Indonesia Abroad - A Lot Of Walks

Back again! And what better way to start the journey in a somewhat hidden but historic place. I went together with a student from the same school that I got to know from the pick-up service provided by the school, and she kindly showed me around a lot of awesome places.

In a fairly unknown place somewhere in the old town in Surabaya exists a street called Jl. Pandean IV. This street is known to be a bit special, as there is a house that is recognized as as the childhood home of Bung Karno (a name that many Indonesians remember him by), with the birth name of Koesno Sosrodiharjo, and was later known as Sukarno (or Soekarno in old Dutch).

The house has become a kind of mini-museum that shows the history of Sukarno's parents and how he and his family came to be. The neighborhood itself also looks really nice with a lot of plants and birds in cramped alley-ways, and it even has a small café at another part in the neighborhood, playing old music and showcasing a big map of how the area used to look like in 1938, along with posters on the wall.

Next, we went to China-town. Kya Kya Surabaya, as it is called here, is a historic district known for Chinese restaurants & imposing red gates crowned with gilded dragons.

The area was super interesting, and paired with the then upcoming Chinese new year of the wooden dragon, there was a lot to see, including food stalls, performances, and decorations. Malls in Surabaya of course also participated, but more on that later.

Let me skip some interesting things and go straight to school stuff. We got our first week at UNAIR and I got to meet (most) of my fellow exchange students.

UNAIR - AMERTA class | Spring 2024

I already had some orientation classes of some subjects a few days before the official orientation day of the AMERTA program, which is the name of the program that I'm with as an exchange student, but that didn't matter all that much.
This orientation day for our exchange program was fun. I got to meet a lot of people with interesting backgrounds and stories. We also had to convert our visa to a KITAS on this day, which extends our official stay in Indonesia, as well as creating a bank account to provide us students with some allowance provided from the school, which makes it possible for us to use money in a more simple way.

I did already switch one course, as I was the only international student there, and the lecturer couldn't talk English because of the students in the class. The head of the AMERTA program thus advised me to choose another course.

Next to the other orientation days, we already did all kinds of activities, like visiting a Chinese new year event, old ruins, a mangrove forest, and shopping malls. Here are some photo's from that time.

I won't show you all of it, that would spoil the fun. Go check out my Lychee album or check my previous post for the links.

Anyway, visiting places and eating delicious food has brought the students from our group closer together, which is really fun. We have some more stuff planned, but that's a story for another time.

Just yesterday, people could vote for the regional and national elections, and thus it was a public holiday. I played some basketball and we had a picnic in the field at the school campus afterwards. We have yet to try all kinds of delicious food and places to visit, so stay tuned for the next one. until then!

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Alright, one more photo, hahaha