Who doesn’t love learning while traveling? To answer that question, let us take a look at the latest English Department UGM’s program Academic and Cultural Exchange UGM-NUS 2019. In cooperation with the National University of Singapore (NUS), this program carried out the theme of Celebrating Multiculturalism. Held on September 24-28 in Yogyakarta and October 19-23, 2019 in Singapore, approximately 14 students from UGM and 19 students from NUS joined this program, which was facilitated by UGM and NUS lecturers, Mala Hernawati, M.A., RahmawanJatmiko, M.A., and Miguel Escobar Varela, Ph.D.
In accordance with its theme, this program gave international exposures that focused on multiculturalism and intercultural communication. As such, the program enabled students to do cultural explorations and observations of various places and events which held prominent cultural values for each respective country. From the UGM side, the aim of this program is to gain international exposures by experiencing multiculturalism in Singapore as well as learning how to adapt to new different places and cultures.
This program began at Prambanan where all UGM and NUS students watched Sendratari Ramayana. The following activities were a cultural exploration in Yogyakarta and a joint project One Thing about My Culture People Often Misunderstood, in which UGM and NUS students were divided into groups and they were expected to present the joint project in the form of sketch performance. However, the sketches were not only bringing up various cultural misunderstandings but also successfully entertained the audience.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, the program varied from visiting the common tourist attraction like Merlion Park to observing religious rituals at Sri Mariamman Temple or Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Besides, UGM students visited museums and cultural heritages in Singapore. During the session in NUS, students from both universities were also divided into groups to discuss several questions regarding multiculturalism but this time is in a smaller and more personal scope. Students were given questions such as What is one thing about your culture that you really want to pass to your children? How much do you understand your parents’ culture? What cultures define you? and students were also asked to formulate their own questions following the dynamic of the discussion.
Moreover, the students from UGM learned more than just things related to multiculturalism and intercultural communication, which was survival. The experience of getting lost in one of the MRT stations was probably one of the best and unforgettable one. To sum up, it was indeed a complete package of learning, survival, and most importantly, having fun. (Contributor: Tiffani, Kalyca, and Restu)