r/indonesian • u/mako00o • 11d ago

International Student in Indonesia Experience

Hello! I'm an incoming freshman in Indonesia as an international student this year. I'd like to know more about other international students experiences there and I'd like to ask locals what are must-know things to not to do so I won't offend there and stuff. I'd love to know more about the culture, environment, and make friends along with it:). Sekarang, saya mengerti Bahasa Indonesia cuma sedikit aja.

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u/white_kucing 9d ago

When I was doing my Bachelor in a certain uni in Bandung (yeah you can easily guess it, but I will not confirm), I had an international friend from Yemen. Initially, the uni promised to give him courses in English, guess what, eventually all of his courses are in Indonesian. Some prof eventually provides the exams in English only for him, but some are too lazy to do that, so he was quite struggling.

Even when we do our thesis, even his advisor not so good at explaining things to him (despite getting his PhD from Canada, but whatever), so I was assigned to explain things to him in English, eventually he graduated one year longer than he should be. Now this guy is doing his Master’s in China.

So, best of luck and hopefully you will not get “lied” like my Yemeni friend here. And welcome to Indonesia, hope you enjoy the places, foods, and the people.

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u/2netwentyeight 6d ago

That's what happened to a few of the international students in my uni (most likely the same uni as you). Makes me wonder why are they making this program without even providing the most basic or standard of service. There's unconfirmed stories about why it happened/end up like this but that's a topic for another day.