TRAVEL LETTER: Brothers studying in Jakarta, Indonesia

Two students from ZIBAT in Næstved have travelled to Jakarta Indonesia to study. They would like to share their experience with you! And hopefully inspire others to pack their bags and go out into the world.

Letter from Jakarta, Indonesia

Dear EASJ.

Two Danish brothers arrived in the tropical metropolis of Jakarta, Indonesia in the hope of a good experience.

We came here as exchange students to complete our 6th semester at the London School of Public Relations (LSPR). This school is named Indonesia’s best communication school therefore our expectations for our semester were high. In Denmark, we both studied our PBA in International Sales and Marketing at Næstved Campus, but we both believed that the time had come to go out into the world to experience something new and exciting. However, it was pure coincidence that we both ended up in the same place.

Good support from our place of study

At the time of writing this, we will have soon been here for two months and we have no reason to regret our decision to come. As we both came from the same place, it probably stopped the feeling loneliness and culture shock when you come to a completely different culture than you are used to. Throughout the process of coming from Denmark to Indonesia, LSPR has been incredibly helpful with various things such as, housing as they liaised with housing agent. Additionally, LSPR has always been available when we need them, and they have helped with administrative things such as our VISA.

Teaching is more practice than theory

The teaching of the subject material is somewhat different to Denmark as LSPR focus more on practical than theoretical. Regarding professional level, we believe that the level in Denmark is slightly above the level here, but it is perhaps because we are accustomed to focusing more on theory back in Denmark. In practical terms, we get a lot out of working in study groups with Indonesian students because we can learn from each other’s cultures and practices. Furthermore, we have chosen to take 3 Master’s subjects, along with our undergraduate curriculum subjects, but we easily keep up with the work and these subjects seem to fit us better professionally, and there is a greater focus on theory too. All of this has required some form of adaption, and we are still trying to get used to everything. It is, however, offset by all the cute classmates we have in the different subjects we have chosen to take here.

Incredibly friendly people

The Indonesian people and their culture exhibit an incredible kindness, tolerance and openness to other people which we have never experienced before. These people are very much family people, which can also be felt in their daily dealings with other people. We have yet to meet any xenophobia, arrogance or unsympathetic people in a city of about 10 million people. It’s fantastic! It is especially the people and the classmates that we have which make it fun to be here in Jakarta. Jakarta is a huge city with many opportunities. It exudes big city, if you’re into it. The culture experience involves moving around far more than we do in Denmark, so we went for a day out with our friends. Moreover, the culture also has super delicious food, which has been a big hit with us.

Slow communication

The daily challenges we face are especially in communication, which at times can be quite long and different from what we are used to. Indonesians are also not as punctual as Danes where time agreements are concerned. However, we must just take the rough with the smooth, and we have chosen to smile about it. One must remember that we are guests in their country, and not vice versa.

There is a clear preponderance of advantages over disadvantages in coming to LSPR and studying. You get an experience of a lifetime with many nice people and you can certainly learn a lot from these people. Overall, we believe that we Danes could well learn from some of the virtues, the Indonesian people currently possess.

New and different experiences

We would definitely recommend other students to go to Jakarta to study. You get different experiences and new acquaintances. Furthermore Indonesia possesses stunning scenery, if you want to travel around, as there is great diversity in the various regions also Indonesia consists of 700 different cultures, and there are lot of different religions. Next month, we will take a trip to Bali with some friends from school, to get a little break from the busy life in the big city. We are of course very much looking forward to it.

Our only trip outside the city has so far been one to “The 1000 islands” exploring Jakarta’s coast. We left at 04.30 in the morning from LSPR along with 60 fellow students in LSPR club 4C. 4C work to improve the environment, and the purpose of the trip was to plant over 1000 coral and mangrove trees in the water on one of the 1,000 islands.

 

Touring the city

We left, as I said, LSPR at 0430 in the morning in an old leaky bus. We drove north, to the port and through one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. This was an experience that stood out in stark contrast to everyday life in the city center. People have almost nothing in these neighborhoods, and they live practically on top of garbage. When we reached the port, we boarded an old wooden boat that took us out to the island where the planting would take place. We were obviously insanely sunburned! But all in all it was a good experience, and there is ample opportunities to experience different things with the LSPR clubs the school offers.

We have chosen to join the futsal club who train twice a week, but as we are exchange students other clubs offer to take us around so we can get some more experiences. The other clubs to be a member of are among others: band, fashion, dance, martial arts, modelling, theater, adventure and many more.

Warm greetings

Daniel and Jesper Bonde Jensen