Before leaving for my trip I was excited and fearful at the same time. I could not wait to embark on all of the adventures that I knew Indonesia could offer, but I was afraid of not knowing anyone, being alone, and missing out on all of the events that would go on at home while I was gone. Looking back now I feel silly for allowing these worries to cloud my mind. While missing things at home with loved ones did make me feel sad from time to time, I continuously reminded myself that no one back at home was experiencing the new and amazing things that I was in a foreign country.
One of the most incredible parts of studying abroad was the opportunity to make new friends from all over the world. Having the opportunity to spend time with people from all over the word opened my eyes to the way that things are done in other countries. Prior to studying abroad I only really knew what it was like to live in the Pakistan, but now I have a greater knowledge of the cultures, governments, and customs of various countries throughout the world. When you study abroad the first thing you might notice are the many differences between people. But in a weird way you also start to see that all of these differences are also universal – people in many ways are the same everywhere.Preview (opens in a new tab)
Studying abroad gives you the opportunity to really understand people from different culture backgrounds and when you make friends, you learn to embrace people’s perfections alongside their flaws. This blessing of knowing many people from many cultural backgrounds taught me to understand myself better, and the importance of deepening my soft-skills in order to thrive in any situation.
Indonesia is a beautiful country with kind hearted and peace loving people. I travelled thousands kilometers and came to Indonesia and to be honest I was in cultural shock during the first week. When I got off the plane, everything was different, Even the layout of the city, the houses and streets was very different from my country. The good thing about me is that I can adapt to a new environment in a short time so for me I don’t find any difficulty adjusting here.
My experience in Universitas Airlangga is going well so far. I am a student of epidemiology master program in faculty of public health. The only problem I am facing here is language barrier because in my department international students are not that much and I am enrolled in local class that’s why all the teachers deliver lecture in Bahasa Indonesia. I learned Indonesian language and I can communicate with others but I can’t understand fully at this moment. I am still learning Indonesian language and day by day it’s improving. The thing I like the most about being the student of public health is that all the professors, lecturers are so cooperative they encourage you. Another thing I like the most about educational system here is that they focus more on research and help you build your soft skills as well as hard skills. Our department arrange different seminar and workshops on different topics related to public health which help us to get knowledge about latest development and research in epidemiology. It also helps to improve students writing skills.
Apart from studying, Universitas Airlangga is also giving us opportunities to explore different parts of Indonesia which help me better understand culture and tradition of different regions in Indonesia. International office also arrange different activities to engage international students and help us interact with people from other universities.
Other than the hard-skills that I gained from being in an international university, I believe that these all invaluable experiences have added a lot of new perspectives and values into my personal development and there is a lot more to learn and explore being an international student in Indonesia.
Penulis: Aqsa Haroon