Indonesian Diaspora Experience in Poland – Interview with Joanna

Scholarship context
- Joanna won a 2-year master-degree scholarship (Besiswa NTB & LPDP mentioned indirectly).
- Poland was not her first time abroad, but the first long-term stay (planned $2$ years, now $4$ + years).
Embassy welcome
- On landing, the Indonesian Embassy in Warsaw sent a bus to collect the new cohort (≈ $30$ students).
- Felt “weird but heart-warming” because in Indonesia “no official welcomes you at the airport,” while abroad the state suddenly takes proactive care.
Size of the Indonesian population in Poland
- ~ $1{,}000$ Indonesians in Poland in 2019 (students + workers, legal status only).
- Students made up a visible % but still a niche, so newcomers stand out immediately.

City of arrival: Toruń (small medieval university town).
Scholarship design clustered students from one province (Lombok/Sumbawa), creating an automatic tight-knit micro-community.
- Presence of a regional coordinator (Bu Ima, PhD candidate) – acted as parent-figure/liaison.
Mutual-aid structure
- Shared housing, shared bureaucracy tutorials (insurance, residence permits, SIM cards, etc.).
- Indonesian style of collective brainstorming (gotong-royong) recreated abroad.

Similarities with Poland
- Family-first values; parents sacrifice for children.
- Slow, paper-heavy bureaucracy (“government equally slow, like Indonesia”).
Differences / Shocks
- Need for hyper-specialisation: separate queues & offices for every little procedure; “you must approach many offices, each for only one task.”
- Low ethnic diversity → casual staring at people of colour; not malicious but noticeable.
- Language barrier: Poland ≈ monolingual; English works in universities only; daily life easier once you speak Polish.

As a student
- Everyone battles the same visa renewals, dorm contracts, Erasmus forms → solidarity.
As a worker (now at Centra)
- Bureaucracy changes to contract-based, individualised; less collective momentum.
- Time now filled by work not shared lectures, so social circle shrinks.

Longest stretch away from home: > 2 years (≈ $1{,}000$ days).
Biggest trigger of homesickness = cuisine.
- Embassy counts only 3 true Indonesian restaurants in all Poland:
1. Javanese restaurant in Warsaw (heavily embassy-backed).
2. Surabaya-style place in Poznań (closed one branch because of low traffic).
3. Bali–Lombok “warung” in Gdańsk (“tastes good but wallet-shocking”).
- Embassy opened an Indonesian coffee corner—still niche.
Practical response: had to cook everything herself; spices sourced online or via friends’ suitcases.

Formal channels
- Embassy events: Indonesian Expo, ASEAN Expo, Christmas & Eid celebrations (“Natal–Misionera”).
- 9 regional student associations inside PPI (Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia) Warsaw; each may run its own dance, food or sport showcase.
Informal channels
- “Approach people through their stomach”: invite classmates for rendang, tempe, sambal; easiest ice-breaker.
- Speaking Bahasa Indonesia in public feels like a “secret super-power”; reminds her of identity, sparks curiosity among Poles.
Alumni activism
- Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) alumni group lobbying campus to admit more Indonesians; Joanna acts as bridge.

Name correction: Company is Centra (not “Central”).
Indonesian work culture contributions
- “Rajin” (diligent) & hyper customer-oriented mindset; European colleagues notice the extra mile.
- Provides Asia-Pacific cultural lens in strategy meetings – prevents Eurocentric blind spots.
Cross-cultural anecdotes
- A Dutch client recognised her accent: “Are you Indonesian? My ex-girlfriend was.” — led to easier rapport.
- Colleagues initially knew only “Bali = Indonesia”; she uses office slack to post snack photos, cost-of-living trivia, politics primers.

Year 1–2: “Indonesian through and through.”
Year 4: Feels “floating”—not fully Indonesian (disconnected from news), not Polish (can’t debate in Polish).
Language cited as core marker of belonging; until she masters Polish she won’t claim to be Polish.
Philosophical note: mirrors the “third-culture kid” dilemma—diaspora identity is dynamic, not binary.

In International Relations classes, Indonesia offers case-studies on:
- Democratic transition, decentralisation, ASEAN diplomacy, maritime disputes.
- EU peers find these “bizarre but fascinating,” giving Joanna instant research niches.
Opportunity for PhD: position herself as insider-outsider voice on Indonesian politics within European academia.

Europe (incl. Poland) loves under-researched regions—Timor-Leste scholars can fill a void, publish faster.
Poland’s universities:
- Competitive quality, lower cost, many Erasmus+ exchange slots.
- If you enter on a scholarship, intra-EU exchange tuition is often $0$ (already covered at home campus).
Coming from less “brand-name” SEA universities isn’t a handicap abroad.
- President University’s rigorous paper-writing & interview drills gave her a head-start; EU master’s felt easier.
Job-market realism: Indonesian employers may ignore non-“Big 3” grads, but EU credentials can override that.
Emotional prep: expect loneliness cycles; build networks early; treat cooking as survival, not hobby.

States must nurture diaspora: simple gestures (airport pickup) hugely affect identity & soft power.
Culinary diplomacy works: food events equal cultural marketing + mental-health therapy for migrants.
Corporate diversity isn’t checkbox; real value is in conflicting mental models that refine customer strategy.

Indonesian population in Poland (2019): $\approx 1{,}000$ .
Initial scholarship cohort: $\approx 30$ students.
Planned stay: $2$ years → Actual stay: $4$ + years ( >1{,}000 days without going home ).
Indonesian restaurants recognised by embassy: $3$ nationwide.

Diaspora: community living outside homeland yet linked by heritage; role evolves from guest to cultural ambassador.
Gotong-royong: Indonesian ethic of communal mutual help; recreated abroad through shared bureaucracy hacking.
Third-Culture Identity: sense of partial belonging to two (or more) cultures, leading to a hybrid self-definition.
Culinary diplomacy: use of national dishes to build intercultural bridges and influence perceptions.