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Schedule a meeting now! Get advice from our admission expert Katharina. Request a spot in our meeting hub and we will call you back!
Refer a friend - Save 100€! Refer a friend, enroll together for this summer school, and save both 100 Euro! Refer a friend!
Study in Bali ! See our latest Sport Short Courses Programs
Schedule a meeting now! Get advice from our admission expert Katharina. Request a spot in our meeting hub and we will call you back!
Refer a friend - Save 100€! Refer a friend, enroll together for this summer school, and save both 100 Euro! Refer a friend!
Study in Bali ! See our latest Sport Short Courses Programs
Interview with Amy
Intercultural Communication Study Abroad | Bali Summer Course for Cardiff Students
Amy joined the Intercultural Communication Short Course in Bali as an undergraduate psychology student from Cardiff University. Her academic focus on human behaviour, perception, and social interaction shaped how she approached the program. Rather than treating culture as an abstract subject, she engaged with it as a living system, encountered through people, shared spaces, and daily practice. This orientation became central to how her learning took shape at Udayana University through the Upskill Study program.
From the outset, Bali presented Amy with a social environment where interaction carries weight. Everyday exchanges revealed a culture shaped by openness, attentiveness, and an ease of connection that set the tone for the weeks that followed. This atmosphere created immediate access to learning. Conversations extended naturally. Introductions became opportunities for exchange. Cultural knowledge circulated through participation rather than instruction alone.
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Intercultural Communication Field lecture day, a visit to Pekak Tekor with ibu Inez from Sociology department FISIP Udayana university.
Learning Culture in Context
Amy’s experience illustrates how intercultural communication becomes intelligible when learning occurs within the context it seeks to understand. Classroom sessions provided conceptual frameworks drawn from communication studies and social theory. These ideas gained substance through field visits, conversations with local communities, and observation of daily life. Cultural practices, traditions, and social norms appeared as interconnected expressions of shared values.
Field trips formed a core component of this process. Moving through different regions of Bali exposed Amy to variations in pace, development, and social organisation. These shifts sharpened her awareness of how environment, history, and community shape communication patterns. Learning took shape through proximity, repetition, and sustained exposure rather than singular moments of observation.
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Intercultural Communication classroom impression, during Lontar Dicsussion session
Structure as an Enabler of Insight
The program’s structure played a decisive role in transforming experience into understanding. Lectures established shared reference points and analytical vocabulary. Field activities provided lived material. Weekly reflection sessions created space for synthesis. Together, these elements formed a continuous learning cycle.
Group reflections became sites of analytical exchange. Students articulated observations, compared interpretations, and refined their thinking through dialogue. Listening to others’ perspectives expanded Amy’s understanding and reinforced the relational nature of intercultural learning. Knowledge developed collaboratively, shaped by interaction rather than individual interpretation alone.
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Intercultural Communication field visit at Tirta Gangga, discussing the history, design, and social meaning of the water palace with a Puri member.
Shared Practices and Social Meaning
Certain experiences carried particular significance because they revealed how values are enacted collectively. Participating in Megibung, a communal dining tradition, offered insight into how equality, togetherness, and social responsibility are embedded in everyday practice. Sitting together, sharing food, and engaging in conversation translated abstract ideas about community into embodied understanding.
Visits such as the Samsara Living Museum provided a different lens. Learning from individuals committed to cultural preservation highlighted the role of care, continuity, and personal responsibility in sustaining cultural knowledge. Passion, in this context, functioned as a pedagogical force, shaping how information was communicated and how meaning was transmitted.
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Intercultural Communication field visit at Tirta Gangga, discussing the history, design, and meaning of the water palace with a Puri member.
Communication as Perspective Awareness
Amy’s time in Bali reshaped how she understands communication itself. Exposure to spiritual beliefs integrated into daily decision making revealed how values operate beneath spoken language. Conversations gained additional layers of meaning when viewed through this lens. Communication emerged as a practice shaped by worldview, social responsibility, and relational awareness.
This shift extended beyond intercultural encounters. Amy developed a heightened attentiveness to perspective in all forms of interaction. Communication, for her, now involves recognising the frameworks through which others interpret the world and responding with care and consideration.
Outside formal academic settings, Amy engaged with Bali through travel, physical activity, and cultural participation. Experiences such as visiting Ubud, attending traditional dance performances, and climbing Mount Batur at sunrise contributed to a growing sense of confidence and adaptability. These moments reinforced learning through movement, exposure, and decision making.
Cultural understanding deepened through presence. Landscapes, performances, rituals, and shared experiences expanded her sense of how culture operates across intellectual, physical, and social dimensions.
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A moment with the FISIP's lecturers, during lunch time after field lecture. Photo was taken during lunch at a sate warung in Denpasar.
Throughout the program, Amy experienced a layered support system involving lecturers, local university students, and the Upskill coordination team. This structure created a stable learning environment that encouraged inquiry and engagement. Practical clarity allowed academic focus. Accessibility encouraged participation.
Support functioned as an enabling condition. It allowed learning to remain exploratory and attentive rather than constrained by uncertainty or logistical concern.
Intercultural Communication as Practice
Amy’s experience clarifies intercultural communication as an active practice grounded in openness, understanding, and respect. It involves entering unfamiliar contexts with attentiveness and a willingness to learn through interaction. Perspective becomes a shared space shaped through dialogue and presence.
Bali, as Amy experienced it, revealed itself through everyday interaction. She described the island as welcoming, diverse, and exciting, qualities expressed through people, practices, and shared moments rather than surface impressions.
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Amy receiving her certificate during the closing ceremony of the Intercultural Communication program at Udayana University.
An Invitation to Future Students
For Amy, studying Intercultural Communication in Bali became a once in a lifetime academic and personal experience shaped by people, place, and sustained engagement. For students who recognise themselves in her approach to learning, whether from Cardiff University, the United Kingdom, or elsewhere in the world, the Intercultural Communication program offers an opportunity to study culture through experience, reflection, and dialogue.
The 2026 Intercultural Communication program delivered by Upskill Study in collaboration with Udayana University is now open for applications. Students interested in studying abroad in Bali and engaging deeply with intercultural communication are invited to contact the program team to begin the conversation.
By LK
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