Going home

Six years have passed and I reached the finish line. The finish line is temporary, as a whole new start is about to begin. I first arrived in San Francisco on August 2010, with a six luggages and both of my parents eager to take me to the orientation day. Coming straight from a country nestled close to the equator, United States seemed very big and cold, with all the spacious roads, the unfriendly, bone-prickling breeze, restaurants and stores standing on its own building instead of cramped next to each other. I wore a ton layers of coat. Now it’s November 2016, I walked out in the Bay Area wrapped in a cardigan and I felt fine.

Many asked me why I decided to go back. First off, the visa issue seemed quite obvious and inarguable. The work visa system barred me from staying longer in the States. As much as I wanted to stay in US where opportunity, wage, and lifestyle couldn’t have been better, I couldn’t stay if it weren’t for work. That ruled out the possibility of going back to school. Also, I had personal matters at home too.

A Very Sunny Halloween

Writer's Note: This is a continuation of Halloween at Disneyland.

Jess and I woke up late a day after Disneyland. It's Halloween! But do we have a special plan? Maybe not a specific Halloween-themed plan. We'll figure it out later.

Our original plan to start the day was to have brunch at Central Park Cafe, but we woke up slightly late. So instead of brunch, we would just have lunch. Jess mentioned she wanted to eat at Tatsu. We were initially going to Tatsu Ramen the next day but we switched it to tomorrow. That day was supposed to be a little more relaxing than the day before, since we spent too much time (more than a day) at Disneyland.

Lift-off

Hey hey, it's been a while since I posted an entry. My blogging muse has recently ceased but I'm working on reigniting it again. Things in internship have been going really well. I've been catching up with deadlines and other than that, I've been having tons and tons of fun, especially after the Epcot visit.

I'm so privileged to be living in what the people here call Space Coast, which refers to the areas around the infamous NASA's Kennedy Space Center. One of the events that buzz around here is of course, the rocket launch.

Back to the Giant Golfball - EPCOT (Part 2)

GERMANY 

Ich bin da! There was apparently no ride or attractions in Germany. We just went into the shop and Vivia tried a sample of ham, cheese, and bratwurst for a small, snack-like portion, for only $5.00. The meal wash't a part of the festival though, but still, $5.00 for an authentic German dish was worth it. 

Back to the Giant Golfball - EPCOT (Part 1)

Hey there, it's been a while since I posted the last time. I've been pretty busy these days, with me moving to Melbourne (the one in Florida, not in Australia) for internship for 4 months. Settling down is never easy but I got it over with soon. I'll talk further about Melbourne in my next posts but now, let's get on to something more exciting! 

It's been approximately two years since I transferred to Art Center. A year before, I was still in De Anza, and one of the most magnificent vacations I've ever had in my entire period in US happened as I went to Orlando and New York in one winter occasion. Living in Melbourne gives me a chance to revisit Walt Disney World, whom I got to spend quite some time there three years ago with Elda, Aymee, and Ardy, since Melbourne is only an hour away from the so-called theme park capital of US. 

This very weekend, I had a blast revisiting one of Walt Disney World parks, and that was EPCOT. Vivia, my current roommate and colleague, and I had been planning to go to EPCOT since last week, but the weather had always been in the way. It had been raining for the past couple of weeks here in Florida and being drenched in the outdoors is the last thing we would ever want to be. However, we finally got to go this week. 

Ole Ole Ole: Part 3

Cont -  After the crowd started to disperse, it was time for us to have lunch. We were going to have lunch in Tatsu Ramen, just a few miles away from UCLA. Mirandy, Evan, and I carpooled with Bella. Right after the lunch there and sat down for a boba, we dropped by at a nearby Daiso since Evan wanted to get his own personal sketchbook to get signatures. All the sketchbooks in Daiso happened to have these cute illustration of animals at their covers. He doubted he would get one of those. "You could hold the sketchbook by the cover and scream with the manliest voice 'DIEGO! POR FAVOR!' " We all instantly cracked up. Just imagining how it would be was already hilarious. Talk about the irony. If Evan did that, he might as well attract the soccer players into giving him a signature more than all other fans, thanks to the cute giraffe illustration at the cover.

Later on, after we were done eating, we were heading back to UCLA. Bella needed to go to the class at 3, while Evan, Mirandy, and I agreed to go back to the spot right outside the locker room at 3.30 pm. The three of us told Bella that we all turned off our phones so in case she was done with her class (or office hour, as she said), she would just have to find us in the same spot this afternoon.

Ole Ole Ole: Part 2

Real Madrid is in LA, too?

I knew that Real Madrid added the list as a number of UEFA clubs that were coming to US (alongside MU) for a tour. In a status I made about my disappointment for not attending LA Galaxy vs MU, a friend commented that Real Madrid was coming to San Diego to practice.

It turned out that they, after all, would be coming to UCLA instead. I was "meh" at first. Real Madrid was always my favorite team but I was skeptical by the idea of spotting it. My UCLA student friend, Bella, told me that Real Madrid would indeed be practicing for five days in UCLA. It was a private practice though, but they would have a photo/autograph session when they were on their way to the stadium from their locker, and vice versa.

Ole Ole Ole: Part 1

You probably have heard of me fangirl over Kpop artists before. After years of being apart from the fandom ever since I transferred to LA, I re-embraced it again just a couple of months ago when again, I got another free ticket to a Kpop concert. However, I'm not gonna talk about that now. It's a whole different thing.

I have always loved soccer since I was little. I'm one of a few girls that got overly ecstatic when World Cup came up. The first World Cup that I tuned in was the 2002 one. It instantly got me hooked to soccer. Weirdly though, my interest in soccer is, you can say, seasonal. It occurred whenever big events such as World Cup or Euro came on. I occasionally see matches between games: Bundesliga, La Liga, or English league. But as time goes by, I never kept up anymore. That was when Kpop swept my life before it slowly ceased the past few years.

Winter Break - New York: Part 4

Hey guys, sorry for abandoning this blog for over two weeks. I've been doing pretty well here. I just went through a midterm frenzy week. Plus, I've been trying to work on my portfolio website and this Korean drama called My Love from Another Star came along and became a major distraction. Anyway, I'm back on the track with more stories from my previous winter break which I'm still determined to finish it up hopefully by March.

Well, let's continue where we left off. Christmas was here! It was a pretty unproductive day for someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. Elda woke up early in the morning to attend the Christmas service in the Cathedral we visited earlier. That would leave me more time to sleep and again, wake up nearly in the afternoon. Yeah I know that it's not strongly recommended for tourists to wake up late during the vacation. That was such a waste of time. However, we didn't really have many places to go to. After all, the sole reason we came to New York was to enjoy its vibe on Christmas.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 3

Hello, I'm finally back with some stories from New York. It was Christmas Eve and we woke up quite late (again). Since we didn't really know where to eat within two blocks from our hotel (We just had Applebees the day before, and McD sounds a bit too overrated), we decided to have a little fancy dine that afternoon at Nanking.

Despite the lavish interior and vibe, they actually had a pretty good deal of meal. I had a bowl of Singaporean fried rice that cost up to $8.00 excluding tip. So it wasn't so bad at all.

Should ACCD have Permias?

Permias stands for Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Amerika Serikat and it is an organization that unites Indonesian students in US universities.

This might just came up as a random crazy idea at 3 am, that kind of idea that you happened to dig into after you finished a research for a project. This idea is merely triggered by those Chinese New Year event pictures hosted by Permias in some regions and schools. I joined a sub-organization of Permias in De Anza College, not as a core member though, but being a part of Permias itself would be even a greater honor.

Imagine the idea of teaming up with other members to establish an event, attending cultural nights, getting a chance to encounter the Indonesian Ambassador in the US, and attending nationwide conferences. Wouldn't that be nice?

Winter Trip - New York: Part 2

Okay, I feel like I'm going pretty slow on the winter break story, but bear with me, guys.

The next day, we woke up pretty late and had a quick brunch in Applebees at 50th and Broadway. We had no idea how expensive that restaurant could be, and it was just for brunch. Anyway, it was a good brunch though. We were all filled up and ready to start our day.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 1

I'm so glad to find out that I wouldn't have so many homework this week. I've finished up my homework for one of my Thursday classes, and another Thursday class would be a field trip, which means I pretty much don't need to turn in anything.

Well, last time, we covered two parts of Ann Arbor, but let's hold up Ann Arbor stories just for a bit because after the day we ate at the Mongolian BBQ, we were actually leaving to New York for a couple of days. Elda and I actually visited the city priorly with our own parents, but I personally never get tired to this city, especially when the city gets lit up even brighter at the end of the year due to its thick Christmas/Winter vibe.

We left in the afternoon with a taxi that took us straight to Detroit airport. We were supposed to catch a bus that would leave from Downtown Ann Arbor to Detroit Airport, but the tough weather condition made it hard to go there. The bus to Downtown Ann Arbor from Elda's apartment never came, so in order not to miss the flight, we had to go for the plan B, which is to take a taxi that would bring us straight to the airport. Yeah, the part where we had to let go a certain amount of money we had spent to book for the bus round trip was a bit painful, but at least we figured it's better than missing the flight.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 2

OMG, so sorry for the lack of posts these days. It's just the third week of school and Thursdays, particularly, have been killing me. Imagine having 3 classes in a day, from 8 am to 10 pm, back to back. Anyway, I'm back to blogging, just to keep myself sane.

After Aymee, Ashley, and I went back from Frankenmuth, we woke up, again surprisingly, late. The day almost hit afternoon, but then we remember that we were meeting up with Elda that day. I suppose it was the day that Aymee and Elda had been waiting for, because they would finally meet up after years of not catching up with each other. The three of us had always planned to meet up during breaks, but the plan never worked out. This day proved that finally one of those plans worked out, and it was this trip that finally would bring Elda and Aymee together again.

Interconnected

So just a few weeks ago, I had a very strange dream involving my friend. I couldn't help but to tell her this. By the way, the friend I'm talking about is Aymee, who joined me and Elda in our Michigan trip. Here's an excerpt from our chatroom:

How creepy/funny/coincidental it is that we assure safety when we put each other in danger. Any dream experts could figure this out?

Winter Trip - Frankenmuth

The day after the long walk to Boba Island, complete with our feet getting ached and soaked, Aymee planned on going to Frankenmuth. I've never heard of Frankenmuth until the day before our departure. I was unaware with what else Michigan had to offer, and that would be Frankenmuth. According to Aymee, who knew that place from Ashley who hasn't even been there either, Frankenmuth is a small German town located about 20-40 miles from Ann Arbor.

Getting there by public transportation such as buses would be possible, seeing Frankenmuth really is a small town and quite isolated too. It's not one of the big cities in Michigan, such as Detroit or Ann Arbor. Getting there would require a taxi, and that was what we were planning.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 1

I finally made use of the last two days of the break (Gosh, I hate the countdown), writing and posting stories and pictures from my recent trip. My trip started out on December 15, 2013. Since I spent two weeks out of town, I'm just going to share some highlights instead covering each day. I was originally going to leave on the 16^th but the flight on that day was much more expensive. I assume because the closer the date was to Christmas, the more expensive the flight got. I left on Sunday night to the airport and had a chat with my school mates on Facebook before I got on to the plane.

After an overnight flight, I landed in Detroit feeling psyched, not only that I got to feel a completely different temperature and vibe from California, but also because I finally got to see snowcapped buildings and snow-covered roads, something you wouldn't be able to spot in California unless you go to Big Bear or drive a bit to the border where Lake Tahoe is. The bus Elda booked for me took off on time and I reached Ann Arbor shortly. Elda was there and we had a reunion, although we just met a couple of months before. Without further ado, Elda took me to this noodle bar – Tomukun – just a few blocks away from where my bus arrived.

Thank you 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

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Wishing you a great and blessed year ahead.

FROZEN

Hey guys,
So overjoyed cos I'm done with finals!!! The last final gave me such a hard time: there was so much to do but so little time, regardless I decided not to procrastinate. I ended up going to the final presentation without taking a shower or washing my hair. However, it ended with a good note since the presentation was received positively by my instructor, guest critic, and my classmates. My classmates and I had a Korean Barbecue afterwards.
Anyway, I'm posting from Ann Arbor, Michigan! The weather is way more extreme than the weather in LA, obviously. It looks like this...

Give Thanks (Pt 2)

THANKSGIVING DAY
The next day, Jessica and I met up to see Frozen in the afternoon in AMC Santa Anita. Seeing it was Thanksgiving, we thought the cinema would at least have less people than the other days, but instead, it was PACKED with families and children.

Of course they were there to see one of the most awaited Disney flicks other than Monsters University. Even more, it's a Disney's fairytale movie that was said to be the best one since Beauty and the Beast. Come on, who's not down for it?