Reported by Meyla Kurniawati, alumna from Lambung Mangkurat University (Banjarmasin)

In living our life, achieving achievement is a priceless pride for someone and the people around him/her. It is not only what reward that will be obtained, but what valuable experience will also be felt. Competing for achievements is a common thing in the world of education and various programs are realized to provide opportunities for various parties to make achievements and add as much experience as possible.

In the world of colleges, for example, there many student exchanges were conducted. From some students who achieved this achievement, there were VDMI RR Banjarmasin grantees. Yanti, one of the VDMI RR Banjarmasin grantees that took part in a prestigious program called the Sea Teacher Project Batch 4 in Thailand for 1 month and studied Spanish at Columbia for 4.5 months. Not only Yanti, another Banjarmasin VDMI RR grantee who also succeeded in joining a similar program, namely Diah. Diah managed to undergo Sea Teacher batch 7 in the Philippines for 1 month. Yanti and Diah shared stories about the stages that they were passed. One of them was by searching for Sea Teacher program information in the Faculty section, then registering and taking part in the selection. The selection was in the form of file collection and English language microteaching. If they pass, they will be guided by the University’s International Relations Section for the needs of the program.

Undergoing student exchange programs abroad is not easy, considering some of the obstacles experienced. Therefore, on Saturday (11/5), grantees and alumni of RR Banjarmasin held a greeting and sharing with Yanti and Diah. The obstacle faced by Yanti and Diah is language. Most of the countries they visited for the Sea Teacher program use English. Yanti tries to use hand sign language or draw when constrained in language. Besides language, food is also an obstacle when undergoing this program. The way to survive is to process vegetables as an ingredient in daily cooking.

We do this activity while waiting for the time to have iftar (break fasting) because it coincides with the month of Ramadan. Yanti and Diah also tell the excitement of this program. They can visit interesting places and add new knowledge about the education system in the country they are going to. What an inspiring stories accompany our memorable afternoon!

Sharing moment and “Buka Puasa Bersama” RR Banjarmasin