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I was on exchange study in Indonesia last year (2018, from Jan to May). I didn't blog about it last year and I also didn't think there were much to share about. In view of my days as a university student are numbered, my final exam of my last semester was over 2 weeks ago. Now I am still staying in my university hostel in campus, I will be a working adult 2 weeks later when I start my first real job. With the little days I have here, I am reminiscing the exciting life of these 4 years of tertiary study.
I flew back from Jakarta to Singapore on 31 May 2018 right after I finished my exam in Indonesia. I remembered rushing to the airport after exam because my internship in Singapore will start on the next day, June 1st. While back in Singapore, I was busy with work during weekdays. Basically I didn't get the mood to sit down quietly with coffee and get inspired to start writing even though I was free on weekends. After internship ended in August, school started right after the following weeks.
Anyway, enough of the excuses of why I didn't
blog about Indonesia. To be honest, I was not having a ton of exciting experiences during the 5 months as compared to the 2 weeks I had in Myanmar in early January 2018. I stayed in a hostel on campus, went back to room after classes. Had all meals at the canteen located literally 10 steps away from my room. My student life in Indonesia was very routine from the very beginning, I was not in the mood for adventure, mostly because I didn't have a lot of time and money. Also, I was taking 2 advanced level courses which I really did not want to fail. Because if I did fail, the same course in my own university will definitely be much harder. And retaking them at my own university is the last shameful thing I would want to do. I would describe my exchange study in Indonesia as Seeking Academic Refuge. All the grades obtained during exchange study are counted as Pass/Fail. Getting a C during exchange and counted as Pass is much better than getting a B- in my home university. Luckily I passed all subjects with B as my worst grade. Exploiting this loophole, I maximised
taking all the advanced hardcore modules during exchange so that I can have easier life while back. And I did. :P
The most unforgettable memory I had in Indonesia actually happened in a seminar room. It was a course about research method taught by a Harvard graduated professor in her seventies. Her silver hair was always very well combed, she always wore make-up on her wrinkled face and always dressed up sharp and smart as if she was gonna present on an international conference. She gave an amicable vibe and was always eager to share her stories back in the days. From
back in the days travelling from Indonesia to Europe was only feasible by ships to
back in the days she just hired a new maid two weeks ago. When she asked questions, you'd better look at her in the eyes and present your answer well as a way to reciprocate her passion in teaching.
The second lesson of her research method class was on the day of my flight back home to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. I was already in festive mood and did not prepare for the lesson, I thought preparing for the lesson
was optional just as in my university, I also completely missed out the assignment of the week! I did not forget, instead I was completely unaware of it! And that freaked me out, how could I not know of the assignment, why hasn't anyone talked about it?
Because I had to leave the class in the middle of the class to catch a flight, I was planning to attend the class for 30 minutes just to get the attendance mark. Since I would be leaving early, the prof picked me to answer her question at the start of the class. I was stunned because I did not how to explain
structural functionalism and
feminist paradigm. The whole class waited and the prof was staring at me with an eager smile waiting for my answer while I was trying to chain up a few words trying hard to even make sense to myself. I was so humiliated by my lack of effort whereas everyone else was fully prepared and had their answers ready on their notes. I left the class early with my luggage and apologised and promised the prof that I was gonna come fully prepared for the next
class.
On typical days, I normally would eat Ayam Grepek/Penyet in my room for dinner because I wouldn't want other to see how my mucus and tears flowed out while also enjoyed the hotness of the spicy fried chicken. Sometimes the canteen vendor would had a small talk with me about
when was I going back home or
where I was missing to for the past week. It felt warm that my presence/absence was noticed by random people. I also remembered how frustrated I was when I found out class was cancelled while already reaching the classroom. The worse was when the exam schedule was changed a week before the exam week and I was not aware of the change until 2 days before the first paper I was gonna take. As an exchange student, my network wasn't as expansive as regular students. Many news was spread through words of mouth and that's probably why many news reached me late.
I am not a social butterfly kind of person, I shunned many large group activities for dozens of exchange students. It is just tiring to keep forcing myself memorising names and keep forgetting them. I am grateful for
the friends I have known in class, in school, and in hostel. I still remember my classmates from advanced macroeconomics class invited me to their study group and studies a day before quiz in their 'kosan' (rental units), mostly we were just talking and playing guitar while some who didn't prepare were struggling to focus solving the equations. Another heartwarming moment was when 3 friends whom I known in hostel came to surprise me on my last day in Indonesia. It was around 11pm. I was already in bed ready to sleep. Then someone knocked my door, they showed up with parting gifts and snacks. We played UNO, chatted and listening to music until 2am. I am thankful for their kind act of farewell though we seldom in contact.
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