Retrospective 2018

For me, 2018 has been... something

I wouldn't say that was the happiest or most successful year of my life so far as there were disappointments, incidents, and failures

But there were definitely a lot of things to be grateful of, some valuable lessons I've taken, and some of my dreams came true in 2018!

So I was thinking maybe 2018 is worth to recount here in my blog (pardon my simple English, it usually takes me ages to produce a well-written writing in English) so I can look back at 2018 in the far future and cekikikan melihat kepahitan hidup gue di masa lalu (I still do that to my 10-year-old posts here on my blog! haha)

My 2018 began here :

No, just kidding, I couldn't stand the crowd and cold so I was sleeping in my rented airbnb room when the calendar changed. Yeah, I was in the city I had dreamt to visit at the first day of 2018. It may sound childish or too mainstream to have such dream lol

Last semester of my master

Okay so as some of you might know, I was finishing my master degree in France during the first half of 2018. I already planned my 2018 onward back in 2017 when I chose my thesis topic. However, I had to rethink about that plan (and eventually changed it) after getting through a couple of #$%@)#^# stuffs during this time and I considered that as a failure since that exactly what I prayed so hard for back in 2017. Do I regret? No, I don't and I don't need to be forthright about that particular topic here but I'd say I had learnt a lot during this roller-coaster-like time (not necessarily about my thesis experience, though)

Some of my highlights during this period:

Unusually cold winter. It even snowed in April

Hiking by the sea

More hiking. It keeps my sanity

I paid a short surprise visit to my mom and sisters in Depok
 all the way from France. My mom's reaction was priceless

Celebrating France's victory in 2018 world cup

First time doing Eid Fitr prayer not in Alun-alun kota Sukabumi

Dreams achieved

I eventually got my master degree after 2 years of studying in Europe (my upmost thanks to European taxpayers). When I look back to 2 years ago, I made a hard decision to change my course of life by applying for this program and I'm really grateful for this. Apart from allowing me to achieve my dream to study abroad, it allowed me to become a better person (professionally and in general), to see the world and to meet tons of amazing people.

My parents and one of my sisters had a chance to attend my graduation ceremony in Belgium. We also visited 6 other European countries (I was the guide for the whole trip). Don't get me wrong, we're not rich. I know well how my parents saved money for this trip and I was struggling formulating an economical itinerary without sacrificing to much comfort for my parents. We didn't use taxi at all as European taxis are too expensive for ordinary Indonesians (we used mass public transport all the time), we booked our flight and hotel way in advance to get the best price, and we mostly visit free attractions (with some exceptions). I traveled a lot while being in Europe and I always wanted my family to experience the same :)

So after I officially graduated, I decided to go home and work in my home country rather than extending my visa to find work there. Not that I didn't want to work there, I was just thinking there're much more opportunities to work in the field that has to do with my degree in my home country. I didn't want my journey home to be an ordinary journey, so tried to check my another bucket list item:

I came to Europe from the east and I went back to Indonesia westward, so I technically did a round-the-world trip through the Atlantic, Mexico, the US, the Pacific, and eventually Asia albeit it involved only a few countries.

First time visiting Latin America ^^

A short trip to end my 2018

So what's for 2019?

I'm looking forward to starting my new job this January 2019. It's finally something strongly related to my degree (both my undergraduate and my master one). I know well how it feels to be a worthless piece of meat when my job has nothing to do with my degree and I'm not so into it. I'll just dedicate the whole 2019 to focus on my career, I guess

I'll try to spend less time in social media and do more writing on my blog as well as my quora account to develop some skills that writing can help to develop as well as to practice my language skill

Speaking of travel (you know I can be crazy when it comes to traveling), I visited 12 countries in 2018 (but only two new countries, though) which means way less than I did in 2017. By the way, I failed to reach my targeted number of countries visited in 2018. I guess I'm just too old and I've reached that age when I'm not as adventurous as when I was before. I'm not planning any trip for 2019 (not that I don't want to travel anymore, but I don't think it's possible due to my new job). But I'll definitely roam again somewhere (with whom? who knows) in 2020

Menjadi Pemandu Wisata di Eropa (part I)

Prolog

Akhir Agustus hingga awal September 2018 kemarin, orang tua saya dan salah satu adik saya sempat mengunjungi saya di Eropa ketika saya hampir selesai studi disana. Sebenarnya tujuan utamanya adalah menghadiri wisuda saya yang diselenggarakan akhir Agustus 2018 di Belgia, tapi sekalian tamasya, berhubung ayah dan adik saya belum pernah ke Eropa pada waktu itu. Saya juga sekalian istilahnya farewell trip berhubung setelah lulus dan pulang ke tanah air, belum tau kapan lagi bisa ke Eropa hehe.

Tiket

Rencanakan trip ini sudah dari jauh-jauh hari, berhubung WNI kalau ingin berkunjung ke Uni Eropa memerlukan visa dan banyak perintilan yang musti diurus untuk visa schengen. Salah satu syarat apply visa schengen adalah tiket pulang pergi. Kalau visa takut di-reject padahal sudah beli tiket, sebenarnya bisa diakali dengan membuat dummy booking. Tapi berhubung kami gak mau nunda-nunda beli tiket (keburu mahal) dan kami cukup optimis visa bakal dikabulkan, jadi memutuskan beli tiket as soon as ada yang murah. Mencari tiket untuk 3 orang (ibu, ayah, dan adik saya) sudah dilakukan sekitar 5 bulan sebelum perjalanan.

Nah, ini bagian yang agak tricky berhubung Eropa luas, sebelum beli tiket harus dipikirkan baik-baik mau masuk dan keluar dari negara mana. Nah untuk kasus kami, negara mana yang dikunjungi tergantung tiket yang murah nya bagaimana. Salah satu trik mencari tiket murah adalah cari tiket yang open jaw, dalam artian bukan tiket PP yang sesederhana PP dari kota A ke kota B. Tapi misalnya berangkat dari kota A ke B tapi pulangnya ke kota C ke A. Selain karena seringkali lebih murah, lebih hemat juga dari segi transport lokal karena di Eropa gak perlu balik lagi ke kota yang sama untuk flight pulang ke tanah airnya.

Kombinasi tiket termurah yang kami temukan yakni berangkatnya Jakarta-Wina dan pulangnya Paris-Jakarta menggunakan maskapai Thai Airways seharga kurang dari 10 juta pp per orangnya. Sebenarnya hitungan 'sangat murah' untuk tiket ke Eropa yaitu sekitar 6 juta pp. Tapi berhubung waktu trip kami hitungannya masih musim panas dan liburan dimana banyak turis yang bepergian (baik turis Eropa ke Asia Tenggara maupun turis Indonesia ke Eropa), harga segitu termasuk oke lah

Itinerary

Nah, setelah beli tiket, saatnya susun itinerary juga untuk keperluan visa. Sebenernya bisa aja asal bikin itinerary sementara buat apply visa terus pas eksekusi perjalanan itinerarynya gak sesuai. Tapi berhubung itinerary melibatkan transport lokal dan tiket transport selama di Eropa lebih baik dibeli jauh-jauh hari, kami mem-fixed-kan itinerary tidak lama setelah beli tiket. Negara-negara yang kami kunjungi selama 9 hari disana beserta alasannya:

1. Austria, Ceko, dan Slovakia

Karena tiket yang murah tiba di Wina/Vienna (ibukota Austria) dan saya ingin mereka juga kunjungi negara-negara bekas komunis dibalik tirai besi pada zamannya yang tidak jauh dari Wina, biar gak cuma negara-negara mainstream Eropa barat yang biasa dikunjungi turis Indonesia

2. Belgia

Ini sih berhubung wisudanya di kota Liege, Belgia. Jadi 2 malam di Belgia

3. Italia

Ibu saya ingin ke Italia (beliau udah pernah ke Eropa sebelumnya, tapi Italia belum), dan juga banyak tiket murah dari Belgia ke beberapa kota di Italia (Roma atau Milan)

4. Paris, Prancis

Walaupun agak mainstream, sayang donk ke Eropa gak ke Paris. Tiket pulangnya juga dari Paris, jadi kami rencanakan 3 malam di Paris. Oiya kami sengaja agak lama di Paris supaya apply visanya bisa visa Prancis (katanya untuk turis Indonesia, visa Prancis relatif lebih mudah walaupun gak semudah Belanda) sumber : https://travel.kompas.com/read/2016/04/07/150400127/Wisata.ke.Perancis.Aplikasi.Visa.bagi.Turis.Indonesia.Dipermudah

Untuk Belanda kami skip walaupun cukup populer dikalangan turis Indonesia, karena saya pribadi kurang tertarik dengan Amsterdam atau kincir Zaanse Schaans yang overrated (saya sendiri belum pernah kesana) dan ibu saya sebelumnya sudah pernah

Hari 1 : Kedatangan di Wina*

*numpang curhat dikit. bahasa Indonesianya Wina, bahasa Inggrisnya Vienna. Tapi saya suka gatel kalo ada orang Indonesia yang nyebut/nulis Vienna padahal lagi nulis/ngomong bahasa Indonesia. Wina cuma 4 huruf, ngapain buang energi untuk nulis 6 huruf?? lidah Indonesia juga memerlukan energi lebih untuk mengucapkan fonem V. Bahasa setempatnyapun Wien, bukan Vienna dan Austria bukan negara berbahasa Inggris. Jadi.. mari mengucap dan menulis Wina

Orang tua dan adik saya dijadwalkan tiba di bandara Wina tanggal 25 Agustus pukul 7 pagi sedangkan saya pada saat itu tinggal di Nancy, Prancis timur. Jadi tanggal 24 nya saya sudah harus enyah dari Nancy. Setelah packing, saya naik bus malam ke Wina dengan membawa 1 buah koper. Berhubung Nancy merupakan kota yang tidak terlalu besar, saya harus ke kota besar terdekat yakni Strasbourg untuk naik bus malam ke Wina. Rute busnya Paris ke Budapest, tapi melewati Strasbourg dan Wina.

Oiya selama di Strasbourg sambil nunggu bus sempat bingung ngapain, akhirnya melakukan 2 hal:

1. Bayar utang ke tukang kebab. Beberapa bulan sebelumnya waktu pulang ke tanah air lewat Strasbourg, sempat makan di toko kebab tapi ga bayar karena kartu saya tidak berfungsi, tidak nemu ATM yang dekat, dan buru-buru ngejar bus ke bandara. Jadi abangnya mengikhlaskan. Tapi saya gaenak dong berhutang, jadi mumpung di Strasbourg lagi bayar deh

2. Kalo liat di peta, Strasbourg deket banget sama Jerman (hanya dipisahkan sungai Rhein). Kebetulan dari Strasbourg naik tram lokal bisa ke kota Kehl di Jerman. Jadi saya iseng ke Jerman, tadinya ga ada niat ngapa2in, nginjek tanah Jerman aja abis tu balik lagi. Tapi sesampainya di Kehl, saya bisa lihat menara dan kubah masjid di balik stasiun. Padahal jarang lho di Eropa masjid berkubah dan berminaret sebagaimana masjid normal. Kalopun ada, biasanya agak jauh dari pusat kota. Sayapun sekalian sholat maghrib dan isya disana

Peta tram Strasbourg, di sebelah timur di sebrang sungai udah Jerman

Bus saya dijadwalkan tiba di terminal bus Wina pukul 8 pagi, tapi agak telat sekitar setengah jam nyampenya. Setibanya di Terminal bus Erdberg, saya langsung ke bandara menggunakan U-Bahn sambung dengan S-Bahn. Di sana ayah, ibu, dan adik saya sudah menunggu di depan McD. Langsung saja kami menuju stasiun Mitte untuk menaruh koper kami disana.

Oiya, yang saya suka dari kota-kota di Eropa (dan tidak bisa ditemukan di kota-kota di AS) adalah kemudahan menitipkan koper di stasiun. Jadi sangat memudahkan ketika ingin berkeliling kota namun tidak menginap di kota tersebut. Kebetulan kami menginapnya tidak di Wina, tapi di Bratislava, Slovakia yang hanya 1 jam perjalanan menggunakan kereta dari Wina.

Selepas menitipkan koper, destinasi pertama kami ialah istana Schonbrunn. Oiya, selama di Eropa kami selalu menggunakan transportasi massal umum memanfaatkan infrastruktur trasnportasi yang cukup bisa diandalkan (gak pake taksi apalagi sewa mobil)

Kebetulan kami tidak masuk ke istananya, hanya menjelajah tamannya saja. Pertama karena bayar lagi kalau mau masuk istana (tamannya saja gratis) dan kedua karena waktu kami tidak terlalu banyak

Destinasi kedua kami yaitu pusat kota Wina. Oiya, selama di Wina kami murni pakai transportasi umum publik, U-Bahn dan S-Bahn

Suasana pusat kotanya kurang lebih seperti ini (sumber: google)

Kami sempat mengalami scam yang tidak mengenakkan (mana ada scam yang enak). Ada beberapa orang Gypsy sok ramah berusaha ngasih-ngasih bunga, untuk kemudian minta duit dengan dalih kita beli bunga mereka. Kalo keukeuh gak mau bayar ntar dicubit (kayak saya)

Kami makan siang di sebuah restoran Turki yang masih di area pedestrian kota tua, sengaja karena saya ingin memperkenalkan ke keluarga saya kuliner turki yang cukup populer dan digandrungi di Eropa hehe

Setelah puas berkeliling di pusat kota, kami kembali ke stasiun Mitte untuk mengambil koper untuk kemudian melanjutkan perjalanan ke Bratislava, ibukota Slovakia, menggunakan kereta dari stasiun Central. Perjalanan ke Bratislava ditempuh hanya sekitar 1 jam. Sengaja ke apartemen yang kami sewa di Bratislavanya gak terlalu sore biar bisa sholat di sana dan bisa lebih lama istirahat, berhubung nyampe dari penerbangan jauh langsung jalan-jalan.

Kalo ditanya, ngapain ke Slovakia? 1. Karena gak jauh dari Wina dan penginapannya jauh lebih murah. 2. Biar gak melulu Eropa barat, sekali-kali Eropa yang agak 'kumuh' dikit bekas komunis. Oiya, karena perjalanan kami ke slovakia dari Austria menembus yang dulunya tirai besi (batas blok barat dan blok timur), terlihat sekali perbedaan mencolok antara Austria dan Slovakia. Stasiun Wina serba mewah dan futuristik sedangkan stasiun Bratislava lebih mirip terminal bus

Di depan tram Bratislava

Sampe apartemen langsung tepar hehe kebetulan apartemen yang kami sewa lumayan nyaman, bisa untuk berlima (kami berempat), kamar mandi, dapur, TV, dll semua lengkap. Btw, mbak2 yang punya apartemen ternyata wakil Slovakia di Miss Universe beberapa tahun lalu. Ybs gak bilang sih, tapi saya bisa tahu dr kontak yg diberikan.

Di Slovakia hanya semalam, dan sebagian besar dihabiskan untuk istirahat karena orang tua dan adik saya malam sebelumnya tidur di pesawat dan saya tidur di bus. Keesokan paginya kami ke stasiun untuk melanjutkan perjalanan kami ke Praha. Kereta kami jam 8 pagi dan sempat ada insiden ketika keluar apartemen. Kami memutuskan meninggalkan kunci di dalam apartemen dan ternyata untuk keluar gedungnya butuh kunci, walhasil kami sempat panik mana si Miss Slovakia ditelfon ga ngangkat2 (pagi2 baru pulang party mungkin, maklum minggu pagi). Untungnya ada penghuni lain yg keluar juga jadi kami terselamatkan dan kami berhasil mengejar kereta ke Praha

Hari 2 : Praha

Perjalanan dari Bratislava ke Praha sekitar 4 jam dan kebetulan seat kami di kereta yang berempat 1 meja jadi enak. Sampai stasiun Praha sekitar tengah hari dan kami langsung menitipkan koper, karena di Praha tidak berencana menginap. Setelah itu makan siang di suatu rumah makan timur tengah tidak jauh dari stasiun. Di dekat sana juga ada masjid, jadi sekalian shalat. Ada masjid di tengah kota dekat stasiun merupakan sesuatu yang jarang lho di Eropa, apalagi di Republik Ceko yang notabene bekas komunis.

Tempat-tempat yang kami kunjungi selama di Praha diantaranya:

Wenceslas Square

Market Square

Pinggir Sungai Vltava dekat Jembatan Charles

Kebetulan di kota ini kami banyak jalan, dari stasiun ke Wenceslas Square, ke Market Square, trus ke Jembatan Charles, balik lagi ke Market Square kami jalan kaki kebetulan karena kotanya indah jadi gak bikin capek kalo jalan kaki. Kami total cuma punya 6 jam di Praha, jadi setelah (tidak) puas menjelajah Praha, kami langsung menuju terminal bus untuk menaiki bus malam menuju Belgia

(BERSAMBUNG...)

How to Learn a Language Like a Kid Learns His/Her Native Language ::

I guess this is the very first post about a hopefully-useful tip in my blog, since most of my posts narrates about my experiences (which maybe considered not-so-interesting by some people)

well, I'm a language freak since I was in elementary school. I love to learn foreign languages and I use several common methods from cramming a grammar book to speaking with native speaker. Not only common methods but also some self-discovered methods. Actually I have no idea about whether someone out there has already used this method or not (most probably yes). But the important thing is that I find this method really works!

We all already know how we learn our native language when we were toddlers. We didn't study the grammar through the books, right? Instead, we learned grammar and all other aspects through repetitively practising with people around us (especially our parents and siblings), and then getting corrected right after we made mistake (if we made any). And the method I'll describe here is quite similar with how children learn their native language

so... How?

Supposed you're already familiar with language X which may be your native language (It doesn't matter if it's not as long as you can understand it well) and you wish to learn or practice language Y which is your target language. First thing you should do is to find a film/ episode of series which is available language X and language Y dub. So you'll have 2 videos of an exactly same film/episode but with different dubbing (in X and Y). For example, you already know English and you want to learn French and use this video for english


and this video for French 1. After downloading them (you can do streaming instead of downloading, but my suggestion is to download), open both videos at the same time with 2 different media players.

2. Play the X language version first just for 1 or 2 sentences, then pause for a while.

3. While the X language video is paused, try to guess how would the same character say the same thing in Y language. You can use dictionary or translator to get some help figuring out the word you haven't known yet

4. Try to pronounce your guess clearly (don't speak only in your mind, involve your lips, tongue, and vocal cords as well)

5. Play the Y language video to find out whether you are right or wrong about your guess you've just made. Stop before the video reaches the scene you haven't seen in X language video (so you can get immediate corrections if you make any mistake)

6. Replay the paused X language video to make another guess and so on

Yes I know perfectly this is such a time consuming and tiring effort. Once I've tried to finish up a movie whose duration of about two hours and this method lasts about 6 hours non-stop. But if you do this regularly (several times weekly for example) eventhough it's only couple of minutes for one try, I'm quite sure you'll start thinking in Y language in several months :)

I don't recommend this for those who are completely newbie in Y language. So, at least you have to know a number of words and expressions as well as basic grammar rules. But don't worry, this method will dramatically increase your vocabulary, your understanding about how grammar works, and even how to pronounce properly.

One advantage worth to note is that you'll also learn the X language. For example, I'm an Indonesian native speaker and I found this method beneficial for my english skill since it's really hard to find movie/series which available both in Indonesian and the Y language dub

#IBO2014

Hi folks! It's been a ridiculously long time since the last post. Well the point is that I promised a continuation of those posts (titled '2010-2011' yet even the story hasn't reach the end of 2010). But now, I find it's highly unlikely for me to continue writing about those years. Sorry guys, too less memories to write here(

Apparently another consciousness about how writing can improve your language skill brings me back here (yes, I'm talking about my rusty English)

The title stands for International Biology Olympiad, you can find more about it here. I took part on that event which held in Bali last month. No, not as young biology expert representing my country, but as a so-called volunteer instead :)

It was definitely one of best moments in my life, so I would be glad to share that experience in this blog. Here I'm going to write about my IBO 2014 experience in points of highlights instead of chronologically ordered narration as I used to write before

1.   So it all began ..

It started with my previous participation in such International Science Olympiad (IESO 2011) three years ago. It was a momentous event in my life (if not the most) for many reasons: first time going abroad, first time speaking in English a lot, first time getting an olympiad medal (as I told in previous post, the national stage turned out to be a 'zonk' failure for me hahah), meeting and interacting with many people from different countries, backgrounds of culture, and many many more.

I represented my country with other 3 fellow Indonesian students. So, 4 students are sent by each country and students of each country are guided by one student guide. We were guided throughout the event by a staff/volunteer named Francesca Bortoli. She was an awesome guide by the way, we Indonesians were lucky to be guided by her ^^ Taking part in the event, I could look how cool the duties of a student guide are. That's why I dreamed about being volunteer in such International Science Olympiad (ISO) someday.

Three years later, I found out that there would be an ISO going to be held in Bali which was IBO. And they said that an open recruitment for volunteers would be held. Calling back those unforgettable memories of IESO, I decided to apply when the registration began.

I was having an industrial internship in Prabumulih when the volunteer recruitment opened (and that internship was also one of best moments in my life), so I didn't do anything for registration until the registration was about to be closed :P I was required to fill the registration form and make introduction video about who I am and why I'm interested being a volunteer.

A couple of months later, they called me for an interview in Jakarta. And they announced the qualified volunteer sometime in May. I was lucky enough that my name was on the list.

2.    "This is Bali, dude!"

I flew to Bali at second of July and in fact, that was my first time flying to Bali. It actually was my third time visiting Bali which the previous visit happened just about 2 and half months before. Both previous visit was by bus+ferry.

The point is that it was such an honor for me that the organizer covers all of our expenses during our stay in Bali including the air travel ticket. Couldn't be more grateful for all of those ^^ actually when applying I thought that I had to cover the transportation to Bali by myself

We stayed at Aston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center where most of the event took place. Being lodged in such posh accommodation, I find myself really lucky. We really enjoyed our stay there and although some people had problems regarding the meal, I'd like to say that the days of my stay there are best days of my culinary life hahaha

My flight back home turned out to be an excitement because I flew back home with Airbus A330, a widebody aircraft. Basically It's unusual for an airline to deploy a widebody aircraft for a domestic route. But since it was holiday and Jakarta-Bali is one of the busiest routes, it's quite common for a Jakarta-Bali flyer to find himself in widebody aircraft. Although I was hoping a Boeing 777 It's sure an excitement for me aviation geek like me who never flies domestic flight with widebody before :P

Well, there's no such international event without any excursion to interesting places around the venue. So, we had some excursions to several highlights in Bali. We went to a beach in Nusa Dua, Uluwatu temple, and Bali Safari & Marine Park. Although I had been to Uluwatu before, still, those excursions were really memorable for me.

And here I want to thank the Organizer and our Ministry of Education to make all of these possible. You have my gratitude for letting me have this chance :)

3   Guiding pibes argentinos

As a country guide whose responsibilities are to take care and to guide 4 participants from one country throughout the event, the organizer assigned me to be a country guide of Argentina. I don't know how exactly they decide who had to guide which country but perhaps I was assigned to guide Argentinian teams because at the interview I said that I know Spanish.

Well I can understand Spanish pretty well, but not Argentinian Spanish.

As a pluricentric language, Spanish language has different geographical varieties. They generally can understand each other but the differences sometimes can be extreme. Argentinians are known to speak with frequently dropping some phonemes (especially intervocalic -d- and final -s) which allows them to speak very fast. They also speak with distinct intonation (which said to be more similar to Italian than European Spanish) and different pronunciation of letters than other Spanish dialects (for example: 'yo me llamo' = /sho me shamo/)

That's not all. They use lots of vocabularies that other Spanish speaking people from other part of this world can't understand. Some words are famous to be 'Argentinian'. For example, 'vos sos' is their way to say 'you are' instead of  regular Spanish 'tú eres'

No, it's not that I don't like that lovely accent. Instead, now Argentinian accent is my favourite Spanish accent. Because thanks to them, I found myself easier to speak Spanish with Argentinian pronunciation (although it's not easy to be understood) because it sounds seamless, smooth-flowing, and pleasant :)

I spoke to them (and the other way round) mostly in English since I know English better than Spanish and they speak excellent English (I guess they speak English better than me hahaha). Even some other country guides envied me for guiding a team who speaks good English while theirs maybe doesn't.

Besides their languages, It's quite interesting to be guide of a country which is located further from Bali than any other participating countries there. They had to transit in Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, and Singapore before arriving to Bali. phew

The event was coinciding with FIFA World Cup where Argentina made to final round. Me and some guides asked Argentinian and Belgian teams to go out to bar with us to watch Argentina vs Belgium match and the match ended up in Argentina's victory ^^ Really, it was such a priceless moment to watch international football match with guys from competing countries :) (photo to be added soon)

It's absolutely an awesome experience to be their guide. I really proud that they were one of friendliest teams (if not the friendliest itself) that they got 'merriest team' award. Two of them were awarded with bronze medals and one of them with honorable mention. It's also interesting to learn some Argentinian words from them which are different from Spanish I had learnt before such as colectivo (bus), celular (mobile phone), computadora (computer), remera (T-shirt), che (hey), piola (cool), chamuyero, boludo, pelotudo (jajaja), etc.

4.   "Bis satu!"

Our event involved mass transport since there were hundreds of participants and we had to move from one venue to another. So, we were divided into 10 buses which 1 bus consisted of students from 6 countries, their guides, and a senior guide which took responsibility of a bus

Me with Argentinian students were in bus one since the countries are divided into buses alphabetically. Other teams in bus 1 were Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Belgium. We had real fun while waiting our bus to arrive in our destinations. Some of us were singing, playing, having international chat, making fun of each other, etc. It's really fascinating to be in a bus that consisted of people from 4 different continents.

Another bis 1 guides are with Mela (Australia's, from UI as I am), Ifa (Armenia's, from ITB), Mitha (Belgium's, from UNUD), Duta (Azerbaijan's, from UNSOED), Lilie (Belarus', from UGM), and of course our senior guide Charles from UNPAD. I really enjoyed working with you guys! ^^

5.   Cultural Experience

Being involved in multinational event at which participated students and juries from 61 countries exposed me to an international atmosphere. It allows me to meet, to have a chat, selfies, souvenir exchange, etc with people from various countries. Really exciting even for me as an introverted person

I could finally see and heard in person things (well mostly linguistic things :P) that I learned only from internet before. Such as differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese are, how to write my name in Armenian letters, similarity of Azeri and Turkish language, lack of Russian proficiency among people from some Post-Soviet states, linguistic diversity of Belgium, typical food and beverage from many countries, talking about my favorite Brazilian band with a Brazilian, and many other things that some of them might be considered racist if I write here

Also I've proven what my friend said here http://iamaboundary.tumblr.com/post/34027001915/little-note-lidah-orang-indonesia-dan-bahasa-asing about flexibility of Indonesian tongue. Some Spanish, Polish, and Romanian native speakers said that my pronunciation of those languages is perfect (although I know it's actually not that perfect)


6.   Vy otkuda?

As a language freak, one of the most exciting things about IBO 2014 is that I could hear a lots of foreign languages spoken there. That event was held on summer holiday (well not really summer actually as my country doesn't have 4-season climate) and my target for that holiday was to learn Russian as much as I could. And of course, IBO 2014 was a huge opportunity for me to learn and practice that extremely difficult language as all of post Soviet countries took part.

I frequently heard Russian being spoken during that event, even at one point I heard announcement in Russian when we were Bali Safari theater. And almost every time I heard that language is being spoken by groups of student, I excitedly approach them and ask "vy otkuda?" (where are you from) and then introduce myself, and so on. Actually, having Asian physical appearance and being able to speak Russian at the same time is absolutely not a strange thing. As tens of millions of Central Asian people are Russian-speaking. I even had been mistaken for being from Kazakhstan.

One interesting thing is that there were 3 CIS countries in our bus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus) out of 6 countries total. In addition, there is a student (not from CIS country) who learns Russian in school. So counting me in, almost half of the bus population knows Russian. And I felt really grateful being there since that was a huge opportunity for me to learn & practice Russian.

In short, IBO 2014 had been ignited my passion to learn Russian. It gives me more perspective about how extremely important that language is, since it is spoken by hundreds of millions people from Mongolia in East Asia (although it's not post-Soviet state, almost all Mongolians learn Russian in school) to Estonia in North Europe. It made me realized how still poor my Russian is and there are still many things to learn and improve. Fortunately, some of them are keen on to teach me. Like when I had to go to Nusa Dua to pick up my delegations. I was in the same car with juries from Uzbekistan. They were really excited knowing that I know Russian and then kindly engaged me in Russian conversation. They corrected my speech every time I made mistake. Similarly with some students in my bus especially Belarusian girls (they give me completely new perspective about their country which dubbed as last dictatorship in Europe). They even visited my room and we had Russian learning session there. We still have online conversation thus far, which is a chance for me to practice that lovely language

2010-2011 part 4 ::

thereafter I lived my life as an ordinary 12th grader. Struggling together with others to reach our dreams. Some of us wanted to be doctors, engineers, and some other cool jobs. I was still not sure about where to study after graduated from highscool then. Occupied with jam nol, pemantapan, bimbel, TO, and so on. That was definitely one of the most mind-numbing time in my life.

One day in early october 2010, I just came back from school and randomly (I didn't know why) tried to find out who will participate in the national training camp by checking kemendiknas' website. It was like someone whispered me to do so. And I unexpectedly found my name there. I was really elated then and immediately tell my parents about that. I could see from their expression that they were confused about what happened as I had never been so hysterical before. well it turned out that I should know it before because I got a text from Ayip (my friend from Palimanan I told about before) that informed me such announcement but because my phone battery was dead so I didn't notice it until I checked my phone

Udah ah indonesia dulu deh ya. emang sih, sebelum pengumuman emang udah ngarep banget2an & kencengin doa biar dipanggil ke rahmatullah pelatnas. yah udah dijelasin lah di postingan sebelumnya kenapa ngarep banget pelatnas. Yak inilah screenshot plurk gw (baca dari kanan ke kiri) yg menggambarkan betapa ngarepnya gue akan panggilan pelatnas, pas tau2 dapet panggilannya, kalap banget

Yaudah deh, sebelum berangkat agak norak gitu gara2 bakal putus sekolah selama 1 bulan. Temen2 & guru2 juga banyak yg mayan kaget. Iyalah kelas 12 gitu walaupun sebulan tetep aja masa ditinggalin. Tapi emang guenya dari kapan tau pengen yaudah lah ya jadi rada gak peduli ketinggalan pelajaran/ulangan/materi/dsb 1 bulan.






Singkat kata, pertengahan Oktober 2010, berangkatlah gue ke Jogja naek bis bersama ayahanda tercinta (nganter doang abis itu ditinggal pulang). Ke hotel Cakra Kembang, Jalan Kaliurang, Jogja. Iya, hotel. Sebulan nginepnya di hotel.  Emang sih bukan hotel bintang 5 tapi tetep aja hotel gitu. Gak kebayang abis berapa duit negara buat penyelenggaraan pelatnas sekian bidang tiap taun (secara gw idup disana gratis). So, gw waktu itu musti serius, kalo maen-maen sama aja buang2 duit negara

Pas pertama banget nyampe, mulai ketemu anak2 lain (total 28 termasuk gw) dari berbagai provinsi dari aceh sampe gorontalo yg ikut OSN di Medan kemaren dan hampir semuanya sukses dapet medali sedangkan gw nggak. Minder? pastinja. Tapi justru menguntungkan buat gue secara pasti pada nganggap gw cuma tambahan penggembira doang jadi gak terlalu diperhitungkan sebagai saingan walhasil bisa gw bawa santai. Malem pertama diadain icebreaker gitu biar pada saling kenal & gak kaku.

Hotelnya gimana? emmhh maknyuss!! tiap makan ya makanan hotel prasmanan gitu 3 kali sehari, kasurnya empuk, kamarnya pake AC yg dinginnya nauju, ada tv kabel pula. Yah maklum gapunya AC di kamar & tv kabel jadi maaf kalo agak lebay ceritanya .___.oiya gw sekamar sama Luthfi yg udah gw ceritain di postingan2 sebelumnya. Oiya satu lagi persis nempel di depan hotel (bukan di sebrang) ada circle-K jadi enak mau beli kebutuhan sehari2, sedangkan persis di samping hotel ada tempat laundryan yg lumayan murah (iyalah secara Jogja gitu, enak apa2 gak mahal, gak kayak di Jakarta)

Dan kegiatan utama disana yg pasti adalah........ belajar!!! yap, dicekokin materi kebumian seharian dari jam 8 pagi ampe jam 5 sore sampe (merasa) goblok (iyadong, the more knowledge we gain, the more we realize how little we actually do know). Yang ngajar dosen2 hebat dari Teknik Geologi UGM. Sekaligus disana gw mulai belajar ngerasain bedanya diajar guru sama diajar dosen hehe mayan buat pemanasan sebelum kuliah

Kalo siang kan belajar, kalo malem ngapain? belajar juga. Yap, belajar juga, tapi agak fleksibel gak sama dosen kaya siang. Belajar bareng2 di ruangan yg sama dengan ruang kelas di siang harinya. Bareng peserta2 pelatnas lain, seringkali juga ada kakak2 asisten ngebantuin bisa ditanya2in kalo kitanya ada yg rada gak ngerti. Ini sebenarnya gak wajib tapi kami2 sangat didorong untuk belajar bareng2 malemnya di ruangan tsb. Pernah waktu itu gw ketauan gak ikut terus diomelin bapak2 dari diknasnya. Tapi kalo lagi malemnya lagi males ya di kamar aja, ntah itu belajar sendiri, tidur, atau nonton tv.

Beberapa kali kita juga kunjungan ke jurusan teknik geologi UGM, biasanya sih kalo ada jadwal belajar di laboratorium. Lab yg sering itu lab bahan galian. Lengkap banget deh itu lab. Ada sampel2 batuan, mineral (tapi diamondnya gak ada), sampe model2 kristal buat belajar kristalografi

(bersambung)

2010-2011 part 3 ::

Kalo dipikir agak sampah juga ya gue nyeritain panjang lebar tentang hidup gue yang penting juga nggak ini wkwkwkwk tapi kalo gak suka ya gausah baca, susah amat. Tujuan gue bukan mau publikasi, tapi buat dokumentasi, lucu aja ntar gw umur 80 sekian baca blog ini hahaha dan dipublish supaya.. ya siapa tau beguna, ada kek siapa gitu yang terinspirasi

Postingan terakhir ceritanya sampe memasuki lembah kesuraman alias kelas 12 yang ternyata gak suram-suram amat kok. Seru banget lah belajar sampe mampus bareng-bareng ngejar cita-cita. Oiya, waktu itu masih semacam galau mau kuliah dimana, dulu sih kepikirannya kalo gak teknik ya kedokteran.

Pas libur lebaran 1431H kalo gak salah (pas 2010 deh pokoknya), awal dari sesuatu yang besarpun dimulai (tsaaah) hahaha waktu itu pas mudik (biasa, tradisi keluarga mudik ke Sukabumi & Cilacap) dapet info ada 2 lomba tentang bidang yang waktu itu gue geluti di OSN, yang pertama ada pesta sains IPB sama satu lagi lomba cerdas cermat dalam rangka ulang tahun ke 65 Kementrian ESDM. Gue waktu itu mikir, "wajib nih ikut salah satunya itung-itung buat tebus kegagalan di OSN"

Libur lebaran selesai, berkubang lagi di lika-liku kehidupan tahun terakhir SMA. Waktu itu masih agak sibuk di MPK-OSIS, terutama siapin sidang umum LPJ. Trus suatu hari, gue dapet sms Ajang yang isinya tawaran ikut salah 1 lomba di paragraf sebelumnya, yang di kementrian ESDM. Sebenernya itu lomba ternyata gak bisa ngedaftarin diri. Itu lombanya tergantung hasil di OSN kebumian kemarin. Jadi tiap provinsi dari 33 provinsi diwakilin 3 orang yang merupakan 3 besar menurut hasil OSN di provinsinya masing-masing. Yaudah, intinya gue, Ajang, sama Ayip (anak smansa Palimanan yang OSN kemarin dapet bronze) ngewakilin Jawa Barat di lomba itu. Sempet kepikiran mundur juga minta diganttin yg lain mengingat hecticnya kehidupan sekolah waktu itu tapi ujung-ujungnya gue ikut juga

Venuenya di hotel Bidakara, hotel mewah di kawasan Pancoran sana (bener kan ya di Pancoran?). Ternyata Kementrian ngadain lomba ini gak tanggung-tanggung, sponsornyapun banyak dari perusahaan tambang/minyak multinasional. Dan pesertanya sebagian besar ya dia-dia lagi yang kemaren jadi pesaing di Medan. Banyak dari mereka yang di Medan kemaren udah dapet emas perak atau perunggu. Beberapa yang lain ya yang kurang beruntung kayak gue

Oiya, di rangkaian acara itu, Pertamina sebagai sponsor ngadain pelatihan penyuluh gas elpiji 3 kg. Kita-kita seluruh peserta ikut seminar seharian dididik segala sesuatu tentang gas elpiji 3 kg, yang dimana masih ada kesalahpahaman diantara masyarakat tentang hal tersebut. Gue punya sertifikat penyuluhnya loh. Jadi dengan kata lain pertamina udah ngasih lisensi ke gue dan yang lain jadi penyuluh tentang elpiji 3 kg hahaha

pelatihannya lumayan bikin ngantuk

Selain pelatihan elpiji, ada juga trip ke museum listrik & energi yang di taman mini. Ya mungkin terdengar biasa aja buat kita-kita yang dari Jawa, tapi gue bisa bayangin betapa senengnya mereka yang dari timur jauh berkesempatan kesana

Sistem lombanya adalah, jadi beberapa provinsi digabung jadi 5 region, yaitu Jawa, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, dan satu region lagi sisanya (Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Maluku). Nanti dipilih 10 orang dari tiap-tiap region ngewakilin regionnya masing-masing di babak kayak kuis gitu di tivi-tivi. Milih 10 orang itu gimana? pake tes tertulis yang diikuti 99 orang peserta.

Tibalah hari tes tertulis, tesnya 100 soal pilihan ganda. Bikin pusing mayan, secara sebelum tes dikasihtau kisi-kisinya luas banget cakupannya, eh soal yang keluar aneh-aneh. Ada tentang fisika listrik, mineralogi, kimia organik, sampe undang-undang tentang pertambangan & energi. Kebanyakan sih tentang tambang gitu (metalurgi banget deh). Untung gak kayak OSN yang pake sistem minus jadi lumayan santai ngerjainnya, santai dalam artian, kalo gak tau jawabannya ya ngasal aja, gausah digalauin hahahaha

Beberapa jam setelah tes diumumin 10 besar dari masing-masing region yang berhak membela regionnya di babak final. Jadi sebenernya di tes tertulis yang barusan, di region jawa ada 18 orang (3 orang dikali 6 provinsi) yang memperebutkan 10 kursi di final. Dan ternyata...

Nih kalo tulisan diatas gak keliatan: 3 46 Muhammad Reza Ardian SMAN 1 Depok 70


bersambung, udah malem. besok lagi ya dilanjutin

Okay, let's continue.. Pedazhji.. pechemu vdrug na angliskam? No, I mean, why suddenly this post turns into english post?? Well, I'm trying to practice my english and I do believe that writing is one of the most powerful way to enhance one's english skill. I'm sure that those who know me in real life know as well that my verbal skill sucks. but there's nothing wrong with trying to fix it, rite? In case there's something that will be 'garing' if delivered in english, I'll write it in bahasa anyway

I really didn't expect to be placed at big three, it was such a surprise. Moreover, not only placed 3rd at my region but also 3rd among all of the participants from all over Indonesia. Although it was some kind of lucky factor instead of my own capacity of mind, I was really satisfied and thankful to God

Then, we the top ten from each region, prepared for the final round. We didn't battle altogether in one time but rather we battle alternately four-by-four in each of subrounds. And we also make sure that each of us got its own turn :) and finally ...

Our region placed 1st among 5 regions :)

And in the evening, a closing ceremony was being held and each regions had to present some performance. Whilst other regions performed meaningful and truly cultural performance, we performed an absurd (in a positive way) show. It was a parody of music chart show like 'dahsyat' and we parodied the videoclips by ourselves. The last song which means place 1st on the chart (of course we made our own music chart, not the actual one) was Keong Racun and performed by Ana (from Jogja) and Ika (from Malang) as Sinta and Jojo. We successfully made everyone else there laughing. Really, I have no idea how to describe how funny it was :)


And finally we got into the awarding session. It can be described as 'Money Rain'. As I told you before, most of the sponsors are multinational oil & gas companies so no wonder if the amount of prize is kinda bombastic. As we were the winning region, we got more than other regions. We got it as big brown envelope full of pink rectangular pieces of paper depicting bung Karno & Bung Hatta. I think we could buy a cheap car with money that much.  And it was for one region so we had to share for 18 contestants from all over Java. As an addition, I got additional money for being placed 3rd at written test. It was really a wealthy night. And the next day, all of us were going home as millionaire. I got so much that my wallet cannot be folded

disclaimer: there's no any maksud sombong in this post. I'm describing how lucky I was, not how awesome I was

I really thank Kementrian ESDM. I was experiencing a luxurious (at least for me) life a-la hotel for about 4 days FOR FREE. For ordinary bocah udik like me, it was so momentous. And the most important thing is ...

It was such a fun and an awesome experience to work together with great, funny, asik, seru, & genius people like them. When we prepare the performance, or when we share the prize, it was such a precious moment. They also talked about the upcoming earth science training camp which apparently I wasn't able to participate. Yes, most of contestants from my region are medalist from OSN in Medan and they will take part in national training camp (pelatnas lah bahasa indonesianya) which will be held for months and is aiming to choose 4 persons to represent Indonesia in International Earth Science Olympiad in Italy, yes Italy, that European country

I was thinking that It'd be awesome to meet them again in training camp. But apparently that was the last time I see them. Anyway, I heard that some of nonmedalist also will be invited to take part in the pelatnas. Of course, I hope I'd be invited in that event though it's very unlikely.

I prayed hard to God so that I get pelatnas chance, not for Italy but for escaping me from tough 12th grader life at that time. Jenuh banget waktu itu banyak banget tugas, dan beban akademis lainnya

to be continued

Cape juga cuy nulis pake inggris

2010-2011 part 2 ::

ini postingan bagian kedua dari seri postingan 2010 - 2011

Lanjhooodt. Persiapan OSN waktu itu kebetulan bentrok sama kegiatan maba di SMA gw (bukan maba juga sih. di SMA maba disebutnya apaan sih? sisba?). Ngorlas lagi kayak taun sebelumnya [secara tampang gw amat sangat tidak mendukung untuk jadi sentra gituh 0:)]. Kali ini nama kelasnya scorpius, dan sambil ngorlas sering curi2 kesempatan buat belajar buat persiapan osn. Prestasi mereka juga membanggakan. Kelas terbaik atau apa gitu. & kompak bgt! Pokoknya bangga & seneng deh jadi panitia MOPD di taun itu.

 Bentuk tasnya tong sampah. Mayan dikira pemulung kalo berangkat sekolah apalagi yg berangkatnya transit dulu lewat terminal

Abis MOPD, ada pembinaan OSN yg ngadain pemda JaBar, cuma bentar. 3 hari dan belajar efektifnya cuma 1,5 hari. Disana ketemu sama delegasi osn kebumian lain dari Jawa Barat. Ada 5 orang termasuk gw: (dari kanan ke kiri)

1. Gw sendiri
2. Ayip : dari 1 Palimanan Cirebon tapi tinggal di Majalengka kalo gak salah. Sunda banget orangnya hehe trus dia taun sebelumnya udah ikut OSP
3. Pak Joko Wiratmo : Dosen dari Meteorologi ITB, beliau yg ngajarin kita2 ini meteorologi. Dan gw ada semacam rasa bersalah sama dosen ini. Gw TIDUR pas beliau lagi ngajar walhasil disuruh keluar cuci muka. Maaf ya pak~
4. Ajang : dari Cisarua, Bandung. Pinternya kebangetan, secara taun sebelumnya udah ikut OSN (sementara gw osk aja gak lolos T.T) Korea banget orangnya heheheh dan sekarang doi kuliah di SNU, yap, universitas terbaik di Negeri Gangnam sana
5. Endang : dari smansa Subang. Paling cantik diantara kita berlima (you don't say?)
6. Luthfi: dari smansa Cianjur. Teman senasib sama gw di OSN dan P******s nantinya hehe

Oiya, dari 5 orang itu, cuma gw doang yang yg gak bisa ngomong sunda. Padahal gw juga orang sunda & lahir di Sukabumi -__________- Bisa sih, tapi malah campur2 indo & gak bisa bedain mana lemes mana kasar


Tapi nih ya, pembinaannya itu sendiri kurang banget. Apalagi kalo dibandingin provinsi tetangga ononoh yg ampe 1 bulan. Kita waktu itu cuma belajar geologi, meteorologi (dimana gw sukses tidur), dan astronomi (waktu itu kelasnya digabung sama anak astronomi yg emang spesialis astro & levelnya jauh diatas kita, walhasil gak ngerti apa2 di kelas astro). Tapi disini gw bukannya mau nyalahin pemda iya gw tau pembinaan gituan mahal bayar dosennya akomodasinya dll. Lagian itu kan 2 taun lalu. Taun2 sekarang udah lumayan oke kok :))

1 Agustus 2010

Dateng pagi-pagi buta ke smansa buat ngejar flight pagi di Soetta. Jam 3an bareng wakil smansa laen di OSN (Kebumian: gw, Astronomi: Iqbal, Ekonomi: Dhika, Biologi: Sifa, Kimia: Lukman & Sendi). subuh di bandara trus berangkaaaaaat bareng wakil jabar yg laen yd dari bandung berangkat rame2 ke Soetta trus ke Mdan

Di pesawat, gw sama Lukman sempet diwawancara reporter khusus OSN loh wkwkwkw

Nyampe bandara Polonia sana apa yg terjadi sodara2?? Kita lapuk berjam2 nunggu bagasi kita yg gak nyampe2. Yaudahlah beberapa jam kemudian setelah makan, motokopi administrasi (potokopian termahal yg pernah gw temuin) dan bagasi nyampe (akhirnya). Kita berangkat ke hotel masing2 naek bis yg disediain panitia. Beda bidang beda hotel walhasil gw sebatang kara gak kenal siapa2 kecuali ya wakil kebumian dari Jabar yg laen yg 4 orang itu.

Hotelnya hotel tua tapi bagus sih, Dharma Deli Inn, letaknya di pusat kota Medan. Bidang laen kan dipencar2 hotelnya agak jauh (tapi bagus2 cing bintang 4 semua kayaknya kebumian doang yg bintang 3) jadi mereka perlu naek bis buat menuju venue utama di Lapangan Merdeka sementara kita anak2 kebumian tinggal nyebrang. Bayangin aja seratus lebih orang kalo nyebrang diteriakin suruh cepetan cepetan hahaha oiya gw sekamar sama William dari SMA Methodist 3 Medan. Trus makanannya enak2 iyalah secara hotel gitu

Trus, disana gw ketemu orang2 yg emang udah dewa kebumian yg juga jadi peserta (taun sebelumnya ikut OSN dan dapet medal dan ada yg ikut IESO juga) which means bakal saingan sama gw di kompetisi ini. Biasanya gw yg ngestalk mereka2 di fb trus disana ngeliat langsung orangnya. Rasanya minder2 gimanaa gitu. "Ooh ini yg namanya AO, yg taun ini ikut IESO". "Ooh itu yg namanya FTA, SAR, yg taun lalu udah dapet medali". "Ooh itu yg namanya AW, yg nyampe pelatnas 3". Pokoknya banyak bgt mereka2 yg udah dewa entah itu ikut OSN taun sebelumnya atau ikut OSP taun  sebelumnya. Sementara langkah gw musti terhenti di tingkat kota

Tanggal 2 agustusnya, pembukaan di lapangan merdeka. Satu kata: Neraka bocor. Asli panas banget nying! Trus upacara pembukaan kita2 disuguhi penampilan kesenian daerah Sumatera Utara gitu. Gw terpesona! serius. Makin bangga jadi bagian dari negeri yg kaya raya akan budaya ini hazeeek

Besoknya tes tertulis & praktek lab di SMAN 2 Medan yg lumayan deket bandara. 50 soal pg & 5 soal esai. Abis itu dilanjut tes peraga di laboratorium, Ngisi soal berdasarkan alat2 peraga geologi yg disediain (batu, mineral, replika patahan, kompas geologi, peta geologi, fosil, dan lain-lain) Waktu ngerjain tes tertulis sih, gw lumayan pede secara umum bisa & malah ampe yakin bakal dapet medali. Tapi setelah pada bahas, keyakinan gw dapet medali runtuh begitu saja. Banyak bgt jawaban gw yg ternyata salah! entah itu karna gak teliti atau ngasalnya keterlaluan. Yasudahlah kemudian pasrach

Besoknya tgl 4 Agustus, kita tes praktek lapangan kalo kemarennya kita tes praktek cuma di dalem ruangan. Yap, salah 1 yg bikin gw seneng jadi anak kebumian..... jalan-jalannya! kalo bidang laen mah paling banter ke bursa efek (dan sebelum tulisan ini dibenerin, gw nulisnya 'bursa eek' -__________-) atau kebun binatang. Ada dua spot praktek lapangan, yg pertama stasiun Meteorologi Sampali dan yg kedua PLTP di Gunung Sibayak. Nama PLTPnya apaaa gitu lupa pokoknya nama batak lucu2 gitu hehe pertama kita ke stasium meteorologi. Disuruh baca alat2 meteorologi, termometer ini-itu, pias champbell-stokes, dll. Trus ngerjain soal berdasarkan pengamatan kita (kalo gak salah waktu itu pake psychrometric chart) Lumayan seru soalnya itu pertama kalinya gue megang alat-alat begituan yg sebelumnya cuma gw pelajarin di buku2 jadi tau deh aslinya kayak gimana. Bisa nanya2 petugasnya juga

Di stasium meteorologi

Abis dari stasiun meteo, lanjut ke PLTP. Nah, ini yg seruuu bgt. At least menurut gw. Sepanjang perjalanan dari stasiun meteo ke PLTP, gw gak bisa tidur, bukan, bukan gara2 sebelah gw ngorok atau apa. Tapi pemandangan alamnya yg Subhanallah... keren bgt pemandangan pegunungan bukit barisan! trus pedesaan & rumah2 penduduknya juga lucu2. Keliatan bgt damai & keharmonisannya, TPA disebelah gereja, dll. Banyak gereja2 kecil kayak yg di pegunungan alpen yg sebelumnya gw cuma liat di tv/internet. Waktu itu, dalem hati gw "semoga taun depan gw berkesempatan ngeliat gereja kecil lucu2 di Alpen beneran". Nyampe daerah PLTUnya, pemandangannya gak kalah wah. Disana disuruh jawab soal ttg singkapan batuan piroklastik gitu trus ada juga soal ttg bentang alam sepanjang perjalanan & ttg PLTP secara umum. Kalo boleh jujur sih, di hari kedua ini gue agak ogah2an gara2 udah hopeless duluan gapapalah gak dapet medal yg penting berkesempatan jalan2 ke Medan

Di deket gunung Sibayak. Gw sendiri gak yakin foto diatas ada gwnya ato nggak -___-

Malemnya, gw dikabarin sama Endang berita berupa yg bagi gw cukup mengejutkan, ga perlu diceritain disinilah ntar jatohnya sombong ehehe intinya, setelah dapet berita itu, gw jadi nyesel gak serius ngerjain tesnya. Ntar kalo gw beneran gak dapet medal, mayan malu-maluin masa ********* ******* *** gak dapet medal walhasil guapun galaw (saking galaunya pake w)

Setelah 2 hari berkutat dengan tes yg lumayan meres otak, besoknya kita refreshing tamasya ke obyek wisata namanya pantai cermin. Semacam ancolnya medan gitu. Kayaknya sih waktu itu obyek wisata itu masih baru dibuka gitu. Yg tamasya ke sana gak cuma bidang kebumian doang, semua bidang (astronomi, matematik, fisika, biologi, ekonomi, komputer, kimia) juga. Yaudahlah gw ngumpul sama anak2 smansa yg laen secara udah berhari-hari gak ketemu hehehe

Laskar OSN dari Smansa minus sifa

 'Mahakarya' kita. Entah itu apaan -____-

Malemnya, judul acaranya sih makan malem bareng gubernur Sumut. Ada performance dari Radja. Iya, yg Ian Kasela itu. Selain Radja juga ada beberapa guest star laen yg gak gw inget. Jadi kayak konser gitu, pada tereak2 nyanyi2 kalap ngelepas penat abis tes. intinya sih, buat hiburan sebelum Judgement day besoknya hehehe

Oiya, hari itu ibu gw dateng jauh2 dari depok, bareng sama 2 guru smansa (Bu Siro & Bu Eka). Emang beliau suka jalan-jalan & kebetulan belum pernah ke Medan juga.

yaudah skip aja ya langsung ke kepulangan. intinya gw gak dapet medali hahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahacukup mayan sedih waktu itu, perjuangan gw harus berhenti sampe medan, gak bisa ikut pelatnas (fyi, pelatnas disini itu semacam training camp berbulan2 buat milih tim wakil indonesia ke itali) apalagi waktu itu ibu gw hadir langsung di pengumumannya, beliau sedih bgt, sedih karena tau gw pasti kecewa berat bukan sedih karena kegagalan gw. tapi gw sendiri sih berusaha liat sisi positifnya aja, kapan lagi jalan2 ke medan grats hehehe:) lagipula dari smansa yg waktu itu kurang beruntung gak dapet medali gak cuma gw, ada beberapa yg lain, jadi ya gak terlalu malu lah

Tapi ada perasaan gimanaaa gitu ngeliat banyak yg lain dapet medali & meluapkan kegembiraannya dengan cara masing2, termasuk 2 rekan seprovinsi gw. yak, dari 5 wakil Jabar yang beruntung di OSN kali itu cuma 2 orang, termasuk Ajang yang nyumbang emas buat Jawa Barat (wuih)

Besoknya, kita kontingen smansa (plus beberapa tambahan) jalan-jalan mengeksplor kota Medan sekalian beli oleh2 juga

@Istana Maimun

Yaudah langsung skip ke pulang ya,
dalam keadaan sedih gara-gara pulang dengan leher hampa gak dapet medal

Pas sampe Soetta. Yang gigit medali emas itu Lukman, dari bidang kimia, kebanggaan smansa

Kebetulan ibu gue yang sekalian pelesir satu flight sama gue, jadi pulang ke Depok dari bandara bareng-bareng

Bersyukur banget dengan apa yang udah gue alami selama di Medan. Pertama kalinya ke Sumatra, dapet banyak temen-temen hebat dari seluruh penjuru Indonesia, kesempatan ngeliat eloknya alam Tano Batak, nginep di hotel gratis, naik pesawat gratis, dan banyak bgt deh agak susah diungkapin pake kata-kata :)

Kembali lagi ke Depok means back to reality sebagai anak kelas 12. siap-siap menghadapi TO ini-itu, ulangan, pemantapan dll. Minggu-minggu setelah OSN ini emang lumayan berat bagi gue waktu itu, inget banget sekian ulangan pertama gue gak ada yg gak remed. Apalagi waktu itu kalo gak salah Biologi sempet dapet 32. Tapi yah begitulah, bukan kelas 12 namanya kalo gak ada pahit-getir perjuangan

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