Abstract
Currently, there are many international students come to Indonesia to learn the language and culture. However, it is undeniable that they experienced a very diverse culture shock when they arrived in Indonesia. There are many differences that they experience ranging from weather, food, different ways of eating, time and delay problems to different type of toilet. This study aims to answer the questions on how they adapt to the new culture, and how to become competent in intercultural communication. This is a qualitative research with a case study approach. Data collection was obtained by semi-structured interviews with 8 international students who are studying language and culture in Indonesia. The results showed that intercultural communication competence can be possessed by international student if they have a motivation to learn that can make them more easily to adapt with new cultures and environment.
Highlights
The number of students participating in youth exchange programs between countries is increasing, in America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, including Indonesia
For students who come from countries with low context culture, toilet problems are the toughest problem, because they have never found this type of toilet in their country, so you can imagine how the culture shock experienced considering they had to live in Indonesia for 1 year, as stated by Adler (1975) quoted by [14] that culture shock is an emotional reaction to unexpected cultural differences and misunderstandings of different experiences that can cause feelings of helplessness, irritability, and fear of being cheated, hurt or ignored
From the analysis above, it can be concluded that international students experience a culture shock upon arriving in Indonesia, which is related to the weather, traffic, long delays, spicy Indonesian food, eating habit, and different type of toilet
Summary
The number of students participating in youth exchange programs between countries is increasing, in America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, including Indonesia. When a person will be away from his comfort zone for a long time, there will be transfers of values which we usually call cultural adaptation [3] This happened to international students who received Darmasiswa scholarships from the Ministry of Education and Culture to study Indonesian language and culture in various provinces in Indonesia. The Darmasiswa Program was established in 1974 as part of an ASEAN cooperation initiative Over time, this program was expanded to countries outside the ASEAN region, namely by providing scholarships to young people from 117 countries to study in Indonesia, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United States. In 2019, the total number of foreign students who have participated in Darmasiswa since 1974 is 7,852 people from 117 countries.
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