The experience of Feeling and Understanding

by Dede Yusup Ziaulhak (Indonesia)

I didn't expect to find Indonesia

Being a student means you will have a lot of tasks such as writing a report, struggling with research and other assignments. This certainly makes both the body and soul saturated doing the same activity continuously. We will easily get bored for a moment thinking whether we can go somewhere with new atmosphere or go somewhere far away from the urban noise and pollution. However, just look at the phone and end up scrolling on social medias can be a simple way to escape from this situation. Sometimes, students need to think twice for traveling because the amount of the money they have. Traveling is just a wishful thinking with high desire when we look on the low budget. However, a proverb says “there is a will, there is a way”, the chance will come if we find it. The dream will come true if we do not let the desire go. It was like my story. I never thought that I can get a chance when joining a volunteer program in the Office of International Campus Service. The office opened an intercultural summercamp program and I registered the program. Actually, the volunteer program is aimed to help the foreign student in studying Indonesian language while the Intercultural Summercamp program is a program for the foreign student to learn about Indonesian culture especially Central Java. The program brought all the foreign students from various programs including the volunteer program where I joined. Visiting Dieng, Central Java is one of the agendas of this program. This agenda needed some volunteers from each program and here I was participating. Monitoring the foreign students from my progam during the agenda was the reason why I joined the Intercultural summercamp program. Besides, I never go to Dieng before. The fortune come again because there is no budget for the accommodation. The program provided all the accommodation so I just brought my personal stuff such as toiletries, prayer tools, clothes and some money for buying souvenir there. According to the news that the temperature is cold so I remembered to bring a thick jacket. The temperature was reported at freezing 0oC and the place was covered in ice. We departed from Purwokerto at 11: 00 with the duration of the trip approximately three hours to get there. For your information, if you want to go to Dieng with personal cost and not in the program and arrive from Jakarta, you can take a train to Purwokerto station at a rate IDR 80.000- IDR 120.000 depending on the type of the train. After arrived in Purwokerto station, you can take a bus from Purwokerto terminal to Wonosobo. The bus will cost around IDR 45.000 and take time for three hours. Then, take a bus one more time from Wonosobo terminal to Dieng for one and a half hour with the cost around IDR 30.000 or more. Comparing to private vehicles, public transportation need more times than the private vehicles. The journey to the location took a long time, but the view over the trip was amazing. There are many rows of rare vegetables which is hardly found in the city and the location is surrounded by mountains. We visited the three locations. The first location was Arjuna Temple. The splendor of the temple, the clear sky and the green shades made the day seemed warm. Almost all the participants –included me- took a picture to save the memory about the day. We do a lot of pose and targeted many spots. The second location was Dieng Plateu Theater. We went there to watch the history of Dieng and its natural resources. The last destination is Sikidang Crater. The place is a part of volcano that produces sulfur. The smell in this area is like rotten eggs. Although the smell is bad, the scenery is beautiful. We did not miss to take a lot of pictures there. This trip was very hisctoric for me. Being able to join this program makes a new bond in my life and I hope that I can get another experience in a new place.