Name: Robert Low Yong Sheng (USU Student 2011)
Theme: Sour Sweet Bitter Spicy in Indonesia
First and foremost, I wanna thanks Medic Ed for organizing this event so that I have this oppurtunity to share about our life in INDONESIA. Every student in Russia and Bandung may have new experiences full of joy and happiness but for USU students, our life are totally different from them. Usu student’s life started with the taste of bitter then continue with sour, sweet and spicy compared with those students in Russia and Bandung. This is because we have to start from a new point with unfamiliar place and without guide, in bahasa Indonesia. This is what we mean of BELAJAR MANDIRI,which is independent. Belajar mandiri, these two words are not easy to learn because we have difficulty in communication due to language problem. Next, our life with bitter, sour, sweet and spicy will be explained more in the following stories.
Hospital UniversitaS sumatera utara : the place where we will have our practical.
Masam, Manis, Pahit, Pedas:
The first day after we reached airport, we were handed to the guiders who sent us back to our hostel. At first, it is comfirm that many of us cannot get used to the new situation here because the weather here was very hot and dry. We all complaining non-stop about the absence of air conditioner and regret to choose medan as our place to have uni life. I can bet that all Malaysian cannot get used to Medan’s SUPER hot and dry weather! Besides, we all have to worry about what and where to have our meals because we are not familiar with this place. However, we have to learn to adapt everything as soon as possible because this is the place that we will have to spent with in the next five years. I can still remember my first night in Medan, all of us can’t sleep due to HOME SICK , hot weather, noisy mosquitoes and many other reasons. All these memories will not vanish in my brain because these are all the process of learning Mandiri.
Our hostel in Medan: Graha Petula
After the short honeymoon for us to adapt ourselves to the environment and food, a new problem appeared! All of us are compulsory to attend the school’s orientation which was held by Indonesian seniors. From the stories and rumours told by seniors, we can tell that this orientation will be full of BULLY and GANGSTERISM! We went through these three days finger-crossed and experienced many things that we never had. By doing so, we finally understand that the aim of this orientation is to teach us the value of HUMBLE for a medical student or doctor. We are all glad because we passed the orientation successfully but the price we had to pay was we boys have to all become BOTAK!!
This is what we call OSPEK USU!!!
The next few days after orientation, USU students experienced the most scary and unforgettable memory which we will never have in Malaysia! We experienced the first EARTH-Quakein our life which is 6.5 from north part of Sumatera! I can still remember everyone was getting to bed and all of sudden I can feel my furnitures and see the whole buildings shaking for around 10 seconds. I believe that everyone reacted like how I did which was too shocked to do anything and freeze on the spot without realizing that this is an earthquake! When I finally pull my souls back, everyone is shouting and gathered outside our rooms. Luckily we are only slightly affected and are safe from the disaster.
Journey as a MEDICAL STUDENT STARTS!
After finished facing all those problems, all we have to do is to start our uni life as a medical student. First thing we have to learn the transportation from our hostel to university. In Medan, we have many types of public transportation including Angkut, Becak and Taxi. Most of us took Angkut to university because it is affordable for every students. Each journey only costs about RP2000. It is a type of mini van that can fit at least 15 people during peak period. Can you imagine how crowded and terrible it is in this hot weather of Medan? When we are running out of time or heading to other places such as shopping complexes, we prefer taking Becak. It is something resemble “three wheeled car” in Malaysia, except that the bicycle is replaced by motorcycle. It can fit maximum 4 person. However, we have to bargain for the price because there is no fix price for becak man. Most of us were cheated by them because we are not familiar yet with the places and prices. As a result, we payed more than it worths. As for taxi, I can say that Indonesia’s taxi has higher quality than Malaysia’s because their service is quick and comfortable with reasonable price.
One of the public transportation in Indonesia: Becak
One of the public transport in Indonesia: Angkut
One of the most common problem every students will face while studying overseas is the problem of communications. Within the first few weeks of our uni life, we cant understand everything said by the teachers which is called dosen and also our Indonesian mates. We are so blur and scared because we are afraid of missing out anything that is important. Only then we realize that Bahasa Melayu has very big difference from Bahasa Indonesia. For example, toilet in BM is tandas while in BI is karma mandi. We called uncle as pakcik in Malaysia but bapak in Indonesia. The word can (boleh) in bahasa Indonesia is bisa and no (tak) is enggak. The slang and pronounciation also have big difference from Bahasa Melayu. Although it is tough, the process of learning a new language can be fun. After few months of learning and practising, we can now speak in local language fluently. We found many new Indonesian friends and learned how to communicate with them in their own language. We realize that we slowly changed ourselves to suit this new environment and sometimes, others can’t even differentiate whether we are locals or Malaysian!
Faculty of dentistry
Faculty of medicine
We started our life as a medical student even before we can get used to the environment and cultures. This is not an easy process for us because the system for university has so much difference from our high school or college life. First of all, we have lecture classes from Monday to Saturday. The time table is so pact that the maximum time for us having lectures in university is 10 hours (7am to 5pm) per day! Besides, we also have lots of practical lab, tutorial and presentation that we have to prepare for and study. All kinds of quiz and exams will be held once in a while. Holiday is so rare that we can only have the first day of holiday after three months of uni life which is during Christmas. The chances of getting back home or rest well during holiday is the biggest awards and appreciation for all our hard works and sacrifices. We always have to be mentally and physically well prepared. This process is hard that we always complain and getting emotional over things. However, we learned many things such as managing time tables and enjoy the joy of earning knowledge ourselves as a medical student. People may think that this is a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE but we know that this is what we have to pay to fulfill our dream to become a dentist or a doctor.
Our classroom : kuliah
A Chinese phrase saying: “we depends on our parents at home, but depends on our friends atoutside.” This is true to us because wherever you go, friends will always be an important and essential element in our life. Without the help and guides from others, we will never be able to survive on our own. We are glad that we have known many seniors, Indonesian and Malaysian who are honest, helpful and always sincere to us. Malaysia may be a more developed country compared to Indonesia by having better economy and technologies. However, there is one thing that Malaysian should learn from Indonesian which is their POLITENESS. From what we observed and experienced, we can say that Indonesian are always polite to everyone and respect their elders very much. We also get to know many seniors from Malaysia who always share their experiences with us and guide us through difficulties.
United malaysian in medan
Many people assume that the biggest benefit to study overseas is that we get to travel in that country. However, this is a wrong statement for USU students. Russia students have snow and Red Square; Bandung students have shopping heaven but USU students are very lack of entertainment and places to visit because the nearest vacation spot from us needs 5 hours of travelling. We only got TWO shopping malls here. All we can do is everyday to stay at home and study. Maybe because of this, our results will be better than them? Lol
Visiting a Buddhist temple in medan
The biggest shopping centre in medan city : sun plaza
We started our journey of learning and living independently once we stepped out of our home. The first thing we learned is to cook our own meal. Despite saving more by cooking ourselves, self-cooked meals are more hygiene. The IBU we knew in the hostel teached us to cook many simple but delicious dishes. One of the most delicious and successful dish we learned from her is Ayam GorengBumbu Indonesia. We also learned cocacola chicken, ketchup chicken, curry fish and many more. Although cooking is a very simple process for many people, we learned to be independent by studying how to cook. We also realized that our parents’ sacrificed and effort of feeding us for the past 18 years. This is what we call BELAJAR MANDIRI. Besides, we get another back-up plan if we don’t want to become a doctor or dentist in the future, that is to become a CHEF! HAHAHA That is the amazing part of becoming an USU student. Although we can send our clothes to laundry or pay for the ibu who will wash the clothes for us, we chose to wash our clothes ourselves to save our parents’ money because they have spent too much to send us study overseas. These jobs may seem easy but they could be the experiences we will never have if we are at home or studying local. Now, we allEARN it by our own hands!!!
Homemade ayam goreng bumbu Indonesia teached by ibu
The first Indonesian dessert i learned : bubur pulut hitam
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steamboat
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All dishes done by me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although we are at Indonesia, we never forget about our own origin and cultures. This is how we celebrated our traditional DONG ZHI by having fun of making colourful TANG YUAN. This is because tang yuan resembles reunion of family. Therefore, no matter how far we go, we always stay with our dearest family and friends.
We also bring the pre-celebration atmosphere of Chinese new year to medan. |
We had started our life as USU medical student in Medan for five months. We had encountered numerous problems and questions to be solved. Some of us regret and some of us wanted to give up on this. Although we had a hard time to solve every problems, I am very proud to say I DID IT! It is also proven that my university USU has a unique but efficient education system. I strongly recommend that students who like challenges to choose USU as their medical education pathway. A medical student studying in USU may invite more challenges and difficulties on themselves but this will definitely strengthen their mental and ability to be a best dentist or doctor in the future. I will also recommend USU for my three sisters because I believe that this a place that will groom many EXCELLENT dentists and doctors. This is because a life for an USU medical student is NO SWEET WITHOUT SWEAT. If I am given a chance to choose again, I definitely will choose USU again. I AM PROUD TO BE A USU STUDENT!
