MALANG — Faculty of Agriculture Animal Science UMM lecturer, Mrs. Desiana Nuriza Putri, who is more familiarly called Mrs. Desi, is continuing her doctoral studies at Ghent University in Belgium. She is known to continue his doctoral studies focusing on sensory analysis science.
Carrying out Ramadan activities in a European country which is a Muslim minority country can be said to be quite difficult. Mrs. Desi felt the same way. Of course, this was a challenge for him during his studies at the University of Ghent, Belgium during the month of Ramadan.
The difficulty she felt during Ramadan in Europe was that the duration of time was longer than in Indonesia. The Muslim community in Belgium observes fasting for approximately 17 hours. “In Belgium, because Muslims are a minority religion, it is difficult to find mosques and Muslim communities. Here we have to be observant to see the halal food before buying it,” said Mrs. Desi
There are cultural differences in everyday life which are of course very different from those in Indonesia.
“Here I feel there are cultural differences, for example in Belgium there must be an appointment when taking care of anything, here too everything is completely electronic. Everything here is cashless, and paperless, and is required to have social security. Then, Ph.D. students must have cyber insurance, because in Belgium data is very important.” Mrs. Desiana
Mrs. Desi explained that in Belgium and European countries, Ph.D. students are generally not considered students, but employees. She also explained that his daily activities include working in an office, designing research before entering the laboratory, collecting data, and holding meetings with his colleagues there. She also shared interesting things he found while in Belgium. Ghent is a beautiful city. "Belgium is at the heart of Europe, this is what makes many companies conduct consumer tests in Belgium, so living in Belgium feels like living in all of Europe." Mrs. Desiana said
She added that his colleagues in Belgium always support him during fasting, "My colleagues here support me with my fasting, they explicitly say 'Good luck and we support you'" added Mrs. Desiana.
