Hello friends! Thanks for hopping onto the blog! My name is Grace ‘26, and I will be beginning our blog for our Embedded Study Abroad Program in Bali, Indonesia! My last two days consisted of so much traveling, but we made it!
I started in Boston and made my way down to Swarthmore, and then a group of us traveled to JFK, where we took our first flight to HongKong. While I thought the plane ride would be a little more hectic and stress-inducing, I ended up sleeping (as best that I could) for almost 11 out of the 15 hours I was there. I was so super impressed by the HongKong airport, as from our gate, you were able to see the mountains in the distance! Super pretty!
Image: food, consisting of rice noodles with beef, toast, and two eggs, some of us got at the HongKong airport at 6am
Image: view of outside from our gate at the HongKong airport – airplanes with mountains in the background
Image: group of students and professors in the HongKong airport before our flight to Indonesia
We then got on our 5-hour plane ride to Indonesia! This one was a little bumpier, but we made it to Indonesia pretty quickly in my opinion. Geographically, I did not realize how close to Australia we would be!
Image: lunch from our airplane ride from HongKong to Indonesia – consisted of chicken, rice with fried egg, boo choy, mixed fruit, ice cream, and tea
I think the first thing that struck me was the change in climate right after stepping off the plane – the change in humidity and climate was very noticeable! The airport also looked completely different than any other airport I remember being in, as there was art splattered on the walls of the airport and in the middle of large areas and there were offerings located in different places, including the desk where we bought our visas and the bathrooms!
Image: group of students and professors walking through the airport in Indonesia
Image: incense in offerings in the Indonesian airport
We then were driven by Cudamani staff to the Puri Kobot Guest House, and again, there was so much to look at while we were on the road and the gorgeous guest house! I thought that this experience was different than it is in the States, as there were so many motorbikes on the road and it seemed that switching lanes seemed to happen a lot more frequently.
Image: room at Puri Kobot Guest House – consisting of two made twin beds with flowers on them
After we got to the Guest House, we did introductions and got an overview of what would be happening the next day. Everyone was super friendly, and I’m really excited to get to know everyone! We then got settled in and headed out for dinner, which was amazing, mainly because it was objectively fantastic food and because I was really hungry! The flavors of the food was definitely different than Western Asian cuisine, and I feel like the flavor of lime was prominent in a lot of the foods and drinks I had.
Image: Thai Tom Yum soup from a restaurant in Ubud
By the time we got back to the Guest House, I was more than exhausted but ready for the next two weeks to begin 🙂
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