"What's the matter with internships far away? Is it true that there aren't any in Pontianak?"

"Loohhh your area of interest is Microbiology, how come your internship is in Conservation?"

"Are you sure you want to do an internship there? That doesn't match your TA's area of interest, Ken."

That's roughly the statement I often heard at the end of semester 6 of lectures. At first I was hesitant, but because I adhered to the phrase "Live like Larry" I finally got to set foot on the land of North Kayong, hehe.

Hi, my name is Niken. I am a 7th semester student from the Biology study program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Tanjungpura University. Applying for an internship at the ASRI Foundation is a matter of pride and a lifelong experience that I will never forget. In my opinion, ASRI is the best stopover place to gain knowledge and gain experience that I have never had before. But it doesn't rule out the possibility that one day ASRI will become my home hehehe. So, let me tell you about my journey at ASRI Foundation.

This all started with me visiting my Instagram account and seeing several posts from the ASRI Foundation which looked eye catching. Every day I feel like I want to know more about the ASRI foundation and its programs. Through my seniors, I explored and gathered as much information as possible about ASRI and began to develop strategies and made up my mind to land there. Like walking on asphalt, sometimes it doesn't always go smoothly. That's how I felt while waiting for an email reply from ASRI. Almost every day I'm grumpy because I haven't received a reply to my email. Until finally a notification appeared stating that "The ASRI Foundation has no objections to accepting the above students to carry out practical work", this suddenly made me very excited because I couldn't wait to get there quickly.

A few days after receiving the email, I left by ferry and floated overnight on the open sea, then I continued my journey overland with road conditions that were enough to make my body ache. But all that tiredness paid off when I landed at ASRI and was greeted very warmly by the ASRI staff that I met. As the days continued, little by little I began to find out what programs were available at the ASRI Foundation. Starting from taking part in the Goat For Widows outreach program, visiting Garden to Forest, which is one of the programs that I think is very helpful in reforestation. Then I also took part in health and environmental education, as well as visiting Chainsaw Buyback partners, which really helped the ex-logger's economy.

Entering the second week, my friends and I went to the Permanent Seed Nursery Camp in Laman Satong and stayed there for almost 3 weeks. The first time I set foot there, I was silent and didn't move. I was very shocked by the fact that there was no signal there, anxious feelings kept appearing in my mind, "Ahh, how can I live in a place where there is no signal? I can survive, right?" that's what I kept saying in my heart. But after spending the days there, I didn't feel too bad, because I had a foster father and brother who were always kind to me and my friends (Peace Pak Jul and Alam hehehe).

Living there taught me to be an independent person and not depend too much on other people. There I learned to recognize tree seeds and took part in transporting the seeds to be planted in reforestation land later. Apart from that, I also had the opportunity to take part in a field trip with Forest Friends and visit Riam Bekringan. Not only that, I also had the opportunity to be an MC in organic farming training and participate in the practice of making organic fertilizer with the farmers there.

In the second and third weeks at Laman Satong I started to focus on collecting Vegetation Analysis data in the Reforestation Forest as well as taking part in installing and removing camera traps. After almost 3 weeks there, I returned to ASRI in Sukadana and started to focus on compiling the report. Again, I gained valuable knowledge while at ASRI. I had the opportunity to take part in GIS training and try to operate ArcGIS and try to make simple maps. I feel like I'm a lucky student because I can join ASRI even if it's only for a month. Thank you ASRI for teaching many new things, bringing together interesting moments with good people. Thank you for accepting me warmly and graciously. Hopefully, during this month, I will give a good impression to all the people I meet at ASRI. Hopefully the ASRI Foundation can continue to save the forests in West Kalimantan now and forever.

The article was written by Niken Farah Ayuhannas who is an intern student from the Biology study program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Tanjungpura University