Editor's Note: Anissaa Bahdie is an Indonesian girl who has been pursuing her studies in East China's Jiangsu province since 2017. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and other difficulties, she has been doing great in gaining expertise and learning Chinese. The following is her story of the past five years in Jiangsu.

Anissaa Bahdie holds an acceptance letter from Yangzhou University in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute]

My name is Anissaa Bahdie. I come from an ordinary town in Indonesia, the "Thousand Islands Country". Since childhood, my mother has had high requirements for me and my sister. She always taught us: "Persist in doing difficult but correct things, and persist in doing things that need time to accumulate." I always take my mother's advice as my motivation to move forward.

In the golden autumn of 2017, I said goodbye to my family and came to China with infinite yearning. A suitcase, a backpack, a childish girl on an ordinary day; that was the beginning of my career studying abroad. I don't know why or when but maybe I fell in love with China unconsciously under the influence of the Chinese friends around me.

When I came to China and studied at Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute (YPI), my Chinese teacher told me that "it takes a lifetime to explore the mysteries of Chinese". I still remember a class in which she said, "Chinese idioms express the richest meaning and connotation in the fewest words, which is the essence of wisdom."

In the past three years, I have improved my Chinese level. I have not only passed CET-4, but also selected the major of machinery manufacturing and automation. Under the guidance of teachers, combined with practical training experience, I have initially built my knowledge framework in the field of machinery.

At the beginning of 2020, at the end of the first semester of my junior year in the winter vacation, I chose to return to Indonesia. Actively recruited, and through rounds of selection, I entered a Chinese enterprise closely cooperating with YPI Indonesian Conch Cement Co for about four months of internship. During my internship in Conch Cement, I was deeply attracted by the "craftsmanship spirit" of the enterprise's leaders and engineers, and their meticulous attitude towards the production process was deeply engraved in my mind.

Anissaa Bahdie poses for a photo with her colleagues while doing an internship at Conch Cement. [Photo/Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute]

Under their guidance, I systematically deepened my mechanical professional knowledge, enriched my understanding of more professional fields, and solved my own problems in practice. I read a lot of professional books to broaden the breadth of my knowledge and improve my depth of thinking in the professional field. At the same time, I received praise and encouragement from leaders and colleagues.

This was also the beginning of my short separation from China. At that time, the COVID-19 epidemic was spreading in Wuhan city. With the end of the internship, we also entered a critical stage of paper writing. The campus was closed, teachers and students were united. The chalk in front of us was replaced by a mouse, and the blackboard was changed into a screen. My teachers and I met across the air and on the Internet. The Internet was very affectionate. E-mail and Wechat became a bridge between us. With the help and guidance of the teachers of YPI, and with my own efforts, I successfully completed my thesis defense and my study mission at YPI.

Although my studies at YPI had ended, for me, the endless charm of Chinese history and humanity still awaited my exploration and discovery, and there was more professional knowledge waiting for me as well. Therefore, in July 2020, I summoned up my courage, and at the same time, with nostalgia for the land of Jiangsu, I applied for the undergraduate study of mechanical and electronic engineering of the Huaiyin Institute of Technology (HYIT). I was lucky enough to be eligible for the 20th grade scholarship of the Huaiyin Institute of Technology, which made my undergraduate study possible.

Through the undergraduate study, I realized that the major I studied is aimed at training a senior engineering and technical talent who has the ability to apply the basic knowledge of mechanical and electronic engineering, the coordinated development of knowledge, skills and literacy, and the solid foundation of mechanical engineering to fulfill the needs of local industries, and who can engage in engineering design, mechanical manufacturing, scientific and technological development, application research, production organization and management in the mechanical field in an environment of industrial production.

At the undergraduate stage, I did not forget the instructions of my teachers. I overcame all the difficulties stemming from the fact that I could not come to China because of the epidemic, and completed all my courses online. I seriously studied the mechanical and electronic engineering professions, expanded my knowledge, developed my practical ability in the mechanical and electronic engineering specialty, and successfully completed the established course learning tasks. Through self-study, with the help of teachers and Chinese friends, I successfully passed the Chinese Proficiency Test Band 5 at the beginning of 2022.

There is an old saying in China that the road ahead will be long and our climb will be steep. Although I have completed my undergraduate study, Yangzhou has become my second hometown. I will miss every minute and every second here. "Persist in doing difficult and correct things". I always remember my mother's words, but also cherish my nostalgia for China, my yearning for teachers and friends in Yangzhou, and my desire to further learn China's advanced manufacturing technology. I finally made the decision to continue my studies. I was honored to pass the examination at all levels and be admitted by the School of Mechanical Engineering of Yangzhou University (YZU) as a 2022 graduate student majoring in mechanical manufacturing and automation, and will officially register for admission this autumn.

To this end, I made careful preparations for graduate studies, familiarized myself with the college's curriculum in advance, formulated personal academic plans and regularly communicated with tutors. I took the initiative to pay attention to the cutting-edge trends of the discipline and actively participated in various academic research practice activities. I will also continue to remember my original intention, try to perceive the essence of Chinese traditional culture, experience the transformation of modern China, become an international talent with a global vision, and live that global vision. I will also continue to work hard to improve my cross-cultural communication ability, become an envoy of cultural exchanges between China and Indonesia, and take the initiative to speak out as a narrator of Chinese stories, and a communicator of Chinese culture "going global".

Time is as colorful as fireworks. In the autumn of 2022, I will start my third study journey in China. At Yangzhou University, I will face different challenges, cross the cultural bridge, pursue the mystery of the spirit of "great craftsman", and further explore another dimension of "Chinese intelligent manufacturing".

My stories with China and Yangzhou are still being written.