UNIVERSITAS AHMAD DAHLAN
Muhammadiyah Higher Education in Yogyakarta
Living in Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta is a capital city of Yogyakarta Special Region (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) province in Indonesia. It used to be the capital of Indonesia during the independence war (1945-1949). Yogyakarta means a city of sufficient in prosperity. Yogyakarta has been well-known as education, tourism, and cultural city. It becomes one of the cities with a large number of students deriving from all regions in Indonesia with their different ethnics. Yogyakarta is also popular with its numerous world-class tourist destinations such as temples, castles, tourist village, and beautiful natures. The long history of Yogyakarta kingdom and its diverse, heterogeneous population and ethnic also bring Yogyakarta as a cultural center.
As tourism city, Yogyakarta offers tourism of culture, history, education, and nature. Visitors may learn about the history and culture of Mataram and Majapahit kingdom from Prambanan Temple (Hindu’s Temple), Kalasan Temple (Buddhist’s Temple), Boko Temple, Sultan Palace, and other historical-cultural objects. Traditional festivals and ceremonies are often held in these places. Besides, Yogyakarta has many tourism villages offering cultural arts and traditional heritages, such as Kasongan (center of handicraft), Manding (center of leather craft), Turi (center of Salak Pondoh), Kotagede (center of silver craft), and so forth. Tourism object in nature consists of the beautiful south-coast beaches, waterfalls, caves and Merapi Mountain. These rich numbers of tourism objects promote Yogyakarta as the second favorite tourist destinations in Indonesia after Bali.
Yogya, as local people name it, is also known as “24-hour city” in which life runs dynamically for 24 hours. Although department stores, supermarkets, and malls are closed at 9 pm, life does not end at that time. Small stores and street vendors are still open for 24 hours. The night starts since the street lamps lighted at 6 p.m. and street singers, and other creative artists start to liven the nightlife up. Malioboro and Titik Nol Kilometer (zero kilometer point) become the heart of Yogyakarta where people spend the whole night.
Additionally, Yogya offers other interesting environments such as nice weather, friendly people, and low living cost. Yogyakarta feels warm for it has a tropical climate and constant temperatures of around 22°C- 30°C. Yogyakarta people are very friendly, tolerant and open-minded. The number of crimes and social conflicts is very few. Another reason for tourists getting attracted to Yogyakarta is due to its enjoyable and reasonably cheap living cost. It is only about $100 to $200 per month (normal expense) that may cover accommodation, food, transportation, and other necessary expenses, such as entertainment, books and other materials (for students). All these attributes make Yogyakarta as the miniature of Indonesia with its harmony-in-life and full of togetherness and friendship. Yogyakarta, as we can see, grows and develops rapidly in modernity, without ever leaving traditional values.
