By :Anandalia Athaya Zahra
“The same opportunity will not come twice”, this is a sentence that is always instilled by Anandalia Athaya Zahra, a seventh semester student at the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Diponegoro who had the opportunity to study for one semester at the University of Szeged, Hungary through the IISMA program (Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards). Currently she has the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Health Science and Social Studies and take four courses offered, they are Public Health and Preventive Medicine, General Personality and Psychology Lecture, Basic of First Aid Practice and Personality and Communication Group Training Practice.
At the University of Szeged, Anandalia admitted that she felt a difference in teaching and learning activities. She said that at the University of Szeged students were required to be more independent and responsible. Lecturers do not pay attention the students’ presence because lecturers considered that students are mature enough to set priorities and be responsible for the choices they made.
In addition, the teaching techniques carried out by lecturers are also different. Anandalia said that one of the courses she took did not carry out teaching activities as usual; where the lecturer explains and students listen, but students are invited to do exciting activities such as games and exciting discussions involving all students in class. Even though this sounds like just playing games, Anandalia admits that at the end of class, she always gets the lessons that the lecturer wants to convey and feels that the knowledge conveyed is more easily embedded in her.
“When studying in class, the lecturer often invites us (students) to do exciting activities such as games and hands-on practice, so we enjoy learning more,” he said.
Apart from gaining knowledge about learning materials in class, Anandalia also had the opportunity to get to know the Hungarian culture. She had the opportunity to take part in learning how to do folk dance, one of the typical Hungarian dances which was taught directly by Hungarian national dance athletes along with local residents as well as other international students. Anandalia also had the opportunity to attend several annual events of the City of Szeged in the Autumn Festival and the opportunity to taste Hungarian specialties served by the University of Szeged during the Christmas Party.
Anandalia not only studied Hungarian culture but also introduced the Indonesian culture to local and international students at the University of Szeged through two events organized by the IISMA University of Szeged 2022 awardees, namely Batik Day and Heroes Day. At both events, Anandalia introduced Indonesian culture through traditional games that are often played by Indonesian children such as congklak, bekel ball, tongue twister, nail in a bottle, rubber pass, and many more. Not only that, Anandalia also had the opportunity to introduce Indonesian culture through the souvenirs she distributed during the event to visitors. In both events, she admitted that the response was positive not only from local and international students, but also from representatives from the University of Szeged and representatives from the Indonesian Embassy who were also invited to the event.
According to Anandalia, she will never forget all of the experiences during the IISMA program. She hopes that this activity can continue so other fellow students can also feel what Anandalia felt.
