January 17, 2012

       

Inside the subway!

                                Yay! We got free morning!! This morning is our free time, we can explore the city, we can sleep at the hotel, or we can do our laundry (emm..okay)! But, we agreed to try riding the subway to the nearest mall called Gallery ! Thank you to Ms. Yeni, she’s the only Indonesian staff there, we called here “ Mama Bebek”, means mother of duck, well it’s because she’s like our own mother there, she always make sure we got our need and we’re comfortable with that. So, she also makes us to try and to learn how to ride subway, super excited! If you wonder why, it’s because we never ride subway, we don’t have it in our country.

January 16, 2012

Free books for children!

Hurray! Today is Martin Luther King’s day! Well, we were very curious about how people celebrate MLK day of service since it’s our first time. Departed from our lovely hotel with super cold weather in winter, we rode the school bus (yeah just like in the movie, quite big and yellow bus with heater!) We were going to Girard College There is a little history about “Girard” name, Girard is the name of gentleman who was very rich in that time, when he was about to die he decided to donate his money to the city by building an education institution.

January 15, 2012

         If on the first day we learned to know more about the 20 Indonesian Students or the SUSI Participants, today we will learn more about our beloved staffs from Dialogue Institute and also from ICCE. From the introduction of the staffs’ background we are really amazed at their achievements and capacity as staffs who will teach us! These staffs itself already represents religious pluralism through various religions/ faith they believe in, Jewish, Islam, Christianity from different denominations. Through the institution they involved in, they devote themselves to promote peace, religious pluralism and using dialogue for cease conflicts through all over the world. Yes, all over the world! Not only in United States, have they also invited people from Indonesia, and Middle East students to promote peace.

January 14

           

          Even though we were tired and jetlag ( our body adapted to time differences when we start to do activity in U.S. in the morning our body are used to sleep because in Indonesia it’s late evening) we were made sure we wouldn’t waste our precious 5 weeks just with sleeping all day!

January 12-13, 2012

           Most of these Indonesian young students brought big question marks and curiosity along with them to United States. They wanted to know how United States looks like. What is religious pluralism? How is the democracy process in United States? How does the religion affect American’s lives despite the separation between state and religion? Is every rumor about United States they hear true? Does it look exactly the same like what the American’s movie showed? These curiosities supported and encouraged them to go 14077.52 km away from their country to find the answers and also find something valuable for their life.

How these 20 students from Indonesia could be selected?

     We didn’t bribe or pay anything so that we could join this wonderful program, nope! These 20 students were chosen after U.S State Department read our essays and selectively chose 20 persons among other applicants. This is the specific qualification for the applicants : The participants are expected to be highly motivated and exemplary undergraduate students from colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education.  While all candidates will have a strong interest in religious pluralism, their fields of study might vary and can include disciplines such as Anthropology, Government, History, International Affairs, Law, Political Science, Religion, and Sociology. But when you see our profile, you will know that some of us are majoring engineering and IT.

What is the purpose of going to United States?

              Most of these Indonesian young students brought big question marks and curiosity along with them to United States. They wanted to know how United States looks like. What is religious pluralism? How is the democracy process in United States? How does the religion affect American’s lives despite the separation between state and religion? Is every rumor about United States they hear true? Does it look exactly the same like what the American’s movie showed? These curiosities supported and encouraged them to go 14077.52 km away from their country to find the answers and also find something valuable for their life.

What is SUSI RPA 2012?

The Dialogue Institute, together with the International Center for Contemporary Education (ICCE), has been selected by the U.S. State Department, through its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, to conduct five-week programs on Religious Pluralism in America for undergraduate student leaders from the Middle East and from Indonesia. This program is one of several “Study of the U.S. Institutes” offered to students of diverse cultural backgrounds, to introduce them to the principles and practices of American democracy through the lens of a particular topic, in this case, religious diversity.

Hi Guys! This is a blog about Study of U.S. Institute (SUSI) on Religious Pluralism and Democracy in America 2012 where 20 college students from different regions in Indonesia participated in from January 12^th to February 19^th at USA.

      The purpose of this blog is to inform what activities we had done there and also to share our new experiences and knowledge to all of you during our 5 weeks stay, this is also as a prove that we’re not only having tour there, but we learn something that’s really valuable to share. If you have any questions regarding this program, we will be pleased if you post your comments or questions. Happy reading!