In a more positive light, only 3 days in and I’ve already learned so much and feel more and more honored each day that I hear about all the things I get to do and all the people I am majorly going to impact. The Fulbright program in Indonesia is the third largest one out of all 130 countries where this program takes place. As a group, roughly, we will teach English to 12,000 students.

In addition to teaching, we have the opportunity to create and star in radio and television programs that teach English; we met with the media man from the US Embassy. There is also going to be a competition between all 32 schools that all the ETA’s will teach at; a words competition where we will decide the theme and they can write a song, poem, essay, dance according to that theme. I will travel with my winning student back to the city of Jakarta where all the finalists will compete, and the winner receives a full scholarship to an American University-truly a dream for these kids.

We’ve also been appointed to recruit people/teachers/students to apply for various scholarships. Scholarships for the working class to go to community college, for Indonesian English teachers to go to an American university and take English classes, for high school students to go to an American university, and the list goes on. We have to judge based on one’s skills if I think they are qualified and have a chance at whichever scholarship. I loved being the peer advisor in the study abroad office at Augsburg, and now I feel like my roll in international education was just upped tenfold. Everyone here dreams of going to the States, and most Indonesians don’t have any idea about these opportunities. And now I can potentially change their lives.

Jakarta as a city is crowded, polluted, intense, and the people are so amazingly nice and so fun to interact with. Traffic is crazy, there are no lanes or crosswalks, thank gosh there are at least stop and go lights. They have over 130 malls here in Indonesia where you can buy almost anything. And they are so crazy annoying; filled with weird smells and up and down escalators that are not anywhere near each other, at different random spots on the floor. Myself and one other ETA got lost for an hour in a mall yesterday; nice bonding experience.

The food is so good and cheap; yesterday my dinner cost $1.50. Everywhere we go there is fresh guava and pineapple juice my favorite! Cabs are also like a few dollars for really long distances, so that’s nice too. Basically everything is so cheap and according to Indonesian economics “I” am a millionaire; I always wanted to be a millionaire, just never thought it would happen.

I’ve been learning about where my school is. I’ll be living in an ORANGUTAN NATIONAL PARK, yup that’s right be jealous. This is also the reason for such tight security measures.

Well that’s all for now. All the ETA’s are going out to dinner tonight as a group to bond our today’s experience and support each other. We are going to a restaurant where we are gonna eat goat lungs, chicken necks, cow intestines, and we’ll see what else. I’ll let all ya’ll know how it tastes!

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“My mother is very opinionated,” she said. “so I was automatically driven to investigate for myself if the things she said were true.”

And investigate she did. Sutton’s quest to learn about others eventually brought her to Greece, Turkey, the British Virgin Islands, and to Tanzania. This August, she will begin a nine-month assistantship in Indonesia teaching English as a Fulbright Scholar.

In her studies abroad, Sutton learned about “different” people—about ways of living and thinking that were nothing like those she experienced in Catholic grade school and high school. “You need to have some background about people to communicate with them when you don’t have the same personal experiences.” She believes her studies abroad and the Fulbright program will help her better connect as a nurse and teacher to people around the world.

After she completes the Fulbright program, Sutton plans to become a nurse and work with underserved populations in the U.S. Her long-term goal is to work internationally in areas confronting poverty, war, and natural disaster.

Sutton came to Augsburg for two reasons—to play volleyball and to study science. She was interested in attending a Division III school because she wanted to participate in a sport and have time to focus on academics. Augsburg gave her not only the opportunity to play volleyball for three years but to study biology and chemistry on campus and abroad.

Last fall, she spent a semester on the island of Zanzibar studying coastal ecology and conducting research on the biodiversity of fish in the Nyange reef. She spent hours under water, identifying species and learning how the fishing industry has affected the reef.

As a first-generation college student, Sutton said the Fulbright application process was challenging but rewarding. “It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.” Between a full class schedule and working part time as the peer advisor for Augsburg Abroad, she met with Dixie Shafer, director of Augsburg’s Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity program, to write and revise her application essay.

“It forced me to articulate what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” she said. “At the end, I was proud. I told myself it was a great exercise even if I didn’t get the scholarship.”

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