And I Will Never be the Same...

Dua semester sebelumnya, setiap akhir semester, I usually took some times to reflect about what I have been learnt. believe me, there's A LOT of things that I learn about, experiences that I've been through...

Akhir semester ini juga adalah akhir masa studi saya disini, as an international student, enrolled for the course Master of Environment and Sustainability, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Arts Faculty, Monash University (tsaaahhh...lengkap bo'!).
Semester ini saya cuma ngambil 2 mata kuliah, Environmental Revolution dan Political Ecology, plus minor thesis.

Environmental Revolution class was amazing. Interesting and controversial readings, insightful discussions, some fun activities. Meskipun tiap minggu mesti jungkir balik membaca 5-6 reading materials with a total around 100 pages, dan berusaha mensubmit rangkuman dari SELURUH reading itu hanya dalam lima kalimat. But I do love this class. Dan waktu kuliah terakhir kemaren, I really feel that I'm going to miss this class, and Priya too. At the end of the class, Priya said: "Thank you for this semester. I really enjoyed it, it's been a very insightfull experience being with all of you this semester". Salah satu final remarks dari Priya: "after completing this course, you can go back and do whatever you want to do. But I want you to keep on reflecting on your self, asking the question that you have learnt from this class that might never crossed your mind before, about what it means to be for being human and being exist in the environment". Dan kita semua langsung tepuk tangan, and thank her. Selesai kelas juga saya mendatangi Priya, and told her how I really feel that this class has been an amazing experience.

Political Ecology is another awesome class. We practically have people all around the world in the class. Alberto dari Italia, si ganteng Sebastian dari Kolombia (even though he's such a Malthusian person), Andrew dari Sudan, Niti dari Kamboja, Cate the sweet pie dari Brisbane, Ken dari Australia yang ternyata do some volunteering works di Palangkaraya, Juan dari Paraguay yang suka lebay (gyahahahaha...), Kyle, M'Febby si suami seleb dengan wajah sok lempengnya (Mas, you really have to find another food supplier for you next semester!). Aaaahhhh... It's just wonderful to have so many people from all around the world in the class, sharing thoughts, experiences and ideas about this world. The discussion and debate was fascinating!!! I can't help myself to smile everytime I remember how our group of 6 people just can't reach a single convention, and just decided to go ALTOGETHER in front of the class to do the presentation (while the other group only have 1-2 speakers for each group). Such a messy presentation, but I love it. The other thing about this class is the lecturer. Craig, one of the lecturer has a great passion about Indonesia. So he always has the case study from Indonesia, and everytime he shows the picture he took from his journey and work in Indonesia, saya jadi semakin merindukan tanah air saya...

And my minor thesis?? It's just soooo weird. I can't wait to submit this thesis next Monday, on June 15. All I have to do now is only print it out. But at the very same time, I know that I am going to miss the whole process of writing this thesis, and all the things about it. Doing the readings, writing, drafting. Thank's to my supervisor, who has given me not just invaluable insights during our discussion, but also wondeful time and laughter...
But, oh well, I'll have a special posting about this thesis.

Senin nanti, begitu saya mengumpulkan tesis ini kepada Bianca, administration officernya kami, my semester officially finished. Tinggal menunggu pengumuman nilai tanggal 17 Juli nanti, dan wisuda di tanggal 23 Juli.

The first time I came here, saya merasa punya sedikit pengetahuan tentang lingkungan. Hey, I did environmental chemistry for my undergraduate, anyway! Tapi seiring dengan berjalannya waktu selama saya kuliah disini, betapa sedikitnya yang saya tahu itu. All of this time, I view the environment from one small window called "chemistry". And my study here makes me realize that there are so many other windows to view the environment, each of it offers different perspective and insights. So many people and experiences have crossed my path here. so many things that I learnt here have reshaped me.

I will never be the same again...hopefully a better me...

Alhamdulillah ya Alloh.... Berjuta kata syukur dan sujudku tak mampu rasanya membalaskan nikmat ini, hanya darimu Ya Robbi...

Kerukunan Antar Umat Beragama

Tsaaahhh... Judul yang sungguh bernuansa PPKn ...


Anyway, salah satu slogan (retorika?) di Indonesia kan itu ya.. Bagaimana dengan di Melbourne sini? So far so good ;p.





Waktu saya pulang ke Banjarmasin waktu liburan kemaren, salah satu pertanyaan yang banyak muncul berkisar soal itu. Bagaimanakah kamu Muslim diperlakukan di Australia? Well, secara umum, saya akan bilang, since Melbourne is such a diverse city with various ethnicities, cultures, and religions too... I'm happy to say that we're all doing okay here. Memang masih ada beberapa kasus berbau rasisme. It even happened to me a few times. Tapi selama kita masih jaga diri, there should be no problem. Di kampus saya saja disediakan Musholla, dan Meeting Point alias kantin kampus menyediakan counter makanan halal (oh, and their french fries really worth it to try!). Bahkan kalo ga salah, kemaren saya lihat di Tullamarine sudah ada Praying Room.

Saya ga akan bercerita secara global. Cuma pengen share pengalaman pribadi aja. Saya bersyukur bahwa teman-teman saya disini menghargai pilihan saya menjadi seorang Muslim. Mereka menghargai bahwa saya harus sholat 5 kali dalam sehari. Malah pernah beberapa kali mereka yang mengingatkan saya: "Hey, it's already dark and I haven't seen you pray. Do you want to do it now before we go? We'll wait for you".

Waktu saya field trip ke Mt. Donna Buang dulu juga, saya udah bilang ke Kale, dosen saya, that I have to pray at noon. Jadi pas break makan siang, sebelum dia sendiri makan dia mendatangi saya sambil membawa kompas, dan bertanya: "Do you want to do your prayer now? I've got a compass with me so you can face the direction that you need." Alhamdulillah... Waktu berwudhu pun saya dibantu teman saya, Justin, yang menuangkan air dari botol yang saya bawa. Oh, dan dia memotret saya waktu saya sholat, he said : "You look so bright in that white clothes" dengan wajah terpana.

Teman-teman saya juga menghargai bahwa tidak semua makanan bisa saya makan. Jadi kalo makan bareng, mereka suka nanya: "Is it okay if we eat here? Shall we find some other place? Do you want to find a place where they serve vegetarian food? Or you want to buy somewhere else then we eat together?". Pernah waktu kami dinner bareng di rumah Xue, where everyone bring some food and eat them together, Xue mengirim e-mail ke kami semua yang dia undang, untuk mengingatkan yang lain: "since Ami is a moslem,make sure that your food has no alcohol, and also bring some vegetables menu because Jamie is a vegetarian, and Ami can only eat halal meat".

Semester ini juga kan saya akhirnya memutuskan pake kerudung. Dan waktu kami pertama kali ngumpul bareng for coffee, Jamie, one of my friends, told the others (Lu, Xue, Kelvin, and Michael): "Hey guys, you should congratulate Ami. She's wearing a veil now. It's a start for her to be a better person" *amiiinnn*. Dan mereka semua langsung menyelamati aku...
Soal kerudung ini juga, Matea pernah berkomentar soal salah satu kerudung yang aku pake, yang kebetulan model "kerudung instant" gitu: "I really like the kind that you're wearing now. You know, some other women wear scarves around their head, but I really like the one that's already in shape like the one you're wearing now. It's just so cool!", yang langsung di-iyakan sama Donna, temenku yang lain... See, ga semua bule beranggapan bahwa kerudung itu "aneh".

Salah satu hal yang paling berkesan buat saya dalah waktu Jim, salah satu learning advisor di perpustakaan ngomong gini: "One thing that I respect about Islam is, it teach you to be a hardworking person. It's one of the most basic thing in Islam. So usually, when your religion is Islam, you're more willing to work harder.". Guess what? Jim itu is actually an atheis.

Most of my friends are actually kinda agnostic. "Religion is really not my cup of tea", kata salah seorang teman saya. But still, they respect me for my faith and what I believe. So why shouldn't I respect them too?

Alhamdulillah ya Alloh.. Betapa besarnya nikmat perlindungan yang Kau berikan pada hamba di sini...