Ah yes, the start of a new semester. What an exciting time of year, and with it comes another semester of SST. Students get ready to be shipped off to places all over the world like Ecuador, China and Tanzania to have transformative experiences full of self-growth and mental breakdowns.

This year there are two groups: Ecuador and Indonesia. The Ecuador group, as the name suggests, is in Ecuador, and everything seems to be as it should. However, we have been receiving some strange reports from the group in Indonesia.

For one, the food seems to be cheesier than expected. There is “wiz,” as the locals call it, on everything.

The weather also seems to be pretty out of the ordinary for summertime in Indonesia. Instead of temperatures in the mid to high 80s, they are in the mid 30s. One student reported that they had not anticipated needing a coat, so they have been wrapping up in their mosquito net in an attempt to keep warm. Since they haven’t had much issue with the mosquitoes so far, this seems to be a good option.

The group’s trip to Bali has apparently been replaced with a field trip to see a strange, large bell with a crack in it.

One student supposedly stated that, “this is not what I was expecting. I know they said to put aside our preconceived notions and presumptions of what we thought Indonesia would be like, but I was not expecting it to be like this.”

We’ve even heard rumors that one student doesn’t even recall getting on a plane, allegedly saying: “I swear, we got on the bus and just kept driving and driving. I kept thinking we had to be getting close to the airport, but it never came. Instead, I fell asleep, woke up, and somehow we had arrived.”

The students have not made much use of their Indonesian so far, either. Students have been reporting that they are receiving strange looks and blank stares from locals when practicing their greetings in Indonesian.

Though it is off to a strange start, the group is eager to continue to soak up the Indonesian culture and make the most of the experience. Stay tuned for more updates on what promises to be an SST experience to remember.