It just like a dream...

I still feel my life is just like a dream. Honestly. I never imagine that I can be in Uncle Sam country right now. Moreover, it happened when I and other exchange students went to Washington, DC to visit historical places in United States of America. It was one of wonderful journey I've ever had in my life.

We started our journey on October. 12th with two cars from North Carolina. It needed for about 5 hours to arrive in Washington, DC. There were 10 exchange students included me at that time. Miriam & Justine (Germany), Tasmiha (Bangladesh), Jenalli (China), Laurie (Brazil), Shah (Pakistan), Ana (Spain), Elizabeth (Ghana) and Silje (Norway). We went with my Local Coordinator (Julie Taylor), Amber Johnson and Kate (Julie's daughter). We departed from Julie's house for about 08.00 a.m. That morning was so cold, and it would be colder when we were in DC. I sat in Amber's car with Tasmiha, Ana, Silje, Shah and Elizabeth. We were so excited until we danced and sang inside the car. How crazy we were! Until suddenly the cops stop our cars. He made everybody scared. He talked to Amber and Julie and said that they drove too fast and close. It happened in Virginia. Amber kept close to Julie's car because she didn't want we got separated. Moreover, they haven't been in DC before. The funniest sentence form the cops is "if Julie jump to the beach, will you jump to the beach also?". It sounds as funny question. Lol

We arrived at Washington, DC by 1.30 p.m. Then, we continued our journey on the Metro Train. Wow, it was the first time for me to know Metro physically in front of my eyes. I felt like a dream. We spent for about 30 minutes on the Metro. Finally, we arrived at downtown Washington. Subhanallah! The town views were so wonderful. I kept admiring every high building with old styles and every clean road.Perfect! The weather was so cold. Although I wore my coat, but I still felt the air entered my deepest breathe. Then we checked in to the Harrington Hotel and dropped our stuffs.Oh, unfortunately we missed Capitol tour because we came late to the hotel. It would not distract our journey, though. We were still happy...

Then, we walked along Washington and went to the Washington Monument. The monument was so high. When I saw the monument, I remembered Monas (National Monument) in Indonesia. Squirrel were everywhere. It was awesome. Again, I felt like a dream. I said to Julie "I still can't believe I can be here right now. Everything is just like a dream". Suddenly, I remembered the title of Athok's story "The Miracle of Journey". We continued our journey by visiting Lincoln Memorial Park. And we went back to the hotel at night.

In the early morning, all of us went to the White House. Subhanallah! Everything is just like a dream. I used to watch White House only from TV or Internet. But now, I could see it directly in front of my eyes. Although we could walk around the garden only, but I still felt grateful. Thank Ya Allah for opportunities You've given to me. Then. we walked to the Smithsonian Museum (Air and Space). Many people visited that place because it was weekend. After that, we had dinner in Hard Rock Cafe. I never imagine before, because Hard Rock Cafe is famous with its expensive prices in Indonesia. I danced with Kate and Julie in Hard Rock Cafe. We had so much fun there. :)

At the last day of our stay in Washington, DC, we visited The Smithsonian Museum (National Art). The place was so huge. I was attracted on one sculpture. It was about women who uses veil. Overall, I saw many wonderful arts created by all artists around the world. For about 12.00, we were ready to go back to North Carolina. We arrived at NC for about at 07.00 p.m. I never forget this journey with some exchange students from NC :D

Homecoming

Keep spartan calm and on!

That is what Smithfield Selma Senior High School slogan for homecoming week. Yap! we had homecoming in the first week of October. Honestly this is the first time for me to have homecoming. Maklum, di Indonesia nggak ada.. Hehehe. My drama teacher told me that the history of homecoming began from alumni who want to visit their college (bisa dibilang reunian gitu). And now, homecoming is celebrated by almost all high schools and colleges in USA. Some of them also have homecoming dance which gives opportunity for students to bring their couple and just hang out there. But not for my host school. My school didn't held homecoming dance. We still have football game in the last day, though. Alright, the main event of homecoming is football game. ^^

Homecoming in my school was celebrated with different themes every day. Here is the list:
Day 1 => Celebrity day
Day 2 => Tacky day
Day 3 => Class colors day
Day 4 => Pirates and sailors day
Day 5 => Blue and gold day

It was sound funny, right! In each day, students were suggested to dress based on themes. All of students were very creative with their own clothes. But my favorite day is tacky day, in which I didn't stop laughing on that day because all of my friends dressed so funny. Kalau dibilang pakai Bahasa Indonesia sih "kostumnya banyak yang nabrak". Jadi mereka bener-bener pakai baju yang "gila" abis, alias asal nyampur warna. Or we can say it didn't match at all. Ada yang pakai rambut kribo palsu, dasi dipakai di kepala. Gila, gokil abis pokoknya. But overall, I love homecoming.

At the last day, there was pep-rally in gym room. All of students start from freshmen to senior (9-12) gathered in gym room. There was dance competition (battle dance). But the representatives were only two from each grades. Every body yelled on their own class. 2013! 2014! 2015! 2016! And I'm in class of 2014 now because I'm junior. Ini nih videonya buat opening and battle dance:

Rame banget kan ya! Honestly, I cried in that event. Because suddenly, I remembered all of my friends in Sampoerna Academy Malang. Masih teringat jelas dalam pikiranku ketika seluruh kelas XI memberi semangat ke XI Sc 3 waktu class meeting. Keramaian dan kenangan bersama mereka juga akan selalu terkenang dalam benakku. Love you all guys! :)

International Festival

"Every countries are beautiful". It was a sentence I've heard from an old man from Iran. Yeah, I met him at International Festival last September (09/30) in Raleigh. It was an awesome event. In my opinion, that event is one of many ways to promote a lot of interesting cultures from many countries in the world. Moreover it could create piece in the world. I went there with my Local Coordinator, Julie and other exchange students to represent our organization, CIEE.

Here we go! Mrs. Joy from CIEE told every exchange students hosted in North Carolina to do presentation about our countries. We were from Indonesia (me ^^), Germany (Miriam and Hannah), Pakistan (Shah), Spain (Anna), Jenya (Ukraine), South Korea, China and Brazil (Peder). I was attracted with different cultures I heard. We represented our countries proudly.I wore "kebayak" and "batik" skirt when I went there. I also brought my big paper contained many pictures that showed "Indonesia is amazing". I told them about tourism places in Indonesia, Indonesia's tradition and Indonesia's cuisine. It was about 5 minutes. Absolutely, the audiences was so interested especially when I turned my paper and showed them "Ote-Ote" (makanan lezat dari Jawa timur). Mrs. Julie said "Ote-ote makes me hungry". It was so funny. hahaha.

Miriam, Anna, Kate and I walked around the festival. I visited stands from Swiss, Iran, China, Poland and other countries. The place was so big but I didn't feel tired anymore because we really enjoyed that time. Miriam and I also ate Italian pizza. It was very delicious. Since I arrived here, I started to love pizza. Yummy! Then I walked around again and stopped at AFS stands. I met Mr. James, one of host families. He hosted a girl from Canada. We had fun conversation. He also knew my friend, Yamin from Indonesia (hosted in Chapell Hill). I had made appointment with Yamin to meet in the festival. But he just came at 01.30 p.m (30 minutes before I left). I met Yamin and I was really happy because I could meet Indonesian. I missed speaking Bahasa Indonesia. We went to a stand from Immigrant Association. We wrote some sentences about our goals in USA.We just wanted to show that we did good in America. This organization was created in order to erase miss understands of American to people come from another countries.

Meraih Asa di Negeri Paman Sam (school report)

Tidak terasa sudah 1 bulan rombongan Youth Exchange and Study berkelana mencari pengalaman di United States of America. Begitu banyak pengalaman yang kami dapat selama sebulan ini, khususnya ketika menjadi minoritas di negeri yang terkenal dengan "freedom of speech" ini. Memang banyak hal yang berbeda antara Indonesia dan USA. Mulai dari makanan, budaya, kebiasaan hingga sistem pendidikan.

Pertama kali tiba di rumah host family, saya merasa sangat bahagia dan terharu. Alhamdulillah saya mendapat placement di Smithfield. North Carolina. Saya tinggal bersama Cox Family yang terdiri dari Alvin Cox (host father), Frances Cox (host mother) dan 3 host siblings Jennifer (28), Christina (11), Ellen (7). Sesuatu hal yang baru untuk saya yang merupakan anak tunggal dari ayah dan ibu saya. Di sini saya harus belajar menjadi seorang kakak dan adik bagi host family saya.

Tahun ini saya juga menjalankan 10 hari terakhir Ramadhan dan merayakan Hari Raya Idul Fitri bersama host family saya yang non-Islam. Dari sinilah saya mengerti benar bahwa betapa besarnya sikap saling menghargai antar umat manusia di America. Karena tidak ada Masjid di Smithfield, seluruh keluarga besar saya rela mengantar saya ke Raleigh (Ibu Kota North Carolina) untuk melaksanakan sholat Eid. Suasana haru menghiasi perasaan saya. Di dalam area sholat Eid, saya melihat sekelompok ibu-ibu yang wajahnya identik dengan orang Indonesia. Saya pun menghampiri mereka dan seketika memeluk Teh Nina dan air mata pun tak tertahankan. Saya benar-benar merasakan betapa berharganya waktu-waktu bersama keluarga, teman-teman dan sanak saudara di Indonesia. Setelah itu, saya diajak ke Farmer Market dan Asian Market untuk mencari "Indomie" di hari yang penuh fitrah itu.

Tepat tanggal 27 Agustus, saya mulai bersekolah di Smithfield-Selma Senior High School yang jaraknya sekitar 3 km dari rumah. Saya pun pergi ke sekolah menggunakan school bus. Saya menjadi minoritas di sekolah saya karena hanya ada 7 Muslim dan hanya 3 orang yang berjilbab. Akan tetapi saya tetap berusaha bergaul dan tersenyum kepada semua orang. Dan ternyata sambutan mereka pun bagus. Mereka selalu bertanya tentang budaya di Indonesia seperti kehidupan remaja, aksara jawa, wayang dan sebagainya. Teman-teman di setiap kelas yang saya ambil pun selalu membantu saya dan uniknya mereka harus susah payah mengucapkan nama saya "Intan".  Untuk semester 1 saya mendapat Theatre Arts II, English III honors, Earth Science honors dan Personal Finance. Untuk selanjutnya US History honors, Algebra II honors, photography dan HN teacher cadet menanti di semester 2. Di SSS, saya juga tergabung dalam beberapa club seperti HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America), Drama dan Interact Club.Di bulan September ini saya juga tergabung dalam Highway Cleaning, Concession Stand di football game dan International Raleigh Festival. Semoga saya mendapat banyak pengalaman yang bermanfaat bukan hanya bagi saya tetapi juga untuk komunitas saya baik di Amerika ataupun Indonesia.  Dan saya berharap program pertukaran pelajar ini mampu menciptakan perdamaian dan sikap saling menghargai antar umat beragama di dunia.