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.