Beginning, Indonesia, 2010

Senior pre-medical student at Dordt College

Through a friend

I love learning languages and thought I could use my background in Dutch to learn Indonesian.

I plan to get my medical degree and hope to work for the State Department as a medical foreign service officer in Indonesia. I also would like to do medical volunteer work in Indonesia.

I use Indonesian to keep in contact with the people I met in Indonesia and the other CLS participants. I am also studying Indonesian.

I will hopefully become a physician in Indonesia.

Participating in the CLS Program solidified my desire to become a global physician. It also pinpointed the area I want to work in since I fell in love with Indonesia. Living in Indonesia also sparked my interest in tropical medicine.

I enjoyed being able to continually practice my language skills. I could try out everything I learned in class on the street or with my host family.

I imagined Indonesia would be pretty, but I had no idea how breathtaking the country really is. It is beautiful.

There was one busy street I had to cross on my way to school. Almost every morning a family who lived near the intersection came out of their house and yelled “hati-hati” which means “be careful” to me and cheered once I was safely across. Thanks to them, I was never nervous to cross that street alone.

Terserah. It means “it’s up to you.” This phrase came in handy for me during the first couple of weeks when I did not know enough Indonesian to understand the choices I was deciding between.

I grew up in rural Iowa. My family is pretty musical, and I play cello in my family’s quartet. I teach cello in my free time and have taught for ten years. Aside from music I enjoy learning languages, jogging, art, and being outside.