Travel and Lessons

by Muhammat Sabar Prihatin

The study excursion conducted by the faculty of education UIII for me is not merely a sightseeing activity but it is about a lesson-reflective story. This trip took place two days, starting from 16-17 October 2024, with the destination of the capital city of west Java, Bandung. Throughout the trip we witnessed the beautiful and natural scenery, particularly when we came to the accommodation area, Ciwiday. 

Worship by exploring the earth

Ciwidey is famous for its beautiful places in Banding, which has many hills planted with tea trees. The lush green color on every hillside was successful to spoil the eyes anytime we looked at it. The winding and sometimes up and down roads just made the trip even more thrilling. Plus, the strains of music from the old up to present era, sung by different generations-Dean, lectures, and students added to the excitement of the journey. This made the long trip feel short and fast. 

This stage reminded me of the Holy Quran saying that the earth was made flat so that we can explore it easily. So it is true that with our intention to witness this verse, our study tour is not only for a fun trip but also a moment of contemplation to admire the Almighty of Allah SWT over His beautiful creation of this universe. 

Taaruf Session (Learning from one another) 

Another valuable experience was when we students of UIII did community service. We visited SMPN 13 Bandung to do a cultural exchange activity with the students there. Traditional dances welcomed us warmly, which attracted fellow UIII students, especially foreign students. When a student came with a traditional dance, our friends immediately clapped their hands and recorded the dance. 

After that, we UIII students and the students of SMPN 13 Bandung were divided into ten groups according to the number of student countries in the Faculty of Education at the event location, such as Turkey, Mexico, Pakistan, Tanzania, and the Philippines. In the international cultural exchange forum, the students were very enthusiastic about exploring various information from student representatives from the countries they visited. They chatted about the local language of the guest country, traditional songs and dances, and even their typical foods. The exciting discussion ended with the making of a short video with students saying, for example, “Sawadikap, we have a new friend from Thailand, Kap kun khap”. 

This cultural exchange activity reminded me of the concept of ta’aruf. It is mentioned in one of the verses of the holy Quran which means that Allah SWT created humans in different tribes, states, and languages for us to learn from one another. The cultural exchange experience provides real evidence to students that diversity is real. And the differences that exist between humans are created to get to know each other. If fellow humans know and understand each other well, then this can reduce bad prejudice and the assumption that a certain group is better and more important than others. And if this can be established in harmony, then this state of knowing and understanding each other can also encourage the

establishment of cooperative and compassionate relationships based on wisdom on the basis of humanity. So it is important that students in schools as the younger generation need to be equipped with an understanding and experience of diversity itself, that it does not exist to belittle certain groups and excel others, but as real evidence of sunnatullah – the Will of God Almighty. So of course it is another kind of worship if we can celebrate this diversity as a gift of life. 

Public service for knowledge sharing 

Last but not least, the community service activities carried out by the lecturers of UIII and Telkom University were another topic of reflection. For me, cooperation between educational institutions is an important factor in building student learning experiences. What I felt at that time was that I got the opportunity to learn to process data on a large scale by utilizing technology that I had never learned at UIII, but I learned a lot from Telkom Uni. It’s like this, knowledge that I thought was difficult to learn, turned out to be easy for other people or other places because they have the facilities, there are the experts, and or because the campus specializes in that certain knowledge. 

Thus, I realized that there are certain fields of knowledge that are actually relevant to us but it turns out that we can easily learn them at other campuses. The insight I received taught me the importance of learning from many parties. And I think it’s the other way around, the lessons delivered by several lecturers of the UIII Faculty of Education at Telkom Uni provide new important and interesting things for students who follow their presentation, namely psychological-based leadership, literacy skills, and spatial thinking skills, which may not be available at Telkom Uni. 

This kind of collaborative synergy is what I think is needed and must continue to be carried out by educational institutions in Indonesia to improve the quality of education in general, both from the lecturers, or teachers, and students. The visit and knowledge sharing between UIII and Telkom Uni that we did could be one of the real forms of academic friendship that echoes that knowledge is a blessing for the universe (Rahmatan lil ‘alamin), not belonging to a particular educational institution or field of study only. 

Thank you, Faculty of Education UIII, for the valuable lessons during the two-day journey on this study excursion. I am sure that each of us feels the benefits both personally, intellectually, socially, and even spiritually.