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]

We're Not Cool Enough if There is None Jealous with Us

              Have you ever think or thought these questions, "Am I cool enough to be called as cool kids?" or "Why I can't be as cool as them?". Maybe those questions usually cross our mind. But, let's ponder upon these awhile, "What things that I already done to help myself to make us as a cool kids?" Is that enough? Or not yet? Always fail? Should I try again? Ugh, tired.

"Mistakes are proof that we are trying" -TheTeensRules

                What coolness look like that everyone can get jealous with? Cool thing that worthy of jealousy is something that we did with work hard, honesty, sincerity, kindness and simplicity. Usually, we see some people look so damn perfect. But, we must remember, that perfection is God's business and nobody is perfect. Cool thing that I told you here is how smart are we to make us looks perfect with everything that we have.

               

                When we looks cool enough in some people's eyes. It must be there are a lot of people who get amazed or jealous. So, don't be afraid if there is people who mock us with everything that we did, if we think it is good and didn't hurt nobody. Oftentimes we see something good or bad from the result but don't you remember the process that you have done? Maybe we forgot it because feeling of deep distress cause by disappointment. But, actually the process is really important to make us a better person and we looks cool enough. Yay. Looks  cool in our society never gone wrong as long as our purpose is good (not being arrogant because what we have). So don't worry to try, try and try.

                So, how to look cool in our circle? Should I bought some new luxurious stuff? Should I hangout with my friends to mall or cafe every day? Should I get dressed and wear some jewelries? No you shouldn't. Uhm, It's okay to do those things but, do so in moderation if you want. And you might try these things:

                1. Being thyself is important

                We know when we try to be thyself, there will be a lot of pressure from the outside and it's constantly developing. But it's really important for you to always be yourself from the inside out because when you know yourself deeply, you are more likely to experience a fulfilling and rewarding life. Without knowing yourself and establishing those boundaries, you can easily be pushed around and end up on a dirt path.

                2. Get update with the latest info

                Being "in the know" make us look up-to-date and being the center of everything. It'll be give us interesting things to talk about. Or maybe if we know everyone, we will know the latest drama but say nay to spread the rumors ;)

                3. Get update with the latest style and know yours

                Dress well and know your style. We don't need to buy a lot of dress every week. But, we can mix and match our clothes. Maybe we have some old clothes and we didn't realize it that we have a thousand ways to style it up. There are a lot of tutorial in Youtube which tell us how to do it well.

                4. Get out from your comfort zone

                "What holds us back in our zone of comfort is often a fear" -The Positivity Blog.


                 Get out from our comfort zone can bring us to our freedom from our boredom. How to get out from our comfort zone? Try to have a new acquaintance, make them your friend, take any chance, educate our self, try something new, face your fears, etc.

                5. Have your own good detail

                Even the tiniest of details about you can make some people jealous. Let's think about the tiniest thing that we can do. What about good handwriting? What about our good smell? People might remember us better.

                6. A big smile won't hurt

                Have you smile today? Smile is considered to be and expression of joy or happiness. Smiling increases the value of attraction. Some people might think that we are a lucky person. It's like we are so happy even we have so many deep secret. It's better to smile that depressed or losing faith.. Because if we stay in our comfort zone (sadness), it will not going to help us in overcoming the problem. Have a bright day!

                7. Avoid gossiping

                Is your face get more pretty if you mock another girls face? Is your score get higher if you tell them that they're stupid? No, honey! So just stop it.

                8. Being a master in your own interesting hobby 

                You know it's really cool to be you. Maybe you feel much more comfortable being a geek or nerd and  show them prove them that you can do it. You aren't just say that you can do some but you must to prove it. Isn't necessary to show them off, just down to earth and keep learning so you can be the best one.

                9. Read some

                I know how it feels when we know something much more better than our friends. We don't need their applause. It just feel awesome to be thyself if we know some and there'll be a lot of advantages if we know more about our world.

                10. Socialize with others

                Where are they come from, what kind of people are they, what is their tribe, we don't care of it. This is our world and we need to try to socialize with anybody. If you want more than acquaintance, don't forget to make sure that they're okay, they're a good person for you.

Hope you guys have a great day! Xoxo

Good Luck!