Aulia Zahroh
Ayuningsih
120221414947
Student Exchange Program
Have you ever imagined
that you can study abroad? It is more exciting than study in our country. If we
have much money, we can make this dream true. But, no all of us are rich. What
should we do? Do not worry! You can study abroad a while by joining a student
exchange program.
To participate in the
program, you must do some steps. The
first step is joining the written test in your school. The school has a
test to find whose person will be chosen. Then, just wait for the announcement
several days later. When you are the chosen student, meet your teacher. Your
teacher will tell you about the program. He or she is going to give a
registration form. The form is going to ask about your life such as self
identification, family, achievement, health history, etc. After you fill the
form, you must complete other requirements. The other requirement is permission
letter from parents. The second step
is test from the program organizer. They will test by phone. They call your
school and you will have the test one by one. The questions are about
international problems such as global warming, education, etc. They want to
know your opinion about the problems and your suggestions to solve the
problems. The third step is final
test. They invite the delegations each school and gather them in one place.
Different from the previous test, you will meet them directly. You might be
asked about yourself and the international problems. The last step is waiting the final announcement. It is going to
announce who the lucky students are. They are the delegations from their
country. They are going to go the directed country.
As the delegations
arrive at the definite country, they start to compare both cultures. Mostly,
the delegations are Indonesia students and U.S students. They look different,
but they still have some similarities, two
of which are religion and love beach. The
first is religion. Indonesia has admitted some religions such as Islam,
Christ, Hindu, Buddha etc. Almost all Indonesian have a religion although it is
not Islam. Americans also believe in God and almost all Americans have a religion.
Only a little of Americans do not believe the God. On 2007, a research tells
that eighty four percentages of Americans have a religion; only sixteen percentages
of Americans do not have a religion. The
second is love beach. When holiday, most Indonesians like to go vacation
and the most favorite place is beaches. Many people prefer to go to the beaches
than go to the mall. Americans love to go to the beaches especially in summer.
They like to go skiing and go sailing. American women usually spread out in
the sun. On the other word, they have some differences, two of which are cleanliness and discipline. The first is
cleanliness. Western countries always keep the cleanliness wherever including
US. You will be surprised while you see the streets there. It is very clean and
there is no rubbish as long as the streets. If someone throws the rubbish
arbitrarily, he or she must pay the fine and stay into jail. It is so different
in Indonesia. Indonesian does not care over their environment. They still throw
the rubbish whenever such as rivers, streets, etc. Although there is rubbish
basket near them, they still do not throw into the basket. The second is discipline. Americans appreciate of time. They think
that time is money. They always come on
time. Moreover, they come a half hour before the appointment. On the contrast,
Indonesian is known as rubber watch. They cannot come on time. When they have a
meeting, they must come several minutes after the appointment.
When the delegations
come back from abroad, they have learned a lot of things from the journey. It
can be positive changes or negative changes. The most important change is to increase their culture knowledge.
After they stay there for long time, they must learn more about the culture. At
the first time, they get culture shock because their culture is very different than
theirs. They will adapt the culture slowly. Another prominent change is to increase their English. They can
speak as well as a native does. They can do it because they have lived together
for several months. They hear the native conversations and communicate at them
every day. It makes them to understand the English conversations easily. The least significant change is to make
them wise. Since they stay there, they have learned more about the country. Thus,
they have much knowledge than other people have. For example, western people
respect for freedom and a couple of gay is allowed in the western countries.
According to western people, it is a common thing. When other people judge the
culture is bad, they will not think like that because they know what the real
culture. They are not going to judge easily.
In brief, student exchange
is an English learning. It involves two countries or more countries. Each
country sends the delegations to stay in the other countries. They study about
the culture and the education there. I suggest that when you have an opportunity
to do it, you must not change your personality and influenced with the other
culture. You should show your culture proudly.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_exchange_program