It's A Secret, Please Tell Nobody #Friends

I thought making friends in another country is easy

I thought it will be the same

I thought they will recognize me that I'm a foreign exchange student

Exactly none of these is true.

Yes it is hard

Yes it is so different

Yes they just don't care at all

Okay, please tell nobody.

So, being a foreign exchange student is hard. Being everybody is hard. Nothing's easy if we are not get used to doing what we never do. We have our own problem because we are special. So, what should we do if we have these problems? Just give up. No, we must rise and shine.

Before those things happen in our life, we should remember to maintain our expectation. My seniors told us about expectation, expectation and expectation. Something that we think is impossible, they might be possible. And something that we think is possible, it might be impossible at all.

And I thought there will be no problem in my exchange year. Everything will be alright. It will be so easy to make a bunch of friends and I just need to go with the flow. I know it looks like the simple thing and unimportant thing. But, it is not.

It matters so much whether we have friends or being lonely.

Friends are the special person besides our family. They also can make our day. They are the only peeps that we can talk to if we can't reach our family.

Then, how to make friends if we know nobody in the school? Find any strangers at school.

Whoever they are, just talk to them, introduce yourself, tell to them that you are an exchange student or a new student or a freshman. The only way to have a bunch of friends is talking to a stranger. As long as you got some friends, you will feel more confidence and it will make your day. And a good day will boost your mood. Then you can do everything as good as you can do. And it will be easier for you to study at school.

If you are an exchange student we need more effort because the language might be so different and your new school has moving class system which is so different. So the first thing to do is just be brave to introduce yourself, tell them that you are an exchange student and maybe you need help just tell them. We can get some friends from every class that we attend. Sometimes they just don't understand what we say. It is okay, it's normal. As time as goes by, we will be more fluently than before.

Don't forget to tell every teacher that you are an exchange student, especially if your new school has moving class system so they will help you a lot. They can be interesting with your home country and so on.

Dawson High School Cafeteria

Then, I want to tell you what should we do if we are a new student, know nobody, our grade is junior which is in the middle, we need some friends in the same age and we need friends at cafeteria.

Ask their help.

Because everybody have their own spot with their besties. You know what, on my first and second day of school, I just choose random seat which is taken already and they were so quiet or talked a lot to their besties and didn't say a word to me. Pukpuk.

But finally, on the third day of school, I already know some friends in the each class. I have an English class before lunch time. Then I asked my friend to help me because I don't know where should I sit in the cafeteria. And finally, she let me to sit with them. And they are so good. Really good and I'm so happy. Finally.

Please tell nobody.

The point is, ask their help, if you already meet another junior which is click with you, ask their help, ask their spot, ask what time they have lunch and you are not lonely anymore.

Suerte!

Tag: How to make friends as an exchange student

Second Day of High School

I woke up earlier today and finally I got my bus. I was so sleepy so I just keep quite in the bus and it was dark outside. And the bus was late, she came at 6.33. But that was okay, I still have a couple of minutes to hangout in my school.


But, I went in the wrong class. I didn't know if I should go to the homeroom first. I thought the schedule is normal already so I went to the Statistics Class which is on the second floor. After my teacher gave the blue schedule to my friends and I just realize that I must go to the home run first and get my new schedule. But then I forgot what was the number of my home run class number. So I went back to the first floor and asked about that.




Tired. Yea of course. My home run is on the third floor and it was in the corner like really corner. And my teacher wrote "Absence" in my schedule but lucky me I got the young teacher so she didn't gave me a tardy.

And almost the teachers only told their stories but in Statistics AP, we got our homework already.

And for my Personal Fitness class, because we still bring no sports wear and any needed stuffs, so we have some time to hangout in the locker room and which is only for GYM.


Some of the class in the first level have a requirement like we should pay some money. As I knew they starts from $10 to $100. As I knew. I think it's for the costume or any other stuffs needed. But not all of them need money.

But still, the teacher told us to buy some school supplies. It is like a box of tissue, a pack of marker, a pack of color pencil, a pack of mechanic pencil, a 3 ring binder, fish food and any other stuff. I'll tell you later in my next post because I already bought some of my school supplies. Yay.

Ohya, today, it was rainy. And Texan said that it was a great weather. And I didn't bring any umbrella so yea, I was wet. But that's okay. I went in the right bus. Finally.

How Did I Survive: First Day of School

First of all, let me tell you that today is my first day of school. I woke up at 4.30 a.m. It was too early. I know that. That's why I went to sleep again. And then my next alarm rang, it was 5.00 a.m. And I don't know why I woke up at 6.04. I thought I already wake up.


Dang! Then I was in hurry. I took a shower and ate a banana and ran to the bust stop, it was 6.33 a.m. And the bus should be there at 6.28. And yea. I was late for my first school day. Lucky me my host dad wanna pick me up. And the school started at 7.15.

At school.

It was so hectic. There were a lot of people there. I can't breath. My first class is on the third floor. Actually it just my home run. And it was on the corner like really corner. Phew. And then my next class is outside the building and on the first floor. And then my next class is on the third floor again and second floor and so on.



So, it was really hectic. Because it was the first time I got the moving class stuffs. And I know nothing about Dawson HS. You can imagine it.

If you can.

So, everyday I have 7 classes and all of the teacher ask us to buy special school supplies. It's like there is a teacher wanna a binder with the big size and plain color, tissue, spiral book and any others book. Lucky me I still have some money to spend because I got some stipend for this exchange year. And the teachers gave us some papers, they are the class rules and something like agreement and need our parent's signature.

But the good thing is, even I have 7 classes everyday. I felt like my class wasn't boring because they only took 40 until 47 minutes each class but well I have 5 minutes to move from each class. We should be in hurry. Or maybe it just me because it was my first time to do this.

And then, lunch time in the fifth period! Finally. It took 31 minutes. And I bought kebab, small rice, cookies and chocolate milk. It was a big lunch. I know that, I'm starving. I only had banana and water in the morning. And so hectic. I got two more classes.

#TheGoodNewsIs
Almost all of the classes have no test. But they have weekly quiz and it is online, at least we can looking up the answers. And for the test, there is test in the end of the semester but it's only for Statistics  AP and US History classes.

And then, again, next mistake, I took the wrong bus. Thank you Ms Holley (Bus Driver).

The end.

What's wrong being nerd?

        Nerd, what is nerd? Maybe some of us already know what is nerd. Usually people who wear glasses and bring a lot of book around the hallway possibly indicated by a nerd. But, some of nerds get bullied. Why?

        Sure, we put down the "nerd" or "jock," daily, but the jock is limited on what he can do without that brain that the nerd works so hard on (or just happens to have extra skills with). So, really, there is nothing wrong with being a nerd, or a jock, as long as you add a little of that other life to your choice. The jocks who forget this need to look around them and understand that all this tech is the nerds craft, made by the jock who can work so hard. Who is better, is what it really is about. But, just like men and women, we need each other to survive. Most leaders are a mix, nerd and jock. Some are almost all nerd. But, all that muscle without the brain is overthrown by a weaker man (or woman).

        The greatest leaders of the world have been mentally strong as well as physically strong. Yin and Yang. Those for forget this, or mistakenly laugh at it, show that they have little understanding of the two sides that make up human beings. There is nothing wrong with being either, unless you hate and torture the other because you do not understand how life is balanced. Be yourself, accept it, and live a good life. Don't let another put you down, undermine you, or make you miserable by trying to run your life. Suerte!

School Starts on August 24th

Dawson High School, it will be my first public high school for this exchange year. It is in Texas, America. American school is so different from my home country; Indonesia. Here, we have so many courses and clubs. We can choose any of those as what we can and what we like to do.

And I took some classes and some of them are new for me. I must took English, science, mathematic and US History of course. Because I'm a student exchange so I must took those stuffs. But, well, I can choose three fun classes that I like to do. And for my courses, here we go:

English
Aquatic Science
Statistic AP
US History

Spanish
Fashion Designer
Personal Fitness
Entrepreneurship

Well, there are four of them because I asked my counselor to let me take four of them. She is really good. Because I really want those courses, so I only get personal fitness for one semester and then for the next semester it will be replace for entrepreneurship class. She said that I can change it if I feel uncomfortable or maybe to hard for two weeks.

Actually there are so many cool courses that I can choose like cross country, golf, cosmetology, year book, band, percussion, psychology and so on. But well, I will try to have some of them. And I think I don't really need Spanish class because in Indonesia I'm not going to use them anymore. Maybe I'll replace it with year book class or something else. And I think I'll try to join the DECA Club to encourage my entrepreneurship class. Yea, just let's see how everything is going.

And I wonder, why they won't let us choose what we like to do in my home country. Sometimes I think it's wasting our money and our time to do what we don't really like and get some bad scores, sleepless, take any other out of school courses, a lot of tasks and homework and any other stressful stuffs.

Maybe there are a lot of good stuffs here, a lot of new things, a lot of fun things to do. And now, let's think about it. Does rainbow or aurora goodness get any better than any colors? No, they are not. They are unique and unreplaceable. And it's like what I feel for my home country. Although I'm so far away from my sriwedari - Indonesia, Anak Bangsa  will come back home. And damn! I love Indonesia.

Nelva

Menapakkan Kaki di Tanah Amerigo Vespucci

Mungkin kalian semua berpikir apa yang saya maksud dengan Amerigo Vespucci. Yang saya maksud adalah Amerika.

Hari ini, tepat 17 Agustus 2015 berdasarkan waktu di America. Yang berarti hari ini merupakah hari dimana Indonesia memproklamasikan kemerdekaannya setelah dijajah oleh Belanda selama 300 tahun.

Tujuh puluh tahun sudah engkau berkibar. Tujuh puluh tahun sudah engkau merdeka.

Hari ini, detik ini, saya sebagai anak bangsa sedang menapakkan kaki di Tanah Amerika. Ratusan bahkan ribuan anak bangsa sedang merantau dan menapakkan kakinya, di berbagai belahan dunia, berjuang atas nama Indonesia Jaya.

Biarpun saya, pergi jauh, engkau tidak akan pernah hilang dari kalbuku.

Namun, tidak hanya mereka yang sedang merantau ke luar Indonesia. Bahkan, banyak dari mereka yang sedang berada di Tanah Air memperjuangkan harumnya nama Indonesia kita tercinta.

Kita semua, anak bangsa, melangkahkan perjalanannya masing-masing, berusaha sebaik mungkin, meraih cita kita setinggi mungkin dan tidak akan pernah berpaling.



Langkah Anak Bangsa di Tanah Amerika





Satu Nusa

Satu Bangsa

Satu Bahasa Kita

Tanah Air

Pasti Jaya

Untuk Selama-lamanya

Engkau Tanah Airku, yang tidak akan aku lupakan dan akan terkenang selama hidupku

Jangan pernah lupa untuk kembali ke Tanah Indonesia; Tanah Sriwedari

Farewell Party

Farewell Party merupakan puncak acara dari Orientasi Nasional ini. Semua anak bangsa pilihan menampilkan talentnya masing-masing secara bersamaan.

Langkah Anak Bangsa

Ya, itu kami. Bersama meraih satu cita yaitu perdamaian dunia.

Dalam 5 hari Orientasi, kami mempunyai waktu selama 20 jam untuk latihan Talent Show. Untungnya kami mempunyai kakak-kakak yang sangat sabar menghadapi kita untuk berlatih Talent Show sebagai penghujung acara Orientasi ini

Dan, voilà. Berikut beberapa foto hasil dari latihan kami yang dibimbing kakak-kakak tersayang yang juga dipersembahkan untuk kakak-kakak, tamu kehormatan dan family kita yang tercinta♥



Saya, pojok paling kiri pada gambar





Saya, berbaju kuning

Penampilan diadakan pada tanggal 8 malam yang ditampilkan di depan wali murid siswa AFS YES dan beberapa tamu kehormatan seperti Kedutaan Besar dan penyair yang terkenal yaitu Kak Taufik Ismail.




Kak Taufik Isma

Beliau memberikan berpatah-patah kata yang sangat puitis. Beliau menceritakan bagaimana beliau saat menjadi siswa pertukaran pelajar. Belum se-modern dan semudah jaman sekarang. Beliau berkata dulu beliau dan teman-temannya belum mengerti bagaimana menyalakan shower dan teknologi baru lainnya.

Beliau berkata bahwa beliau bersyukur dengan itu semua. Beliau berkata bahwa kata yang tepat terhadap semua yang kita dapatkan saat ini adalah bersyukur, karena bangga dan sombong bedanya sangatlah tipis.

Jadi, mulai sekarang kita harus sering-sering mengucapkan syukur kita kepada Tuhan. Coba sekarang kalian cek diri sendiri, apakah kalian sudah cukup memberikan banyak kebaikan dan berdoa? Meskipun belum, Tuhan tetap memberikan banyak rezeki kepadamu kan?

 Jadi berterima kasihlah sebanyak-banyaknya dan bersyukur terhadap apapun yang kita dapat. Dan ingat, jangan pernah melupakan proses yang kita lewati. Karena dengan mengingat proses, maka kita tidak akan pernah lupa untuk bersyukur.

*Jangan lupa untuk selalu cek post ini ya, karena akan ada foto lainnya yang sayang untuk kalian lewatkan



Terima Kasih Kawan

Hari berganti
Hati bergeming
Fajar telah terbit
Ku akan pergi

Cakrawala memanggil
Tubuh merinding
Semua terasa lirih
Meninggalkan semua ini

Hari ini; 03/08/15. Saya dan kedua teman saya pergi ke Jakarta untuk melaksanakan Orientasi Nasional sebagai sekuncup bekal untuk kami dalam menjalankan program. Program? Ya, kami siswa-siswi Pertukaran Pelajar AFS YES.

Rasa gundah, senang, sedih, bahagia, haru dan rindu bercampur menjadi satu membuat hari ini menjadi hari penuh emosi.

Ingin ku menangis, tapi salah rasanya di hari terakhir dalam setahun ini untuk mengakhiri hari bersama mereka dengan tangisan

Ingin ku tertawa, apakah benar aku tertawa dalam melepas genggaman yang selama ini selalu ada?

Di Bandara Juanda, teman-teman kelas saya dan beberapa teman osis saya datang untuk mengantarkan saya. Membawa rasa suka, haru & rindu. Yang pasti akan terbawa sampai negara tujuan dalam kurun waktu 365 hari lamanya dikurangi dua pasang bulan.

Terima kasih kawan, meskipun jumlah kalian hanya sedikit, tetapi itu sangat berarti. Bukan berarti ku tak bersyukur akan kehadiran kalian, tetapi bukankah 1000 kawan tetaplah terasa sedikit dan 1 musuh saja pasti terasa banyak.

Dan terima kasih juga untuk beberapa kawan yang mau datang ke rumah bahkan beberapa menit sebelum keberangkatan kalian sempatkan.

Terima kasih juga untuk yang mendukung kami melalui berbagai media yang saat ini sangat mudah terjangkau.

Terima kasih untuk kakak Chapter Surabaya yang sudah sabar membimbing kami. Berbagi suka & duka - canda & tawa.

Terima kasih atas satu jam bersamanya di bandara. Terima kasih atas segala kenangannya. Maaf ku tak pernah memberikan yang terbaik untuk kalian.

Maafkan bila ku tak pernah bisa menjadi teman baik seperti yang kalian bayangkan.

Cuman sedikit yang ku harapkan, tetaplah kompak. Saling menopang. Bersama meraih satu cita. Jaya bersama. Jangan pernah lupakan kawan lama.

Sekali lagi terima kasih.

Doc.

 

[Coming Soon]