W

hile many of Indonesia’s bright young things are leaving the country in search of an education abroad, many foreigners are coming to Indonesia for study and cultural enrichment.

Hailing from Leipzig, Germany, Susann Oettel became acquainted with Indonesia when she took Arabic philology and Islamic studies in university. It also gave her the chance to learn Indonesian from her teacher from Kalimantan.

While learning the language and hearing the stories she became more interested in Indonesia and its language. Her teacher told her about a scholarship called Darmasiswa, granted to foreign students by the Indonesian government. She applied, was selected and began her studies in 2008/2009 in Malang, East Java.

“After completing my Darmasiswa scholarship, I went home for one year to finish my studies. Then I returned to work in Bandung in 2011. Now I’m taking a master’s degree in applied linguistics at Yogyakarta State University,” she said in an email interview.

Frenchwoman Anais Duraffourg came to Indonesia to research her master’s degree on traditional law and indigenous populations. At first she wanted to conduct research in Papua, but she found the process to require permission too complicated. She chose instead to study at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta.

“Since it was just for research, I didn’t follow any class or lectures in UGM. I had a supervisor for my master’s thesis,” Duraffourg said.

Another French national, Elise Comte, came to Indonesia in 2008 for her semester abroad requirement in business school. She wanted to experience a different culture, distant from her own homeland and also little known to her compatriots.

After finishing her four months of studies, she did not feel like going back to France, so she applied for an internship in the French cultural center in Yogyakarta. A year later, she interned in Kedai Kebun, an art space and restaurant in Yogyakarta.

“This year, I got a Darmasiswa scholarship to improve my Indonesian at UNS Surakarta,” Comte said.

The three women declared that they did not experience major cultural shock or difficulties settling in. Oettel felt warmly welcomed from the moment she arrived in Indonesia; Comte said the sense of community was stronger in Indonesia and Duraffourg found she could work easily with the people.

For Oettel, the best memory of studying in Indonesia is the point when she realized that she could communicate in Indonesian.

“But of course, there are a lot of things that are hard to grasp. It’s hard for me not to just tell people what I think. In Germany it’s pretty common to tell people if you’re angry, sad or disappointed. But here it’s just not possible in most situations. I can’t speak like that to a lecturer and tell him what I feel because it’s not polite,” she said.

Duraffourg’s most memorable experience in Indonesia was when she stayed with people displaced by the East Java Lapindo mudflow disaster. During the period, she learned a lot about Indonesian culture and worked with Taring Padi on the fourth year commemoration of the mudflow.

Comte said that her best experience in Indonesia is the time she has spent with Merpati Putih martial arts club. “Last September, I started training twice a week with Merpati Putih,” she said.

Oettel finds the education system in Indonesia very different to the one in Germany.

“Sometimes it’s really hard for me to keep smiling when the lecturer is 30 minutes late again or doesn’t show up at all. The way of teaching here is sometimes confusing. A few lecturers really want you to think creatively,” she said.

They have also developed a taste for Indonesian food. Oettel said that her top two dishes are Ikan Laut Bakar (grilled fish) and Gado-Gado (boiled mixed vegetable with peanut sauce). Duraffourg likes spicy Padang cuisine and fried rice. while Comte like sweet treats like klepon (small glutinous rice-flour balls filled with thick palm sugar syrup and rolled in grated coconut) and jenang (sticky rice taffy).

“For me it’s amazing that the three regions have so many differences in all ways of life. I love the fact that you can find something new every day. I also have been to North Sumatra and the nature there is fascinating,” Oettel said.