my 25

Just few days ago I celebrated my twenty fifth birthday..woo I'm old, time flies maaaan. But anyway, I'm happy I made it till this age. I've been through a lot of lessons in life and I'm proud of the young lady I turned to in this very moment. Therefore, I cherish everything that happened, goods and bads.

At 12 sharp, my housemates came to my room and surprised me with a "birthday nachos and burrito". It was so exciting because normally we don't get together cause we all are busy with our own stuff. It's flattering that they made this small celebration for me.

I started my day by making resolutions. This is actually the best part. Rebuilding and adjusting dreams is always fun, I suppose. I have always been a dreamer, pretty much the thing I love about myself, (wow I sound so self-centered ehh..what to say, it was my birthday and it is my blog you're reading :p ). Then I took a shower, put on my make-ups, although I wasn't planning to do anything on that particular moment. Then did homework (sounds boring, but I'm still a student after all).

The fun part starts when one of my classmate, Lily, showed up at my flat and brought me presents, a tshirt that says "I LOVE COOKIES" and some cookies she baked. We talked a bit then we went to school for this event call "TGIF" where you can have free beer and free food (I don't drink beer, but the free onion rings really doesn't bother me) and on the way we took pictures of the last 'orange tree'.


At evening, my classmates, housemates, and Indonesians went to this one and only huge indoor mall in Massachusetts, Natick Mall. O yeah, I forgot to mention how happy I am to experience a birthday in the United States. They really appreciate the birthday person, they'll give you privilege to do whatever you request, like when we were still on the way to the mall, they gave me the radio remote to control whatever songs that will come up. Sounds simple, but its a big happy thingy for me.

So anyway, in Natick Mall we were suppose to play mini glow golf, but when we got there it was a bit disappointment, the place weren't as fun as I thought it would be. We went for shopping instead, which were a better deal. Then DINNER.

Unlike in Indonesia, here the birthday person does not pay for foods. Someone will pay it for you. Another thing I love about being the birthday girl. We ate, drank, and chat, such a nice night.

But it didn't actually ended in that point. We were still celebrating the birthday until the next day. We went to the cinema in Boston to watch "Breaking Dawn", walked and shopped around Boston Common, then ended up to have dinner in a really famous spot in Boston.



Another fun thing about my birthday is that since I'm in the US, which has 12 hour difference of timezone (compared to WIB), I got birthday wishes before the actual date here. So my birthday was completely extended. Also, my boyfriend send me a birthday card that came to me too early. I literally celebrate MY-DAY for too long..lol

Overall, I had a really nice birthday..

can't hardly wait for my next birthday! but waiiit..its the 26th?! oh man, ok ill wait. :D

Miley Cyrus - When I Look At You

I wish..

if only the sun is enough to shine up my soul

In search of housing

Salah satu persiapan yang harus diselesaikan sebelum berangkat ke AS adalah mencari apartemen. Awalnya langkah ini terdengar sulit karena kurangnya pengetahuan saya terhadap lingkungannya yang terletak on the other side of the world. Untungnya ada internet, semuanya jadi lebih mudah. Saya belum memutuskan untuk tinggal dimana, tapi sudah punya beberapa pilihan. Cara-cara yang ditempuh adalah:

1. craigslist.org
craigslist ini menjadi semacam iklan untuk masyarakat umum, disini kamu bisa mendapatkan penawaran apa saja. untuk pencarian apartemen, bisa memilih housing/apt, atau room share (yang jatuhnya lebih murah). Ketik juga wilayah yang dicari. Ada baiknya sebelumnya cari tahu dulu mau dimana tinggalnya, dipusat kota atau dekat dengan letak universitasnya. Saya sendiri akan tinggal di Waltham, salah satu daerah di Boston. Saya mengetik "Boston" dan mencari Waltham secara manual.

2. website resmi university housing
disini kamu bisa mencari rumah/apartemen yang dekat dengan kampus karena yang menawarkan adalah mahasiswa universitas tersebut yang sudah hampir selesai. Disini pilihannya jauh lebih baik karena harganya untuk mahasiswa which is cheaper.

3. google Permias
Permias atau Persatuan Mahasiswa di Amerika Serikat, seperti namanya merupakan perkumpulan orang-orang Indonesia yang tinggal di AS yang tentu saja akan senang membantu jika ada orang Indonesia yang ingin pindah kesana. Permias terletak di (hampir) setiap state. Saya membuka FB dan websitenya dan mengirm email ke beberapa anggotanya. Kita sisa memilih siapa yang kira-kira terlihat kurang sibuk dan bisa membantu.

4. Aminef memberikan alamat email seseorang yang juga adalah fulbrighter indonesia yang bersekolah di tempat yang sama
Ini merupakan cara yang paling mudah untuk mencari informasi mengenai lingkungan, cuaca, situasi, dan tentu saja tempat tinggal. Mungkin karena sesama fulbrighter jadi tidak pelit informasi. Dia bahkan ingin membantu untuk mencarikan tempat tinggal dan apapun yang saya butuhkan sebelum saya sampai disana.

meeting my teman kecil

ki-ka: rika, dian , neni, a girl from arab

the picture above was taken at my 8th birthday in a small town called starkville. i spend my childhood ther efor 4 years and met two siblings that became one of my bestfriends, rika and neni. i left that town, separated from both of them in 1994.

our friendship didnt stop there. we still write letters to each other through mail, walaupun rika dan neni pun kembali ke Indonesia dan ke kota asalnyam Bengkulu, especially me and rika. we send birthday cards as well. tapi sampai kita sudah beranjak abg, sekitar umur 13 belas tahun, surat-menyurat berhenti. maybe coz we met new friends and new activities and didnt have enough time to write those letters.

Facebook mempertemukan kita kembali. from therem i could finally see their image and how they grew up so well. we didnt chat to much anymore though.

now in 2011, we live in the same city, Jakarta, dan akhirnya bertemu kembali. kita janjian di salah satu mall. at first it was so awkward, we didnt know how or where to start the coversation. 2 jam pertama masih sangat kaku. we talked about one thing, then we slipped to another topic, damn awkward hahhaaa.

tapi akhirnya we mingled and got along. we spend one whole day together talking and having fun, we had ice cream, played in game station, ate sushi, then came to the apartement for awhile. there, they met my parents dan ngobrol ngolor ngidul. im really enthusiastic to meet them again, so we made arranged another meeting for ice skating! yeah, thats gonna be a lot of fun!

rika, dian, neni