Study Abroad Programs in Rural Areas, Indonesia

My time spent in Indonesia with Opwall was amazing. The knowledge and experience that I gained was incredible and could not have been acquired in a classroom. The people were fantastic and once I was in Indonesia it was very well organized and put together. The only complaint about this group that I have is that it wasn't very easy to actually prepare for the expedition. I live in Newfoundland and there is no branch of Opwall here. I had quite a few questions that no one really had the answers to. There were also a few things said about the payments (especially internal travel) that weren't very clear. I am now the Group Leader at the MUN campus so I can help other students skip the bumps that I had to go through to register for my expedition. I did have a fabulous time, and met life long friends. I hope to encourage others to go and work with Opwall, to experience all the wonderful things that I did and so much more.

It is very hard to sum up my semester in Indonesia in just one review--Indonesia is by far the most diverse country I have ever seen or heard of, and each experience I had there was diametrically different from the one before it. With that said, each experience was equally magical and positive. Even on a geological and geographical note, the trip spans across vastly different, striking regions. From the rippling rice paddies in Bali, the cragged ones in Tana Toraja, the thick jungles of Morowali and Masihulan, to the gorgeous coral reefs of Sampela and the Bandas, each fortnight brings awe-inspiring and deeply moving landscapes. Beyond geography, cultural diversity lends itself to an entirely unique three months filled with ethical questions (a buffalo sacrifice serves as enough literal food for thought to last three months) and emotional renewal. I can hardly express in these few paragraphs the impact the communities in which we stayed had on me, and without Dragons, one would be hard-pressed to get anywhere close to them on a map. What Dragons offers that is different from other programs is the not just the opportunity to not only immerse yourself in cultures about as far off the tourist track as possible, but also gives you the skill set to do so properly. For example, excellent language lessons in the beginning of the tip lend to real acquisition and geology lessons lead to deeper understanding of the volcano you summit or the reef we analyse. I recommend this trip any more often, and I only wish that more people would be able to benefit from Dragons' and Indonesia's magic. Academics: Language instruction in Bahasa Indonesia was excellent, but academics are generally not the focus of the program. With proper feedback, the instructors will add or subtract more academics from the program. Living Situation: Living situations for this program could not have been more diverse. We started off the trip living in a plush guest house in central Bali, and only a week later we were sleeping in rice barns in Tana Toraja. Just two weeks after that we were sleeping on bamboo slats and listening to ocean waves lap under us in Sampela, in Wakatobi. While luxury is by no means a standard, the living situations always make for a more interesting and meaningful experience. Cultural Immersion: I cannot stress enough how easy it was to connect with the villages in which we stayed--the people are almost universally welcoming, understand, and loving. They were the single most vital part of the patchwork of the trip--and Dragons ensures that this is so.