The Study Abroad program is offering students a chance to study preventable diseases in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, from June 2 to 22.

The Global Health, Environment and Culture in Indonesia program is directed by Tomoyuki Shibata, assistant professor in the nursing and health studies division. Shibata said Indonesia was chosen as the destination for this trip because a lot of people there die from preventable diseases, and students going on this trip can benefit from learning about public health in a different culture.

“Students can get practical skills,” Shibata said. “We have different projects in Indonesia so students can learn how to evaluate their environment and then evaluate human health. They can get laboratory skills, academic skills and computation skills. There’s many skills students can get.”

Shibata said students start the program by participating in workshops, and then they move on to lectures. After these courses and a laboratory course, the students get to go out in the field and conduct research. Shibata said these studies go hand in hand with student’s majors.

“This is all a collaborative effort between NIU and the Indonesian embassy,” he said. “When NIU students work with local students, they can see new ideas and science applying to culture.”

Lauren Mock, outreach and programming coordinator for the Study Abroad program, said this program will expand students’ knowledge of issues in Indonesia.

“Specifically this program definitely offers a hands-on approach to public health,” she said. “Places students visit differ from the U.S. and students get a different perspective about southeast Asian public health.”

Mock said being submerged in a culture is the best way to learn, rather than learning from an outside-looking-in perspective.

Someone who has experienced this firsthand is Dyah Mitayani, 29.

Though not an NIU student, Mitayani is a Fulbright teaching assistant on campus through the Fulbright program, which provides scholarships for students to study in other countries. Mitayani came from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, six months ago to begin a nine-month stay. While in DeKalb, she takes two courses per semester along with her work as a teaching assistant.

Mitayani has noticed some differences between Indonesian and American culture. Besides missing the food and the warmer weather, she has had a good experience here and said she wasn’t expecting such a nice experience. She thinks experiencing a country’s culture firsthand is the best way to learn.

“The benefit of studying abroad is to live in the culture,” she said. “In Indonesia, I couldn’t learn the culture the best way possible. We learn about the American culture through what we see in movies or on TV, but that’s not real.”

Shibata said the cultural differences and the Indonesian culture is often unknown to students, so culture shock is not uncommon.

“In Indonesia, that is a nation so far from the United States,” Shibata said. “Some study abroad locations are so close to the United States, so it’s a lifetime opportunity to go to Indonesia. Going to Indonesia is a totally different culture, a different religion, a different language. Students definitely experience culture shock often.”

Shibata said the deadline to apply is April 1, and anyone interested should contact Shibata at 815-753-5696 or the Study Abroad Office at 815-753-0700.