Sabtu, 17 Agustus 2013

The Pre Academic Story (Part 2 – The Friends!)

I’m pretty sure that I told you that in my Pre Academic Program, there were 28 students from 21 countries.

And yes, as you might have guessed, one of the best thing about this program is the friendship that come between us. And to add some drama on it, ada cinlok juga. Nyahahahahaha…

I won’t lie by telling that I made friends with ALL of them. Because the truth is, we cannot just win everyone's heart, some people are just annoying for us, and we can’t always be nice to every single person that we meet. But one thing for sure, there is always, something to learn from everyone.

Anyway, as people are coming from all over the world, saya jadi bisa melalukan pengamatan dan observasi singkat mengenai karakteristik orang dari berbagai negara (eeciee…bahasa saya…). I don’t mean to make stereotypes. But however, tetep saja ada semacam karakteristik yang umum ditemui pada beberapa orang dari negara tertentu.

Most of the people in the program are Spanish speakers. Colombia, Costarica, Paraguay, Panama, Dominican Republic, Argentina,Chile and maybe some other countries. And believe me, para Latinos ini are those people who laugh and smile A LOT. They really do have that loud laugh and really really like to hug people. Bahkan salah satu temen saya dari Panama ngomong kok, “We are in fact, the happiest people in the world. We smile a lot, you know?”. Salah satu temen lain juga ngomong, “We laugh on everything. If we cannot find something that we can laugh about, we’ll create something to laugh about.”

This is me and Iris, who comes from Colombia. I just love her hug :)

Saya sama Iris udah kek emak dan anaknyaaa… . Oh, and there is also Juan, a very nice guy from Chile who has this warm, loud and infectious laugh. He’s just like a teddy bear, really.
yeah, the guy with that red shirt is our Teddy Bear, Juan :)
Sedikit berbeda, are people from the European countries. Bukannya mereka gak ramah sih, they are nice. But they seem to keep a distance. Bahkan salah satu temen dari Rusia ngomong kok, bahwa salah satu cultural differences that she found here is, “Here, people are always smiling. Back in my country, you don’t just smile to all the people that you meet on the street. You smile, but you smile to people that you know.”.
Ada dua orang dari Afganistan di kelas saya, and they talk a lot. Tapi waktu saya baca di buku teks untuk Intercultural communication, they do talk a lot, but its’ okay to interrupt them anytime. Which is different dengan budaya Indonesia, where it is considered to be impolite just to cut off when someone’s speaking.

I’ve told you about the roomates that I had, right? Here’s more picture of us, the girls in Room 205 :).
Diana, me, Yumi
With Diana, looking good for the graduation night ;)
Me and Yumi, when we did the charity for Habitat for Humanity
Las chicas of  205 :D!
Selain roommate, ada beberapa temen lain juga. Ada Mbak Dian, dosen UPH yang sama-sama dari Indonesia. Mbak Dian ini dulu S2 nya di Melbourne jugaaaa :D. Terus ada Megumi. Nah, Megumi ini…dari Paraguay. Iya, Paraguay, bukan Jepang. Bingung kan? Waktu pertama kali ketemu dan dia menyebutkan namanya, saya langsung yang dengan sok pedenya langung nanya, “From Japan?”
Dan langsung bengong waktu dia menggeleng, “No. Paraguay.”
Actually, her grandparents were from Japan and moved to Paraguay. Tapi dia sendiri bilang kok kalo dia juga sudah biasaaaa banget dikirain dari Jepang. But somehow, bagi saya her accent when she’s talking in English is still Japanese accent. Tapi pernah lho, dia tau-tau ngomong Spanyol, and I was like, “Huh? You really can speak Spanish!”
Mbak Dian, me, and Megumi
Dan tentu saja, temen seperjuangan nih:  Edgardo.

Dari Panama. Kenapa saya bilang seperjuangan? Karena sama-sama Ph.D di Purdue. Nyahahaha… Awalnya sih, sumpah ya saya selama 3-4 hari pertama gak nyadar that he even exists. Secara orangnya pendiaaaam banget. Tapi we had to do an assignment together. Terus waktu kegiatan charity, I did most of the work with him, memasang rumput gitu. Dan semenjak itu, jadilah saya bareng dia teruuuus kemana-mana.  We sit next to each other in the class, on the bus when we were having trips. Lagian ternyata, orangnya baik banget. Sampe selesai Pre Acad di UC Davis pun, I spent my first weeks in Purdue with him. Tahun depan his wife and his baby boy (yang umurnya baru 2 bulan waktu dia berangkat ke USA) will join him :D. Her wife seems nice, he introduced me once on Skype. And his baby is just suuuuper cute!

This is Susana, another friend from Panama. We had 4 Panamanians in the program, by the way. And just like all other Spanish speakers, she laugh a lot. She’s just such a fun person to be with =D.
Of course, there are more others :). Victoria from Colombia, Cecilia from Bolivia, Chau from Vietnam, Agustin from Argentina, Shahin from Azerbaijan, Mirgul from Kyrgystan, Avni from Kosovo, and otheeerrrsss… :D
this is one of my favorite pictures, Mbak Dian, Susana, Iris, Mirgul and me, in front of the Capitol Hill Building, Sacramento
ini sama Tata (yang jilbab ungu pake kacamata). Tata ini Fulbrightee Indonesia, dan Pre Academic di Monterey Institute for International Studies. Kita ketemuan waktu trip ke San Fransisco. Yang dua lagi itu temen Pre Acad-nya Tata, dari Vietnam :)
Me, Nasria, Susana, Iris, Mirgul
with Shahin, from Azerbaijan (ini gak tau kenapa tiba-tiba kita ngantri untuk difoto berdua dia. Saya juga heran lho kenapa begitu, kayak dia itu artis atau apa gitu)
Edgardo, Nasria, Susana, me, Megumi, and Stanley
 And surely, God makes me meet them so that I can learn a thing or two (or even more) from them :).

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

No matter what have happened in the country, no matter what people say about the country, no matter where I am, Indonesia is still my country, my homeland, my soul. It will always be.

May the Independence Day be a reminder for us, that we can still do something for this homeland.

No matter how far I am from the land that I truly call as home, I still have Indonesia in my mind, in my heart, and in my soul.

Happy Independence Day, my beloved Indonesia.

Red blood in my vein, white of your soul in my heart.

Dirgahayu Indonesia!!!

Kamis, 08 Agustus 2013

Selamat Idul Fitri 1434 H

Ucapan dan perbuatan tak akan pernah sempurna
Jika pernah ada kata yang membuat terluka
Jika ada laku yang tak berkenan
Dengan rendah hati saya memohon maaf atas segalanya


Selamat Idul Fitri 1434 H
Semoga amal ibadah kita membawa berkah
Dan di hari yang fitri ini, kita kembali suci

Salam,
Utami


Senin, 05 Agustus 2013

The Pre Academic Story (part 1)

Hellooooo, people!
God, it’s been too so long since the last time I wrote something here!

Salahkanlah urusan administratif itu, bahkan di beberapa hari terakhir menjelang keberangkatan, saya masih harus bolak-balik ke Jakarta untuk mengurus selembar surat sakti berjudul SP Setneg demi keberangkatan saya sekolah lagi. Setdah, mau sekolah aja ribet amat ya -_-. Oh, and considering the drama that happened to me sepanjang pengurusan SP Setneg ini, I am considering to write something about it.

Anyway.
Here I am in the USA! (backsong: Party in the USA- Miley Cyrus)

Jadi, akhirnya, setelah jalan panjang berliku selama satu tahun lebih, sampai juga saya di negrinya para bule ini. So, I am going to continue my study at Purdue University, Indiana. Kampus yang lokasi kotanya di tengah ladang jagung (beneran lho ini, serius).

Tapi sebelum mulai studi, saya ikut program Pre Academic Orientation dulu, di UC Davis. UC itu singkatan dari University of California. Californiaaaa… Californiaaaa…. (backsong: California – Phantom Planet).

Pre Academic ini semacam program orientasi sebelum mulai program akademik benerannya. Biasanya setiap Fulbright grantee akan mendapat kesempatan untuk ikut program ini, which is very useful. Lamanya antara 8 minggu sampe 3 minggu. Terus ada juga Gateway Orientation. Dari hasil pengamatan sih, sepertinya tergantung nilai iBT dan GRE. Semakin bagus nilainya, semakin pendek jangka waktu Pre-Acad yang harus diikuti. Yang dapet Gateway juga biasanya yang bahasa Inggrisnya udah jago lancar jaya lah yaa....

Nah, Pre Acad saya mulai dari tanggal 10 Juli. Jadi seharusnya berangkat tanggal 9 Juli. But things happened, dan saya berangkat tanggal 8 Juli malam. Iya. Pas mulai puasa, saya mendarat di USA.
It was quite a hectic day, my day of departure. Masih untung saya bisa berangkat on time. Yang nganterin cuma Mama dan Abah. Huhuhuhu…sedih banget. Secara waktu saya berangkat itu, seharusnya pas malam dimana mulai tarawih, dan besok subuhnya mulai saur. Hiks. Anyway, I gotta do the things that I got to do.
Rute saya: Cengkareng – Narita (transit 9 jam) – San Fransico – Sacramento. Nah, dari Sacramento baru naik shuttle van ke Davis. Sampai San Fransisco sebagai port of entry-nya saya, masih lancar. Imigrasi terlewati dengan sukses, gak harus lapor ke custom, dan saya dengan cerah ceria melangkah sambil bawa koper saya untuk lapor ke flight saya yang ke Sacramento.

And guess what?

Flight saya ke Sacramento di-cancel. Dan flight lainnya penuh sampe 2 hari ke depan. My first hour in USA and I already had to deal with flight cancellation! OMG. Sesuai saran dari si ibu di kantor maskapai, saya naik ke level 3 untuk rent a car. Pas mau antri, saya baru sadar. Saya kan gak bisa nyetir. Ngapain saya nyewa mobil ya?
I felt so stupid.
Turun ke bawah lagi, nyari information desk, and told them about my case. Kali ini mereka menyarankan shuttle service, dan Alhamdulillah, saya dapet shuttle van ke Davis. It was not far, only about 2 hours drive. 

And finally…. Here I am!

Davis is a town at the California state. Gak gede sih, basically kota ini tumbuh karena ada UC. And there are bikes EVERYWHERE. 

For this program, pesertanya ada 29 orang. Dari 21 negara. 
At the memorial Union, after a guest lecture
on our way to the ice cream social event
Can you imagine? Tapi dari 21 negara itu, mostly are Spanish speakers. Emang bener ya, orang-orang South American itu…they smile a lot, laugh a lot, and hug a lot. Nyahahahahaha… They are the people with warm hearts.
Me and Iris, a friend from Colombia. She calls me her chique, whcih means the little one
The Purdue-rs! Agustin, me and Edgardo
Sebelum berangkat, saya sempet deg-degan. Secara untk Fulbrighter Indonesia di tahun ini, cuma saya sendiri aja yang ke Purdue. Luckily, disini ada 3 orang lagi yang sama-sama ke Purdue. Ada Agustin dari Argentina, Roman dari Ukrainia, dan Edgardo dari Panama. Semua ngambil Computer Science. Tapi Edgardo aja yang Ph.D. Nah, kalo si Roman, saya selama 3 hari masih mengira dia dari UK, karena dengan bodohnya saya cuma denger “U-krei” aja waktu dia menyebutkan negara asalnya. Agustin is such a kind person, and just like other Spanish speakers, he smiles and laughs a lot. 
And of course, ada Edgardo.
Me and Edgardo in Angela's class
Mungkin secara Edgardo ini juga ke Purdue, sama-sama mau Ph.D, jadilah saya deketnya sama dia. Kalo di kelas sukanya duduk sebelahan. Dan karena saya gak bawa kamera dan dia punya kamera bagus, yaaa… ujung-ujungnya dia jadi fotografer pribadi saya. Mhuahahahahaha…. Untung orangnya baik :). Awalnya sih he was so quiet. Tapi kebetulan untuk tugas mewawancara other student, kita jadi partner, dan sejak itu jadilah bareng melulu.



Tinggalnya di dorm, nama dorm-nya Emerson Hall. Jadi setiap suite ada 3 kamar, masing-masing untuk 2 orang. Temen sekamar saya namanya Nasria, dari Afganistan.
with Nasria, my roommate :)
Kayaknya sih sama George, program coordinator, kami dipasangkan sekamar karena sama-sama Muslim. And she’s so nice. Luckily, jam biologis kami agak mirip, dimana kita biasanya baru tidur di atas jam 2 subuh. Mehehehehehe…
me, Nasria, Aynur, Yumi, Claudia, and Diana
Empat orang lain di suite kami ada Diana Solano dari Costa Rica. Cantik banget, dan cerdas sekali. I really think that she has that strong personality. And I really like the way she talks, tegas, tapi keliatan banget that she chooses her words carefully so she won’t hurt anyone’s feeling. Lalu ada Aynur dari Azerbaijan. Trus di kamar satunya, ada Claudia, dari Dominica, dan Yumi dari Kamboja. And both of them are lawyers!!! 

I really think that it’s going to be a long story to tell about my experience in this program. So yeah, I’ll write more next time :D!

Sabtu, 17 Agustus 2013

The Pre Academic Story (Part 2 – The Friends!)

I’m pretty sure that I told you that in my Pre Academic Program, there were 28 students from 21 countries.

And yes, as you might have guessed, one of the best thing about this program is the friendship that come between us. And to add some drama on it, ada cinlok juga. Nyahahahahaha…

I won’t lie by telling that I made friends with ALL of them. Because the truth is, we cannot just win everyone's heart, some people are just annoying for us, and we can’t always be nice to every single person that we meet. But one thing for sure, there is always, something to learn from everyone.

Anyway, as people are coming from all over the world, saya jadi bisa melalukan pengamatan dan observasi singkat mengenai karakteristik orang dari berbagai negara (eeciee…bahasa saya…). I don’t mean to make stereotypes. But however, tetep saja ada semacam karakteristik yang umum ditemui pada beberapa orang dari negara tertentu.

Most of the people in the program are Spanish speakers. Colombia, Costarica, Paraguay, Panama, Dominican Republic, Argentina,Chile and maybe some other countries. And believe me, para Latinos ini are those people who laugh and smile A LOT. They really do have that loud laugh and really really like to hug people. Bahkan salah satu temen saya dari Panama ngomong kok, “We are in fact, the happiest people in the world. We smile a lot, you know?”. Salah satu temen lain juga ngomong, “We laugh on everything. If we cannot find something that we can laugh about, we’ll create something to laugh about.”

This is me and Iris, who comes from Colombia. I just love her hug :)

Saya sama Iris udah kek emak dan anaknyaaa… . Oh, and there is also Juan, a very nice guy from Chile who has this warm, loud and infectious laugh. He’s just like a teddy bear, really.
yeah, the guy with that red shirt is our Teddy Bear, Juan :)
Sedikit berbeda, are people from the European countries. Bukannya mereka gak ramah sih, they are nice. But they seem to keep a distance. Bahkan salah satu temen dari Rusia ngomong kok, bahwa salah satu cultural differences that she found here is, “Here, people are always smiling. Back in my country, you don’t just smile to all the people that you meet on the street. You smile, but you smile to people that you know.”.
Ada dua orang dari Afganistan di kelas saya, and they talk a lot. Tapi waktu saya baca di buku teks untuk Intercultural communication, they do talk a lot, but its’ okay to interrupt them anytime. Which is different dengan budaya Indonesia, where it is considered to be impolite just to cut off when someone’s speaking.

I’ve told you about the roomates that I had, right? Here’s more picture of us, the girls in Room 205 :).
Diana, me, Yumi
With Diana, looking good for the graduation night ;)
Me and Yumi, when we did the charity for Habitat for Humanity
Las chicas of  205 :D!
Selain roommate, ada beberapa temen lain juga. Ada Mbak Dian, dosen UPH yang sama-sama dari Indonesia. Mbak Dian ini dulu S2 nya di Melbourne jugaaaa :D. Terus ada Megumi. Nah, Megumi ini…dari Paraguay. Iya, Paraguay, bukan Jepang. Bingung kan? Waktu pertama kali ketemu dan dia menyebutkan namanya, saya langsung yang dengan sok pedenya langung nanya, “From Japan?”
Dan langsung bengong waktu dia menggeleng, “No. Paraguay.”
Actually, her grandparents were from Japan and moved to Paraguay. Tapi dia sendiri bilang kok kalo dia juga sudah biasaaaa banget dikirain dari Jepang. But somehow, bagi saya her accent when she’s talking in English is still Japanese accent. Tapi pernah lho, dia tau-tau ngomong Spanyol, and I was like, “Huh? You really can speak Spanish!”
Mbak Dian, me, and Megumi
Dan tentu saja, temen seperjuangan nih:  Edgardo.

Dari Panama. Kenapa saya bilang seperjuangan? Karena sama-sama Ph.D di Purdue. Nyahahaha… Awalnya sih, sumpah ya saya selama 3-4 hari pertama gak nyadar that he even exists. Secara orangnya pendiaaaam banget. Tapi we had to do an assignment together. Terus waktu kegiatan charity, I did most of the work with him, memasang rumput gitu. Dan semenjak itu, jadilah saya bareng dia teruuuus kemana-mana.  We sit next to each other in the class, on the bus when we were having trips. Lagian ternyata, orangnya baik banget. Sampe selesai Pre Acad di UC Davis pun, I spent my first weeks in Purdue with him. Tahun depan his wife and his baby boy (yang umurnya baru 2 bulan waktu dia berangkat ke USA) will join him :D. Her wife seems nice, he introduced me once on Skype. And his baby is just suuuuper cute!

This is Susana, another friend from Panama. We had 4 Panamanians in the program, by the way. And just like all other Spanish speakers, she laugh a lot. She’s just such a fun person to be with =D.
Of course, there are more others :). Victoria from Colombia, Cecilia from Bolivia, Chau from Vietnam, Agustin from Argentina, Shahin from Azerbaijan, Mirgul from Kyrgystan, Avni from Kosovo, and otheeerrrsss… :D
this is one of my favorite pictures, Mbak Dian, Susana, Iris, Mirgul and me, in front of the Capitol Hill Building, Sacramento
ini sama Tata (yang jilbab ungu pake kacamata). Tata ini Fulbrightee Indonesia, dan Pre Academic di Monterey Institute for International Studies. Kita ketemuan waktu trip ke San Fransisco. Yang dua lagi itu temen Pre Acad-nya Tata, dari Vietnam :)
Me, Nasria, Susana, Iris, Mirgul
with Shahin, from Azerbaijan (ini gak tau kenapa tiba-tiba kita ngantri untuk difoto berdua dia. Saya juga heran lho kenapa begitu, kayak dia itu artis atau apa gitu)
Edgardo, Nasria, Susana, me, Megumi, and Stanley
 And surely, God makes me meet them so that I can learn a thing or two (or even more) from them :).

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

No matter what have happened in the country, no matter what people say about the country, no matter where I am, Indonesia is still my country, my homeland, my soul. It will always be.

May the Independence Day be a reminder for us, that we can still do something for this homeland.

No matter how far I am from the land that I truly call as home, I still have Indonesia in my mind, in my heart, and in my soul.

Happy Independence Day, my beloved Indonesia.

Red blood in my vein, white of your soul in my heart.

Dirgahayu Indonesia!!!

Kamis, 08 Agustus 2013

Selamat Idul Fitri 1434 H

Ucapan dan perbuatan tak akan pernah sempurna
Jika pernah ada kata yang membuat terluka
Jika ada laku yang tak berkenan
Dengan rendah hati saya memohon maaf atas segalanya


Selamat Idul Fitri 1434 H
Semoga amal ibadah kita membawa berkah
Dan di hari yang fitri ini, kita kembali suci

Salam,
Utami


Senin, 05 Agustus 2013

The Pre Academic Story (part 1)

Hellooooo, people!
God, it’s been too so long since the last time I wrote something here!

Salahkanlah urusan administratif itu, bahkan di beberapa hari terakhir menjelang keberangkatan, saya masih harus bolak-balik ke Jakarta untuk mengurus selembar surat sakti berjudul SP Setneg demi keberangkatan saya sekolah lagi. Setdah, mau sekolah aja ribet amat ya -_-. Oh, and considering the drama that happened to me sepanjang pengurusan SP Setneg ini, I am considering to write something about it.

Anyway.
Here I am in the USA! (backsong: Party in the USA- Miley Cyrus)

Jadi, akhirnya, setelah jalan panjang berliku selama satu tahun lebih, sampai juga saya di negrinya para bule ini. So, I am going to continue my study at Purdue University, Indiana. Kampus yang lokasi kotanya di tengah ladang jagung (beneran lho ini, serius).

Tapi sebelum mulai studi, saya ikut program Pre Academic Orientation dulu, di UC Davis. UC itu singkatan dari University of California. Californiaaaa… Californiaaaa…. (backsong: California – Phantom Planet).

Pre Academic ini semacam program orientasi sebelum mulai program akademik benerannya. Biasanya setiap Fulbright grantee akan mendapat kesempatan untuk ikut program ini, which is very useful. Lamanya antara 8 minggu sampe 3 minggu. Terus ada juga Gateway Orientation. Dari hasil pengamatan sih, sepertinya tergantung nilai iBT dan GRE. Semakin bagus nilainya, semakin pendek jangka waktu Pre-Acad yang harus diikuti. Yang dapet Gateway juga biasanya yang bahasa Inggrisnya udah jago lancar jaya lah yaa....

Nah, Pre Acad saya mulai dari tanggal 10 Juli. Jadi seharusnya berangkat tanggal 9 Juli. But things happened, dan saya berangkat tanggal 8 Juli malam. Iya. Pas mulai puasa, saya mendarat di USA.
It was quite a hectic day, my day of departure. Masih untung saya bisa berangkat on time. Yang nganterin cuma Mama dan Abah. Huhuhuhu…sedih banget. Secara waktu saya berangkat itu, seharusnya pas malam dimana mulai tarawih, dan besok subuhnya mulai saur. Hiks. Anyway, I gotta do the things that I got to do.
Rute saya: Cengkareng – Narita (transit 9 jam) – San Fransico – Sacramento. Nah, dari Sacramento baru naik shuttle van ke Davis. Sampai San Fransisco sebagai port of entry-nya saya, masih lancar. Imigrasi terlewati dengan sukses, gak harus lapor ke custom, dan saya dengan cerah ceria melangkah sambil bawa koper saya untuk lapor ke flight saya yang ke Sacramento.

And guess what?

Flight saya ke Sacramento di-cancel. Dan flight lainnya penuh sampe 2 hari ke depan. My first hour in USA and I already had to deal with flight cancellation! OMG. Sesuai saran dari si ibu di kantor maskapai, saya naik ke level 3 untuk rent a car. Pas mau antri, saya baru sadar. Saya kan gak bisa nyetir. Ngapain saya nyewa mobil ya?
I felt so stupid.
Turun ke bawah lagi, nyari information desk, and told them about my case. Kali ini mereka menyarankan shuttle service, dan Alhamdulillah, saya dapet shuttle van ke Davis. It was not far, only about 2 hours drive. 

And finally…. Here I am!

Davis is a town at the California state. Gak gede sih, basically kota ini tumbuh karena ada UC. And there are bikes EVERYWHERE. 

For this program, pesertanya ada 29 orang. Dari 21 negara. 
At the memorial Union, after a guest lecture
on our way to the ice cream social event
Can you imagine? Tapi dari 21 negara itu, mostly are Spanish speakers. Emang bener ya, orang-orang South American itu…they smile a lot, laugh a lot, and hug a lot. Nyahahahahaha… They are the people with warm hearts.
Me and Iris, a friend from Colombia. She calls me her chique, whcih means the little one
The Purdue-rs! Agustin, me and Edgardo
Sebelum berangkat, saya sempet deg-degan. Secara untk Fulbrighter Indonesia di tahun ini, cuma saya sendiri aja yang ke Purdue. Luckily, disini ada 3 orang lagi yang sama-sama ke Purdue. Ada Agustin dari Argentina, Roman dari Ukrainia, dan Edgardo dari Panama. Semua ngambil Computer Science. Tapi Edgardo aja yang Ph.D. Nah, kalo si Roman, saya selama 3 hari masih mengira dia dari UK, karena dengan bodohnya saya cuma denger “U-krei” aja waktu dia menyebutkan negara asalnya. Agustin is such a kind person, and just like other Spanish speakers, he smiles and laughs a lot. 
And of course, ada Edgardo.
Me and Edgardo in Angela's class
Mungkin secara Edgardo ini juga ke Purdue, sama-sama mau Ph.D, jadilah saya deketnya sama dia. Kalo di kelas sukanya duduk sebelahan. Dan karena saya gak bawa kamera dan dia punya kamera bagus, yaaa… ujung-ujungnya dia jadi fotografer pribadi saya. Mhuahahahahaha…. Untung orangnya baik :). Awalnya sih he was so quiet. Tapi kebetulan untuk tugas mewawancara other student, kita jadi partner, dan sejak itu jadilah bareng melulu.



Tinggalnya di dorm, nama dorm-nya Emerson Hall. Jadi setiap suite ada 3 kamar, masing-masing untuk 2 orang. Temen sekamar saya namanya Nasria, dari Afganistan.
with Nasria, my roommate :)
Kayaknya sih sama George, program coordinator, kami dipasangkan sekamar karena sama-sama Muslim. And she’s so nice. Luckily, jam biologis kami agak mirip, dimana kita biasanya baru tidur di atas jam 2 subuh. Mehehehehehe…
me, Nasria, Aynur, Yumi, Claudia, and Diana
Empat orang lain di suite kami ada Diana Solano dari Costa Rica. Cantik banget, dan cerdas sekali. I really think that she has that strong personality. And I really like the way she talks, tegas, tapi keliatan banget that she chooses her words carefully so she won’t hurt anyone’s feeling. Lalu ada Aynur dari Azerbaijan. Trus di kamar satunya, ada Claudia, dari Dominica, dan Yumi dari Kamboja. And both of them are lawyers!!! 

I really think that it’s going to be a long story to tell about my experience in this program. So yeah, I’ll write more next time :D!