Three Indonesian students participated in Fyziklani 2023 in the Czech Republic

Three Indonesian students were able to take part in the Fyziklani 2023 program organized by the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University. The competition was held in Prague, the Czech Republic.

Three participants

Fifteen days before the deadline, we got a call from our Czech friend Andrea Stárková that there was going to be a physics competition in the capital Prague. Within a very short time this information about the physics competition being held in the Czech Republic reached some of the best schools in Lombok. Consequently, three students, Haidar Ramdhani, Muhammad Ziiyaad Robbanii and Lalu Gde Gilang Alid Hadinata, who often participated in physics and mathematics Olympiads at PRAYA 1 High School in Lombok, decided to participate in the competition.

Visa approval

Once their participation was approved, visas and passports had to be processed. The deadline was tight. The application was not as easy as we had imagined, it was very complicated and stressful at the same time. Therefore, we would like to thank Ms. Trisna from Indonesia who helped the four of us with the visa requirements. With the help of the organizers of the competition in the Czech Republic and my friend Marcel Žitník, head of the non-profit organization School in Paradise, our sponsor and head of the travel agency GO2, the Czech ambassador approved our visas in the time we expected.

Eventually, the organizers sent us the tickets and then we had to prepare the necessities for a week’s stay in winter Europe. We also brought the Indonesian flag, batik, traditional food, traditional clothes and Lato-lato or the toys popular in Indonesia right now, which we presented as representatives of Indonesia at the evening program of the nation.

Differences from Indonesia

We flew for more than 20 hours, and when we landed in Prague, we felt different. It was an experience that may seem simple; yet it was very valuable to us. Our breath turned to cold steam as if we had only seen it in movies before. We enjoyed being in a different world. For the first time we saw many people walking fast, running, wearing warm jackets, gloves, scarves, hats and boots. We experienced freezing weather in the Czech Republic. We had to put our hands in our pockets to keep warm, we walked fast, we waited for cars to stop so we could cross, and we moved around a lot to reduce the feeling of cold while waiting in line for the bus. They were. What we enjoyed in the Czech Republic was that we learned to use public transport independently according to the timetable. The thing that made us like the country is the culture of waiting in queues, which is very orderly. The program was well prepared, so there wasn’t much time to meet former Czech volunteers who had come to Lombok in previous years.

Fyziklání 2023 programme

When we participated in the Fyziklani 2023 program, we were given a very detailed and extraordinary program for the week-long stay, which included parts such as Excursions in Prague, Evening of Nations, Excursions to the Castle, Science Presentation, Physics Excursion, Physics Lecture, Panel Discussion with a Scientist, Fyziklani Competition, Excursions to Scientific Departments, Lectures, Parties, Buffets, City Fun and many more that we attended. This unique program consists of 1,200 participants divided into 251 teams from over 20 countries. The four of us were the representatives of Indonesia in the Czech Republic. Although we did not win the competition, we were still grateful to represent Indonesia. Moreover, I hope this experience could inspire more people from Indonesia to participate in the competition next year.

Big thanks to Fyziklani

We are very grateful to the Fyziklani programme for giving us the opportunity to come from Indonesia to Europe and participate in the 2023 Fyziklani Competition. The programme not only gave us knowledge and experience that we will never forget, but also gave us the opportunity to get to know many other participants from different countries and have the chance to make good friendships with them. It is very special and inspires many people to study hard.

As an accompanying teacher and Fyziklani Olympiad participant from Indonesia, I am very proud to be part of Fyziklani Olympiad 2023. We hope we can inspire more people with this story!