Welcome Greeting

from the Program Head

Dear students of 2022,

Welcome aboard.

On behalf of the English Studies Program, Universitas Gadjah Mada, I am honored to welcome you to this great study program as you embark on your academic journey that will define your career in the years ahead. All the staff of the Program will assist you to navigate your academic adventure, exploring your academic life, discovering new passion, and engaging your intellectual challenge here.

As head of the Program, I am delighted to share with you some personal observations about the best ways to take advantages of the opportunities for learning and personal growth that this study program offers. First thing first, it is essential that you attend classes. Not

attending a required number of classes may result in not obtaining satisfactory credits for the course. When attending a class, you are encouraged to participate in classroom discussions. The final grade that you receive in a course reflects a combination of assessments: a mid-semester and final examinations, case-based and project-based assignments, and class participation. Class participation involves contributing to class discussions: asking and answering questions in class. If you sit quietly and never ask questions and give opinions, your final grade may be adversely affected. Do not be afraid to speak in class, even if you are not totally sure of your answer, because speaking in class will indicate that you are thinking about the topic of conversation, and it may help you to clarify your thoughts on a topic.

Do not be afraid to ask your lecturers if you experience any academic problems.  Lecturers have regular office hours during which you can make appointments or meet them to discuss your problems. Most lecturers are also willing to meet students outside their office hours on appointment. We are all here to help you navigate your academic journey.

I wish you all the best with your academic endeavors at the English Studies Program, Department of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

About TF-NUS LEaRN 

TF-NUS LEaRN is a three-week summer program sponsored by Temasek Foundation at National University of Singapore aiming to nurture the next generation of Asian Leaders by providing opportunities for cultural exchange, networking, and leadership enhancement. TF-NUS LEaRN 2022 focuses on Holistic Resilience, Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation. We learned about the registration for this program from our beloved and supporting lecturer, Mba Alva <3. Even so, the information could actually be found on the OIA UGM Website. 

Our Experiences

• Experiencing Offline School for The First Time

As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the world for over two years. Since the English Department has not conducted offline classes effectively, this program allowed us to experience offline school for the first time after a while. Initially, we doubted our ability to survive the offline classes, especially in NUS. But thanks to our willingness to challenge ourselves, we managed to pass this program satisfactorily by always being active in the classes and group discussions.

• Playing “Kotak Pos” with ASEAN Buddies

In the first week of the program, we had the opportunity to group up according to our nationality. On that day, we (Indonesians) were trying to explain the history of Indonesia from independence day until now. After that, we all gave other countries sticky notes of our hope for their countries. After the sessions were done, we all gathered in a circle to play one of Indonesian traditional games, “Kotak Pos.” At first, everyone who played was only Indonesian, but because we made quite a big noise when we played Kotak Pos, some of the nearest participants started to join us. There, we had fun introducing Kotak Pos to our ASEAN friends, which they found pretty fun too.

• Celebrating Hari Raya Haji with ASEAN Buddies 

Luckily we could spend our first Hari Raya Haji in Singapore during this program, which turned out to be celebrated a bit differently from the one in Indonesia. In the morning, we went to pray at Tentera di Raja Mosque, which is quite near PGPR. Before that day, we had to book a place first on the MUIS website. Otherwise, we might not have been allowed to enter the mosque. Also, most Singaporeans don’t conduct slaughter in their own country, yet they celebrate it like Indonesians celebrate Lebaran Day: full of food and family visits! And our Singaporean buddies, Sayyid and Husna, were so open-handed that they invited us to celebrate Hari Raya Haji in their houses! Sayyid’s family served us scrumptious Indian cuisines. There was Naan Bread with Butter Chicken, Roti Jala/Kirai with Mutton Curry, Sayyid Mom’s tasty Fried Chicken, and Chana Masala. Meanwhile, Husna (assisted by another buddy Nafla) cooked Malay cuisines, which were Ketupat, Sambal Goreng Pengantin, Begedil Ball, Vege Tomato Soup, Serondeng, Sambal and Ikan Keeping. We also made Ondeh-ondeh together in her house! Fyi, Ondeh-ondeh in Singapore is the same as Klepon in Indonesia.

• Dragon Boating and Frisbee with Hompimpa😃 

There are some fun activities that we did outside the program, one of which was dragon boating. On Buddy Day, a day scheduled for us to spend our time with our own buddy, We and Rahh’s buddy, Nafla, went to Wayne’s house (Raihan’s buddy) to spend our morning till afternoon there before going dragon boating. There we played Monopoly and Uno. After that, at 3 pm, we went to the Kallang Water Sports Center near the Singapore National Stadium. There, we went dragon boating with most of the ASEAN buddies for 2 hours straight. It was also our first time doing dragon boating, so we knew nothing about that. Thankfully there was an instructor that helped us to learn the movement. In dragon boating, synchronized teamwork is essential to make the boat move, and after the instructor told us that we should count synchronously, we were able to slowly move the boat. 

We also played frisbee the day before we went dragon boating. It was also our first experience playing frisbee. The funny yet exciting time was when we tried to divide the group into two; no one had any idea what we should do. Suddenly the Indonesians said, “Let’s just do hompimpa!” and we did exactly that. We have fun while also introducing some Indonesian games. It was an enjoyable and exciting moment with everyone.

• Daily Life as Exchange Students in NUS 

During the program, we stayed in Prince George’s Park Residence, one of NUS Housing. This accommodation was already sponsored. Because of the complete cooking utensils in the PGPR’s pantry, we loved to cook our own food, mostly for breakfast and lunch. This was also what reduced our expenses there! To go around, we mostly took public transportation, such as the NUS bus, MRT, and public bus. Fyi, the NUS bus is free for the public! And it’s very helpful because it reaches strategic places such as Kent Ridge MRT Station and nearest Fair Price, where we used to buy our groceries.

As Muslims, we didn’t really find any difficulty living in Singapore, especially because we have quite a lot of Muslim buddies in this program. We learned a lot from them, like where they usually pray, how to choose a food stall that sells halal food, and where we can find halal food easily. We found that if there is no mosque or prayer room nearby, it’s very common for Muslims in Singapore to pray on emergency stairs. However, we had a funny experience about it. In our first week, we still didn’t understand where they usually pray in public places. Thus, we prayed in front of the lift in a convention centre, where many people passed. While we were praying, a little boy passed by and returned only to seriously pay attention to us. Quite a memorable experience for us!

Our Impressions on the Program and Singapore:

Rahh

It was only three weeks, but I already feel that half of my soul is still there in Singapore <3. That is the perfect quote to summarize my impression on this exchange experience. I always felt welcome and appreciated, both by local and international folks I met during this program and both in classes and in everyday life. I admit that I still have a lot to learn from them, but they never made me feel inferior. They always appreciated other people for any good thing they did, even how they dressed. Also, I felt so safe in Singapore that I didn’t need to worry too much about myself and my stuff. Going out very early in the morning or returning to the dorm at almost midnight didn’t make me worry about my safety. 

Raihan

• About the Program

At first, I thought the program would be too exhausting for me since it was in NUS, but it wasn’t. All the participants were very friendly and always willing to listen to what I said. The material that was discussed also opened my mind. The program wasn’t exhausting because they tried to put on engaging sessions or intermezzo after every severe session. For example, we had a well-being activity which was a tote bag painting workshop. In that session, we painted our tote bag by choosing the design given by the instructor and drawing it onto our tote bag. Even though I needed to use my creativity to hide my lousy drawing on my tote bag in the end, I’m still proud of my work, especially since it was my first experience in painting.  

• About NUS

In my view, the NUS area feels quite large, but in real life, each faculty and building were placed relatively close to each other. The thing that makes NUS feel quite large and each building feels a bit far from each other because the campus is located on a hill. Thankfully, there is an NUS bus that I can ride for free from the bus stop around NUS. The downside was the bus driver can get a bit rowdy sometimes, even NUS itself recruiting a mystery rider that will be paid to observe how the bus is being driven. Other than that, NUS campus life is already solid, with the dorm located inside the campus area and the accessibility to public transport from the campus. This is also why I haven’t seen any students driving or riding to the campus in their own vehicles.

• About Singapore

The simplest yet beneficial thing that I learned in Singapore, I call the escalator manner. So, the escalator manner is a manner in which a person who is not in a hurry needs to stay on the left side of the escalator. During the first few days in SG I didn’t know about this, so at the airport and in some other places, like public transport escalators, I stayed on the right the whole time while talking to my friends, which might make some people angry at that time. As time goes by, I’ve implemented this manner already. I even started walking like a Singaporean, which is much faster than most Indonesian people do. The funny thing is when I just came back to Indonesia, these kinds of manners made me a bit angry. On the first day in Jakarta, I went to the mall with Rahh and Jess and while on the escalator, the people there stood anywhere, which was frustrating because the escalator was also way too slow. Even it still happens in the travelator in Soekarno-Hatta Airport, where the signs where people should stand and where people should walk are available. Now, I just wish that this manner can be applied in Indonesia for a good reason. 

Other things that also felt much better in SG were public transportation and pedestrian sidewalk. Transportation in SG is much better because all of the public transport lines are nearly connected, especially MRT lines, and all the MRT stations are reachable from anywhere. The sidewalk also feels comfy because there weren’t any food stalls or carts on it. Because of this, I’m starting to get used to walking a lot and love to use public transportation in those three weeks. From only completing 1.3k steps a day to averaging 12k steps a day, my highest steps a day was 20k. In Indonesia, if we want to go across the road, even at the pedestrian cross, the motor users still try to overtake us and sometimes honk like crazy, but in SG, I feel that every time we want to use the pedestrian cross, the motor users will give us the way first without even need to wave our hand as long as you are near the pedestrian crossing. 

The past four months might have been the best four months of my life. Indonesia International Student Mobility Awards has given me a chance to study at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. I made some good friends, learned new lessons in both classes and in life, and created beautiful memories that are worth cherishing in the Lion City. Here are some stories of my life in Singapore!

Adapting to Life in Singapore

Is it hard to adapt to life in Singapore?

Very hard lah. At first. But overall? No, not really.

What made it hard, then? For me, it’s because I come from a small city in Indonesia: Yogyakarta. I’m used to living in a small village with its quiet and laid back lifestyle, far from the hustle-bustle of a city. Despite my love for traveling, I usually only travel to quiet mountainous areas,  and do not venture to metropolitans like Jakarta or Surabaya. So, I was overwhelmed when I set foot in Singapore for the first time. How could I not? Tall buildings surrounded us everywhere! And everything looked so modern and lavish, which encapsulated the essence of “city life” so accurately. I wondered if I could survive living here, with strangers as my companions, and in an entirely different country. 

I was also concerned with the living arrangements when we would arrive in NTU. First of all, I am a shy person who takes a long time to open up to new people. Secondly, I didn’t really like the idea of living with a roommate. And I had to deal with this in the span of 4.5 months? Was that enough time for us to bond? At the end of the day, only time would tell.

Academic Life at NTU

At NTU, there are three kinds of lecture styles: 1) seminars; 2) lectures; 3) tutorials. In the English Department, we usually have lectures: the professors/lecturers explain concepts and information to us while we take notes. This is also what we do in lecture class at NTU. For seminar classes, it’s usually applied for smaller classes consisting of 20-30 students. The students will then be divided into smaller groups, around 4 to 5 students per group. In this class, we’re expected to read the materials ahead of time and discuss them with our teammates and the professors. Overall, the seminar class is way more interactive than lectures and, in my opinion, it’s also the most fun style! For tutorial classes, it should be similar to what we have in our department.

On top of that, we also have to study the necessary materials before coming to class. Thankfully, NTU’s syllabus and system are very detailed and comprehensive, so we had no difficulty accessing the materials. Aside from presentation slides, we also had to watch lecture videos and read several articles before the lecture or seminar began.

The classes I attended were all exciting and full of new knowledge to learn. Furthermore, all of the staff, from the professors themselves to the tutors, are very approachable and easy to contact. They are also very attentive to their students and make sure that we are all doing well in their classes. In seminar-based classes, the professors even send an email to the students when they don’t attend the class without informing them. 

I registered for four courses this semester: Introduction to Computational Thinking and Programming, Cultural Intelligence, Leadership in the 21st Century, and Climate and Climate Change. Both Computational Thinking and Climate Change are lecture-based classes, while Cultural Intelligence and Leadership are seminar-based classes. Computational Thinking also has tutorial and lab sessions on top of lectures from the professors. Each of these courses has three Academic Units (credits), which translates into three-hour sessions. 

I struggled the most with Computational Thinking since I study in the English Department at my home university, thus I didn’t dabble in mathematics and logic. In contrast, I enjoyed Cultural Intelligence and Leadership a lot as they examine human communication skills and values that can be applied in real life. In addition, we were divided into teams in those two classes, which gave us a chance to experience working together with people from various backgrounds. Climate Change was very technical, yet it was also fun to learn the details of the Earth’s climates and how it has changed over time (although learning several physics equations was not as fun).

Social Life 

During my stay in NTU (and by extension Singapore), I made a lot of new friends. Initially, NTU staff hosted a brief orientation program for us IISMA awardees and assigned us into groups and assigned us a buddy, who acted as our host for the rest of the semester. There were also other orientations and networking events for international students to help us integrate into the life in NTU and Singapore. 

Besides that, I also made friends from my classes and communities that I joined there. Unfortunately, NTU clubs are not open for exchange students, so we couldn’t join any there. Therefore, most of us looked for friends elsewhere. Some international students partook in parties and clubbing, while my fellow awardees sometimes joined in casual activities like visiting a museum or having lunch together. 

For me personally, my social life mostly revolved around going out with some close friends, both from IISMA and other NTU students, and my activities in two gamelan communities. I visited museums, strolled around the quiet Peranakan establishment, cycled along the East Coast, attended rehearsals for both Javanese and Sundanese gamelan, and watched a gamelan performance with my friends. 

Singa Nglaras

I’d like to give an honorable mention to Singa Nglaras because they were a significant part of my IISMA experience. 

I searched for “gamelan community in Singapore” to find out which one is still active (because gamelan communities’ social media accounts don’t get updated often). It is called Singa Nglaras—meaning “relaxing lion”—and it seems trustworthy, for lack of a better word, as it’s officially under the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS). I was hesitant to contact them until I read that they welcome everyone who wants to join, musical experience or not. Thus, I finally contacted them.

I was fairly nervous at first because I found out that there were no Indonesians nor students in sight during the first rehearsal I attended. It was my fault though; I thought Singa Nglaras members comprise NUS students and/or some Indonesians, given that it is under NUS and a gamelan group. Another culture shock that I faced is that they read the song’s notes in English, whereas I’m used to reading them in Javanese. 

I hadn’t come for rehearsals for two years, so my skills in nabuh were rusty. The leader, Mas Xinwei, said that they are all still learning, so I should take it easy and learn alongside them. (Being a naive trusting person that I was, of course I believed him). I was shocked when they played like professionals during the rehearsal. I was very impressed with them, though. They were like a well-oiled machine that worked in synergy and helped each other whenever they needed it.

I never thought that they could be that nice. All of them are good people; they were patiently teaching me how to play certain instruments, encouraging me to hang out with them and share my life in Java, playfully forcing me to take away the food they bring to rehearsals because I was a student living in a dorm, and sometimes invited me to ride a cab with them to the nearest MRT station. The kindest thing they did to date is holding a farewell party for us IISMA-NTU students when we were about to go home to Indonesia.

Lessons I Learned in IISMA

I’ve learned a lot in the span of four months of the program. One of my goals was to improve my capability for intercultural communications. The lessons I gained from classes, combined with the small yet diverse cultural backgrounds of Singapore contribute a lot to achieving this goal. The most useful lesson I learned from class, especially Cultural Intelligence one, is how to manage and resolve conflicts effectively.

I also said I’d like to make friends with those who love cultural customs and traditions. And I found plenty of them! I met someone from China who eagerly explained her culture to me. Another friend I met is a Singaporean with a Peranakan background whose work in contemporary dance is inspired by his background. Another friend I have loved Javanese traditions and philosophies, which resulted in lengthy discussions about them. I also have plenty of friends who taught me about Singapore and what it has to offer.