Campus & City Tour for International Students 2020

One of the programs held by the ITS International Office in welcoming new international students in ITS, is City Tour. This program is intended to give knowledge to the new international students about Surabaya’s cultures.

This semester, City Tour will be held on 9 February 2020. The concept of this semester’s City Tour is “Educatrip” which not only bringing the participants around Surabaya but also giving them the knowledge about ITS and Indonesia.

This semester’s City Tour not only bringing participants to historical and famous places around Surabaya, but also in ITS which included Sapuangin Team’s workshop, Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding Engineering, and Design. Every site presented/demonstrated their works. Educatrip also involved IUP students who accompany the participants during ITS tour. There were 23 participants and 12 IUP students in this semester’s City Tour.

At 08.30 AM, the participants gathered in the lobby of the Rectorate Building to do registrations. Then at 09.00 AM, City Tour was started with the first site which was Mechanical Engineering, in Sapuangin’s workshop to be exact. The participants met the team members and some IUP students to learn about the team and their works.

The tour is continued by dividing the participants into two groups. The first group headed to the Design Department and the other to the Shipbuilding Engineering Department.  After about 30 minutes they switched places. Unfortunately, the participants looked not too enthusiastic about this part of the tour.

After finishing the three sites, participants and IUP students ate their lunches then carried on to the next site, Tugu Pahlawan (The Heroes Monument). There, the tour was taken over by the tour guide provided by Tugu Pahlawan. The tour lasted about 60 minutes, including the photo sessions and “hangout” (some international students enjoying their time there while drinking coffee).

The tour then continued to Museum Pendidikan (Education Museum). This is the first time City Tour is visiting the Museum Pendidikan as the replacement for House of Sampoerna which usually be the regular visit site. This museum is new in Surabaya. There, the participants looked quite enthusiastic in listening to the museum guide’s explanation about everything in the museum. This tour lasted for about 30 minutes.

Then the tour hit the last site which is the famous Kenjeran Park. There, the participants could see some big statues and took pictures with them. They also visited the temple and enjoyed the view of the sea. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to wait for the sunset. They spent time there for about 40 minutes, although some international students felt that 40 minutes is too short. But the tour must be finished there and we headed back to ITS.

Overall this semester’s City Tour ran quite well, although we had some difficulties throughout the tour. The participants were enthusiastic and full of energy. The downside of the tour is that the campus tour wasn’t satisfying because most of the participants didn’t have enough interest in the presentations and demonstrations. I hope all participants can and will go back to the sites and bring their friends, share their stories, and make more memories during their time here in Surabaya.