USINDO Summer Studies has been the experience of a lifetime. I have learned more about Indonesia and myself than I ever thought I would this summer! I’ve come to know some of the most amazing people and seen some of the most beautiful things during these past two months, and I will never forget all of the memories.
Coming into the program at the end of May, I’ll admit that I was in a bit of a slump—not because of USINDO or Indonesia, but because I had just come out of an especially hard year in school. I felt unmotivated, unexcited, and quite apathetic about many things. All of that went away within one week of being in Indonesia. My motivation was rekindled and my excitement for life seemed to come back almost instantly. I remembered why I love this country so much and why I wanted to come back in the first place.
Since beginning this program, I have been to new places, tried new things, and met new friends that I will have for the rest of my life. After 12 flights, 6 boat rides, 5 road trips, 4 train rides, and countless Gojek rides, I feel like I traveled everywhere this summer! I made batik, crossed the Java sea, watched a kecak dance on a cliff, camped on a deserted island, got attacked by a couple bats and a monkey, planted rice, survived a volcanic eruption, visited seven ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples, did a live radio broadcast in Indonesian, and sang karaoke more than I ever have in my life, all of this with countless good experiences in between.
I’ve come to know myself more than before, and I’ve become much more patient with myself. I’ve come to learn that it doesn’t matter so much what I will do in my career as long as I am happy. I’ve felt so happy here in Indonesia, and from that I know that I will be back at some point in the future, hopefully to live and work here. I’m proud of the challenges I’ve overcome, from experiencing the differences of living in another country to missing my family back at home. And most importantly, I proved to myself that I can live in another country on study abroad.
I’m sad that this program has to come to an end. I’ve been dreading it for a while because I don’t know when I will be able to come back to Indonesia. As it looks, unless an especially great opportunity comes up in the future, it will be at least 2 years before I will be able to come back. And that scares me; it scares me so much because I don’t want to be away from this country that I love so much. Indonesia has problems, but so does every country. What I’ve seen is how people are able to survive and thrive here, and how they are so happy as they do it.
I will never forget this experience in Indonesia. The people I’ve met and the things I’ve experienced have changed me forever. Thanks for the best summer ever, USINDO Summer Studies!
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