🗽Take me to New York
This week we travel to: 🇺🇸 🇮🇪 🇳🇱 🇧🇪 🇨🇦 🇲🇾 🇰🇷 🇹🇭
Hello there,
Welcome to the first installment of Stories from Abroad, brought to you by the IISMA Editorial. Every two weeks or so, we round up the multitude of IISMA Awardees’ experiences from around the world!
🔭 Lenses
Pictures speak louder than words. See the world through the eyes of our awardees and the unique story behind every picture.
🇺🇸 What’s so dazzling you can’t help but get on your knees?
New York.
It certainly what Patrick feels as he walks in and around Manhattan. On foot. Experiencing a patch of the world where diversity is the norm, gigantic skyscrapers reaching as high as one can see, he feels humbled like never before. As he said, “New York does make you feel minuscule, and there is something very melancholic, yet inspiring, about that.”
Join his quest on exploring the Big Apple here. (Quiz: can you name every landscape he’s in?)
🇮🇪 Do you believe in time travel?
Even if you don’t, let us tell you the closest thing you could come to it: museums.
Fair enough, you might not be able to step through a complicated, futuristic-looking portal invented by some mad scientist and land thirty years from now. We might not have the future down to a science yet, but the past is here for you to leap to and get lost in!
Travel with Anggi to the Irish museums, where war memoirs and tales of cities ambushed by armories are waiting for you here.
🇳🇱 What do you think about when you think about biking?
Dutch culture is what it is. You’ll see plenty of them in the Netherlands—bikes, that is. Since it is a pivotal part of the Dutch culture, why not make it part of your routine, now that you’re living there for a semester, right?
From going to campus, grocery shopping in Albert Heijn, to attending choir practice and weekly mass; something about biking is wholesomely romantic and self-discovering-y. Don’t believe it? Read how Kalina discovers more of herself with the help of her beloved orange bike.
Before we continue, wait!
🖐️ Get involved!
Are you an IISMA Alumni? Do you have hundreds of pictures from your time abroad that you want to share? Did you experience something so out-of-this-world it lives rent-free in your head?
If so, we want you on board!
We’re always on the lookout for alumni who want to share their experiences. We believe that studying abroad does change our life for the better, and we believe that every IISMA awardee has stories to tell.
So, write with us? 👀
🏫 Universitour
The amazing and distinctive features of IISMA Partner Institutions through its awardees’ eyes.
🇧🇪 Is everyone a nice person?
Not to sound discouraging or anything—but certainly no. Sometimes, during your excursion to Maasmechelen, Belgium, you take the wrong bus stop and end up in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes, your friend would remind you not to ask strangers for directions unless you want to get robbed. And sometimes that friend reminds you that no, Audrey, the world is not a Pangaea.
Wait, what does Pangaea have to do with anything? (No, we’re not referring to the Earth’s supercontinent from some 273 million years ago.) What if we told you it’s where you can find a hub of lonely international students, free-coffee goers, and underrated amateur singers? Let us take you there.
🇨🇦 How often do you run into a totem pole on your own campus ground?
Close to never, probably, unless you’re Karina and you’re walking around the Forest Sciences Centre building at the University of British Columbia, Canada. This revelation leads her to researching the intricate history behind such equally intricate craftsmanship, and what it does have to do with UBC in the first place.
The pole has three parts that tell a story—the meaning behind them might bring you to tears.
👤 Humans of IISMA
Through a curated list of figures, Humans of IISMA aspire to inspire and be inspired by others.
🇲🇾 What’s the first day of the week?
Either Monday or Sunday, depending on your preference. According to a kid in Sanggar Belajar PERMAI Penang, however, it is Isnin—which is Malaysian for Senin.
The community was founded for one purpose: to serve as an Indonesian education frontline for children who can’t to enroll in school in Malaysia due to not having legal documents.
Join Ayunda in her volunteer activity as she teaches sciences, math, English, Indonesian, Pancasila, Islamic studies, et cetera to children from various backgrounds, all the while juggling college and the language barriers.
🌟 Cultura
Various trivia about your favorite country, traveling, culture, and the people you meet whilst abroad.
🇰🇷 Would you kill for mint choco? Probably not…
… unless you’re in South Korea.
Each year, there is always a phase where a certain food or drink will make waves (think dalgona coffee, cream cheese garlic bread, rose tteokbokki) and mint choco is one of them.
There’s an ongoing debate about this particular flavor: either you love it or hate it to the guts, there’s no in-between. If you wonder who likes it, we’ll drop some names: BTS’ J-Hope and Jungkook, TXT’s Yeonjun and Huening Kai, among others.
Oh, have we mentioned the mint-choco fried chicken? Monica made the full report here.
🤯 IISMA Insights
The wide array of cultural and academic insights from our awardees during their exchange abroad.
🇲🇾 What is up with urban growth in Malaysia?
Learning doesn’t stop in classrooms. Having taken The Issues of Urbanisation course in the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Amira uses it as a lens to view the dire reality of New Wave Urbanisation in Malaysia. As she says, “Human networks are important– and frankly, the biggest knots of them are in cities.”
Learn all about the data, the fact, and the number-crunching here.
🇹🇭 What’s amazing and keeping you safe while traveling?
A protocol and certification system in Thailand.
While we have CHSE (stands for Clean, Health, Safety, and Environment) as our certification program from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy or Kemenparekraf, Thailand has Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (or SHA for short) as a means to help its tourism recover from the pandemic.
How does this game-changer certification program play a role in Thai tourism? Rheaya explores it here.
📰 On IISMA today
IISMA Throwback: On September 17, 2021, 10 students came to KU Leuven 🇧🇪 with nothing but three bags each in possession.
IISMA 2022: Did you know that IISMA awardees batch 2022 are starting to embark on their journey? Here’s a glimpse of the campus space at the Prince of Songkla University 🇹🇭.
We’d like to see your IISMA moments. Submit your throwback here.