In September 2018, ACICIS welcomed ten students and two teachers from Marist College, Bendigo to Yogyakarta on an ACICIS school tour. Their ten-day visit was filled with exciting and educational activities. Their visit was centered around the study of Indonesian language and culture, which included fourteen hours of language classes with the very talented and experienced Indonesian language instructors at Sanata Dharma’s Language Centre and 6 hours of one-on-one language tutorials with a local student buddy.
It didn’t take long for the participants to get involved with the Indonesian culture either. On their second day, the students participated in batik and pottery making, and they also got knee deep in mud to plant rice at the very famous tourism village of Kebon Agung. The students also had the opportunity to learn to play the Gamelan, a traditional Javanese orchestra. They even performed one song at the end of their lesson, which was incredible for their first time playing Gamelan. Traditional Javanese dancing was also included in the itinerary, and the participants danced in a traditional Javanese style joglo (pavilion) in the Kotagede region, which is the old town of Yogyakarta.
While in Yogyakarta the participants did not miss the opportunity to visit the UNESCO world-heritage sites of Borobudur and Prambanan temples.
The participants also had the opportunity to visit SMA Pangudi Luhur St. Yusup Yogyakarta, where they were received a typical warm welcome from the school community and made some new friends. This visit instigated a new relationship between schools from different parts of the world.
Thank you very much to all the participants of Marist College Bendigo for coming to Yogyakarta through ACICIS and we will be very happy to have you again in the future!
To find out more about ACICIS’ Indonesia School Tours, please click here.
