Travelling with My Best Friend

Hi, I'm back with another rant. This time, I want to write down my expense when I went on a backpacking vacation with my best friend. Here I'm going to share some of the things that happened before and after the trip. 

POINT 1    PLANNING

Half a year before the trip, around August, my friends and I talked about going for a vacation together.  Bestie Blue (I'm using their favorite color instead of giving initials or number okay, both of them are my bestie, none of them is best or worse than other) suggested Semarang as our destination. Bestie Red said she's up to anywhere we would want to go to as long as it is a vacation, Red just wanna have fun. I told them that I'd like to explore more than just Semarang, which is why we added Yogyakarta as our second destination.

So, it was decided that we will be going on this trip on May for it is the low-season where most of the prices are lower or discounted.

But there is a problem, Red wanted to go using her car. Blue and I don't really like the idea of going with another addition such as her driver, meanwhile between the three of us Red is the only one who can drive, that would be extremely tiring. So, Blue and I agreed to use train, but Red said she needs time to decide if she would go or not.

At the end of year 2016, Red decided not to go, so it's just Blue and I. We started making our itinerary. Listing down the places we wanted to visit and how we budgeting all the expecting expenses. In between our own schedules in college, we still got time to meet for a discussion, and we also used google drive to share documents for working on our itinerary planning. 

 

RESULT OF THE PLANNING

WHO (will be going):                    Blue and I

WHEN (will we go):                     May 15th 2017 - May 21st 2017

WHERE (will we go):                   May 15th to Semarang

                                          May 18th to Yogyakarta

WHY (we chose the destination):     Semarang because Blue knows the city

                                          Yogyakarta to use the opportunity of the trip

WHAT (to do there):                  Visit the historical places in both cities

HOW (are we going to travel):       Use train, bus, local transportation, walking.

 

POINT 2     BUDGETING 

Budgeting is the most important thing while planning a trip, especially when you're going backpacking.

So, after finishing our 'must visit list' and 'what to do there', we decided to limit our budget for under IDR 1.000.000

My mom helped me by giving me half of the budget, because my saving was still under 500k, so it was the real help when mom said, she will give the rest of the money I need.

The point of budgeting is to know what our limit in spending our money, we need to calculate everything before doing the trip itself in order to avoid problems while we're away from home.

 

POINT 3    ITINERARY

The second most important thing in planning a trip is the itinerary. This part will help us manage our days on our trip, it's a schedule to remind us of what we would do. If it is not on the list, you better not do it or you'll have some extra spending with your budget.

We used google search to look up for prices and what's in there we could do, this helped us estimating our expenses.

 

POINT 4    PREPARATION

Preparation is the time needed to make sure that we are safe in every conditions. Clothes, undies, warm wears, hat, sanitary pads, toiletries, medicine, spare money kept on secret pocket, book and pen, tickets, chargers, and SD cards.

 

POINT 5    PATIENCE & COMMITMENT

This is also important to keep in mind. 

• Patience.

Since you are going away from home with another person with different personality, you will need all the patience you can have in whatever situation occurs.

•  Commitment

You made the itinerary, you made the plan, you stick on it to the end. You need the commitment to follow the itinerary made for your trip to go be a success one. If you decided not visit malls, then don't go to a mall at all.

 

POINT 6    THE UNPLANNED

I learned something big from this trip in a hard way. There will definitely be something unplanned happen while you're away. This is something that will happen no matter how perfect your plan is.

For example, I obviously did not plan to break my shoes that I had to buy a new one while in Semarang. We also planned to use train from Semarang to Yogyakarta to save time and budget, but ended up using travel bus which is more expensive and take longer time to arrive in the destination.

 

POINT 7    UNDERSTANDING

There is this thing called conflict, especially when fatigue hit the explorers. 

When we used the travel tour bus from Semarang to Yogyakarta, I honestly told Blue that this exceeded my budget. Having to spend 70k instead of the planned 10k is a big difference for me, not to mention I just had to buy a pair of shoes.  But it seems like Blue couldn't get the simple phrase, because when we arrived in Yogyakarta, Blue decided to get a room at the nearest hotel because Blue was tired. So instead of going to the planned '70k a night' inn, we paid 190k in total for the hotel stay. 

There is also another problem. Maybe because I am used with using public transportation where ever I go, I felt it is too expensive to use online taxi everywhere we went. 

 

POINT 8    HONESTY     

Last but not least, it is honesty. When there is a mashed up of personalities, there will be conflict right? But every conflict can be solved with a talk, an honest talk. Between friends, I admit, I was disappointed that we didn't talk it out after that, but instead we went on silent treatment for almost a year.

Good thing that in this friendship we still have Red. Even though it was only through Instagram DM, we are now talking again.

Honesty is really important to keep everything fine. Next time, when there is another trip, where ever and when ever it would be, with whoever it would be, if you feel something is not going right, talk it out, be honest, don't shut, and most importantly don't fight. 

Real Horror Stories of My Own Experiences (Episode 3)

School

Back to the horror stories. This time, I'm telling you about those things that happened at my school.

So, when I was in Junior High School, when I was still on the first year, our school made a camping night. Students who owned tents can use the grass yard and those who don't can sleep in the class rooms. I happened to use my class, the class room 1 - D.

 

The activity was from the evening, we play games, sports competition, outdoor dining (which we brought our own meal in box - students from the Monastery Dorm can just walk to the dorm and eat before going back to the school again), and dance to musics until late. It was done on Saturday night. 

It was already 11 PM when we were all still dancing, suddenly someone screamed and pointing to the library area, where all the chairs from the class rooms that used for sleeping were stacked at. Most of the other students also scream and stepped back, I remember being panic and run with my other friends and hug each others at the side where we feel safe at. 

I don't remember the detail because I didn't see it myself, but my friends who saw exactly what the others were screaming about told me, there was a Dutch girl, blonde, her hair braided, standing in front of the library looking at us with sadness. You might think, okay, is that all? But no, the girl wasn't just normally standing there, she was standing at where the chairs were stacked up high, where most lower part of her body stood through the chairs and half up her chest to her head is above the chairs, as if she was a hologram. She was there for about a minute and gone. Our headmaster then told all of us to gather, the music had stopped, we say a prayer and dismissed to sleep. The night wasn't smoothly passed, most of us girls struggled when we need to go to the toilet which located behind the library, to access the toilet we had to walk passed the library area and go through a narrow hall, not to mention the toilet was also huge and has so many small rooms. We had to wait until there a more than three others who wanted to go to the toilet then go there together in group, luckily our PA teachers and Art teachers were patrolling that night so we feel safe. I don't know about the boys though, their toilet located at the back of the canteen, which is the furthest from the front yard.

Talking about the toilet, it has its own story too. So, inside the toilet, there is one at the corner that is bigger in room size, the only one with bigger water tub, have toilet seat (the other has squat toilet), and used white tiles on the floor and walls. Story said there was a girl who slipped and died there, she was the marching band majorette, she went there when the practice was on break, they said it was on break for Angelus Prayer, so when she slipped there in the toilet, all the students were chanting Angelus Prayer all around the school, no one heard her fell. Her head was bleeding badly and she was too weak to scream for help. So, students had this belief that when it's Angelus Prayer, no one should go to the toilet, and if you hear closely, the marching band instruments in the storage would play faintly.

In my third year, on out free time at class, we somehow managed to get Ms. M (our History teacher) to leak some truth to us regarding the horror stories that was spread among the students for quite sometimes.

Ms. M said, you can actually see that blonde girl in front of the library roaming around the school if you have the ability to see ghosts. She was a top student in her time at the school, she was half Dutch - half Indonesian (wasn't sure about her true ethnicity), one day when she went home, she was caught in an accident just right in front of her house after she hopped off her car, it was only a week before final and she would graduate. Those who can see ghost usually saw her inside the library or inside the laboratory, but she never scare people or disturbing anyone, she would just roam in silent or sitting as if she was day dreaming. That night when she shows herself, it was probably because of the liveliness created that night was too much different than her usual peace. 

Ms. M also confirmed that the majorette story was also true. But it doesn't stop there, Ms. M told us about the mysterious 'three nuns' carved on the stone walls at the small field over the creek that separate our grass yard with the hill to the Hospital (Gunung Maria Hospital), she said the carvings were already there for a long time, no ghosts in that area, but that place will always be kept clean and sometimes flowers will be put there. Maybe it was a private grave.

But after talking about that with my grandma, she said it was not a grave. She then told me for the first time, that when she was about 6 years old, she actually lived in that Monastery with her two sisters, one was older and one was just born. They lived there before the World War 2 officially started but according to my grandma, the children there were all evacuated from their home because the issue of the war was already spread, however, when Japanese started their invasion, all the parents take their children home or away in hiding, especially those who have Dutch relations or officials, in my grandma's case, her father was a police commissioner.

Grandma said while living there, there was an annual Christmas Drama show in the Monastery for the children and they would use a real baby to be baby Jesus, three of the babies died before their second Christmas, and then there were never real baby used as baby Jesus ever again, my grandma's little sister was the third baby that died. So the location where the carvings were at, was the place where the show would be held at, so the carvings must be made to commemorate the babies that died after their show there.

I don't have the picture of the carvings because back then when I went to school there, students were not allowed to bring any gadgets, not even an alfalink was allowed. But here I'll leave some pictures of my grandma and her family, grandma's little sister, the nuns, and the children in the monastery.

(from left; Grand Uncle Rudy - Great Grand Father - Great Grand Mother (holding Grand Uncle Boy) - Grandma (the one in the front) Theresia - Grand Aunt Thelma - Grand Uncle Lexy) : this photo was taken after grandma left the monastery, this house is where Great Grand Father was task to leave as he was the Head Police in the area

(this is Grand Aunt Conny: April 4th 1939 - September 20th 1940)

Here are the picture of the children in the monastery back in that time, my grandma wasn't in both of the picture but Grand Aunt Thelma was in one of them.

Here are some of the nuns in the Monastery that was in there when grandma entered the place.

Remember the story when I saw a nun in the dorm, she was wearing an exact same robe as the nuns above were wearing. Back when I was in the dorm, our head-sister's robe was different and a bit shorter where you can see their shoes.

Up next episode: The Haunting in my House

Look Beyond What's Seen

 

I saw an old man sitting alone at the bus stop, he's wearing a blue stripped shirt, black trouser kept up by the leather brown belt, he was wearing a pair of worn out leather sandals. His arms crossed, head up straight, eyes wandered probably hoping to get a glance of an upcoming bus, which nowhere to be seen.

It looks normal.

Until i found the worry plastered on his face. He was worried of something, but he hid it well, closed barrier between him and stranger so no one would ask him a thing. I never know what he was worrying about for the bus i was waiting came first.

I heard a kid asking countless questions to his father at the train station. It was annoying. He was asking literally everything. He was asking why was train created, how does a train work, is the man driving the train a driver or a pilot or is it a captain, why there are so many people in the station, why are people created. I heard his father answered every question with patience.

He is a father, and that was his kid after all.
But then i heard the kid asked, "Are we going on a vacation too?"
I peek at the kid and his father. The father was sitting straight, arms laid on both side of his thighs, eyes closed. He said, "not now".
 

Something was hidden in his answer.
 

"Will you buy me one toy?"
The kid was asking for a toy instead of toys.Is it because he understand that his father could only buy him one instead of dozens?
The father answered, "I will".

Then the kid continued his questions.

Sometimes we judged things too fast, judging from our point of view, comparing to what we expect as the 'better'. We used to see things just the way it looks like to us. Like we see a wall as a plain wall but behind the story of the wall was fathers working to bring home meals for his family, a man trying to save money so he can make a living, a boy hoping to get enough for buying things he desired or to simply make his loved ones happy.

Open your eyes, see around you, what do you see? 

No, not the things around you, not the things happening now, but what's behind it.
Open your heart, try to understand why something is the way it is. 

Learning from the old man, he probably needs help but he wasn't an open person. He maybe needs someone to talk to but too scared to start a conversation with a stranger. Not everyone in this world could easily ask around when they are lost. 

If you see one, ask them if they need any help, help them or find someone that could help them. Learning from the kid and the father, it was annoying to face a kid that asked too much, but aren't we all were just a kid with a bunch of questions...

The Big Break

 I'm gonna talk about the big break that happened to me in 2009. It was the big break from college, the big break from social life, normal life, the big heart break.

Life changed.

In the essay I wrote for my College Entrance, I talked about how the University would be my second home, how I would work hard. I asked myself in that essay, and I quote "Would I give up or would I be careless of my own fate? Or maybe I could pass all the obstacles with my chin up."

Truth is, I give up not because I didn't care of my own fate, or that I couldn't pass the obstacles, but I give up because that's the only thing I could do.

In 2005, my dad left hometown to the capital, followed by my brother who graduated in 2007, leaving me and my mom behind. It's not a problem, they left because they had to, and my mom and I was okay. But when my mom followed them in 2009, that's when everything changed.

At first, I was fine, I was living with my grandma, I was doing good with college, I had no problem at all, until loneliness hit me. I think it was something about my own mind, I just felt abandoned, even though I was not. When the first term in college started (second half of the year) my will to survive college gradually went down, the subjects and tasks getting harder, and I just lost inspiration for my designs. The worst of it all is the money problem.

I started getting insomnia, I could only sleep an hour or two a day. Withdrawal and changed in personality makes me feel hard to see my friends, I started getting problem on working in team, even though my friends kept trying to make me feel better, but it's just me, I'd just went home early and working in my room all day. I suffered weight loss but my family 'praised' me for successfully losing weight. I lost 10 kg from 60 kg. It's weird to be praised when it was never you intention to begin with.

I was sick mentally and physically. I lost track of myself, of what I wanted, I started to changed from the person who wants to do things, to the person who will just do whatever others do, I used to say 'let's do this' but changed to someone who would say 'if you want to do it I'll go with you'. I started walking behind my friends instead of leading, I refused to talk in the presence of others, I don't want to make new friends, and I even cut my hair out of anger.

Suicidal thought started to make its debut in my mind.

Then I stopped going to college. 

What prevented me of suicide was the thought that I would bring shame to mom, to grandma, I would make them sad, I would make the whole family talked about my parents, I would make the people around them blaming those I left. Most of all, I would not achieve anything from it. I guess it was because I never thought of myself at the first place, that's why I don't do what I wanted to do. Not even suicide.

I've never talked about this to anyone, I don't like talking about it with others face to face, I am someone who would cry when I feel unfairness, and the whole things that happened to me is so unfair that I would cry my heart out if I ever started talking about this, and I hate it when people see me cry. That's why I put it on my blog, I don't care if no one reads it, I just want it out of my heart, to let go of the burden I've kept for so many years, and no, I am not crying right now. 

If you ever had the thought of suicide, please learn from me, death is just death, you don't gain anything of it, but leaving shame to those you left behind, those you probably hate, and love.

 

Thanks for reading.

Real Horror Stories of My Own Experiences (Episode 2)

The Dormitory

This is another events I experienced when I was in a boarding school back in 2000. I have lived in a Catholic Monastery Dorms for 6 months. I have experienced a lot of things in this dorm in that 6 months.

First I should share the schedules so that readers could get the feeling of how it was living in the boarding school. 

Now, here's the dorm areas.

Ground level of the Dormitory Area

 

At the  ground level there are 1 large living room, 3 smaller guest rooms, 1 office room for the head of the dorm, 1 huge dining room, 1 big pantry, 1 huge main bathroom, 1 smaller bathroom with toilets, 1 huge locker room, 1 broom cupboard, 2 stair case sides.

Started with the story about the creepy broom cupboard under the stairs at the side of the huge main bathroom, some students said they could heard voices from inside the cupboard. It is also located side by side with the only toilet that was locked and forbidden to open. They said that toilet was locked since the dorm was still used as nuns dorm, the myth is a nun died committed suicide in there, but the head of our dorm confirmed that was only a hoax.

Here is the upper level of the dorm

1. Huge Bedroom
2. Toilet
3. Small bedrooms (5 - 6 rooms)
4. Locker room
5. Bath toiletries storage / clothes and towels drying hangers
6. Hidden room from the past
   

 

 

 

 

Accessed only from inside the second floor locker room, there was a secret door that led us to this hidden 8 rooms that would be annually cleaner up, the rooms were for special nuns that used their time only for praying.  Inside the room was a small bed, a sink, a toilet, and a table with a chair, and a chest. When i was in that dorm, i experienced the cleaning party. I personally think it was more like a prison.

I myself never experienced things from those places, but we (as in me and my friends) once saw the head of our dorm walked down the staircases from the monastery to our dorm while talking to her side, as if there was someone walking with her side by side, but there was no one.

Some says it was a Dutch nun, and some says that head-sister was actually talking in Dutch. It could be true because the one who said that knows Dutch since her father is a Dutch. But it could also be a lie because we (the others) don't know the language at all. 

What I experienced myself was when I saw a very pale nun walking through inside our room from the main door, passing my bed, through the door to the locker room. The thing is that door to the locker room is closed and locked since it was blocked with lockers. At first I thought it was our head-sister,thought it was only my hallucination because I was between wake up and falling asleep, but then the real head-sister came in and walk through the whole bedroom while knocking soft sticks around, chanting Hail Mary prayer.

About two weeks after that, our dorm make a renovation at the Toilet (#2 on picture above) that was closed with permanent wall on its door for so many years. There was a story around about the history of the toilet. They said a nun died in there when she was sick, she died there after coughing blood and the blood stained the walls, couldn't be cleaned. So the renovation started, and just a day after the wall demolished, one of our senior that had her bed next to the toilet door fell sick. Another story came out, she said she had a dream where she saw a nun died in that toilet from aborting her baby, and that the fetus and her blood was drained in that toilet, which is why she haunts that toilet. One Saturday night when most of us were either dancing or watching TV downstairs, some students who were taking care of this senior ran downstairs, screaming, asking help from us and some ran to the monastery to get our head-sister. They said, this sick senior was sleeping when she suddenly got up and speaks gibberish, pointing at the door with wide eyed, they tried to pull her away from the toilet (the renovation hasn't finished yet), but this senior seems to be so strong no one can pull her away. She keeps banging on the toilet door that was locked.

When the head-sister came with some other nuns from the monastery, we were all told to go to the dining room and stay there until dismissed. Some seniors were told to guard us and one nun came with us to make sure we were in order. It was Saturday night, we were supposed to have fun, but instead we were told to sit in the dining room, praying Novena. I couldn't remember the time, but it took long until our head-sister came in and told us that everything will be okay from now on, we were also told to keep the toilet clean and not smelly when the we use it in the future.

Horror stories about our dorm spreads out, some got seriously scared, I was scared, but the reason why I only lived there for 6 months before moving to another dorm outside the school complex was not because of this scary experiences. It was because we could only go home once a month, every first weekend. Any kind of comic books and novels were forbidden, no gadgets are allowed to bring in. Means, no fun unless it is watching TV or listening to music and dancing on Saturday night. I couldn't adapt to it, i grew up reading encyclopedia books and comics, I spent time listening to radio or cassette tape, and I always gets ranked high in school (elementary).

After I moved in to another dorm outside the Monastery area, I could bring my handphone and spoke with mom every day, I can read books / comics when I don't feel like taking a nap, I can listen to my favorite music while studying, and my studying went well. I even ranked #1 in class. Meaning, you can't control your children, you should let them learn and study the way they feel most comfortable, even if they don't ranked as best students, you should never tell them how to live their life.

KPOP and I

Korean Wave had entered my country, Indonesia, since year 2000. At that time, Indonesian were still not interested with Korean Pop or dramas. Not until 가을동화 [Ga Eul Dong Hwa] or Autumn in My Heart, or also widely known as Endless Love become a headline. People started to watch more Korean dramas, such as 겨울연가 [Gyeo Ul Yeon Ga] or Winter Sonata. If I'm about to list out the dramas, I could only list up the most popular ones, like Full House, 궁 [Goong] or Princess Hours, 대장금 [Dae Jang Geum] or Jewel in the Palace, 동이 [Dong Yi], and of course I should and must mention 꽃보다 남자 [Kkot Bo Da Nam Ja] or Boys Over Flowers which was the started of it all.

But when did Korean Wave started getting its well-deserved attention in this country?

Super Junior would be the first group mentioned if you ask 'Kpoppers' back then in mid 2000s, and even though there are so many groups known by now, Super Junior is still one of the popular one.

But I'm here talking about my Kpop life, so when did I started 'stanning' KPOP? I'll say, 2002 or so, and it wasn't cause by any Korean drama, in fact it was because a Taiwanese drama MVP 情人 [MVP Qíng Rén] or MVP Lover. The drama used some Korean song for its soundtrack, and that was the beginning. I started stanning BoA after I listened to No.1 and Waiting, and then Shinhwa for their Perfect Man and Shout, Fly to the Sky for their Sea of Love.

 

I got to know WAX after her songs 사랑하고 싶어 (I Want to Love) and 날 떠난 이유 (Reason Why I Left You) were used in At the Dolphin Bay drama. Also, Baby VOX, ever since I heard Coincidence.

That's how I became a Kpopper. The name 'Kpopper' itself is barely used now, usually people will call themselves as Korean Lovers.

I became a Cassiopeia (fan of 동방신기 [Dong Bang Shin Ki] or well known as TVXQ) in 2007, and that's when I started to learn about antis and about how toxic and dangerous they are. Then there were fan-wars between Cassiopeia and VIP (Bigbang fans). Even after Bigbang and TVXQ made a collaboration stage for SBS Gayo Daejeon, the fan-wars still happen here and there.

But the worst antis was Girls Generation's antis. The black ocean in 2008 was the worst and it should never happen to any performance.

And I was also a S♥NE (read: 소원 [So Won], means: Wish], that moment was really sad. I was mad.

Anyway.

There was this thing that we called as 'Gathering', it's an event where Kpoppers meet and shares our interest with each other, it was a thing until early 2010 before Korean Concerts started entering our country's venue. Of course, Rain was the first singer to held a concert in Indonesia, it was on 2009, but after 2010, there were a lot of concerts.

Not only concert, the thing we called 'antis' also started happening. They were already existed since 2000s, but back in that era, there were only antis of certain group, in this topic I meant antis of Kpopper. Ever since the Korean wave hit big in Indonesia, everything is Korean involved, even the towel in the market would be labeled as 'Korean towel'. I'm not surprised if people in general would feel irritated by that, even I felt irritated.

Back to my fangirling life. Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu decided to leave TVXQ in 2009, and I was sad, I chose to leave the fandom than to be torn inside being a Cassiopeia at that time. I've been to several Cassiopeia's gatherings, and I like being in that circle, but since JYJ is leaving, there was chaos.

I focused on Bigbang, 2NE1, and Girls Generation since then. But in 2011, I found the perfect fandom to join, and that is A+ (fan of MBLAQ), and all of it because I watched Sesame Player. 

A+ is a peaceful fandom that will only care of MBLAQ, the fandom name itself came from the fact that all MBLAQ members' blood type are A. 

But my bias, Lee Joon, along with Thunder, left the group after their contract expired in 2014 (just two years after that unforgettable concert). That broke my heart, to the extent that I don't want to listen to Kpop anymore.

But in 2015, I finally find my last group I'll ever stan. EXO.

I know I was late like for 3 years long, but it's better than never.

I happen to stan EXO at the right time. EXO was there when I was alone, their songs kept my spirit when I was down, and when I was at the darkest side of my life, I have EXO to make me smile. This time, it's not just a fangirling thing, but I admire them as an adult. Some might say they grew up stanning EXO, but I am thankful that at least, in my life, I stan the right one.

I don't and won't regret stanning EXO whatever happen. 

The Second Home Essay

Satu lagi hal penting yang menjadi bagian dari diri saya saat masih berjuang menjadi mahasiswa baru di Universitas Sam Ratulangi Manado. Di sini saya akan membagi tulisan saya yang memenangkan saya hadiah sebesar IDR 800.000 dalam rangka pemilihan mahasiswa baru terbaik di tahun 2007. Selamat membaca, semoga menginspirasi.

The Second Home
ditulis oleh Theresa T (NIM: 070212087)
Jurusan Arsitektur - Kelompok Kalkulus IV

“Kampusku adalah rumahku”, sebuah kalimat yang sangat sederhana namun juga memiliki makna yang sangat mendalam. Memang benar jika para mahasiswa dan mahasiswi menyebut kampus sebagai rumah kedua mereka. Kampus sebagai rumah dimana para penghuninya memiliki keluarga dan sahabat yang senantiasa saling tolong-menolong dan saling menghargai satu sama lain.

Sebagai seorang individu, saya memiliki tujuan yang sama dengan rekan-rekan mahasiswa yang lain saat memilih kampus dan jurusan yang tepat untuk kami, yakni menggapai cita-cita dan harapan, dan untuk menggapai semua itu kampus adalah tempat yang tepat untuk kami.

Kampus merupakan tempat untuk mengemban ilmu dan untuk mendapatkan keluarga yang baru, selayaknya berada di rumah sendiri. Sebagai mahasiswa, saya memiliki para dosen yang bertindak langsung sebagai orang tua dan sahabat saya, tanpa mengesampingkan tugas mereka sebagai pengajar. Saya juga memiliki rekan-rekan mahasiswa dan para senior yang bertindak sebagai saudara bagi saya, yang tak lebih dan tak kurang, menjadi kakak dan adik bagi saya.

Ada sebuah perumpamaan yang sangat saya sukai, yang saya dengan dalam sebuah tayangan televisi. Perumpamaan ini tentang seorang ibu. Seorang ibu diibaratkan seperti seorang pelayan dan sekaligus guru, seperti seorang dokter dan seorang sahabat. Begitupun saya memandang peran kampus dalam hidup saya. Saya diberikan ilmu oleh para dosen, diberikan teladan oleh para senior, dengan begitu saya belajar untuk membagikan ilmu yang saya miliki kepada orang lain, dan memberikan teladan yang layak dan patut dicontoh. Setiap kali ada kesalahan, saya akan diberikanteguran dan diajari untuk menjadi benar, dengan begitu saya tidak akan terus-menerus terpuruk dalam kesalahan dan akan bangkit demi memperbaiki apa yang menjadi kekurangan saya. Sebagai sahabat bagi satu sama lain dengan mahasiswa lainnya, saya bersedia untuk selalu saling berbagi dalam suka maupun duka. Saling mendorong semangat dan tekad. Seperti yang dimaksudkan dalam semboyan “sitou timou tumou tou” yang memiliki arti bahwa "Manusia baru dapat disebut sebagai manusia, jika sudah dapat memanusiakan manusia".

Hal-hal yang telah saya sebutkan dan jelaskan tadi merupakan sebuah awal dalam mencapai suatu kepuasan intelektual demi mendapatkan karir yang sukses di masa depan. Dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat, terutama sebagai seorang mahasiswa, bukan hanya tujuan individual yang harus saya penuhi tapi juga tujuan kolektif. Dengan begitu, saya baru bisa menjadi orang yang sukses.

Masa-masa selama proses mencapai tujuan kolektif tersebut, tempat yang akan paling mempengaruhi saya tentunya adalah kampus. Tempat yang menjadi pusat kegiatan seluruh mahasiswa. Tempat dilaksanakannya seluruh kegiatan-kegiatan kampus. Mulai dari kegiatan belajar dan mengajar, kegiatan organisasi, kegiatan kerohanian, dan kegiatan-kegiatan bermanfaat lainnya.

Dengan dilaksanakannya seluruh kegiatan-kegiatan di kampus tersebut, maka secara tidak langsung waktu yang dihabiskan oleh para mahasiswa lebih banyak di kampus dibandingkan di rumah masing-masing. Kegiatan yang terus ada dari pagi sampai sore dan tugas-tugas perkuliahan yang menyita sebagian besar waktu tanpa batas membuat kampus menjadi tempat multi-fungsi, sebagai tempat belajar, tempat berorganisasi, berkreasi, bersosialisasi, dan beristirahat.

Banyak mahasiswa yang secara sadar melakukan aktivitas dan rutinitasnya di kampus. Namun , tidak banyak yang menyadari bahwa apa yang mereka lakukan itu adalah sebuah kebutuhan dan bukanlah sebuah kewajiban atau keharusan belaka. Kuliah merupakan suatu tindakan yang secara perlahan-lahan tumbuh menjadi sebuah kebiasaan yang sukar dihilangkan.

Mungkin pada awalnya, mahasiswa baru merasa lelah dengan rutinitas yang menumpuk. Kesulitan beradaptasi dengan lingkungan sekitar yang masih terasa asing. Seperti menempati sebuah rumah baru, seseorang memerlukan waktu yang tidak singkat untuk menyesuaikan dirinya dengan lingkungan dan keadaan yang belum pernah dirasakannya sebelumnya. Namun, seiring berjalannya waktu, seseorang itu akan merasa nyaman dan terbiasa. Hal inilah yang saya alami sebagai mahasiswa baru, tapi keyakinan saya untuk bisa menjadi ‘tuan rumah’ yang baik membuat saya semangat untuk melewati hari-hari pertama saya yang masih canggung.

Setelah menempati ‘rumah’ ini cukup lama, pada akhirnya akan muncul juga rasa bosan. Bosan dengan rutinitas yang setiap harinya sama dan melelahkan, maka itu harus diadakan sebuah renovasi yang bisa memberikan suasana baru yang lebih segar dan menyenangkan, karena dengan begitulah kita bisa bertahan, dan saya sadar akan hal itu, hal yang pasti akan saya alami dan lewati, nanti.

Menyadari akan hal-hal tersebut membuat saya selalu memikirkan apa yang akan terjadi kedepan. Apakah saya pada akhirnya akan menyerah? Ataukan saya akan masa bodoh dengan nasib saya sendiri? Atau mungkin, saya akan berhasil melewati masa-masa itu dengan kepala terangkat.

Tapi, semua itu kembali pada diri saya sendiri dan lingkungan saya. Kampus saya dan rumah saya, atau keduanya. Kampusku adalah rumahku, siapa yang akan berpendapat lain? Memang benar merupakan rumah bagi mahasiswa. Bahkan, mulai hari ini, hari pertama saya memulai perjuangan saya menggapai cita-cita saya, menjadi mahasiswa di Universitas Sam Ratulangi, saya sudah menyadari bahwa kelak, akan tiba saat dimana kampus ini akan menjadi sebuah tempat yang sangat saya rindukan.

Kampus ini tak akan saya lupakan, meskipun kelak saya akan menempati ‘rumah’ yang baru, namun kenangan dan perjuangan yang ada dan akan terus ada itu, tak akan pernah tergantikan.

Viva Teknik

That Time When I Was Really Lucky

I've posted this on my previous blog that I couldn't open again because it was registered with a yahoo mail account and now blogger only use google account so I must verify the ID and password using my phone number which I don't use anymore.... let's just move on with that blog, but I'd like to rewrite this here. This is about that time when I was a fan of MBLAQ and I got two free tickets to their concert when I was broke. Like, it doesn't happen all the time, but yeah, a simple competition won me a golden time (not to mention I got the gold seats too).

 

The competition was held by Korean Culture and Information Service on HiSeoul facebook page on July 2012. They were giving free tickets for 15 best entry on 'Write Your MV Concept for MBLAQ Non-MV Song' (I made up that title but that's what it was all about).

I made a futuristic time travel to Joseon era theme for MBLAQ - RUN, and it was actually used for their SBS Gayo Daejun performance at the end of the year (or at least that's what I think happened). I mean, they usually used ninja concept when performing this song, but at this performance they combined futuristic concept with traditional joseon type scenes at the background, so just let me have my own happy imagination. But it did won me something unforgettable anyway. Here if you want to read the MV script i wrote, to read it comfortably, just copy and paste it on MS Word first, you've been warned.

I had to use fan video because the SBS' ones can't be played here.

The BLAQ% Concert was held in June 30, 2012, in Mata Elang International Stadium, Ancol, North Jakarta.

I can still remember the feeling in my heart when I entered the venue, the first song I heard playing on the speakers while the audiences, the fans, were still entering the venue and taking seats, was MBLAQ - One. I was so excited when I arrived at the Gold section's front row where two seats were booked for me, and my cousin who's also a fan that I took along with me because I had two free tickets. Here to get a view of how the venue was.

I couldn't sit calmly on my seat because I can't  help but being so hyper about the event that was about to start in minutes (it was delayed for 15 minutes), and then the fans started chanting "MBLAQ! MBLAQ! MBLAQ! MBLAQ! MBLAQ!" until the lights dimmed and we all just screamed our heart out.

The concert started with a VCR of MBLAQ fighting in the rain with other dudes, then the members' names displayed one by one. Only a second after, the ninja dancers jumped into the stage and starts their performance, followed by MBLAQ coming up slowly from under the stage.

MBLAQ - Run was the first song they performed. What a coincidence.

There will be no fan video made by me or my cousin uploaded anywhere because they were full of our dirty talks and unearthly screaming. But we got some pictures of them, I'll share some of them.

Disclaimer, these pics was uploaded on my old blog too, that watermark is mine. 

After waving goodbye and left the venue, we walked with our new friends who also won the free tickets like me, we met when we were claiming our tickets. She was also the lucky one who won the lottery to get the only platinum seat and backstage pass. Yes, out of 15 winners, one would get that by taking numbers when claiming tickets.

She took this pic and shared with us.

Anyway, the concert was a success one despite of not being sold out, but all the fans were happy, the boys also did their best, I lost my voice, and my cousin almost fought with a security for the bouquet of flower Seungho was holding when he performed. That flower wasn't given away but it was above a cabinet in the waiting room to the backstage where we were waiting for our friend meeting MBLAQ inside their room, my cousin wanted it as Seungho was her bias, but the security took it away. 😂

This cousin of mine, she's a fighter. I must tell you, she did jumped off the fence between gold section and ran to the front row of the platinum section, so that she could took clear pictures of the boys (the five pictures before the one above was taken by her), she was caught by a security member at that section but instead of backing away, she told the security to back off, and the security did. I didn't go with her because I'm too timid to jump off the fence.

That night was an unforgettable event for me.

Real Horror Stories of My Own Experiences (Episode 1)

The Beginning

This probably wasn't the first experience, but this is the furthest back I could remember. It was when our family just moved to Bogor, West Java, in 1995. I was only 6 years old, I shared bedroom with my 9 years old brother. The house we moved in to was rented for a small company before we take it over, the building belonged to my father's brother in law, it only have one level but was really big.

My brother and I used bedroom 2, only across our parents' bedroom. It was late at night, we were just trying to sleep, then I heard a female's voice calling softly but clearly, from the window, calling my brother's name, in repeating manner. I cried and peeking on my brother on his bed at the other side of the room, he was staring at me in horror. He suddenly got up and pulled me off the bed and we ran to our parent's room. When we cried and told them about what we heard, our mom said it was actually her and she was calling us to sleep with them. Well, it was a lie, we would know if it was her, we know our own mother's voice, but we got through the night by pretending that nothing happened. The truth was told to us when we moved back to Manado, North Sulawesi, in 1997. 

It is not a surprise for the place to be haunted, it was abandoned for some years before a company rented it, then it was left empty for about 5 months before we moved in. 

Not only that, across the street was a traditional market that only active in the morning, and there was also train rail there. Place like that here in the land of Java, means places for the ghosts.

We once hired a worker to help out mom cleaning up our house, she refused using the guest room at the very back of the building and prefer to sleep at the TV room using a type of futon. One night, she said she saw a middle-aged couple standing side by side on the opened front door, they were standing there for about an hour, she watched them in silence and just pretended to sleep, she thought it was mom and dad, so she won't disturb them. She was surprised and confused when she heard dad coughing from the bedroom, when she look back at the couple they were gone, she got up immediately, say a prayer from the door before locking it twice, and then went back to sleep. She couldn't sleep actually, she waits till morning and then tell my mom and dad, when my brother and I back from school, she had already left, resigned.

My aunt once came from Manado and stayed with us in this house for about a month, she used the guest room at the very back of the building, she said she saw some ghost appearances, but she wasn't really care. She's not scared at all, she used at haunted apartments before so ghost don't scare her anymore.

One of my uncles once stayed over and sleep at the TV area, he saw a man walking back and forth from the living room to the kitchen all night making him unable to sleep.

The house is now sold to other people and the building has been demolished.That house back then in Bogor was really haunted, a lot of things happened there when we lived there. But nothing was really serious, i think we were just living alongside with another beings there. But it was all just the beginning.

Where I Went

image creator Pink Pueblo (istockimage)

School is the place where we actually really enjoy our life, and by school i mean, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school. Of course we also burdened with home works and quizzes, the finals and other tiring activities, but if we think about it again, those experiences are the best experiences we had that will never happen again once we graduated and become adult.

Here i want to reminisce of all the schools i went to in the past, and if i could go back again to that time, i wouldn't mind.

elementary school (1994 - 2000)

I went to two different school in this period of time, first one was a year in Bogor, West Java, and the second one is in North Sulawesi where i graduated at. 

Budi Mulia bogor - screenshot from google streetview

The school itself located behind that main building. I decided to use the google maps version because it still looks exactly the same with the time when i went to this school. My brother and I went to this school for a year when our dad was working in the city, after that we all moved to Manado and continue our education there.

St. Antonius airmadidi - screenshot from google streetview

I couldn't find the old picture of this school, it was totally different than this google maps version. Back then, it was still the typical little town school with soiled yard, wooden building, no security post, there was even a huge tub to keep rain water. It was a traditional old building but full of memories. I remember the church in the middle was on a higher ground, not they made the ground leveled with the old church building and build a brand new building for the church. Too many changes. I feel like this wasn't the place where i spent 5 years of my childhood.

junior high school (2000 - 2003)

I was determined to go to a boarding school once i graduated elementary, it was a prestigious school. 

smp stella maris tomohon - screenshot from google

Here is the exact mapping for the school and its dormitories. 

school, dorm, monastery - google satellite view

I lived in St. Walterus Dorm for half a year, but i couldn't stay there longer. Too strict, i can't adapt with all the rules, especially because i can't even listen to music except on weekend with the maid radio at the lobby shared with all the other girls, i can't even bring any books other than school's printed one, i grew up reading various books while listening to music. My records at school was too low because of the stress, i can't concentrate while studying, i almost leave the school and move to another, but then my mom decided to get me a different dorm nearby which much more free and i can bring my 'music and books' and extra pillows.

tania's dorm - screenshot from google streetview

It is a lot different now, back when i stayed there, the main building was the one on the right. The upper level was the girls dorm, the lower one was the owner's place, and the boys dorm located at the back side of the building. It was fun living there, especially when you became the smartest student in the house, yes, that's me.

 high school (2003 - 2006)

Don bosco lembean - image taken from school's twitter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best time of our life is high school, well, not to everyone, but to most of us. This is the place where we learn complicated subjects, learn friendship, learn love, and take everything into our memories for life. Sometimes i wish i could go back to that time where I can hang out with my best friends, complaining about having to go to school when it's raining, or having to stay at school for extra activities, but it was all fun, i want to experience again even only in dreams. 

But yeah, life is not a fantasy drama, time doesn't roll back into the past and suddenly you can change the whole thing by re-living your life again. For all of you that miss school too, i'm with you. For all of you that is still in school, enjoy it to your heart extent.