surprise what's going to end up in there nobody knows um and then also when i was sick our indonesian friend he introduced me to um i could i really struggled to say it i am um and um just so hearty and it just oh it made me feel better after a long day at uni um oh so good um and also the ice cream i ate a lot of ice cream in indonesia i mean with the climate why not um the ones the cornettos with the chocolate disc on top uh to die for and also my spice palette got some i got much so much more of a love for spicy food and since being back i have understood some of the complaints that english food can be a little bit bland um but don't tell anyone yeah um but then also um on a more serious note the people and lots of different friends um both from indonesia and then also fellow international students and like i said the culture um and exploring and just having morappi on your doorstep and uh just yeah there's so much i miss um i feel very lucky to have been able to live in georgia three months and i would love to go back and live there again sometime [Music] [Music] so just want to say a massive thank you to catherine for coming here today and answering questions about our time in indonesia as international students if you have any more questions about our experience or want advice from other people please put it in the comments below as well as if you have any experiences of indonesia or job to yourselves that you want to talk about that might help other people it'd be really interesting to hear your experiences and opinions so thank you so much for watching our video today please like comment and subscribe if you are interested in learning more as well as if you have any suggestions of what to do what i should do in the [Music] future [Music] you

2021-03-24 03:14

Other news