My winter break :D

What do I do during holiday???


Before holiday, I got a lot of presents from my club

The first holiday, I spent my time to volunteer for people with special needs and helped them to decorate the room. And we had party at night

then, during holiday I usually stay at home and spend my day with crocheting and knitting...
well, on December 25th I got big surprise from my host family, a  big suitcase because my old suitcase was broken

then, finally we ate turkey at night :D Yummy!!!!

Happy December!!!

Hello! Hello! Hello Amigos! :D

Happy December!!!

Yap, it's almost five months I spend my exchange year in USA. Time runs so fast, doesn't it? And now is December when almost every building here are decorated by red, white, and green color... They are ready for Christmas. Almost everybody celebrate Christmas here. Alright, it's really different with Christmas celebration in Indonesia. During my observation, people celebrate Christmas here as part of their culture. So I sometimes find although they are not Christian or Catholic but they celebrate Christmas. Christmas cards and presents are everywhere.

And last December, 7 2012, we all exchange students had meeting in Thai Restaurant, Raleigh. It was Christmas meeting. I came at the meeting in order to respect them and also hanged out with other exchange students, made new friends.^^ Santa also came at our meeting. He was one of host family who tried to make us happy by dressing as Santa Claus. It was the first time for me to see Santa for real because I usually find it in the movies only. -___-

We love North Carolina!

Action with Santa :D

Cheers before eating!!!

We are YES students :)

Exchange students are cool!

Me, Miriam, and Santa

December is also familiar with holiday and snow. Well, my placement is in Smithfield, NC. Because NC is almost in the south, so it might be snow this year. I hope! I really wait for snow. But still, whatever the condition, I really grateful with what Allah has given to me. This opportunities and experiences will be very meaningful in my life. and I'll always remember it. Warm regards from Smithfield :)

Subhanallah! I got it!!!

Subhanallah! Alhamdulillah Ya Rabb! :)

This morning I received a great email. Guess what? It was about the announcement of the essay contest winner. ^^ Alhamdulillah once again, I was one of four winners for Thanksgiving Essay. Thanks God! I know YOU never sleep. The winner will earn free trip to Orlando, Florida to attend Better Understanding for Better World (BUBW) conference. The place of the conference will be in Disney World Resort and we will be given chance to visit Masjid, Synagogue, and Church to understand more about different religion in order to make better understanding. Piece! Thanks for everybody who always support me, thanks for my beloved parents, my host family, teachers, and friends. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Hopefully this conference will be useful for me to build and spread information I got to my community. Thanks for YES and CIEE. I Love Indonesia! I love USA! I love this world!

Hello Everyone,

On behalf of the CIEE Grants Team, I’d like to thank everyone for the contest submissions for the Thanksgiving Essay Contest.  It is great to see how much you are thankful for and are actively giving back to your communities.  We were very impressed with the entries and it was extremely difficult to choose the winners. 

Congratulations to the following students:

Lea Haberlandt from Germany

Maryna Mykhaylenko from Ukraine

Elena Petrova from Macedonia

Intan Shafirra from Indonesia

They have earned a trip to Orlando, Florida to participate in the Better Understanding for a Better World (BUBW) Conference in February.

Please stay tuned for upcoming contests and opportunities to attend one of the other two conferences that will take place in March and April.  Flyers for those conferences are attached.

Warm Regards and Happy Holidays,

CIEE Grants Team