Photo: Thomas’s photo from his time in Indonesia
Thomas is studying at Flinders University and studied at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in 2025.
Taking an exchange in Asia brings such an eye watering array of colour that it’s hard to take it all in within a semester-long period. Everything is different and waiting to be experienced.
You can start to take a register of some of it after a month in country. The food you like. The hums and swells of the street noise. Some of the language and the words that are being said.
In Indonesia, especially, it’s easy to be taken in by the diversity and nuance of everyday existence. Activities that slot between classes and language training depend on the mood of the day and near never materialise in the same way.
Ditching town on the weekends to summit a peak or swim kilometres off-shore above the diversity of the reefs isn’t uncommon. Karaoke, street food, tradition, modernity. All noise and all good.
To be a student in this experience makes the touch deeper and richer. Beginning to speak the language takes the curtain off some of the mysteries and shows you some more to keep you busy. You can see the inspiration and talent in the students around you and how it matters to Australia.
The Indonesian pool of talented individuals spills onto the streets and into unusual places. Your friend who reads into geopolitics and marine biology? Also happens to be a professional-grade guitar player. Your language professor who teaches you all the bad words? She also moonlights as a Balinese dancer on Wednesdays and Fridays.
They’ll all show you their favourite and competing food outlets. Every single introduction will be cheap enough to eat out at every night and excellent enough to never get tired of. Lotek, Sate, Gado-Gado, Soto Betawi, Sayur Lontong. The most unassuming looking dishes are always the most addictive.
Understanding it all at once is a fool’s errand. It could take years to properly grasp some of what you see. But making the move to a new place isn’t something many people do. The skills made are always in demand and in shortage, and the friendships you make will form some of the most interesting and persevering relationships in your life.
Exchange in Asia is the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity that pushes you through the door of many more ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences.
It begs attention, and the support provided by the Government’s New Colombo Plan and the scholarships provided by Flinders University will happily see you all the way through what will almost certainly become the most integral and influential part of your degree program.
Thomas was fortunate to be awarded a Destination Australia Cheung Kong Exchange Program Scholarship to support his overseas experience.