Sofia has always loved learning about other cultures and knew very little about Indonesia and Bahasa Indonesia before participating in the NSLI-Y program. The daughter of Indian and Italian immigrants, Sofia has long valued multicultural environments and cultural immersion. She was curious to learn Indonesian to better understand Indonesian culture and to communicate with locals. With the prevalence of local dialects in Indonesia, Bahasa serves as a uniting thread that individuals across the islands can communicate through. After her NSLI-Y experience, Sofia remarks how surprised she is about how little people know about Indonesia and the Indonesian language in the US. She encourages others interested in studying the language to pursue it, as the grammar structure of the language is very simple. ​

One of Sofia’s favorite memories from her NSLI-Y experience is going to a night market with her host family. She enjoyed trying different street foods, looking at the array of items being sold, and enjoying the happy atmosphere. She notes that it was a meaningful opportunity to use her newfound language skills and “experience the culture in a more organic nature.”​

Since completing the program, Sofia has stayed in contact with her host family and maintains her language skills through talking with them. Sofia hopes to study international relations and Southeast Asia while in college and hopes to return to Indonesia to continue her language and cultural journey in the future. Additionally, she has used the lessons she learned from NSLI-Y in youth advocacy and enriching global perspectives through becoming the chair of her city’s youth commission, where she makes recommendations to the city council and school board on resource allocation and has implemented a measure allowing high school students to vote for the school board.