By Asako Sadira Probowo*
Zdravo, let me introduce myself first before I tell my story for this one month in Serbia. I’m Asako Sadira Prabowo but you can call me Kyo, I’m the first and the only one (in 2022) that go to Serbia from Indonesia with the program named AFS Interculture. I came to Serbia in 26th August 2022 and I got the placement in Belgrade (Beograd), which is the capital city of Serbia.
The first time I met my host family, they’re very sweet and welcoming family. My host mom and host dad hug me really tight, they even looks like they’re about to cry. Then I met my host siblings which 2 girls with the same age with me (they’re twin) and 1 girl younger than me. They really happy when the first time see me in real life. And the other day, grandma comes to our house, she hugs me so tight because she really wait for me to come to Serbia. All of the people in this family is very sweet, warm and welcoming.
Finally in 6th September 2022 I start my school, I go to Тринаеста Београдска Гимназија which is 15 minutes away from my house by bus. At first I feel very nervous because I’m too excited to meet my new schoolmates. But it turned out that they excited to meet me too, they even prepared welcome card, flowers and they gave me a letter that written in Indonesian. All of my classmates are really like to teach me Serbian and most of the teachers also likes to teach me Serbian too, and when I don’t understand the lesson they will try to explain it in English for me.
Most of the schools in Serbia have 2 shifts, morning shift which starts from 08:00 – 13:50 and evening shift that starts from 14:00 – 19:50. Most of the school didn’t have canteen because of the school time includes my school, but my school have some vending machine and we can go out when it’s come to break time to buy foods or drinks.
Talking about food, Serbians really like to eat meats, nuts and tomatoes. There’s no day without meats, nuts or tomatoes. I really like the food here because the taste is perfect! Not just the foods but the views are beautiful, especially if you like something vintage or 90’s because in some side of Belgrade you see something like that for almost everyday.
The reasons why I’m happy being in Serbia are, I like to learn something new or different from me. I like views here where you can find modern and 90’s vibe at the same town. People in Serbia are friendly too. I always shared my happiness with my followers in Instagram because I want they know that Serbia is really a beautiful, great and satisfying country to visit or even live. I’m happy to read Cyrillic (Serbian Alphabet) because it’s fun to read it. I like to eat plum and raspberry here since they are one of the biggest exporter.
I will end my story here for now, thank you for reading these paragraphs. Ćao.(* AFS program student exchange participant from Pangkalan Bun, Bina Antarbudaya Capter Pontianak)
