Cultural Program Experience by Alannah Yuen (24991100)

From the 17th to the 18th of April 2025, I along with many other participated within the international cultural program with the Faculty of Law UII. We gathered at the university Lobby around 3pm to head to Bantul, Yogyakarta and then headed together towards our hotel to freshen up which was the D’Omah Hotel located also within Bantul.

After we had some time to rest in our rooms we had an amazing session learning about the history of both the hotel and about the history of Yogyakarta hosted by Pak Dodik, who explained to the group about how the building were made and their significance and about the religion and the origin of the city to how it came to be how it is today. Pak Dodik also explained the function of the building of the properties particularly in the hotel and how they were all built together in the case of an earthquake that the building would still be maintained and be easily put back together if the situation were to occur.

After this session, we walked around the perimeter where there was a village and rice fields to be explored. Once we had walked back to the hotel, we had dinner at the hotel which was a buffet with local food and drinks. After dinner we were invited and greeted with a class on how to play the instrument named Angklung which is a Sudanese instrument made from bamboo consisting of 2-3 bamboo tubes with gaps in the middle in a bamboo frame which make a note if you shake them from right to left, by holding the middle of the top with one hand and the side with the other hand. With many of these together they made different notes and could play a song if all combined together. The angklung singular can only play one note. We were instructed by the musicians with various hand movement for each note to be able to play a song, with some cooperation we were able to play songs as a group, decently okay but a little bit off with timing.

After being able to play some songs including some western songs and also some songs made in Yogyakarta, we went off and socialised before going to bed for the day. The next day we woke up bright and early to go to the local Bantul market and got some snacks for the day. After the markets we went to a local Soto place and had some amazing Soto which is a Indonesian soup consisting of broth, meat and vegetables which gave us energy for the rest of the day. After filling up we went back to the hotel for another presentation about business law within Indonesia presented by Professor Dr. Budi explaining the importance of business and international business within Indonesia. After the presentation we had an art class called Gerabah creation regarding painting and then further making plates/ bowls and cups which many of us needed assistance with.

After the art class and cleaning ourselves up and packing our bags, we checked out of D’Omah Hotel and headed onto the bus to Makam Raja Imogiri which translates in English to ‘Tomb of King Imogiri’ where we made our way up 1000 steps and then dressed in traditional wear to go into the tomb. We learned about the history of the tomb and the significance behind it before going in for a short moment. After visiting the tomb and learning about the wonderful history behind it, we got changed again and then went back to the Faculty of Law UII campus to end the cultural program. Overall it was an amazing experience and I very much appreciate UII for taking the time to organise everything and making sure to accommodate everyone and making sure we all had a fantastic time. 

 

Instagram post: @alannahkayee