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Xinzhen, China—大家好，我是唐婧琪，我在西亚斯学习了一年，这里我想告诉你们我在西亚斯生活 well, Chinese is one of the most precious thing I got after finishing my Student Exchange Program in which I really began to study my Chinese at SIAS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY in China. Anyway my name is Resty Tamara Utami, student of International Program of Islamic Economics and Finance (IPIEF) batch 2015. Being an International Student especially in China has become my big dream because I had curiosity with the unique of cultures, education, histories and the life in China. Studying at Sias International University is such an outstanding opportunity for me.

Last year exactly in August 28^th 2016, I arrived at SIAS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY which is part of Zhengzhou University, but located outside the city of Zhengzhou in Xinzheng. Inhabited by approximately 600.000 people, Xinzheng is “small-town” with a friendly local population. Being out of a city centre, Xinzheng is also free from some of the major city facilities (no subway, train stop, etc.). There were about more than 200 international students at the school coming from the US, UK, Russia, Europe and the rest of them came from Asia (mostly Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Laos, Thai, and Bangladesh). In my first semester, I lived in a 4-person room in the International Dorm. My first semester did not really go well, I had many troubles especially in communicating with local people using Chinese as most of local do not speak English, the foods which 80% are not Halal and other problems I had to face it alone and made me stressed out. Anyway we used to cook in the first month since we arrived at Sias because it was difficult for us to find halal food, but we usually cook only on weekend because we were quite busy on week days. But it was totally going really well in the second semester, I really enjoyed and learned many things there.

Well, in SIAS I took Chinese class and some major classes. I have three until four classes a day from Monday to Friday, starting at 08.00 AM until 09.00 PM. The teachers were pretty amazing, most of them had gained Master and Doctoral degree from China, UK, USA, and Philippine. It was really great to be in a class attended by many people having different background, cultures and interest. When I was in SIAS I took part in many activities or event such as International Culture Week, Chinese Competition, Indonesia Festival and I also joined PPIT (Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia-Tiongkok) only as a member of PPIT.

Can you imagine how does it feel to celebrate Eid- Al Adha in other country where you are far from your parents and family? Despite the fact that it was my first time to celebrate the biggest day of Muslim in other country with the people having different background and cultures, it was totally wonderful and fun at the same time. All Muslim students were very excited welcoming and preparing Eid-Al Adha. The first day of Idul Adha we took class off because we had to go to mosque near SIAS to had our Eid- Adha prayer over there, but in China girls should not join the pray, there were only for the boys ( then me and the girls only sit and waited for the boys outside the mosque). Before going back to dorm people in the Mosque asked us to join them together to make and eat Dumpling. In our dorm we also prepared some foods cooked by Malaysian and Indonesian students, inviting other students to share and eat the foods together.

Winter season is the thing I could not wait for. It was my first time to see snow and the thing I loved the most was we had no class when it was heavy snow means it’s time to play snowball and build a snow man. But also I could n0ot stand with such a biting cold weather, it was – 1/10ᵒC.

I have so many unforgettable experiences and moments I will never forget, keeping them save in my heart forever. And yet, the most important thing is became one of the exchange students did not only train my skills in foreign languages, but also gave me opportunity to learn many things in a more professional way in an international atmosphere. As a student of International Program, I have to know things like how to interact with different kinds of people in many situations, how to communicate with them effectively, how to eliminate prejudices because of cultural barriers, promote my universities and cultures also how to build a long-term relationship for professional purpose and for international, borderless friendship too as well. I think it is also a good thing if I have something in which I am skillful at and can be beneficial to people.

It was my great pleasure that I could be one of the students from IPIEF as the representative of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta at SIAS International Univesity last year. I would like to give a very big thanks to International Relation Organization (IRO) and special thanks to IPIEF who supported me a lot on joining this program. This Exchange Student Program didn’t only give me a great chance to broaden my professional knowledge, but also have developed my abilities in the society and intercultural fields. So, do not just sit there because opportunity does not come its own, you create them, go for it no matter how it ends. Do not be same be different! THANKS IRO PROUD IPIEF !!