The journey begins

Welcome to the Northern Illinois University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies' Immersed in Indonesia blog. Follow along with CSEAS graduate assistant Maria "Rai" Hancock as she plunges herself into Indonesia's language and culture at Universitas Negeri Malang in Malang. Hancock is there courtesy of the U.S. State Department's Critical Language Scholarship program, the first NIU student to receive one of the highly competitive scholarships. Hancock traveled to Washington, D.C., for a two-day orientation in mid-June, where she and other CLS Indonesia students signed a language policy requiring them to speak only Indonesian in most situations upon arriving in Malang. The program includes four to five hours of language instruction per day, covering approximately a year's worth of study, and structured cultural activities designed to increase students' language facility. It is Hancock's first trip to Southeast Asia and she will be keeping us up to date as she goes along. She returns to the U.S. in mid-August.