Nadira’s story from IISMA at Teatime
Being part of the IISMA (Indonesia International Student Mobility Award) Awardee is the dream of many Indonesian students nowadays. Listening to stories of the awardee’s journey and process while studying abroad will increase their enthusiasm to be part of IISMA. What Nadira’s journey was like when studying at Leeds University and how she got through has been much awaited by many students.
The theme for the teatime on 11 March 2022 reviews Nadira Muthia Supadi’s journey from preparation to the study process in the UK. Nadira is one of the students from the International Program of Communication Department at the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) who successfully passed the IISMA and studied at Leeds University in the United Kingdom.
Preparations to Avoid Culture Shock
Nadira talks about her preparations before she left for London, UK. Before leaving, she searched for articles about life in the UK (England). She did this so that later She would not be surprised by all the culture and way of life in the UK, which is very different from the way of life in Indonesia. She also prepared himself not to carry many things. “I only bring important things. Bring only a little stuff. Remember, I go there alone, and I have to bring all the stuff myself,” Nadira advised, remembering her previous trip preparations.
What she only know is how to behave in a place far from home. How to prepare to avoid all the culture shock. Prepare all of them in a simple way only. Conversely, what Nadira wants to say is don’t bother yourself. You are not in your hometown.
Nadira did not experience too many difficulties in the UK because she had prepared before departure. “I’m quite ready there. I’ve prepared a lot of tips for this and that. If you have to travel, how should you travel? So be more prepared for that.”
Even so, Nadira admitted that she still faced obstacles after arriving there. “I have to adapt again,” said Nadira.
Even though she has good English skills and is used to speaking foreign languages, Nadira still has to get used to speaking with English people whose words are sometimes difficult for her to understand. “In the beginning, sometimes I didn’t understand what they were talking about. It’s not clear,” Nadira said when she faced several people whose accents and vocabulary pronunciations weren’t very familiar.
