23

Tell 'em that it's my birthday

Tell 'em that it's my birthday

Tell 'em that it's my birthday

When I party like that

- Selena Gomez

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.

Rainy Season

One of my friends conducted an interview for someone with international background. Being an international student that still proudly bears Indonesian heritage miles away from home, I was happy to answer her questions and shares about practices and customs from Indonesia unfamiliar to Americans. One of the questions involve sharing an unusual experience that happened in the hometown. Take a look

Tell me about something funny/hard/exciting/frightening/good/bad/etc. that happened to you in your home country.

Before I begin with my experience, let me give you a proper introduction about the difference between Californian rain and Indonesian rain. A friend rushed into the classroom one day (in Art Center, of course). "It's raining outside." she was controlling her breath with a panic expression on her face. A year ago, I barely experienced rain in LA.

Early wake up call

Having moved to an apartment in the third floor never left me from worries on earthquake (This apartment where I live right now is the highest point I've ever lived in).

Today, my curiosity was answered. Today is one of the days when Mother Nature decided to be a mass wake up call for those who were still nestled in bed. It was 6.30 am, and it was still dark outside, when I thought my neighbor's children living right above me were up and stomping right above my ceiling (as usual), but they were unusually more hyper than ever. However, it didn't occur to me that what I heard was stomping. It was more of the ceiling rattling rather than stomping, like it was about to fall apart. The rattle was rather strong and right afterwards, I felt the bed was shaken slightly from side to side. At first, I didn't quickly jump out of my bed and run out. My superstitious instinct just had to kick in. However, the shake was getting more obvious and then stopped shortly. I quickly checked Twitter on my phone, which I put near the bed's foot, and just as I thought, it was an earthquake (besides, what sort of superpower could toddlers living right above my unit have to make my apartment shake?).

I quickly ran out of my room and checked the small chandelier above the dining table. It looked like it just stopped from moving and left slight hints of motion. Since the earthquake had stopped, I didn't feel the need to descend down to the ground level to seek for safety (just as I - as well as people whose hometowns are located right above the Pacific Ring of Fire - were taught to do). My roommate was still asleep in her room so I assumed she might not be aware of the early Mother Nature's wake up call.

It marked my first time feeling an earthquake in US. Last time I felt it was back in Jakarta, about five years ago.

Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Too bad no beer for me today since I'm having midterms (kind of) tomorrow.

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.