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Writer's pictureTrinanda Mahdiyah Lestari

First day of being an exchange student :D

Updated: May 2, 2019

After arriving at Naga city at 3 o'clock in the morning on 7 January 2019, we were informed that the first activity in Sea-Teacher was an orientation about USI, which consisted of orientation about dormitory, USI places, cooperating school and student buddy. A little review, when the first day of arriving, all female delegates stayed in one room. In this room there are 4 mattresses, with three large cupboards, one study table, one chair, one air conditioner, one fan, one large glass and one bathroom. Actually, in my opinion this room is very small for 4 people, because the room will feel a little narrower if it is filled by more than 4 people. Hopefully tomorrow there will be an additional room.

After arriving at 3 o'clock in the morning, I decided to first do the Maghrib prayer and isya which I had previously intended to do in plural (done at the same time). As a Muslim, that means I must not renounce my identity as a Muslim while practicing worship as usual, and fortunately there are many conveniences for a Muslim who is on a long journey.
After prayer, I went back to sleep. Honestly, before previous interview, USI coordinator said that the room would only have a fan and would only be filled by 2 people in one room. There were pluses and minuses, but because I had just arrived as a migrant, I first received what the host had given to the guest, as being the Sea-Teacher delegates.
After sleeping for about 5 hours, there was a young woman who came to our room. He is Ma'am Sam, one of the young employees at USI. With a sweet smile, she came to our room and invited us to have breakfast together at the USI canteen.

When at that time, we were told to choose which dish we like, and I only dare to choose chicken eggs, because there is pork in the choice of other dishes. Honestly, without the presence of red chili sauce, I felt that my food was completely tasteless, without any taste at all. While hosting food, we met Ma'am Tin, and Ma'am Abrigo as Dean in USI. Ma'am Abrigo is very friendly and she has a very beautiful smile.

After finishing eating food, we returned to the Apartelle, which is where we stayed for the next month. After returning to the apartelle, I then took a shower and prepared to come to the orientation on the first day of the Sea-Teacher program. After bathing, I wore batik clothes, which became an icon or characteristic of Indonesia.
After leaving the apartelle, we headed straight to the orientation place. In front of the apartelle, Ma'am Tin was waiting and picking us up. On this first day, we first met with the vice chairperson of USI, which is a sister (Christian). After meeting her, we took a photo with the sister and then we were invited to introduce ourselves and meet with all official members of USI employees, starting from university level employees, at basic department, or at cooperating school (Elementary and high school).
After that, we met a man who became chairman of the music department. We sat for a while in his room and told a little about our origin. Then we also get new knowledge about Philippines, that the main language in the Philippines is not Tagalog, but Filipino, and many others like the Bicol region. At that time we also got a USI brochure, complete with the name of every department in USI.
When lunch came, we had lunch with USI lecturers at the USI canteen. We were served halal food (although the flavor or taste was not familiar to me). Even so, me and my two Muslim friends are very happy because we have provided halal food.
After lunch, we were invited to tour the USI, which became part of the orientation about USI. We were shown which apartelle building, the road to the canteen, the road to the basic education department (schools), or to the nurse department, and arrived at the dormitory of working students, etc.

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