FAQ

This is kinda a secret page, which contains several FAQs about me.

How could you start your PhD when you were only 21?

This is the most frequently asked question.
The short answer is “I skipped 3 years.”
But I also have the long one. So if I referred you here, maybe I was not in the best condition to explain it properly to you, sorry about that. Ok, no more stalling, let me start.
First, “How Education Works in Indonesia”:

• Kids start elementary school at the age of 6 (back then in 2005, with the minimum of 5.5 y.o.) or 7 (new law by The Ministry of Education in 2021, with the minimum of 6.5 y.o.).
• Elementary school (primary education) takes 6 years. (6-12 y.o.)
• Junior high school takes 3 years. (12-15 y.o.)
• High school takes 3 years. (15-18 y.o.)
• Bachelor’s degree takes 3-4 years depending on the major, for engineering mostly takes 4 years. (18-22 y.o)
• Master’s degree takes 2 years. (22-24 y.o.)

Now you are annoyed, “Nanin, you don’t answer the question!”. Well, I need to explain that to make sure everyone first gets how’s the common education system in Indonesia, as I now realize that this is not the same in all countries.
Now, the real thing, “How was Mine:

• I started elementary school at the age of 5.5 y.o, which I will round-down to 5 for simplicity. (-1)
• Elementary school (primary education) takes 6 years. (5-11 y.o.)
• Junior high school takes 3 years. (11-14 y.o.)

• High school takes only 2 years, because I took an acceleration program (this is legal). (14-16 y.o.) (-1)

• Bachelor’s degree in Informatics Engineering at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia takes 4 years. (16-20 y.o)
• Master’s degree takes 1 year. This is not completely true, because technically, I started my Master’s on my last year of Bachelor (1 year overlapping), which is allowed by the FastTrack program. (19-21 y.o.) (-1)

Which then I get the total of -3 years from the common education path, 24 - 3 = 21 y.o., and I directly started my PhD after I finished my Master’s.

Where does “Nanin” come from?

It comes from on top of my dad’s creative mind, which I concluded has no meaning. Why? Because every single time I asked the meaning of it, his answer changes. However, out of curiosity (and denial of having a “meaningless” name) I googled it and I found this:

Ñāṇin, (adj.) knowing, one who is possessed of (right) knowledge S. II, 169; A. II, 89 (sammā°); IV, 340

Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary
So… by sheer luck, it has a good meaning :)

How did you end up in Italy? or Why do you choose Italy?

On my last year of Master’s, I told my supervisor (Yudistira D. W. Asnar): “I think I want to do a PhD, do you have any recommendations? Any university… professor?”. He answered, “Have you ever looked up for Fabio Massacci? If you haven’t, you should.” This particular name he mentioned turns out to be his supervisor when he did his postdoc years ago. Then I googled it, found out that Fabio is working in the University of Trento, Italy and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I looked for the application procedures for both, and turned out there was a PhD call at the University of Trento at that time. I applied there on exactly the deadline day (Aug 31st), but I also emailed Fabio directly for the position in VU (according to the procedure in their website). Exactly one month after that (Oct 1st), I got the acceptance notification, thanks (also) to my former supervisor’s recommendation letter.