Two students from the S1 Sastra Jepang study programme, Salsabila Fauza Putri (Salsabila) and Annisa Tri Rahmawati (Nisa), have obtained the opportunity to conduct an internship as part of MBKM activities for 2 semesters in Shizuoka, Japan. Salsabila and Nisa are fifth-semester students from Banyumas.
Salsabila initially admitted that she was not interested in participating in the internship programme during her studies because she felt unconfident about her Japanese language skills. However, with encouragement from her classmates, she finally found the courage to try.
“Nothing to lose! Just give it a try!” said Salsabila.
Meanwhile, Nisa had not considered participating in the programme at all because she had not yet received her parents’ blessing. However, due to encouraging words from her classmates who said “Nisa come on, join! You will definitely be accepted”, Nisa finally found the courage to ask for her parents’ permission to participate in the programme, and she was eventually allowed to join.
“My parents’ blessing remains paramount,” said Nisa.
Eventually, in March 2023 Salsabila and Nisa registered themselves to participate in the Osip programme offered by the S1 Sastra Jepang study programme. They attended interview training before facing interviews with users conducted by the Osip team. In early April 2023, they then underwent interviews with users, competing against 14 other participants who were students from the Sastra Jepang study programme from various universities. Five days later, they were declared to have passed along with 10 other participants. After being declared successful, they then proceeded with COE application documentation followed by visa processing.
After going through various documentation procedures, finally on September 13, 2023, they departed for Japan to conduct their internship at Komeda Cafe, Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. They will conduct internship activities for 2 semesters with a conversion of 20 credits per semester.
Through this internship activity, Nisa hopes to be able to directly practice the Japanese language knowledge she has acquired during her studies. Nisa also hopes to have many opportunities to chat with native speakers and to directly experience Japanese culture, which she has only known about through her coursework. Nisa also hopes to have the opportunity to visit Akihabara and purchase Japanese language comics.
Salsabila also hopes that through this activity she will be able to become proficient in Japanese. Salsabila also plans to expand her social network so that it will open opportunities for her to return and work in Japan in the future. Salsabila has the dream of travelling from Hokkaido all the way to Okinawa.
As a message to her junior classmates, Salsabila advises,
“Don’t be afraid to try! Because everyone’s fortune is different.”
While Nisa offers this advice,
“Don’t overthink too much. Be confident that you can do it. If perhaps you don’t pass in one programme, it can become a learning experience for the next programme!”
Best wishes for your MBKM activities, Salsabila and Nisa!