Indonesia through the eyes of student Jerhemy Owen

5-minute read

Although many of us are over this “new normal”, the COVID situation has been a blessing in disguise for at least one of our fellow students. So why not live vicariously through him?! Eighteen-year-old Jerhemy Owen went back to Indonesia over the Christmas holidays, and despite what is currently happening in the Netherlands, he had a tremendous time. As great as a time he had there though, there are certainly some parts of this experience we don’t envy.

First and foremost, we want to thank Jerhemy for allowing us to write his story. Jerhemy is a first-year international student in ESSET, coming from Indonesia. We interviewed Jerhemy about his experience so far in the Netherlands and his course, as well as his journey back to Indonesia.

Jerhemy thinks that the course is very interesting as the human threat to the environment is one of the most current problems. Nevertheless, the fact that the program is currently held online is challenging for him too, as for most students now. It’s harder to understand the different subjects as well as socializing and finding friends. One challenge Jerhemy has encountered is the fact that most of the students at Avans are Dutch speaking. It can be hard to socialize with people who are mostly speaking another language; especially now that most communication is through a screen. Additionally, Jerhemy comes from southeast Asia which is a completely different culture to the one in the Netherlands.

At the end of December, Jerhemy visited his home country to see his family and friends again. At first, Jerhemy thought it would not be possible to go home, as ESSET first planned to do classes offline at the beginning of the new year. Unfortunately, this was not possible, as new Covid-19 regulations were announced, but fortunately for Jerhemy he would get to visit his family. All the classes were planned online again, and the exams could be written online. That’s when Jerhemy decided to fly back home.

First, he had to go into a 5-day quarantine until he could do a Covid-19 test. He did all his classes online, with a 6-hour time difference. Which meant, there was no need to wake up early and there was plenty of time to do things before classes even started. Other than studying, he celebrated Chinese New Year with his family going to restaurants and exploring another city next to his home town, Jakarta.

When Jerhemy went back to Indonesia, they still had Covid-19 regulations, but not as strict as those in the Netherlands. Everything was open, the restaurants, the shops, still wearing a mask was mandatory nearly everywhere: even when home!

Jerhemy went on to tell us what living in Indonesia is really like. It is a large, tropical country that is much bigger than the Netherlands. There are around 270 million people living there. The weather is very warm, it is normally around 30 degrees. However, he says, it rains almost every day!

Indonesia is a very crowded developing country with quite a few levels in relation to the income and job sector. The people with more money and a better job are on a different level to the poorer people with not such well-paid jobs.

 In relation to this COVID-19 situation, the economy in Indonesia has decreased, as quite a few things are still shut, for example, offices and universities, thus resulting in less money coming into the country.

Jerhemy said that the best place he has ever visited and explored in Indonesia was Bali. He has been there 3 times! He also suggested other lovely places to explore in Indonesia for the travel bugs out there: Labuan Bajo and Raja Ampat Papua! They are lovely places with beautiful oceans. Java island is also a lovely place to visit if you want to see beautiful mountains or go hiking!

He also explained why he picked “Avans University in Breda” and not a university in his country. He said that education in Indonesia is not of the same quality as developed countries. Most Indonesians move abroad for their higher education. Jerhemy said he picked the Netherlands, because he wanted to experience a new language and culture without having to learn a new language. He is however, doing some Dutch courses to try and learn some Dutch for daily interactions, like talking to the cashier in the supermarkets etc. Another reason that he picked this particular country, and this particular university is that he liked the fact that most people can talk even the slightest bit of English and that the course he is doing (Environmental Science) is also taught in English.

Jerhemy told us that the reason he chose this subject to study was because, in Indonesia there a lot of natural resources that still have not been developed. Coal consumption is very high in Indonesia thus resulting in poor air quality. The Netherlands, he said, is popular for their lovely environment and their actions to keep pollution levels down. His goal, after studying this program, is to apply what he has learned from the European way of managing the environmental issues to the Indonesia lifestyle in an effort to provide a better quality of life for those in Indonesia.

Below, are some pictures of Jerhemy exploring his home town..