Today’s early morning wasn’t hard after getting 12 hours of sleep. We went to bed around 5pm last night and woke up before our 6am alarm. To say that I like sleeping would be an understatement, but after a 12 hour time change we all needed some rest. Our day started with a 3 hour car ride during “rush hour traffic” which really occurs at every hour of the day. We visited Pacific Place in Jakarta to meet with @america, a company that helps educate Indonesian students about American culture and education opportunities in the US. USAID, the over-arching umbrella organization that @america is associated with, works with Indonesia schools to improve management and teacher training programs. They’ve also helped improve children’s access to schools, especially in the remote areas of many mountainous islands of Indonesia.
After hearing their presentation, they asked us to meet with some Indonesian undergraduate students who were interested in coming to school in America. We were all very excited to talk to these prospective students and tried to get them all excited about ISU. A couple of the students I met with were very interested in American politics, economics and lifestyle in general and asked a lot of pointed questions. They were curious about part-time jobs (a rarity in Indonesia) and fun activities on campus. I couldn’t help feeling like I was on cross-examination while they were shooting all these pointed questions our way. The dialogue we had with these young Indonesians was very mature and I was very impressed with their poise and understanding of American ways. On the other hand, a majority of the kids just wanted a picture with a foreigner. It seemed a little comical but I didn’t mind, and obliged J We made a bunch of new facebook friends today. So, hopefully these encounters will help increase interest in Iowa State. I’m pretty sure we hooked a couple of the students today; something Dr. Hagedorn was very excited about. J
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