farewell bracelet!

after 6 month unfortunately i have to say goodbye to my lovely ISWI bracelets. after a couple of nights i smelled something weird and one night i figured that it was came from my bracelet. i guess wanting to keep this in my arm for 2 years is a little bit unrealistic :(

see you later!

every story has its ending. soo.. the day unfortunately came, the closing ceremony.

the closing ceremony was sooo.. fun! we sing along 'Imagine' song, and we dance a funny number made by (i forgot which group. hehe,) it was a perfect occasion in the perfect evening. well, not all actually because my group, the photography group presentation wasn't good. god! it was a disaster! we were put all our best pictures and they present it with lack of color and everything was cropped up. even though we kinda pissed about it, but we made it up by putting the actual video on Facebook so everybody could see it.

the last night we were together, what else we would do besides taking pictures? haha! it was fun, no melancholy feeling between us, just hugs and laughs. i wish i could see them again someday. amiin! :)

"see you later doesn't mean goodbye"

The Medieval Festival

i don't need to describe the event, the pictures says it all ;)

us and Weimar

at the Thuringen experience day, i chose Weimar city (recommended by my hosts too). the city was beautiful and so were the weather. it wasn't as cold as when i arrived in Ilmenau. but the tour (with a non-English spoken guide tour), i'm sorry to say, it was a little bit boring. maybe because literature wasn't my thing. but i really love Goethe summer house. it has a gorgeous garden and i took lots of pictures there. the buildings were old and beautiful. and i got two ethnic books from the local stand. she sold many ethnic things including scarf, bags, etc. but those two books caught my attention immediately because it has leather cover with elephant and camel in it, tied up with some rope. and she was really nice. i got them for 20 euros that was actually 15 euros each. :) 

oh! by the way, there were so many books in here (i'm addicted to books) and i really wanted to buy them. unfortunately they were all in Germany. too bad.

almost 'Indonesian' food

one fine evening, we (indonesian delegates) decided to made some indonesian food in Raja and Mia's host house. before cooking, of course we have to buy some ingredients. i forgot how, but we split up. me, Zeva, Inay and some other guys didn't know where Liedl (am i writing it right?) is. so we have to walked a bit far to find it. but we actually didn't mind 'cause we took some pictures (of course ;p) along the way and the sky was gorgeous! it was a really good weather. once we find Liedl and the rest of them, we split up again 'cause the house wasn't that big. so some of us went to the open air concert (me) and some of us cooked.

 

 what we didn't know, that the house was soooooooo far away! it was like from a station to another station! maybe we walked for a mile? i don't know. and the room was on the top floor so we had to climb on a thousand stairs ('cause unfortunately there were no elevator). and when we got to the room, there were nasi goreng and bakwan jagung. i looked so yummy! but when i tasted it.. tet tot! it was weird! the nasi goreng didn't have much flavor. i could only taste garlic and salt, and the bakwan jagung were really salty. but aside of that, we ate all of them. maybe 'cause we were really hungry after the walking and climbing to get to the apartment. haha! but actually it didn't matter whether the food taste bad or the apartment was so far away, the only thing that matter is we were all there that night. eating, talking, laughing together. :)

and surprisingly, those two boys volunteered for washing all the dishes. :D

crossing bo(a)rders

so here are the pictures of the events. i don't have anything else to say than "i had so much fun!" :D
PS : got a new rules of playing UNO from Vinicius. he's from Brazil (and i think that's where the word UNO is from. haha!)

Photography group

we are the coolest group in ISWI 2011. haha! we're adventurous (we actually hike to Kickelhahn to get some landscape pictures), we like to eat (everyday we had 2 or 3 packs of cookies), and we're good looking. okay, i'm joking for the last part. or not? ;p

the photography group includes :

Stefi and Patricia as our amazing group leader with bright orange t's

Mystic Marwa from Egypt

Mmmm.. Marija from Serbia

Lucky Lily from Bulgaria

Lovely Lucas from Germany (was a group leader in ISWI 2009)

Tremendous Tomo from Croatia

Bubbly Barbi from The Phillipine

Big M, Kuat, Jamila, Kira and Katea, Vit, Viktoria and of course, meee! :D

miss them a lot!

big international event, small city

it was 10:30 in the morning with 8 degrees of temperature and i wore the west borneo traditional costumes with only short sleeves and sandal! i couldn't feel my hand, hell! we were all felt that. haha! when we practiced saman dance, our hand were so cold that every time we clapped it together, it hurts! but it didn't stop us to made a great performance. :D

for one day, i felt like a celebrity because so many people wanted to take a picture with me and all the Indonesian delegates. i blame our colorful traditional costumes. ;p and our stand was a hit! they love the food even though some people run to other stand to get a drink 'cause the food is too spicy for them.

after having so much fun at the International brunch, the Indonesian delegates had more fun afterwards, taking lots of pictures in the old Ilmenau station after load up by eating Turkish food. :9

 as they said, practice makes perfect. so the night before International Brunch, the Indonesian delegates had saman and singing practices until 2 am! (we're really dedicated, aren't we? ;p) since me and Raja knows saman, we were the one that tought them. the funny thing is, we practiced downstairs at the mensa while upstairs they were having a party. it was like we made our own party and everybody's watching. haha! i kinda like the attention though. hehe,

first day in Ilmenau :D

i arrived at Ilmenau maybe at 4.30ish (i kinda forgot) with a new friend (yay!), named Guillermo from Argentina. we met at the train going to Erfurt. from there to Ilmenau, we practically became travel buddy. haha! he's so nice and has a really cute face and on the Erfurt station, we met another ISWI friend who also came from Argentina. 

the view from Erfurt to Ilmenau was so nice, there was yellow field and mountain everywhere with some old castle here and there. when we arrived at Ilmenau, there were already a few people and host. some girl said they were host and still need two more girls to go with them. immediately i volunteer with a girl from Poland, Marta and a girl from Sweden, Natasha (which became my roommate for 10 days. :))

i actually had 9 host! they are Kerstin, Christina, Jan, Susi, Alex and i forgot the rest. hehe, they were all so nice and hospitable and understanding. the first night we spend the night together, they were drinking alcohol and i immediately told them that i'm a moslem and i couldn't drink those. and Alex brought me a fresh drinking water. haha! so sweet. not only the host, but i also fall in love with the house! too bad i didn't have a picture of it. it was really cozy with movie posters everywhere, really cool balcony and an eco-lamp that could track your movement. i knew from then on that i will miss them very much when ISWI 2011 is over.

eurail, europe train and stupidity

akhirnyaaa.. setelah 4 hari jalan2 di holland, gw cao ke Ilmenau via Frankfurt dan Erfurt. yap! gw naik kereta instead of taking the plane. emang enakan naik kereta sih, soalnya bisa ngeliat pemandangan yang bagus banget kayak ladang bunga kuning (since i was there at spring).

my tips, kalo mo naik kereta di eropa, apalagi lo mo keliling2 eropa sampe mabok, BELI EURAIL PASS. kalo beli itu sangat2 enak. cuman tinggal naik kereta, sodorin tiket, tiketnya dicap, udah deh tinggal duduk manis. ngomong2 tentang duduk manis, pertama kali gw naik kereta gw kagak ada tuh yg namanya duduk manis. bukan salah tiketnya, tapi salah gw karena gw gatau kursi mana yg udh di reserved dan mana yg enggak. soo.. pertama gw udh duduk nih di kursi pertama di 2nd class. gw udh sempet tidur dan udh ngelewatin beberapa stasiun. pas nyampe si suatu stasiun, ada org yg bilang kalo kursi yg gw dudukin ternyata dia udh reserve. yowes lah gw pindah dgn membawa2 koper gw yg super berat. gw menemukan gerbong yg lumayan sepi dan duduklah gw di kursi kedua. setelah gw sempet nyemil2 dan tidur (lagi), ada yg minta liat tiket padahal tiket gw udh dicap. trus dia ngasih tau gw kalo gerbing itu 1st class sedangkan tiket gw buat 2nd class. daaaar!! untungnya gw dikasih tau pas tinggal satu stasiun lagi ke Frankfurt. yaudahlah karena gw udh males nyari bangku kosong lagi, gw duduk di lantai. #nasiborgkagaktaunaikkeretaeropa
ps : sampe skrg pun gw ga ngerti mana yg udh ke reserved mana yg kagak. beware aja sama tulisan bahn-confort. alhamdulillah kalo lo ngerti bahasa jerman. ;)

oya, eurail pass ini ada beberapa macem. tergantung lo mo ke negara mana. karena gw ke amsterdam sama german only, jadi gw cuman beli benelux-germany pass. eurail ticket ini bisa lo beli di travel agent manapun. mending minta urusin mereka daripada ngurus sendiri krn mereka sangat ngerti mana yg paling baik buat kita. namanya juga travel agent.

pembuatan visa

bukannya gw mo sok tau ato gmna, mumpung gw udah ngalamin sendiri, jadi gw cuman pengen bagi2 pengalaman dan ilmu (ciah!) aja. oke?

well.. karena tujuan gw jerman, so pasti gw ngajuin pembuatan visanya di kedubes jerman. kalo pada gatau itu dimana, itu deket banget sama bunderan HI dan depan2an sama Harvey Nichols. mereka buka dari jam 7 pagi, ga ada tulisan kedubes jerman gede2, so lo harus cermat ngeliat kalo ga lo bakal muter2. untuk ngajuin visa, you have to prepare :
1. visa application form yang diisi lengkap (kalo enggak bakal dicoret pake spidol merah dengan seenak jidatnya sama mereka)
2. paspor asli (krn bakal ditahan sama mereka sampe visa keluar dan mereka ga butuh fotokopiannya)
3. asuransi perjalanan (dgn materai 6000)
4. bukti bookingan tiket pesawat
5. official invitation letter dari ISWI (fotokopian)
6. kalo mo extend, harus ada bukti bookingan hotel. kalo mau nginep dirumah temen ato sodara, harus ada invitation letter dari mereka
7. kartu keluarga (fotokopian)
8. print-an rekening bank selama 3 bulan (min. kurang lebih 15 jt)
9. surat keterangan mahasiswa dari fakultas

saran dari gw, paling enak dateng hari jumat karena itu adalah hari yang paling sepi karena stand visa yang buat tinggal lebih dari 3 bulan tutup hari itu, jadi walopun lo dateng jam 7 pas (ga perlu ngantri dari pagi2 bolong), itu palingan baru ada 2-3 orangan. trus, kalo mo nanya2, mending sama satpamnya aja. mereka jauuuuuuh lebih baik daripada orang2 yang ada di dalem. hehe, gw aja becanda2 dulu sama mereka (sebenernya untuk menghilangkan deg2an sebelom masuk untuk diwawancara ;p)
oya, pengantar ga boleh masuk, trus diluar ga ada tempat duduk. jadi kalo lagi musim hujan, bawa payung. suruh yang nganter lo (kalo ga bawa mobil), bawa majalah ato apapun buat melepas penat soalnya bakalan ngemper kayak gembel.