Netherlands Trip

the souvenir shop in Amsterdam

Back with me again, readers, how are you? As I promised before, I will start to share you guys about my adventure in Europe. And the first country I visit outside France waaaaas ……. Netherlands!!! Long before I had my residence permit, I said to myself that I will travel around Europe, visit new places, meet new people, try all the public transport, etc. Please do not blame me with all the cockiness, I was just extremely excited. Sooo, a day after I got my residence permit, I started my adventure.

the WTC in Beurs, Rotterdam

My consideration in choosing Netherlands was because I have some friends there. They study in Erasmus University, Rotterdam. I went there for 4 days, November 3 to November 7. For my trip there, I took the Eurolines bus from my city, Lille. When I bought the bus ticket, I was a bit confused about the picking point. In the bus website, the pick-up point was between the Lille Europe train station and Crowne Plaza Hotel, but when I checked using the google map thingy, I saw no sign for Eurolines pick-up point. Not any single sign. So I contacted my Korean friend, Doyun, and fortunately she was able to accompany me there, and voila, I saw it with my own eyes that there was no sign of Eurolines bus there. No wonder I got so confuse. My departure should be at 16.30 but wow, the bus arrived 15 minutes before and left 5 minutes before the schedule. The bus driver was so friendly and funny. He made several jokes during the trip. One and a half hour later, the bus stopped at Brussels, Belgium. We had 45 minutes to wandering around or getting some food. Some of the passengers got of at Brussels and only few of them continuing to Rotterdam.

At 21.00, I finally arrived at Rotterdam grand central station. Surprisingly, it was only me who got off there. The remaining passengers were going to Amsterdam. So after waiting for about 20 minutes, my friend Ahmad and Dewisya finally picked me up there. I spent my first night in Dewisya’s apartment. Dewisya lived with 3 Indonesian girls. They all study in the Erasmus University.

cubic house

The next day, I went to Erasmus University and guess what, I joined their class. Well, not the whole class, just the first 90 minutes, and after that, while waiting for my friends finishing their class, I did a quick tour around the university. In the afternoon, me and Dewisya went to have some lunch in the downtown. I ate the kapsalon, it was slices of chicken combined with French fries and some salads. After that, we went to the city hall, world trade center and cubic house. I also met my friends Ira and Metta from my home university. The good thing in Rotterdam (or even the whole Netherlands) was the existence of Indonesian restaurant everywhere, maybe it was because not only the Dutch ever occupied Indonesia for almost 3.5 century, but also the expansion of Indonesian students to Netherlands itself. Knowing my lack in Indonesian culinary during my stay in France, my friends took me to an Indonesian restaurant owned by Indonesian couple. For 10 euro I got rice with ayam rica, tumis kacang panjang, and telur balado. It was delicious and worth the price, although in Indonesia, you will have at least ten portions of those food in that price. Well, I spent my second night in Ira and Metta apartment. Their apartment is a bit further, but they have bigger apartment than Dewisya. I even got my own room J

me n Dewisya

The day after, they took me to Amsterdam!! Yaaay, the train ticket was only 16 euro for two was because one of my friends got the discount card, not baaaad at all. The trip was only 1 hour long. Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we split the group. Me and Nilam went to Sex Museums, and Amsterdam Shopping Street. Actually I wanted to go to Madame Tussaud, but the queue line was so long. In the evening we went to a book store (I forgot the name) which sold the book in very good deal, unfortunately I didn’t buy any of those books. And at night we returned to Rotterdam.

The third day, it was the Idhul Adha day. All the moslems throughout the world celebrate this day by sacrificing four legged animals such as cow, camel, goat, etc. in Rotterdam, since there was a lot of Indonesian people, me and my friends went to the small mosque there and found a lot of Indonesian family there. After doing the pray, we gathered in a one Indonesian house and having the lunch there. Oh how I miss my family at that time..

My last day in Rotterdam was tranquil. I went to a local supermarket to buy some snacks for my next trip to Cologne, Germany. I bought Dutch traditional food, stroopwafel. I was so glad meeting my friends in Rotterdam. The local people there were also so fluent in English. What I didn’t like there is the public transport. It was so expensive. For a single journey could cost us 4 Euro, meanwhile in Lille, the same amount of money can be used to purchase one day ticket. Ckckckckkc k. It was funny how I also miss Lille during my every trip outside France.

Well, that was my trip to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. I will be back very soon to tell my other trips. You have a nice weekend!! Ciaooo

re-greet :)

Dear readers, i’m back in Indonesia already. Finally after 5 months living in wonderland full of experiences and shocking moments, here I am again, in my hometown. I do have tons of stories to tell, since I amazingly made to visit 10 countries during my 5 months stay in Europe. So buckle up readers, the next posts will be exposing about my quick and delightful adventures. Yaaaaay!!!

Champion League, unforgettable moment

Yooo, what's up readers? Here i am, still in Lille, France, in the middle of freezing month. Currently , i am waiting for the snow now. Please do not simply blame me, i never see snow before. So, i am in the middle of dilemma now, between my curiosity in seeing snow and my ability to face the freezing temperature. Well, while waiting for the snow, i want to share something extremely cool that i experience in October.

So, in my university, SKEMA Business School, it has a lot of student clubs which provide the students many interesting activities, from the cooking club till the sport club thingy. I do not join in any of that clubs but if there was an event thrown by a club i mostly attend that event. One day, when i was opening my facebook, i saw the sport club posted in the exchange student group. They invited us, the exchange students, to join them to watch the Champion League live. The match was between Inter Milan and Lille Football Club which held in Lille. Wow, how would i resist that kind of opportunity? So, yeah, i just simply signed myself in.

The next thing i know that in the next day, i paid the ticket (which cost 50 Euro, that the cheapest one though) and wait for a week to see the match. Finally, that day came. I would not forget the date. 18 October 2010. We gathered first in the uni at 7 pm. There were like 20 of us, and there were only 3 girls including me. Since the stadium was quite far, we had to take the metro (subway). In our way to the stadium, there were a lot of football supporters inside the metro, started to sing the club anthem. I was so excited. Yeaaah, i was in the game mood at that time. The, after passed 6 metro stops, we got of at Pont de Bois metro station and walked for about 10 minutes, and here i was, in Stadium Lille Metropole, surrounded by thousand of Lille supporters. Aaaaargh, i couldn't stop smiling at that time.

After wait for about 15 minutes, we finally entered the stadium and waiting impatiently for the match begun. I got a seat behind the gate. Surprisingly, i sat next to my Indonesian buddy which i met during my flight from Jakarta to Paris. Wow, what a coincidence. We chatted, took tens of pictures and tadaaaaaaa, the two teams entered the stadium. Woooow, i never watch a football match live from the stadium and at that moment, i felt such that kind of feeling. It was beyond enthusiastic. Unexplainable :D

Well, i could not remember a lot about the game. But unfortunately, the host team, LOSC, lost 1-0 to the guest team. That was a bit sad. Since i watched the match with my local friends, i knew how frustrated they were during the match. There were some good opportunities wasted by the host team.

The match ended at 10.45pm, the Lille supporters were a bit dissatisfied, but at least their team only lost 1-0. Briefly, i was really happy that day. One of my dream to see Champion League live was finally come true. It was such a priceless experience that i will never regret. So, do you have any wonderful unforgettable moment? Go share with me!!!

Me, My Shoes, and Walking Culture

heey my dear readers, what you've been up to this far? here i am, still here in Lille, France. I will return to Indonesia next year. My return ticket there supposed to be in January, but i am thinking to extend my stay here. Well, in this occasion, i would like to share about the walking culture that i experience here, in Lille.

Since the first day i arrived here, i still can not fit with the walking culture possessed by the people here. They do love walking. In Indonesia, we are not a big fan of walking, we prefer to take the motorcycle or car to walk. Being raised in that circumstances make me face inevitable situation in Lille. The first day after i got off from the train, i had to walk a lot. I walked like two hour non-stop in total. Well maybe for you guys it wasn't a big deal, but for me, i never walk that much before. Soon after i reached my apartment, i took off my shoes and sunk in my bed.

My flatmates are from Colombia and Finland. Apparently, they both like walking as well. My first trip with them was quite embarrassing for me. I was almost always left behind. They walked too fast for me, and to make it more juicy, my feet were bruised and blistered everywhere. During the first month, i had a very deep relationship with the plaster in my feet.

As the time goes by, my situation were getting better. Although i haven't able to walk in the same speed like the native, at least my feet start to adapt my walking habit that i tried to build here, bud sadly, this rule did not apply with my shoes. Only two weeks after my arrival, i had to replace my old shoes. Yeaaah, they were broken, hahahha.. The new shoes that i bought hopefully will be able to survive longer than the old one.

Now, i found myself more tough in term of walking. With the flat shoes, i am capable to walk down the street, beach, park or anywhere for hours with less complain. But i feel that my only flat shoes are getting uncomfortable. Geeez, i truly need to invest on comfy shoes, otherwise the plaster invasion will be repeated :D

Enfiiin....

Dear readers, how are you? I am in France now. I can't tell you precisely how exited i am here. I've been dreaming to come here since i was in senior high school. The wait was seemed like forever, but it's worth the wait. Ok, let me share you about what i'm gonna do here in France.

Three months ago, I assigned for student exchange program in my hometown university, actually there were several choices about the exchange destination, such as Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Scotland. Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. I did not have hard time to choose which university cuz as i told you previously that France already haunted me for years :D

enfiiin....

After being occupied with all the administrative requirements and visa matter, i finally left Indonesia at September 4, 2011. Hmmm, it was stated that the flight would be about 15 hours, including two hours transit in Changi airport, Singapore, but unfortunately, there were some problems with the aircraft which made me stay longer in Changi. I made my touchdown in Charles de Gaulle airport at 11am and after i took a TGV to Lille.



Here, i don't live in Paris, but in Lille, located in the northern part of France. I remembered the first day i arrived here. I was so shocked with the weather. Oh please don't simply blame me. Will you expect the sunshine, rain and wind in a day? Yeaah, that was happened to me, hahahha. Well now i already learn that no matter how sunny outside, you never go wrong by prepare a scarf or umbrella in your bag before leaving your apartment.

Nathalia, Alejandra and me ^^

Talking about apartment, i share a flat with two girls. They were from Colombia and Finland. They were so nice and sweet. I do love them and my flat. Until now, i just can not believe my luck in getting this flat. It's located in the center of the city, i only need to walk (Gosh, please remind me that i have to tell you about the walking culture in Europe) for 10 minutes to get to my university, and the best part is that i got a very good price. You have to see the looks of my friends when they know about my flat :)

The rooms and the kitchen

Well, there are still a lot of things that i wanna share, literally. No worries, i'll be back in a jiffy :D Have a good day for you all...

Lots of love..

Dewy

Another love lesson

"I finally found the answer and realized that all my suspicion was proven true. Now you remain nothing but coward to me. I made you shine, but you were just too blind"


That was the first cross my mind when I realized all my suspicions. The lies on the small stuffs and the radical changing attitudes. I made you shine, my dear. I transformed your appearance, I upgraded your dignity, I led you to the social oblivion. But I guess you were just too blind to see.


I had no doubt that you just used me as the experience and wait until the right time for simply ditch me. And you did, my dear.


Too bad you did not notice that the D as the beginning of my name is stand from Detective. You won't get away from this my dear. You won't. Sigh, I guess I have to learn the hard way..

Dagelan Malam

Haloooooo, postingan kali ini ini gw mau nge-post pake bahasa. Bukannya kenapa-kenapa, tapi gw cuma ngga mau esensi lucu dari postingan gw ntar jadi berkurang *halah, ngaku aj blm jago bercerita in english.

Well, jadi gini niy, awal gw masuk s2 dulu, gw udah didoktrin dengan anggepan bahwa s2 itu lebih nyantai dari s1. Yang masuknya jarang lah, yang tugasnya sedikit lah, en de bla en de blaaaa. Nah, dasar gw orangnya ngga bisa diem, gw males aj dunkz klo misal kuliah sminggu 2 kali doank trus abis itu gw ngga ad kerjaan alamat gw bakalan mati bosen dilalerin ntar tuh. Sooo, jadilah gw cari-cari kerjaan yang ngga bakalan nyita banyak waktu gw dan bisa nambahin duit jajan. Gw pngen jadi part-timer teacher bahasa inggris, setelah gw jereng tuh koran, akhirnya gw nemuin tuh Realia English, tempat les yang pas bgt buat menuhin kriteria gw, jadwalnya fleksibel, atmosfirnya cozy pisan euy dan staff pengajarnya ramaaaaah bgt.

Ngajar dsana gw slalu kebagian kelas besar yang terdiri dari 6 orang. Nah salah satu kelas yg gw ajar adalah kelas 6 penyamun dari Teknik Perminyakan UPN. Oh yeaaaah, kelas penyamun aka cowok smuaaaa. Sempet bingung sbelum mau nerima niy kelas cuz takut ngga nyambung aj approach gw sama mereka. Hellooo, gw anak Manajemen dan mereka anak Teknik Minyak, errrrr, bagaikan air dengan minyak dah. Tapiii, keraguan gw berubah total. Mreka ngga seperti yang gw bayangkan. Hey, tenang aj, mreka tetep berwujud manusia normal laaah, tapi astagaaa, mereka kocak abis. Setiap kali masuk kelas ada aj guyonan yang sukses ngebikin gw ngakak dan terhibur dikit lah dari tugas-tugas kampus yang ternyata banyak bgt.

Jatah ngajar ini kelas cuma 14 kali pertemuan. Sbenernya dari satu bulan yang lalu, harusnya mereka udh masuk ke pertemuan terakhir alias pertemuan ke 14, tapiiiiii, ada aj alesan dan halangan yang ngebuat kelas terakhir gw bersama para jejaka itu ngga pernah kejadian. Kelas terakhir yang tak kunjung berakhir. *___*
Alesan-alesan klasik anak teknik pun mulai gw hapal dan diem-diem gw bikin list-nya loh *niat*

1. Praktikum
2. Kumpul laporan
3. Kelas malam
4. Ujian
5. Liburan
6. Kangen pacar x__x

Nah, alesan nomor satu itu lah yang paling sering mereka pake buat excuse. Minggu kemaren gw sempet rada bete sama mereka. Mereka bilang mau kelas terakhir jam 6 sore di hari Jumat (gw inget banget cuz pas niy hari ad royal wedding si Will-Kate di tipi, yang gw lewatiiiin - curcol). Dan karena gw pas itu lagi hectic bgt ngurusin seminar di kampus, gw minta mereka buat on time pas ujian dan mereka ngiyain pas gw bbm dan sms. Ya udah dunkz, gw tinggalin aj tuh gladi resik acara seminar gw jam 5 sore, saking buru-burunya gw sampai ngga sempet pamitan sama pacar yang jg ikutan ngurusin seminar. Ya udah, menjelang jam 6 sore gw udh duduk manis di Realia, kelas udah gw siapin, lampu sm kipas angin udh gw nyalain, tinggal nungguin murid-murid istimewa gw nongol aj tuh. Tapiiiii, menit demi menit berlalu *anjis bahasa gw* dan deru motor dan mobil mereka pun masi aj belum kedengeran. Gw liat jam, eh udah setengah 7 aj. Di Realia, klo murid ngga dateng lebih dari 30 menit tanpa pemberitahuan, guru boleh ninggalin muridnya loh. Tapi emang dasarnya gw masi berharap, gw tungguin lah mereka rada lamaan lagi. Jam 6 lewat 40, gw habis sabar, gw bbm mereka ngga dibales, ya udah dey gw balik ke kampus buat ngurusin seminar gw lagi. Selang 10 menit kemudian, hape sm BB gw mulai ribut, ternyata Realia sama murid gw pada ngontakin gw. Yaaa, gw udh kadung di jalan, mau balik males ah. Lagian gw kn ngga salah, gw udh ngikutin SOP 30 menit batas waktu telat. Biar mreka kapok juga ngebatal-batalin kelas mulu *pikir gw waktu itu, berapi-api banget yaaak.

Selasa kmaren ini, akhirnya kelas terakhir mereka jadi juga. Dimulai jam 7 malem. Dan mulai jam sgitu juga gw ngga berhenti ketawa. Jadi karena mereka ambil kelas conversation, maka ujian akhir mereka berupa presentasi gt dey, tipa orang dapet jatah 10-15 menit buat presentasi ditambah sesi tanya jawab.

Nah, murid gw yg pertama, Apry, doi presentasi ttg DRILLING HOLE *____* kbayang ngga siy gmana cengo nya muka gw waktu dngerin materi presentasi yang bener-bener ngga gw kuasai, kosakatanya pun ngga ad di gudang perbendaharaan gw. Makjaaaang. Apalagi pas doi mulai ngegambar bor di kertas. Kyaaaa, apa pula ituuuu *garuk2 tembok.

Presentasi yang kedua dari Daru, nah si Daru ini presentasi tentang AC Milan, darah Milanisti yang menggelegak membuat dia ngga bisa ninggalin Milan barang sejenak, sampai-sampai doi pake buat bahan presentasinya. Oke lah, gw lumayan muden, tapi pas sesi tanya jawab gw mulai kacau pas si Apry dan Siena mulai nanyain tentang sejarah AC Milan, hahahahaha..

Presenter yang ketiga itu namanya Ansi, bocah satu ini presentasi ttg The Role of Money, alias ttg duit-duit gitu dey, gmana sejarah uang, apa kegunaan uang, dan lalalala lainnya. Untung aj pas ngederin tuh presentasi mata ngga berubah jadi ijo.

Abis Ansi, terbitlah Ari. Doi presentasi ttg I-Phone aj dunkz. Serius. Instead of using paper and pictures, dia cukup ngeluarin hengponnya dan mulai utak-atik tuh hengpon di depan kita. Sempet tertarik juga siy sama I-Phone, abisnya aplikasinya jauuh lebih banyak dibanding BB. Tapi yaaa, gw lebih milih BB cuz klo I-Phone itu kan kudu touch-screen dan dasar jari gw jempol smua, stiap nyoba hape touch screen buat ngetik sms pasti salah-salah mulu. Errrr, si Ari sempet nunjukkin permainan seru, enemy apaan gt, jadi dia moto orang kn ya, trus tuh orang mukanya bisa dimacem2in, bisa didandanin kyk bandit gt dan kita serang-serang, tapi lewat hape doank siy. Ehehehehe. Seru jg yak, apalagi klo pas lagi bete, baik sm temen atopun sm pacar *malah curcol.

well, malam semakin larut, dan si Apry dan Ari mulai mnguap dengan gegap gempita, si Daru mulai sibuk ngliatin hapenya di bawah meja. Ngeliat gelagat bakalan dikacangin, gw akhirnya nyuruh Siena buat presentasi, secara tinggal dia doank yang belon presentasi. Nah, setelah terpekur beberapa saat, doi dengan bangganya bilang "tonight i will present about THE HISTORY OF UNGU BAND" ________________ *ceritanya hening lama. Kebisuan kita-kita pun dipecahkan dengan Siena yang dengan hapal presentasi mngenai Ungu Band favorit dia. Gw ngga habis pikir gmana Siena bs hapal album2 punya Ungu Band, dpake di soundtrack pelem apa aja, pokoknya hal-hal yang ngga gw duga sebelumnya dah.

Tibalah saat tanya jawab. Si Siena langsung dibombardir banyak pertanyaan dari temen-temennya, dari pertanyaan Apry yang bikin gw ngakak "Siapakah nama ayah dari vokalis Ungu?, Kalau kmu perempuan kmu mau nikah ngga sama Pasha?" sampai ke permintaan murid-murid gw dan ngga ktinggalan gw jg siy :D yang minta Siena buat nyanyi lagu Ungu buat menunjukkan legalitas dia sbagai fans berat Ungu, daaaaaaan si Siena MAU, dia bahkan milih sndiri lagunya. Soal gaya jangan ditanya, mirip bgt dah kyk Pasha yang asli. Lagu yang dinyanyikan pun ngga cuma satu, tapi dua skaligus. Kita yang liat doi nyanyi udh ngikik-ngikik geli gt dey. Gw bahkan hampir hilang kndali dan ketawa ngakak, tapi ya untungnya gw masi bisa nutupin pake tisu gt dey. Ehehehehe. Tapi bener loh itu lucu bgt, bgt, bgt.

Intinyaaaaa, gw seneng bgt Selasa kmaren. Ternyata mereka emang layak ditunggu. Murid-murid gw emang luar biasa, mereka berbakat menjadi penghibur dan pelawak. Kuliah mereka diTeknik Perminyakan telah membuat mereka menjadi sangat kocak luar biasa ;D
Luv you all, guuuuys..........................