THE SEA-TEACHERS PROJECT: At Central Luzon State University

In this article, I wrote some tips for those who are going to go to CLSU, whether for the same programs or different ones. These tips are based on my personal experiences. I made this article to help those who are trying to find the information about it (I can feel you, guys. There must be many questions in your mind in preparing yourself. Hope this article can help you💛)

Let's start from What to prepare?

1. Having a vaccine injection (optional)
Why do I recommend you to have a vaccine injection before going abroad? Having a bad body condition in a foreign country will be such an unpleasant experience. Even tough it is only a light illness just like influenza. The price for one (specific) vaccine injection is indeed not cheap, so I advice you to (at least) do a vaccine for influenza several days before your departure.

2. ATM (except for BRI card)
You don't have to worry if the cash money that you carry has a shortage. You can also use your ATM card there as long as the card has the following symbol on it.

source: google

However, there is a special condition for those who have BRI card (those who come from Indonesia). Even though BRI card has MasterCard symbol on it, but it can't be used in this city. From the information that I got, it seems that BRI has not making any cooperation yet with the local banks, that's why its ATM card is not functioned in this city. I recommend you to bring BNI card instead (cause my friend and I used this card, and it worked!)

3. Indonesian Food Supplies
No matter how much money that you bring, you will still need to control the expenses, right? So, in order to be able to save some money during the program, I recommend you to bring some food supplies from your country. Especially for Muslim ones, I highly recommend you to do it. As for us, during the program, we had some instant food supplies like instant noodles, Abon sapi, Abon ikan and Sambal tempe kacang 😁. For your information, Philippines' food are mostly sour (we asked some of our Filipino friends, and they confirmed that this is true.)

4. The electrical plug
The electrical plug (its sockets) that is commonly used in Indonesia might be a little bit different with the ones used in Philliphines (let's say, especially in this city, Munoz). To anticipate it, I suggest you to bring the universal travel electric plug. It'll give a big help for you, especially when you have a connecting flight that makes you have to stay at the airport (it will be troubles if your phone's battery is low, right?).

5. Your Personal Medicines.
For those who have carsick, you need to know that you will reach CLSU in 5 hours from the airport. So, make sure that you have prepared your 'carsick equipment' to help you survive. For your information, the food in the Philippines are mainly sour. For those who have gastritis, make sure that you have your personal medicines in your sling bag. 

6. The departure and return tickets
Make sure that you have already known about the date of your return tickets. If you are not obligated by the university to prepare a visa, then you need to make sure that your stay in the country is not more than one month since the day of your arrival. I recommend you to find the contact of those who have the same program and university just like you, so you can share your departure and return date to each other.

7. Eco Bags
One of the things I really amazed with Munoz is that it is hard to find plastic bag in their daily life. So, it'd be better to bring an Eco bag with you. It'll help you to bring your stuffs.

8. Traditional Cloths.
Everyone's really appreciate the diversity in cultures. You might be asked to present your cultures as well. So, you'd better prepare the traditional cloths as well as some cultural performances to be presented. You can present it as interesting as possible whether it is in groups, pairs, or individually. Just imagine that you're the professional one who's being the representative of your country to show the interesting side of diversity in cultures💃.

9. Airport Pick Up
Make sure that you have already known who will fetch you at the airport. In Philippines, the most commonly used social media is Facebook as well as Messenger. Just in case you need to have the contact person of your fetcher and have no idea about whom to be asked, you can try to find the related person's account on Facebook and contacted him/her. 

At the Airport

1. Check your luggage(s)' wheels. It will be a burdensome when the wheels do not work well for you'll have difficulties in carrying it.

2. Make sure that you have booked for additional baggage. You will have to order any additional baggage for it is an international flight (my friend and I ordered 20 kg additional baggage for each of us)

3. Do not bring more than 100 ml liquid products with you, because it will be scanned at the airport. You don't need to be worry because you can find most of similar product, as in Indonesia especially, at the shops around the university.

4. There will be a double checks in the immigration section. So, make sure that all of documents needed to verify your trip (such as invitation letters from recipient university, letter of assignment (Surat Tugas), passport, and the printed return tickets) have been prepared. I am strongly recommend you to put all of those documents in a document folder,and put it in a spot that is easy to be taken out.

5. Please be ready in the boarding room 45 minutes before the departure to make sure that every things have been well-settled.

6. Another essential thing you need to bring is a travel adapter. You are surely do not want to run your phone's battery on your trip, so I advise you to bring a travel adapter with you. Since the socket in some countries are different to each other, you can buy the travel adapter with optional sockets on it. it will help you when you are having connecting flight and have to stay at the airport for hours.


So, that's all the suggestions I have for you to be prepared before heading to CLSU. Hope this article is useful for you! Good luck! ^.^