Resilient Asia

By Amina Ly, Environmental Science

I’m finding it incredibly difficult to start off this entry given that this is the final post of our dialogue. To some extent, I want to recall a singular experience that allows me to wrap up this trip neatly and place a bow on top. On the other hand, each of our individual experiences were so completely different—especially on the final day—that I don’t think anything I would ever write could be perfectly representative of our last day as a dialogue group. I am writing this after a full month of travel—from Singapore to Jakarta, and all over Bali—and I still have a hard time believing that I, and nearly 40 others, just completed this incredible experience. Our final day was a free one, and I spent much of it floating from place to place trying to squeeze in the last of my preferred activities.

One of my preferred activities is forcing myself to shut off my brain for an hour or so and sit on the beach. I’ve never been in ocean water clear enough to see my feet at the bottom.

I personally started my day with a late breakfast and one final assignment: War Game 2 Policy Document. It was the final time I would spend my time working on an assignment while wistfully staring outside at the gorgeous weather. Despite my desire to run out into the ocean, I found that writing our final document was a rewarding experience. I was able to sit down with my group after a few days and see our negotiations in a new light. In the heat of the war games, decisions made by delegations are generally met with an instinctive reaction—be it fully negative or positive. However, now that we had a few days to reflect, we were able to tweak our policy recommendations slightly to work effectively with the decisions we knew were made by other groups.

Casual breakfast and policy document writing views

After saying goodbye to the first group of students that left us a bit earlier, I walked to a convenience store to grab snacks and water, leaving our Nusa Dua resort compound and returning to the now-familiar view of small Warung shops, fruit carts, and the occasional Mini Mart. Following that, I decided to grab a few souvenirs as well from the neighboring flea market. The small shops consistently reminded me of Bodegas in New York, or the small corner stores I would visit as a child. Even when they’re empty they carry a sense of community and hospitality that I always seek out when visiting new places.

*Desperately searches for a ukulele, finds every other instrument available*

I found myself making these types of comparisons multiples times throughout our trip. In what ways were the lives of the local Balinese people the same as my own? It’s incredibly easy to visit a new place and point out every way in which my life in different, but finding the subtle similarities has been more rewarding.

By Mollie Scott, Civil Engineering

I awoke to the beating equatorial sun streaming into my hotel bedroom through gaps in the window blinds; across the island, a dozen or so of my classmates watched that same sun rise from the top of Mt. Batur. While others were clothed in gym clothes and black volcanic ash, I pulled on the best “smart casual” outfit I could scavenge from my remaining clean clothes and headed to the hotel lobby. There I slid into a car with a broken air conditioning system with Professor Ganguly, Udit, and Professor Kemal Taruc and went off to Denpasar to meet with the rector, or president, of a local university. Can you pick the odd one out of the group?

Upon returning from an interesting meeting, I enjoyed a long, lazy lunch with friends at the poolside bar. Those brave souls who had departed at 1am for their sunrise hike were justifiably tired, so I fed off of their low energy and capitalized on some much needed relaxation. We exchanged thoughts of the struggles of long term travel; you never went to stop running to see and experience all that your temporary home has to offer, but sometimes you just need to sit and catch your breath. Traveling is a remarkable way to explore your limits, but we must be sensitive to them as well.

After a riveting game of beach volleyball featuring three semi-pro Korean players who were patient enough to play a few rounds with us, we headed to the pool and met up with a majority of the group. Here, relaxing at the swim up bar and chatting with new friends about our post-dialogue plans, the first inklings of nostalgia began to settle in.

By Francesca Brecha, Civil Engineering

I woke up for the third time, feeling nervous and tense and positive that I had overslept.

Checking my phone once again, I saw that it was still only 6:30 a.m. and that my alarm wouldn’tbe going off for another half hour. I finally gave up on rest and got out of bed to get ready for theday, beginning by choosing clothes to complement the makeshift “Make America Great Again” hat glaring at me from my table. Today was the day I would try to staunchly defend Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord, a daunting task for my quiet and dedicatedly environmentalist self.

I could write a good deal about the preparation effort which our team put into the second War Game, but that was over now. It was time to put all of that work to the test. Getting ready to defend the official stance of the United States government actually taught me a lot about the ways in which we choose to present and cherry-pick data without making anything up. Not to mention, my team mates were extremely clever and hard-working, and our group dynamic felt balanced throughout both preparations and the Game itself. In the end, I was extremely happy to be on the US team. However, as I prepared for the first presentation, I was very aggressively questioning why I had chosen to play this role.

Contrary to my expectation, my short performance at the beginning of the War Game was the least stressful part of the experience. There was immediate backlash against our team, unwillingness to negotiate, and ultimately a plot twist from the Small Island Nation team which no one could have seen coming. Emotions ran high all day, and I found myself frustrated with the other teams, the administration, and myself at different times throughout the experience.

Sometimes it felt as though our trajectory was veering off of the realistic path for a simulation like this one. However, taking a step back made me realize how powerful this exercise turned out to be. This was our last day of work together and seeing how everyone came together was powerful to me. It’s hard to imagine that all of these lovely, vibrant people were strangers to me only a month ago, and most will be strangers to me again after just a few more days.

Pictured: The throwing of a wrench into everybody’s plan

By Ian McLarney, Finance

War Game 2 left me feeling frustrated. While I am proud of how my team represented the European Union and am empowered by my new knowledge of the EU's efforts to combat climate change, I am upset by the parallels between my experience with this exercise and reality — the result of the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.

After a smooth round of first presentations, War Game 2 quickly devolved from an attempt to mitigate the effects of the US withdrawal on island nations to an effort to avoid militarization and nuclear proliferation. Specifically, the team representing island nations created an alliance with Russia, which wasn't represented at the War Game, and with the team representing China, whereby both nations would be allowed to build military bases in Cuba and the South China Sea in exchange for commitments to build or finance infrastructure improvements, which they considered of paramount importance. However, the net effect of these alliances is clearly destabilizing — it is a clear affront to the United States' national security interests and international peace efforts more generally — and they distorted War Game 2's intention to increase resilience in the world's most vulnerable populations.

In reality, President Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement is also dangerously destabilizing and jeapardizes the largest environmental coalition ever assembled. At 14.4%, the United States is the second largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, and rejecting responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of our (I use "our" because I am an American citizen) economy is ignorant, shortsighted and just bad business. Which is why any reference to Donald Trump as a good businessman is misleading! He fails to recognize the positive correlation between environmental stewardship and long-term business profitability, and he overlooks thousands of businesses that are already successfully shifting their focus from profit maximization to stakeholder management, in which social and/or environmental benefit are pursued as vigorously as their bottom lines.

The truth is that I am scared. I'm scared not only because storms, floods, and droughts are becoming more intense and the threat of tidal inundation increases but also because our nation's position as an international leader in diplomacy, science, and technology has been tarnished. Our revolutionary experiment with constitutional democracy garnered admiration and respect, while this decision has inspired confusion and scorn. Denying our role in global climate change denies our humanitarian responsibility to care for our planet and all of its people, and it is our own young members of government and the workforce, aspirational college graduates, and future generations of Americans who will best the brunt of its consequences from a lesser standing in the modern world order.

By Elliot Horen, Information Science and Marketing

There are some on this trip who rise with the sun, enjoy a wholesome breakfast of fresh fruit, wheat toast, and clean ocean air, and meditate to center themselves as they mentally prepare for the day. 

I have no rational explanation for these people, who must float in a higher plane of magical realism, but I do have some jealously. 

My alarm chirped at 8:48 AM, leaving me twelve minutes to center myself and no time to eat. 

The alarm marked the start of the morning triage. Locating a clean shirt: difficult but essential. Finding clean shorts: a poor use of limited resources. Getting my contacts into the right eyes: code red. 

I blinked and I was on the bus headed for Udayana University. 

We arrived to a leafy campus twenty minutes from our hotel and were ushered into a large auditorium. After learning about the university and listening to several presentations about Bali and the unique climatic challenges here, we asked questions of a panel of presenters. I've started to become familiar with the slight chuckle of an academic asked about the Donald Trump. It's a quiet laugh inevitably followed by a polite statement like, "We don't see eye to eye." When it comes to politics, Indonesian professors are apparently fond of understatement. 

One boxed lunch and a thirty minute bus ride later, we were back in a classroom at our hotel for a session that focused on historical building practices. We learned about the way earlier civilizations constructed homes and other structures in harmony with the environment, no LEED standards required.

By Caroline Ghio, Chemical Engineering

With a full day ahead of us, I decided to start the day with breakfast in our hotel, Hotel Mercure Sanur Beach. The view was so gorgeous that I had to go down to the ocean after breakfast to walk along the beach and take a few pictures.

Our day officially began at 9:00 in our hotel lobby where we gathered and soon after boarded a bus to Udayana University. It was about a 45-minute drive, the highlight of which was the spotting of a group of mangroves along the banks of a river! We read a lot about mangroves in preparation for our first war game, and in fact recommended extensive planting of them as a strategy to protect flood prone Jakarta, so we were pretty excited upon seeing them.

When we got to the university, we scaled three flights of stairs and entered a large room with windows along two walls, and a stage in the front. A series of introductions began with an introduction/welcome speech by the Dean of Udayana University, who stressed an interest in future research collaborations. Next, Udit gave a brief speech thanking the university for welcoming us and reinforcing interest in scientific collaboration. Kara and Lindsey then gave a brief overview of what the dialogue students have been doing in their classes and Lizzy spoke about the SIRF projects. Professor Ganguly also gave a brief introduction and then had some dialogue students introduce themselves. Finally, Professor Majumber also introduced himself and shared his background and that of his university.

The presentations began with a slideshow about Bali, which was shared with us by the Dean. He included information on Bali’s climate and population, and also described the university; university information included details about the campus, programs, professors, and research and collaborations. Next, Professor Mahendra gave a presentation on environmental issues in Bali. Finally, Udit gave a presentation on the work being done in the SDS Lab at Northeastern University.

At the conclusion of the three presentations, there was a question and answer session in which Northeastern students, Udayana University students, and Udayana University professors asked questions of the Dean, Professor Mahdenra, and Udit. This session concluded the short seminar and our time at Udayana University.

On our way out, we were given a boxed lunch, which we ate on the way back to the hotel. We then had a short break before returning for class. In class, Professor Majumder gave a presentation on “Culture and Climate Change,” providing analysis of many aspects of culture, including its influence on architecture, transportation, and other areas. Following his presentation and a short break, Udit led us in a tutorial in Gephi, a modeling platform.

The rest of the day was free to get dinner and work on our war games presentations. I ate with friends at a great restaurant called Malaika Secret Moksha and wrapped up the day with a meeting and work session with my war games team.

By Eloni Porcher, Communications and International Affairs

The word I would use to describe how I felt when we first arrived to Sanur Beach is exhausted. We had just finished a visit to rice fields and after three hours of traveling through winding roads and mountainous terrain of south Bali, the only thing I wanted to do was crawl into bed and be swept away into dreams of floating in the oceans of sun kissed beaches.

Besides being physically spent, at this point in the dialogue I was also beginning to feel mentally drained. Between academic sessions, lectures  and various forms of forced social interaction at any given day of the week, I found myself seeking sleep to escape the constant buzz of chatter and the hum of engines.

The sound of music in the distance interrupted my sleep pursuit. The steady beat of a conga, the blare of a horn playing the steady rhythms from home beckoned me to follow them. I first wandered to the beach in search of the source of the music, where I found a stream of kites dancing in the wind.

I first noticed during our week of travel in Bali, that many people, and mostly locals, fly kites. On bus rides, I spotted flurries of red dotting the skyline or lurking beneath the trees. Kite flying, similar to cultures in the Middle East, revere the activity as a spiritual practice. The Balinese believe the god Indra flew kites during his leisure time and taught cattle herders how to fly them. The practice, ( flying and making the kites) is taught in villages and passed down from generation to generation- and is considered a community activity.

I stood in the sand watching the kites surf gusts of wind and gentle breezes, while the music playing in the background still summoned me. Reluctantly, I left the beach, in search of the sounds that had been passed down to me- rhythms that I danced to at birthday parties, and more recently sought out with friends.

It felt odd to hear bachata rhythms (songs from Prince Royce’s most recent album) blaring at the Balinese resort. It was in stark contrast to the calm and steady bell dings and drum beats of the music that hotels normally played.

Since I only heard Bachata and Salsa songs playing, I knew that people were dancing. (Initially I thought I had found a group of Latinx residents or tourists in Bali, and was excited to meet them). It made me wonder in what ways Latin music and dance had traveled to an island thousands of miles away- and for what reasons people connected to the music. Patterns of global consumption of culture are interesting. Given that I knew very little about Balinese culture (never listened to music, nor did any of the dances), there I was in a place where the Balinese were dancing Bachata as well as some friends back home (if not better than some of my Latinx friends).

The culture of the Balinese feels more exclusive - it has been marketed in such a way to attract visitors to experience it in person on the small island. It gives locals an incentive to carry on the cultural traditions- but it comes at the cost that the traditions be changed or altered to accommodate patrons - culture driven by economic power rather than by the needs or desires of the community. This pattern is what is conesequently happening in many parts of the world- as certain cultural practices (either from the region or transferred, adopted or assimilated from others) dominate, others fade or change, decreasing heterogeneity. In some ways bringing people closer together, but creating divides in others.

Just before the trip I had complained to a friend that the popular Bachata dance spread throughout the US, South America, (and now Bali) was vastly different than the dance from the Dominican Republic. I shared how I wished people knew of the version of Bachata that I knew- a dance with complex fast paced steps that is desexualized and less focused on hip movements.

But while I watched Balinese dance instructors move across the flat wooden board on the sand, swaying in time in front of the ocean, I felt a sense of calm, and comfort in seeing people enjoy the dance and music that I loved.

Looking back, I don't know if it’s necessarily good or bad that the Balinese were teaching Latin dances. While there are various implications for why the form of transculutration came to be- it made me ponder this idea of what it means to be human and what a collective global culture would look like. And as the world becomes more globalized and consequently, homogenized, if Bachata gets to be a part of that narrative, I hope I’ll be able to still enjoy it and share the story of what it once was and what it has become. 

By Duane Swift, Computer Science and Linguistics

...What is togetherness?

What is harmony?

Is it awaking at 4:30am to your own alarm set, only to go back to sleep and be awaken again by a scheduled phone call your professor scheduled to be sure that you didn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Waking up begrudgingly to pick up the phone and hang it up in order to squeeze 15 more minutes of sleep in before you drag your feet to the bathroom to brush your teeth and half heartedly comb your hair in an attempt to look semipresentable to the world at 5:30am

Smiling as you walk towards a familiar group of faces who you know share the same sentiments that you do, but still all equally excited to see the what's to come. Grabbing morning amenities - coffee, tea, biscuits, and varying levels of disapproval based on the amount of milk or sugar you put in from the purists amongst us.

Climbing into the boats with our own self made groups of 4 + 1, as the anticipation and excitement bubbles to the surface. Sailing towards the north east, to a destination unknown to the sea's subjects but one that promised beautiful sights and harmony... maybe even peace...

You see, when the boats stopped, and we drifted along with the motions of the ocean, enthralled by sheer calm might of the body of water that so graciously carried us, we were - together - waiting, hoping, breathing - together - our thoughts all in synchronized harmonies waiting for the beauty of untouched nature.

and then we sped. We all sped towards a single area, or a single spot on the echoed calls of all-knowing fishermen that we had found sight of what we came for.

And then we saw them. In groups of 2, in groups of 6, in groups of some number that I can't remember because I was in awe

We were in awe

The dolphins moved in harmony, they moved together, and they moved peacefully, despite the chaos above them. Like wind they moved around their hindrances, not once sacrificing their peace, tranquility, and togetherness

And then the sun rose

Perhaps this is a lesson we could all learn from these creatures of the sea...

By Meghan McCallister, Environmental Engineering

During our second and final morning at the Rama Candidasa, I woke up at 5:45 to the alarm that I reluctantly set the night before. The sunrise will be worth it, I kept on repeating in my head as I slowly put on the clothes that I set out the night before. When we walked out from the room to the lobby to the pool and beachside deck, we were greeted by the employees of the hotel, but saw little other signs of human life. The three of us stood out on the wooden dock that extended over the ocean a couple of feet, in silence and slow morning conversation, waiting for the sun to rise.

We stood there together, and as the time got later and later, we realized that the sun was not rising where we thought it would, and would be obscured by mountains and trees. After a quick breakfast, we met one of the hotel staff for an early morning walk. We were joined by two German couples, one that was maybe in their early thirties and the other probably in their fifties. The seven of us, led by our tour guide, walked through some small roads between the houses built around the hotel to get to a rice paddy. We strolled along paths in between the fields and on concrete walls precariously close to the irrigation canals, watching the farmers working in all different stages of rice production.

Then, our next stop was a coffee plantation. We saw the coffee plants and the civets, and then sat down to sample a selection of teas and coffees. After the caffeine boost, we hiked up into what our guide referred to as the jungle. The tiny, winding footpaths took us up to a temple with a view that overlooked the rice paddies. We then walked back to the hotel, and joined the rest of our group to get on the bus.

Our first stop was the Pura Besakih, the largest and holiest temple in Bali. When we got to as far as the bus could go, we were informed that our tickets included a free motorbike ride to the entrance of the temple. So instead of walking up, most of us elected to hop on the back of the motorbike, zooming by the tourist shops and cafes. The temple was beautiful, with many paths and steps taking you higher and deeper into the complex. By far, vendors were the most aggressive here compared to anywhere else we have visited, but it’s not hard to understand why the temple complex attracts so many tourists every day. In our rented sarongs, we explored, admiring the architectural beauty and the spirituality of so many of the Balinese people.

We stopped off for lunch at a restaurant overlooking rice terraces. The Indonesian buffet food and the view were lovely. 

Our final destination for the day was the Lovina resort on the north side of the island. The beachside resort was filled with luxurious room and apartments, friendly staff, and an impressive amount of offered activities that made us all look forward to the next time the sun would rise again, and maybe this time, we’d get to see it. (SPOILER ALERT: we did!)

By Patrick Schmucker, Chemical Engineering

After a seemingly long bus ride to Candidasa the day before, Thursday morning started very simply. With a reasonable wake up time and breakfast ending before 10 am, we could have gotten a little extra sleep if desired. I, of course, woke up around 9:45am and got there right before they took away the buffet – perfect timing! With a lovely breakfast by the ocean, accompanied by the luscious sounds of waves breaking, I worked on our first written assignment of this Dialogue experience, the reflection essay for War Game One.

Soon after this, we started a lecture hosted by the incredibly intelligent Professor Majumder with a clear focus on the economics behind the science of climate change. His input added some impetus for the thought process leading forward to the progress of War Game Two where our work will be decidedly focused on specific countries and their policies.  After this discussion and a provided lunch a few of us went to finish our reflection essays while lying in front of the water on the amazingly comfortable swinging hammock/mattresses. 

Maggie and Emily at work

Almost immediately after finishing the essay, I snuck off and changed into my bathing suit faster than you can say “climate change” because I was certainly going to the beach before the sun went down! The rocks were a little different than I am used to, but hey I can’t complain. I was in Bali, on a beach, something I do not take for granted.

After getting washed up and having an “urgent meeting” to sing happy birthday to our favorite Norwegian, a few of us went with him to celebrate the occasion. We had reservations at this niche little jazz restaurant with a live band. Champagne was ordered for the occasion which only added to the atmosphere. The birthday boy seemed very pleased, which only solidifies my notion that over the last three weeks or so we have all made some very meaningful connections within this group. Plus, a nice classic Balinese meal isn’t a bad treat either.

By Shemual Tsai, Pharmacy

With the end of the first war game, I think many were ready to go on the bus ride to Candidasa to either refresh their minds, see another part of Bali, or simply escape the swarm of monkeys in Ubud.  However, there were still a few things that had to be finished.  The dialoguers attended a riveting presentation by Professor Sourav Mukherji which revolved around the idea of social entrepreneurship, the often-unrealized issues some ventures face, and other related topics.  This comprehensive yet enthralling talk was cut short by a pop quiz that was disguised as a tea break; the quiz was an amalgamation of materials stemming from assigned articles, assigned videos, and related articles to the concept of social entrepreneurship.  

After the short quiz, Professor Mukherji continued his interactive lecture, constantly encouraging us to answer his questions relating to business, socioeconomic, cultural, and other issues; whether our response was incorrect or correct, he facilitated the creation of discussion of various ideas and stimulated new thoughts in the complexity of social entrepreneurship and the networks of society.  For example, he discussed how the release of a certain Harry Potter book could be easily distributed to the eager consumers in the United States and United Kingdom yet malaria medication that stemmed from funding was unable to be distributed across India which had resulted in the death of many children.  Following the presentation, we all boarded the bus and headed towards our next hotel, Candidasa; many of us were exhausted from the war games, the preparation, and other sessions and rested on the bus.  

Coastal view of our Hotel Rama Candidasa

When we arrived at Hotel Rama Candidasa, we were immediately stunned at its beauty.  There was some sort of mini-beach which gave a beautiful view of the ocean; the tidal waves would crash upon the walls and spray a light mist of saltwater into the air.  Most of us either sat on couches on the sand, walked near the sand, or swam in the outdoor hotel pool to relax and destress; I personally brought my ukulele out that I had bought in Ubud and worked with Lindsey to try to learn how to play it together.  Since Lars’ birthday is tomorrow, some people ate dinner with him at the hotel and the hotel staff celebrated his birthday.  Overall, although there was less going on today compared to previous days; the combination of both stimulating discussion with Professor Mukherji and the peacefulness of the ocean tides along Hotel Rama Candidasa proved to balance out and rejuvenate everyone’s spirits.

Pool view of Hotel Rama Candidasa

By Maggie Dolan, Environmental Studies & International Affairs

Today was the long-awaited, tiresomely researched event: War Games! After days of preparing, we gathered in the hotel's meeting room to give our opening proposal presentations on infrastructure, policy, water resources, other resilient cities and land use. As the infrastructure team, my group had to focus our efforts on appeasing every other group, who needed to approve our plans before anything could be implemented.

As the presentations progressed, several main points of contention came about: to build a sea wall or not? To displace people living in coastal kampungs or to find alternate options? To allocate all our funding to water resources, or divide it among sanitation and housing? How much money did we even have to allocate? Would the government fund these projects, or would we be able to borrow from other concerned nations? What about public transportation…could the process of building an MRT system be prioritized when the existing roads are in such dire need for repair?

We had so many questions, ideas and priorities, since Jakarta's flood-risk comes from different threats, requiring several different solutions. In the end, little consensus was fully developed, as each role-playing group held firm to their researched beliefs. It was determined, though, that groundwater pumping needs to stop as soon as possible, because it leads to land subsidence, a significant flood threat. Therefore, all five teams agreed that water needs (drainage, sanitation and reservoir pipelines) are critical points for funding and should be prioritized.

By Hannah Carrow, Environmental Engineering

Today was the day I was most excited for. Today we were going to visit the Green School in Bali.

The Green School educates students in a holistic manner, focusing on sustainability, hands-on approaches, and community. As someone who wants to have a career path advocating for more sustainable manners, I was eager to learn about the education through talking to students and teachers and seeing the school.

When we first arrived at the school, we were given wooden pendants, used as tags, to notify others that we were visitors. This was my first direct experience with seeing how green the Green School is – instead of using nametags that are later trashed like in the US, the school used an identifying tag that could be reused.

Identifying tag

Walking in, a café greeted us, and I saw two signs that truly excited me, the first one was a sign advertising vegan gelato, and the second one stated that the food is palm oil free. One thing I’ve noticed in a lot of environmentalists and environmental movements is the way they completely ignore the impact that our food has on the planet, and as someone who’s passionate about the sustainability of the world’s food system, I was truly impressed.

Signs from the café.

We then went to an upstairs loft where groups of us sat with a student from the Green School. A student named Jackie, originally from Australia, sat with us, and graciously answered our never-ending questions. I learned about how the students who studied here truly cared about their education, how small each grade was (about 20 people!), and how there was a focus on the environment in the education curriculum.

Upstairs loft area made from bamboo

Another student, Milo, then gave us a tour of the campus. There were bamboo buildings, greenery, and nature integrated in every part of the campus. With every turn Milo showed us a project that was built by students, one of them being a aquaponic garden, with recycled windshields acting as the roof. We then returned to our starting place and the tour ended.

Plants growing in the aquaponic garden

Roof made from windshields

By Tyler Gogal, Computer Engineering

Monkey climbing the urban jungle

Today, we were given the day to work with our teams on preparation for our first War Game and it was a busy day of planning, discussion and work to prepare our presentations about how we would approach the problem of flooding in Jakarta from our assigned perspectives. Luckily, we were able to do this in the stunning environment of Ubud, Bali and so I will digress here to talk about this...

When I stepped out of my door in the morning after our arrival in Bali, I was struck by the beauty of Bali. There were the palm trees and flowering plants everywhere, and tall trees with swathes of canopy and branches providing abundant shade. I could have believed that Bali was always that way. When we went to a plantation, I felt almost like we were in a jungle. In the distance I saw a vast expanse of tree covered hills and rivers, but soon learned that this was not jungle.

The view from our plantation visit

During the course of one of the tours we had in Bali, we were shown the intricate craftsmanship of Balinese carpenters and wood carvers, be it in the architecture or the wood shops we passed as our bus drove through small villages. Even our hotel had a small vendor.

The tour guide said they got their wood from the jungle, but not locally, rather from Borneo. Curious as to why they had to go so far for wood, I asked one of the professors from Indonesia if there was any jungle left on Bali and was given a sobering response. He explained there was no longer any jungle left here; even the conservation land had none of the jungle that existed before humans arrived. Over the course of human development the entire island was reshaped, and most of the plants and fauna, as pretty as they are, were determined by humans. We have learned that the same is true across Indonesia, with even the most pristine jungle in Borneo and Sumatra being deforested. What a tragedy that such natural resources and treasures are being used for the tourism industry. However, though the jungle is gone, some of its inhabitants have been preserved by the culture of Bali. One of the most memorable inhabitants that we find all around us still in Ubud today are  the monkeys!

That was the other surprise that greeted us upon our arrival in Ubud as we found them walking to and fro in the lanes around our hotel in Ubud  and as we ventured  out to cafes for group meetings.  We were warned that the cute little monkeys would not hesitate to run off with unattended belongings and it occurred to me that, in a sense, the monkeys are not the intruders, we are. Next to our hotel was the monkey forest, a place where for 50,000 Indonesian rupiah you can see what is left of their forest. The monkeys did not seem to heed the boundary between developed land and forest, rather they moved into the rest of the town, and into our hotel. I watched them as they played and fought, raised young, and sheltered. All at the same time in conflict with humanity, whether it be pursuing tourists who were carrying food, or running across pathways. Although the humans fought back with long bamboo poles and slingshots, the two managed to coexist. The freedom of the monkeys would have been more puzzling if I had not visited the temple and watched as a monkey god is portrayed as force for good. Perhaps it was the culture that spared the monkeys from extinction, and gives them such freedom. This island may have a tragic past in loss of the jungle, but it also shows a brighter future of preservation and coexistence through culture.

By Mason Gersh, Political Science and International Affairs

...and island where goddess Julia Roberts discovered her inner self in a 2010 blockbuster film. After an academically rich week in Jakarta, Indonesia’s sprawling capital of over ten million, the green island of Bali seemed a culturally rich and more accessible window into the diversity of Indonesian history and culture.

Following an early morning pick-up, our first activity in Bali was to attend a Balinese Barong & Keris Dance (Lion Dance) representing the internal fight between good and evil. According to our local guide, the experience was quite different from what one would find in a Balinese community temple today, although I was quite taken with feelings of camaraderie with the Rangda (queen of the witches) nonetheless.

The Barong & Keris Dance

Afterwards, the group was graciously hosted in a Balinese family home to learn of the Tri Hita Karana architecture model. These compounds are beautifully constructed and meant to maintain closeness to both community and nature, as the kitchen, family temple, and bedroom are all interconnected via green courtyards and stone pathways. Each community on the island is expected to maintain a temple no matter how small, a policy that has clearly contributed to the wealth of intricate architecture Bali is famous for.

A religious space within a family Tri Hita Karana

Our final stop of the day—before heading back and taking some quick stops at a tea plantation and the elephant caves—was to the Kintamani Volcano and surrounding Batur Mountain Range. The volcano is still active, and one can see the dried lava and soot on the countryside surrounding the mountain. Lunch, apparently, is best served hundreds of meters up and surrounded by bees with the threat of an active volcano looming in the distance.

Kinatmani Volcano

By Juliana Segares, Industrial Engineering

We all made it to the lobby by 6:00 am, which was very impressive considering our collective lack of punctuality. The plan for the day consisted on going to the outsides of Jakarta and exploring the mountainside, tea plantations, and one of the vicinity cities. With a short pitstop at a nearby Starbucks, we were on the road for a couple hours before we made it to the first stop: a mountainous area full of incredible vegetation.

As I made my way through the communities and the green areas, I tried to remember the different types of tropical forests I had to memorize for my 5th grade Science class. Costa Rica has 6 different kinds of forests: Tropical Rainforest, Cloud Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, Mangroves, and Lowland Rainforests. Just in this single bus ride, I saw two of these types of forests and felt like I was passing through Central American communities. It felt so familiar that if I would have been placed here and asked where I was, I would have said Costa Rica without hesitation.

The communities, the people in them, and even the motorcycles passing through were so familiar that I could not believe I was on the other half of the world. We were invited to a local home for lunch, and the hospitality of this humble family made me feel even more comfortable with my surroundings. This is where the real value of Indonesia is shown, and where the beauty of the Tropical Rainforests is enhanced by the people that habit them.

By Christopher Bunn, Computer Engineering

Our jam-packed day began at 9AM with a trip to the Kompas multimedia tower. After moving through the sluggish Jakarta traffic, we arrived upon one of the largest skyscrapers in the city.

Inside the tower, we heard from a panel of selected speakers. For me, one of the more interesting speakers was Steve Prio, the CEO of Synergy Efficiency Solutions. After sharing his background and how he ended up in Bali, Mr. Piro discussed how his startup worked to help make buildings in Jakarta energy efficient. He discussed how the building we are currently visiting was cooled by running pipes with coolant underneath the tile flooring. Compared to conventional air conditioning, this was more efficient.

Another interesting perspective that we heard from was from the architect of the building, who described some of the design decisions that he made. One of the more interesting features of the building was the large metal structure that surrounded the building. Since the building is all glass on the inside, the metal grate helps to reduce cooling costs and allows for easier cleaning of the windows.

It was interesting to see how newer buildings in Jakarta can be constructed to become more energy efficient. Through both presentations, I gained a much more clearer view on how Jakarta will continue to balance both its rise to becoming a modern city with its commitment to protecting its natural resources.

Later that day, we went to a local Kampung, or village. These areas tended to have some of Jakarta’s most impoverished residents. It was great to be able to hear from a local community member about how certain aspects of his community has improved significantly throughout these past few years. Throughout the tour, our guide showed our group proposals that were created in collaboration with local university students. Most of these proposals sought to improve both life in the Kampung as well as manage waste that goes into the river that runs through the area.