The First Week Has Gone So Fast

One picture is worthy of one thousand words so these pictures should pretty much tell the story about what our students have been doing after the official program of orientation week ended in the beginning of this week. Still, here's a quick recap of the whole week also in the form of text.

MONDAY was the first school day which started 9AM and ended around 3PM. Students got to know each other, their teachers and tutors and also got pretty much useful information about Udayana University, Bali in general and especially Asia Exchange. The first day ended with a visit to Seeds of Hope Children's home which is basically just an amazing place (as I've mentioned before).

TUESDAY was the second day of orientation and students got more information about their courses, classes and all in all about their upcoming months. Also they were informed about the possibilities about tropical diseases ;)

WEDNESDAY was the day of rest since during the orientation week there was school only on Monday and Tuesday. Normally the school weeks last from Monday to Thursday but the first week was an exception.

THURSDAY was the first day of the so-called unofficial program. We had a really fun Beach Day where students first got a great chance to learn surfing with Pro Surf School which simply is the best surfing school in Bali and which provides the best student discount to Asia Exchange students. After the surf lessons ended around midday, we had pretty fun beach activities (look pictures above) and then had a lunch together. Pretty nice day, I hope we're going to have more similar free-time activities during upcoming weeks.

FRIDAY was then the so-called main day because we had our Ice-Breaking Party at Beach Lounge near to Kuta Beach. The party started around 7PM and lasted untill... well, very late. Beach Lounge is such an amazing venue and everybody seemed to have fun there :) After the place had to be closed down, we continued to other bars in Kuta, the most of the night was spent in a club called Eikon. All in all, the night was really fun and I hope that students thought so too.

After the rough studying and partying we have had well-deserved rest-period during the weekend. Tomorrow's going to be the first real school day and I can't wait for that! I'm going to write about the first real school days at least at the end of next week :)

The First Videos of the New Semester

Today there's going to be the one kind of a highlight of the orientation week when students get a great change to get to know with each other better in the Ice-Breaking Party. The party will be held in Beach Lounge which is located near to Kuta Beach and it's a perfect venue for this kind of event. It's only a couple of hours before the party starts so I'm pretty excited! :) I'm pretty sure it's going to be a great night.

Before the party of this night I wanted to make the day better especially for them who can't be here in Bali right now. Here's two video interviews that I made this week with our new students. They tell about their experiences about the first days here in Bali and their expections for the rest of this week and for the whole semester. Hopefully there's going to be more video interviews in the blog during next weeks.

The First Days of New Semester In Pictures

This week's monday was the first school day for the students of the new semester here in Bali! The first two days have gone past extremely fast and they have been full of program. The students have gotten all kinds of practical information about their studies but they also have had time to get to know with each other and to visit the children's home Seeds of Hope which is one of the most amazing places here in Bali as I have said already many times in this blog.

So basically the structure of the first two days of the orientation week was pretty same as they were last time here in Bali. Only the students were different but I have to say that this group seems to be full of as awesome guys as there were in the previous semester :) It has been really nice to at least try to get to know with as many students as possible. I'm also pretty sure that there's going to be even better opportunities for that during the rest of this weeks because now the orientation week contunies with Beach Day on Thursday and the official Ice-Breaking Event on Friday! So there's going to be more material and more posts about the whole orientation week but now I just wanted to share some of the photos from the two first orientation days :)

Phuket, part 2

Hey!

Sorry for the short update from really rainy Phuket. Thank you for the rainy season, I really hope that I don't have to keep enjoying it straight when I go back to Bali. But this post shouldn't be about the weather. Instead I wanted to share with you the first two videos I've made here in Phuket. I promise that there's still more coming soon :)

I already wrote a lot about the orientation week but you don't have to believe when I say that the first week was awesome. Here's one video where our students tell their feelings about the orientation week and about the trip to the Phi Phi islands. In the other video the Vice Chairman of Asia Center Foundation Roelien Muller describes their important work. You really should watch that to know more about ACF.






So that's all this time. I'll post more material soon!

Phuket, part 1

Hey! This is Phuket calling :) Or writing, anyway. As I mentioned in my previous post, I arrived here on Wednesday and after that I've been very busy. Although I'm not the only one who can say that. Asia Exchange students' semester (actually their orientation week) began here in Prince of Songkla University on Monday and their whole first week has been full of program both in the campus area and outside of it.

I joined the orientation week on Thursday but luckily the co-founder of Asia Exchange Harri has been here for the whole time. Actually Harri is staying in Phuket until November which I think is great thing for our students here in Phuket :) But anyway, even though I wasn't able to be here for the whole orientation week, I've hear a lot about it from Harri and especially from the exchange students. For me it's been once again great opportunity to get to know many new awesome people.

Almost every student has said that the orientation week has been very busy but on the other hand also very interesting. So I guess and I hope that the business of the first week hasn't bothered too much because the time has been well-spent. Many students told me that one of the highlights of the orientation week was a great lecture about Thai culture and traditions that was held on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that the advices that were given in that lesson will be very useful in the near future.

For me one of the greatest moment during last week was the visit in the Asia Center Foundation (ACF) children's home that Asia Exchange has been supporting since 2010. It's a little bit similar compared to Seeds of Hope children's home in Bali but it also has some differences compared to SOH. Both are non-profit organizations that do everything they can to help the children from problematic backgrounds and it's been an awesome opportunity for me to visit both places and see how well the children doing in both places.

One of the main differences is that there's only younger kids (from 3 to 6 years old) in ACF's building in Phuket but in Seeds of Hope in Bali there's also many teenagers. Asia Exchange makes a donation of a specific amount per each of our student to support the work of ACF. Still maybe even more important than the money is the fact that every student can visit the place and see a completely different side of Phuket. I think the visit was a very touching experience for our students (and also for me).

So, the visit to ACF definitely was one of the biggest highlights of the orientation week and it can't he compared to any other experience. Still there was one more great experience for our students as we held the official ice-breaking event in the Phi Phi islands which are located near to Phuket and which are one of the most beautiful place in the whole world.

So we went there on Friday and came back on Sunday. Of course there was some awesome beach partying both on Friday and Saturday nights (partying even included jumping over a flaming jump rope). I think the parties were as well-deserved after the orientation week as they were in Bali. But the parties weren't only reason to go to Phi Phi islands. We also did an awesome boat trip to the other near islands on Saturday. We even visited the beach from the movie 'The Beach'!

So what can I say in general about the second orientation week I experienced here in Asia? Well, it was at least as great as in Bali. The students here in Phuket are great and I think they'll have an awesome semester after they have completely survived from the after effects of partying two nights in a row in the Phi Phi islands. I hope everyone has done that because today has been the first real school day of their semester.

First videos!

Hi guys! Finally there's the first video interviews I've made with the current exchange students during the first weeks :) There's going to be more in the upcoming months but these are the first ones. Enjoy!

First week of the autumn semester in Bali

Finally, this is the first blog entry about the autumn semester 2013 in Bali. For the new readers: as you can see, this blog has been in use already during the spring semester 2013 and now it's going to be used more frequently than it was during the spring (the plan is to have one blog post in English every week). For this blog's old readers: from now on this blog has a new writer. I'm Juuso, Asia Exchange's intern during the autumn semester that began here in Bali last Monday :) I'm especially responsible for writing blog posts and articles about the student life in Bali. A little bit more information about me can be found on this blog's sidebar. My goal is to give as wide picture about student life in Bali as possible.

The first week was very busy for the new students in Udayana university. First there were the orientation days in Monday and Tuesday. After that students had their first official school days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Normally the school week at the campus area in Jimbaran lasts only from Monday to Wednesday (excursions and workshops are held Thursdays). So it's no surprise that most of the students were a little bit exhausted on Friday. Luckily Asia Exchange had organized well-deserved ice-breaking parties both on Friday and Saturday.

But before the parties could start, there was the first school week that started with the orientation days that were really interesting. Monday's program began with the traditional Indonesian dance show that lasted almost 10 minutes and was very imressing to say at least. It's hard to describe it if you've never seen it and you really should see it live in front of you.

After the traditional dance show, the first orientation day continued with an information about Asia Exchange and Udayana university. It was nice to see that even the local television channel (Bali TV) was interested in filming the beginning of the international student's new semester. They also interviewed Asia Exchange's managing director Harri Suominen and my intern colleague Jana.

The first school day started at 9AM and was over before 2PM. The second day started also at 9AM (like most of the school days here in Bali) but it lasted a little bit longer because in the afternoon students got a chance to visit Seeds of Hope children's home. As part of Asia Exchange's charity program, AE makes a donation of 30 USD per each of our exchange students to Seeds of Hope. The money is used to make the children's living conditions better and support their education. Every one of the children in Seeds of Hope (that are old enough) studies in a school.

 

It's still good to remember that money isn't everything: the really big part is also to care and to be part of the children's life. That's why you can apply for fulfilling your internship in Seeds of Hope with Asia Exchange's help. At this moment there's one intern in Seeds of Hope, Jutta from Finland. She's working until December. After that next possible starting day is 6th January 2014 and you can send your application until the end of this month (September 2013).

But even though you wouldn't be fulfilling your internship in Seeds of Hope, at least you really should visit the place when you're in Bali. It's so wonderful to see how important and good work everyone in Seeds of Hope are doing. The children's home was founded by an old couple Sandra and Tommy who really seem to love every one of the kids (over 60 of them) like they'd be their own. Everyone in Seeds of Hope seems to be a one big loving family. The older children are taking care of the younger. During our visit the children performed a musical show and after that we got a chance to speak with them and hear about their everyday life. I think many students were touched after the visit and so was I.

So, the visit in Seeds of Hope was definitely the best possible way to end the orientation days. But after that students had three more days in the university because all of their courses began during the following three days. I had time to attend only Bahasa Indonesian (Indonesian language) but it was so interesting and especially useful! Already after two lessons I could use a little bit Bahasa Indonesian when a policeman stopped me during the previous weekend when I was driving my scooter. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one whose life has already gotten easier with knowing few words of Indonesian. And even though I haven't had time to attend the other courses (yet), I will do it later. I've also heard that most of the other ones (Indonesian history, Business law, Indonesian literature, tourism management and economy of South East Asia) have been very promising.

So, that was the first week in Bali. Full of happenings and new things (and maybe a little bit culture shock) but also one of the best weeks ever, I hope. And of course the first week also included the weekend's parties but that's a completely other story that I'm going to talk about later.