Modista Garsia presented progress during her period in Multimedia Laboratory, National Chung Cheng University Taiwan

ITS Campus, ITS News — in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, a student from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) decided to set out to study abroad and run a laboratory internship program since last February. Modista Garsia, a student of the Department of Informatics has a chance to gain knowledge at National Chung Cheng University Taiwan.

Through the information provided by the Directorate of Global Partnership (DKG) ITS, the woman who commonly called this Modista can get the experience of working abroad. Her interest in following the laboratory internship was to fill her free time in the eighth semester after completing her final assignment. “I was not able to graduate in the previous semester because it is still waiting for the score of practice work out in the eighth semester,” said this student of 2016.

Not only that, but Modista is also interested in registering because of scholarships offered with complete packages such as boarding, monthly allowance, and airline ticket costs. “I think this is a good opportunity to try because at a cost that is not too high, I can get the knowledge in a new place with different ways of learning,” she said enthusiastically.

During her internship period in Taiwan, Modista admitted that the topic was not the main focus during her studies in the Department of Informatics ITS. “I was assigned to learn about skeleton estimation, which is to make the image of human bones into pose recognition to be used in the industrial robots manufacturing,” explained the alumnus of SMAK Frateran Surabaya.

Learning something new is not an obstacle for the woman from Gresik, Modista claimed to be grateful for the attention given by the professors of her there by giving many references to be studied in theory. “The provision of programming language during the study at ITS also helped me over here,” she explained.

Modista Grasia together with her professor during the internship at National Chung Cheng University Taiwan, Wen-Nung Lie.

Modista revealed that while working on the topics in Multimedia laboratory, she was very assisted with other students from various countries such as India, Iran, Poland, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia. “Despite the differences in culture and language, the condition of learning in the laboratory is very conducive because we can share and ask if there is a difficulty,” she said.

The number of fellow foreign students does not become an obstacle for Modista to communicate because the language spoken is English. However, being in a country that uses Mandarin as a native language encourages Modista to hone her skills in Mandarin. “One of them is by taking the Mandarin class at the Center of Language Service (CLS) on campus,” tells the student who often acts as an assistant lecturer.

Running an internship period during a pandemic that is spread of course is a concern for Modista when leaving for Taiwan. However, after getting information from her family who was there made Modista no longer hesitate to depart. “I get the information that the handling of COVID-19 in Taiwan is restrained and proven by what I see for myself while there,” she explained.

Modista tells that every entering gate in the building in Taiwan should be conducted a body temperature test. Also, the distance between the tables in the laboratory is arranged in such a way that it is allowed to remove the mask. In her view, the medical examination is not as strict as in Indonesia. “To ride public transportation such as buses or trains is only required to mask without any other checks,” she said.

More about the handling of COVID-19 in this small Asian dragon country, Modista said there was a concern from the Government of Taiwan that will increase the positive case of COVID-19 during spring break from 1st April until 7th April. “On the last day of spring break, there is an incoming message to all Taiwanese people’s mobile phone numbers regarding the list of places to watch out for,” she explained.

According to her, it is a good system and proper to be examples. Modista adds, once the message is scattered, everyone who visits the place is in the list of are encouraged to conduct self-quarantine. “Also, the Google Maps app describes the place that the patient COVID-19 had visited,” she explained.

Despite her concern in the country across the pandemic, Modista is very grateful for the opportunity that he could obtain. She claimed to acquire many lessons while being there, especially on her responsive culture when asked to help. “That time there are students who are asked to do something but the day is night, it was done immediately,” she recalled.

Modista also encourages the other students to do not hesitate to try overseas study opportunities as a medium to get to know other country’s culture. Do not make a barrier language for overseas study. “This can be solved by pursuing a body language or getting acquainted with Indonesian students who are in the campus destination,” she concluded. (tri/lut/rev)

Modista Garsia and her fellow students during the Laboratory Internship in Taiwan.