Inda’s journey at STU has just begun

By Maiko Tanabe

Khairunnisa Ayutami Intiar, also known as Inda, sings Courtesy: Khairunnisa Ayutami Intiar

You may not know who Khairunnisa Ayutami Intiar is. But you may know Inda and recognize her if you see her singing.

Intiar is an international student from Indonesia at St. Thomas University (STU). When she first came here last September, it was  full of “first-times”. She was only 18 and it was her first time to come to North America and was the very first time she lived away from her family.

“It was my first time to be alone, nobody around. So I just miss home sometimes, my family and friends.”

Yet, she says coming to St. Thomas is one of the highlights of her life. She came to STU to study journalism and political science, since her parents wouldn’t let her study Fine Arts. But her passion always lies in arts and she found something she loves – theatre and drama.

She had never watched a play in her life before and her first English assignment at STU was to watch a play.

“I went to see Doubt at a playhouse and I loved it. Ever since I just feel like going into plays,” she says.

There are seminars and performances for drama at STU and in one of the drama classes, they held an audition. And she went to do a tryout for the audition and got in.

“I’ve involved in an event called ‘class direct’ and I really loved it,” says Intiar. “That was the highlight of my first year at STU.”

She also plays and sings at a lot of events at STU and bonds with people through music.

Inda at the Multicultural Fair after playing music together with her friends Courtesy: Khairunnisa Ayutami Intiar

Kiyoka Kunishima, an international student at STU from Japan, is one of them whom Intiar bonds with through music.

“Her music is really amazing. We met at one of the STU events and she asked me to play together and since then, we jam together with other friends sometimes.”

They played together with two other friends at Multicultural Fair in January and now plan to make music together now that school is done.

“We haven’t jammed together much recently because we both have been really busy with school work,” says Intiar. “But we are planning to make music together sometimes.”

Since she came to Canada, she learns more than she studies at school. She says she is learning from every-day life since some things are really different in Canada. She experiences something every international student has to go through – culture shock.

She says she still feels uncomfortable calling professors by their first names.

“Some of my professors don’t like to be called professor, but I guess it’s hard for me to call them by their first names because I feel very disrespectful,” she says. “So I’m still adapting to that.”

The other thing she had to adjust was how freedom of speech applies when people talk about religion.

Intiar, who is a Muslim herself, says she was surprised how people joke about religion even in class.

“I was just surprised, not offended, because it was something really different from back home. It’s just a lot of people didn’t know much about it and I had to explain it,” she says. “I explain it to them when they want to know and I think it’s a good thing they want to know.”

Also, she adds she enjoys the freedom since she came to Canada – a kind that she would want for her country.

“I really like the fact that people here have the freedom to say that they don’t have any religion. Back home, people are too scared to say it because people would judge you,” she says. “So I think it’s a really good thing to have the freedom to say it. It’s really good.”

Click here to watch Inda sings at STU Review

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Posted by Maiko Tanabe on Apr 26, 2010. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.