A Lil' Piece of Zilko's Life

#895 - My Blog's Sixth Birthday

2011-04-23T00:00:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Today is my blog's sixth birthday! Wow, time flies! Somehow now I have been blogging in this very blog for exactly six years! Eight hundred and ninety five entries of my life are recorded here.

Also today, I want to announce something very important. I have come to a decision that as of today:

THIS BLOG IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED

No no, don't worry. I won't stop blogging. I just decide to move to a new "home", and my new "home" is:

http://zilko.wordpress.com

I will not delete this blog as I do not want to erase my precious six year of life from my memory. It is just that from now on, I will write the story of my life somewhere else. So, if you have a link to my blog, please move it to my new blog.

I am so grateful with this Blogger blog that has been here for me for the last six years. It is just that I think it is already time for me to move on, to "leave" this old house and find a new one. Because it is such a defining moment, I choose this date, coinciding with this blog's birthday, to write one last entry in this blog.

So, again, thank you Blogger! :-) And see you guys in my new blog! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hari ini adalah hari ulang tahun blogku yang keenam! Wow, waktu benar-benar berlalu dengan cepat ya! Entah bagaimana kini aku sudah ngeblog di blog ini selama tepat enam tahun lho! Delapan ratus sembilan puluh lima posting tentang kehidupanku telah terekam disini.

Juga hari ini, aku ingin mengumumkan sesuatu yang sangat penting. Aku sudah memutuskan bahwa mulai hari ini:

BLOG INI RESMI DITUTUP

Eh, tenang saja, jangan khawatir. Aku nggak akan berhenti nge-blog koq. Hanya saja aku memutuskan untuk pindah ke "rumah" baru, dan "rumah" baruku adalah:

http://zilko.wordpress.com

Aku nggak akan menghapus blog ini karena aku tidak ingin menghapus memori kehidupanku selama enam tahun yang berharga. Hanya saja, mulai hari ini, aku akan menulis kehidupanku di tempat yang lain. Jadi, kalau pada punya link ke blog-ku, tolong dipindahkan ke blog baruku yah.

Aku sangat bersyukur atas blog Blogger ini yang sudah menemaniku selama enam tahun. Hanya saja aku rasa sekarang ini adalah waktu yang tepat untuk pindah, "meninggalkan" rumah lama ini dan mencari rumah baru. Karena ini adalah hal yang spesial, sengaja aku memilih hari ini, bertepatan dengan hari ulang tahun blog ini, untuk menuliskan satu posting terakhirku di blog ini.

Jadi, sekali lagi, terima kasih banyak Blogger! :-) Dan sampai jumpa di blog yang baru yah! :-)

#894 - Trip to Keukenhof

2011-04-16T23:59:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Exam week is over, it is time for a little bit of relaxation. So, a group of friends and I had this plan to go to Keukenhof today. Keukenhof is a famous garden in Holland for its beautiful tulips (and other flowers) they have every year. They only open during spring and we thought today was the best time to go.

We caught a 9.24 AM train heading for Amsterdam Centraal (but then got off at Leiden Centraal). The train was so fully packed. We found no empty seat and we ended up standing for the whole trip to Leiden! Crazy! From Leiden, we caught a bus to Keukenhof. Again, there were SO many people who wanted to go to Keukenhof that there was a really long line for the bus. Lucky somehow we managed to get to the front of the line for an upcoming bus, meaning that it would be easier for us to get seats :-D All that we concerned by this time was the potential long line to buy tickets on the ticket booths in Keukenhof. This made sense because today was one of the busiest days Keukenhof has due to the flower parade they had today.

Once we were in Keukenhof, our anxiety was proven to be irrelevant as there was no line in the ticket booths at all (because there were several booths). However, it was true that there were A LOT OF people there. I mean, yeah, A LOT OF people! I think there were more than 10 thousand people visiting Keukenhof today as also indicated by the huge number of cars and coaches that I saw today.

Anyway, Keukenhof was BEAUTIFUL! I mean, there is nothing like it in Indonesia. Along the way there and around the garden we could see a vast flat field planted with flowers in many colors. And they also put flowers with different color separately, making them look very neat and nice! The garden itself was great! It was huge and also neatly arranged! Well, there was not that many activity that we could do there, but enjoying the atmosphere was already really really nice. Even though at some point after walking around for hours we did not really care about the flowers anymore (because we had already seen like tons of them).

Talking about the flower parade, this parade was actually another reason why we picked today. It was said to be the biggest parade in Holland. So, who wouldn't want to see that? We heard it would start at around 3 PM in one of the main road nearby the garden. We went there at almost 3. We were kinda late as "too" many people were already there and basically had taken every single inch of good space to watch the parade. We were still a bit persistent at first, waiting for it patiently. One hour passed, still NO parade!! C'Mon! The weather then turned to be not so good anymore. Tired, we decided to leave the place as we would not have been able to see the parade like clearly anyway. And we can just watch it on Youtube later. So, we ended up leaving the garden without seeing the parade.

To get back to Leiden, we should also catch a bus. There was a line for our bus and we waited there. We missed the first bus available (because it had already been full) and had to wait for the next one. I read that during the weekend they operated like 8 buses per hour. It translated to 1 bus every 7 minutes 30 seconds in average, right? Okay, it was not supposed to be that bad, I thought. So, we waited...

Ten minutes, no bus.

Twenty minutes, still no bus.

Thirty minutes, still no freaking bus.

Forty minutes, finally a bus showed up! Apparently it got stuck in a traffic jam (due to the freaking delayed parade).

So we got to Leiden Station and caught a train back to Delft. That summed up my Saturday story now :-)

::: Keukenhof's Entrance. Yeah, there were this MANY people today.

::: Red flowers.

::: Another flowers.

::: A really cool scenery! Those colors were flowers!

::: A Windmill in Keukenhof.

::: More flowers.

::: Still more flowers!

::: Even more flowers!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu ujian berakhir, artinya waktunya untuk sedikit relaksasi telah tiba. Nah, aku dan segrup teman-teman sudah berencana untuk pergi ke Keukenhof hari ini. Keukenhof adalah taman terkenal di Belanda yang terkenal akan tulip (dan bunga-bunga lainnya) yang mereka tanam setiap tahun. Mereka hanya buka di musim semi saja dan makanya kami berpikir hari ini adalah waktu yang tepat untuk pergi.

Kami naik kereta jam 9.24 pagi tujuan Amsterdam Centraal (tapi turunnya di Leiden Centraal). Eh keretanya penuh banget loh. Kami tidak menemukan tempat duduk kosong sama sekali dan harus berdiri deh sepanjang perjalanan ke Leiden! Gila! Dari Leiden, kami naik bus menuju Keukenhof. Lagi, karena BUANYAKK yang mau pergi ke Keukenhof, antrian untuk busnya panjang banget. Beruntung kami akhirnya berada di depan antrian untuk menunggu bus yang akan datang. Ini kan artinya kami bisa lebih mudah dalam mencari kursi kosong di dalam bus :-D Yang agak kami khawatirkan adalah potensi antrian panjang di loketnya Keukenhof. Ini masuk akal karena hari ini adalah salah satu hari tersibuk di Keukenhof karena mereka ada pawai bunga hari ini.

Begitu tiba di Keukenhof, kekhawatiran kami tidak terbukti karena nggak ada antrian di loketnya sama sekali (soalnya ada beberapa loket sih). Namun, benar bahwa ada BUANYAAKKK banget orang di Keukenhof hari ini. Maksudku, iya, BUANYAAKKK banget orang! Kira-kira 10 ribu orang ada deh di taman itu hari ini, seperti yang juga terlihat dari banyaknya mobil dan bus-bus pariwisata yang aku lihat tadi.

Ngomong2, Keukenhof memang INDAH sekali! Maksudku, nggak ada deh yang kaya gini di Indonesia. Sepanjang jalan kesana dan di sekitar tamannya ada tanah lapang yang luas dan rata yang ditanami berbagai macam bunga dalam berbagai macam warna. Sudah gitu mereka menanam bunga dengan warna berbeda secara terpisah, sehingga bunga-bunga itu kelihatan rapi gitu. Tamannya sendiri juga bagus banget! Sangat luas dan ditata dengan sangat rapi! Yah, nggak banyak aktivitas memang yang bisa dilakukan disana, tapi menikmati atmosfer dan suasana tamannya juga sudah enak banget koq. Walau di satu titik akhirnya kami sudah "muak" sama bunga-bunga lagi (soalnya uda ngeliat buanyak banget bunga).

Ngomongin tentang pawai bunga, pawai ini sebenarnya adalah salah satu alasan mengapa kami memilih hari ini. Katanya ini pawai terbesar di Belanda. Nah, masa nggak tertarik? Kami dengar pawai akan dimulai sekitar jam 3 sore di salah satu jalan utama di dekat Keukenhof. Jam 3an kurang kami kesana. Kami agak terlambat karena sudah "terlalu" banyak oraang yang datang dan pada dasarnya setiap sentimeter tempat yang bagus untuk nonton pawai sudah terambil. Awalnya kami sih masih bersemangat dan teguh, menunggu pawai itu dengan sabar. Satu jam kemudian berlalu, dan masih belum ada tuh pawainya!! Ayolah! Cuaca juga terus berubah agak kurang mengenakkan. Capek, kami memutuskan untuk pulang saja deh, toh juga nggak akan bisa lihat pawainya dengan jelas juga. Dan lagi, kan bisa nontonnya nanti aja di Youtube. Ya udah, akhirnya kami meninggalkan Keukenhof tanpa meliaht pawainya.

Untuk kembali ke Leiden, kami juga harus naik bus. Ada antrian untuk bus itu dan kami mengantri disana. Kami ketinggalan bus pertama (soalnya uda penuh) dan harus menunggu yang selanjutnya. Aku baca bahwa di akhir pekan mereka mengoperasikan delapan bus per jam. Artinya, satu bus rata-rata datang setiap 7 menit 30 detik kan? Oke, nggak papa lah, itu yang kupikir. Jadi, kami menunggu...

Sepuluh menit, bus belum datang.

Dua puluh menit, bus masih belum datang.

Tiga puluh menit, mana ini busnya woi!!

Empat puluh menit, akhirnya satu bus muncul! Ternyata bus itu terjebak kemacetan lalu lintas (gara-gara pawai sial itu).

Begitu sampai di Stasiun Leiden sih kita langsung naik kereta balik ke Delft. Dan disinilah cerita Sabtuku berakhir :-)

#893 - Exercising

2011-04-10T15:44:00.004+07:00

ENGLISH

I have always known that exercising is very important. The past one week can be categorized as the week where I had pretty many exercises and I am happy with that! Wow, how could I do that??

So, the story started from the nice and perfect weather we have had in the Netherlands for the past several weeks. It was (mostly) sunny but not too hot nor humid at all. Even last week, on Saturday it reached 22 degree and I found it really HOT!! I can't believe that!! Also, as you have noticed, I have been so busy in campus lately and in a way I feel like I need a break for a while. These two combined with the thought that exercise is important and I need to do that once in a while resulting in me having an urge to do light exercise.

The thing was, I (still) have not subscribed myself in the Sport Centrum in my campus because I think it is a bad deal if I do it now (I can use it for three months where I have to pay for a six month membership). I will wait for next August when the new semester starts and subscribe by then. Until then, I have to find something alternative for exercising. I don't want to spend too much money on it (stingy :P). And I think of a perfect solution: biking around! It is cheap (as I don't have to pay anything for it) and efficient!

My route was just going around Delft. To avoid boredom, I change the route ever time and sometimes just follow my guts where to go, with no planning at all :P It is kinda fun! It is great that I can do this activity in the Netherlands as I don't see me doing it in Indonesia. First of all, the country here is flat. In term of track, there is literally nothing that will make you feel like not going biking regularly (imagine you live in a mountainous city and you have to go by bike all around. Unless you have a super strong will, your urge will be knocked out after several attempts, at least for me). Second of all, the air here is very clean and refreshing! Imagine you are biking in a bustling street in Jakarta. I guess instead of healthiness, there is a chance you catch a respiratory problem. Third of all, the temperature now is perfect! It is not too cold, but not too hot either. Beside, it is also not as humid as in Indonesia. It is the perfect weather for me! Fourth of all, here we have a special lane for bikers. Plus, the motor-vehicle drivers here obey the rule very much and (almost) none of them drives like crazily. So, I feel safe biking here. Fifth of all, the atmosphere here is just breath-taking. Look at these pictures:

::: Kandelaarbrug, a bridge to the south of Delft.

::: One spot in Delftse Hout.

::: A house and a windmill near the Delftse Hout.

::: A Windmill near Delft.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Aku selalu tahu bahwa olahraga itu sangat penting. Seminggu belakangan ini bisa dikategorikan sebagai minggu dimana aku lumayan sering berolahraga loh dan aku bahagia karenanya! Wow, bagaimana aku bisa melakukan itu semua??

Nah, ceritanya dimulai dari cuaca yang bagus dan sempurna di Belanda selama beberapa minggu belakangan ini. Bahkan minggu lalu, di hari Sabtu suhunya sampai di 22 derajat loh dan aku merasa PANAS!! Nggak bisa dipercaya deh aku ngerasa panas!! Seperti yang pasti pada tahu juga, akhir-akhir ini aku sibuk sekali di kampus dan aku sedikit merasa butuh refreshing sebentar gitu. Kedua ini dikombinasikan dengan pikiran bahwa olahraga itu penting dan perlu deh dilakukan sekali waktu menghasilkan semacam dorongan di dalam diri untuk memulai olahraga ringan.

Masalahnya, aku (masih) belum daftar di Sport Centrum di kampus soalnya aku rasa kalau aku daftar sekarang rugi deh (karena sekarang aku bisa memakainya selama tiga bulan tetapi aku harus bayar iuran keanggotaan selama enam bulan). Aku akan nunggu sampe Agustus nanti aja ah ketika semester baru dimulai dan baru daftar. Sampai saat itu, aku harus menemukan sesuatu yang lain kan. Aku nggak mau juga keluar uang banyak-banyak (pelit mode on :P). Jadilah aku menemukan solusi yang sempurna: sepedaan aja! Aktivitas ini kan murah (karena aku nggak harus bayar apa-apa) dan efisien!

Rutenya ya sekitaran Delft aja. Untuk menghindari kebosanan, aku mengganti rutenya setiap kali dan kadang aku cuma ngikutin insting aja pergi kemana gitu, tanpa perencanaan sama sekali :P Asik juga loh! Bagus nih disini bisa melakukan hal ini karena aku rasa aku nggak bisa deh membayangkan diriku melakukan aktivitas ini di Indonesia. Pertama-tama, disini negaranya itu rata. Jadi dari segi rute, nggak ada deh yang bikin males untuk sepedaan secara teratur (bayangkan hidup di kota yang bergunung-gunung dan untuk berkeliling mesti sepedaan. Kecuali semangatnya luar biasa membara, pasti semangatnya bakal habis deh dalam beberapa usaha, paling tidak buatku). Yang kedua, udara disini sangat bersih dan menyegarkan! Bayangkan bersepeda di Jakarta yang sibuk. Bukannya sehat, bisa-bisa malah dapet masalah pernapasan. Ketiga, suhu udara akhir-akhir ini pas banget! Nggak dingin, dan nggak terlalu panas. Di samping itu, udaranya juga ga selembab Indonesia. Cuaca kaya gini nih yang cocok banget buatku! Keempat, disini sepeda kan ada jalurnya sendiri dan pengendara kendaraan bermotornya juga tertib-tertib dan (hampir) nggak ada yang ugal-ugalan. Makanya merasa aman deh. Kelima, suasananya juga keren banget. Coba deh lihat gambar-gambar di atas!

#892 - Coming Up : Announcement

2011-04-08T20:20:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Hello Guys, I just want to say that I will have an announcement to make, but NOT NOW! So, wait for it :-P

BAHASA INDONESIA

Halo semua, aku hanya ingin bilang aku akan mengumumkan sesuatu, tetapi TIDAK SEKARANG! Jadi, tunggu yah :-)

#891 - 2010 Year-End Trip : Italy (Part IV)

2011-04-03T23:59:00.003+07:00

Previously on 2010 Year-End Trip : Italy : Zilko and his friends went to Italy for a Christmas break. After spending more than one week in Italy, now they were ready to leave Firenze for Venezia.

After a not so nice experience in Firenze (mainly related to the hostel), we could not wait to leave Firenze. Plus, our next destination was Venezia, where we would stay in the most expensive hostel in our trip to Italy (because it would be during New Year's Eve). This made us more eager to leave the city. So that was it, this day (Thursday, December 30), after breakfast, we directly went to Firenze Railway Station.

Then, a nightmare occurred. We arrived at Firenze Station at around 10.30 AM. We went to the ticket machine and looked for train tickets to Venezia. The thing was, ALL tickets to Venezia departing prior to 7.30 PM had been SOLD OUT (even first class tickets). Finding no other option, we bought tickets for that departure time. It meant that we had like 9 (NINE) hours to kill in Firenze! We felt like this city loved us so much that it would not let us go! At first we planned to kill our time in a local McDonald's restaurant just accross the station. However, during lunch-time, we were shooed away because the restaurant was busy. So, we decided to wait in the waiting lounge. What we did during that time was: "studying"! Even, in a way I am a bit glad we had to wait that long since I made a significant progress on my assignment at that time! During this time, our hostel in Venezia called me and the guy on the other side of the phone was angry at me for not informing him that we would be late that day! I was shocked! I mean, sure, we were in a way "wrong" for forgetting to inform them. But still, we were customers! I mean, he could speak to us in a nicer way so that we would not feel like being under-attack! Beside, it was not our plan that we would be late arriving in Venezia! I was kinda mad!

Anyway, so eventually nine hours passed and we finally left Firenze. We took another Eurostar ride which cost a lot (Eurostar was the only train with available tickets that day). We arrived at Venezia at almost 9.30 PM. Once we got out the station, we were really WOW-ed!! It was VENEZIA!! I could not believe I WAS IN VENEZIA that day!! Well, Venezia had always been in my "must-visit-place" list so imagine how I felt at that time! Instead of the usual parking ramp and road, just outside the station there was a pathway and the grand canal! There was no road, thus no cars, buses, etc! What were there were: boats! Cool, eh?? Long story short, we finally arrived at our hostel after getting a little bit lost. And the good thing was, the hostel was REALLY good!!

::: One small canal in Venezia

The next day, December 31, was the last day of 2010. In the morning until afternoon we walked around Venezia, enjoying the beautiful city. We went back to our hostel to take a break for a while. At almost 4 PM, we left our hostel and explored the city even more. Well, since one friend was travelling on a wheelchair, it was quite a challenge to walk around the city. In every bridge, we had to do the following procedure: my friend stood up, one friend would then help her to jump crossing the bridge, and I would bring the wheelchair to the other side of the bridge. The thing was, none of the bridge was a flat bridge. They somewhat lied between arch bridge and moon bridge: It was arch bridge with steps on it. That was why we had to do those exhausting procedures everytime. Well, it was okay if there were just two or three bridges, but it was Venezia, a city also known as "City of Bridge"! There were TONS of bridges there! After this evening we knew next time we would take the waterbus instead :-)

::: St. Mark's Square

::: Somehow I managed to be part of this crowd during New Year's Eve.

::: New Year Countdown in Venezia.

New Year's Eve in Venezia was crazy! We were in St. Mark's Piazza and there were tons of people there. Up until the Countdown, it was okay, everything was pretty much under control. However, some two minutes after the countdown, everything went crazy!! Firecrackers were everywhere (many of them were ON the piazza), many people were drunk, etc. I remember thinking: "Just get me out of here" as it felt like I was literally in the middle of a war with hidden active grenades surrounding me and one wrong step: it exploded! In a way, I was kinda surprised and shocked with the craziness. I mean, yeah, I expected something to be "out of normal" during the New Year's eve, but not that crazy where situation could be very wild and kinda dangerous in a way. Anyway, at almost 2 AM, we left St. Mark's piazza, taking a ferry ride back to our hostel.

On New Year's Day, of course we got up kinda late. That day we only went around the city. Because it was winter, the day was really short and as a result we only had three or four hours daylight. Learning from our previous experience, we decided to buy our train tickets to Milan, our final destination city, in advance. Because it was still two days before departure, there were tons of options available. Now, to save budget, we chose to travel with regular train. Then, we saw that the price between second class and first class was not that much different. Considering it would be a 3+ hours trip, we decided to spoil ourselves a little bit by buying first class tickets :-) (beside, the first class price was still cheaper than Eurostar's second class price).

::: A gondola in Grand Canal

::: Venezia

::: Waterbus Ride in Venezia

Anyway, we visited several places that day, including one museum whose ticket price was incredibly expensive. Our experience that day taught me that in Venezia, the beauty is not a particular place in the city, but it is the city itself. Going around Venezia is the best way to enjoy the unique floating city, and we don't have to pay for that :-) Later that evening, we watched a classical music concert! Yeah, a classical music concert!! Somehow I did that!! Well, surprisingly enough, it was not boring at all. In fact, it was kinda interesting! They played Vivaldi's masterpiece.

::: My first ever Classical Music Concert.

On Sunday, we went on a trip to two neighboring islands of Venezia: Murano and Burano. I like their names though, making people thinking that they are twin islands, lol. Murano was an island famous for its glass. Burano was another island which somehow resembles Venezia (with canals). Well, there was one unique thing about Burano: the buildings in the island were painted with colorful colors, makin them kinda nice to see :-)

::: Murano Glass. Note: these were the cheap ones.

::: In Burano.

The next day, we left Venezia for Milan. The trip was awesome. We were glad we decided to buy that first class tickets as the second class carriages were super full and looked a bit uncomfortable (compared to first class :D). On the way, the scenery was SO amazing though! There were mountains with snow (the Alps), passing some enchanting rivers, etc! Awesome scenery! This day, we also realized that this was our first (and only) train trip during the day. Our other train trips were evening trips.

::: An amazing view from the train, wasn't it?? :-) The mountain was the Alps.

Anyway, so we finally arrived in Milan. The city of Milan was, I felt, a little different. It was more metropolist than other cities we visited. We then went to our hostel catching a cab, and the cab was surprisingly not expensive! Once in the hotel, we got bad news. Our room was on the third floor and there was no elevator! The thing was, my friend was travelling on a wheelchair which meant that an elevator was a must! My friend did call the hostel before our trip and the hostel guy said they HAD an elevator! But well, there was nothing we could do at that point, right? We did complain, but what would it change? We saw no other option but to take that room anyway. Beside, it would only be just a one night stay in Milan. To make things worse, the hostel did not have a free wi-fi connection. If we wanted to use wi-fi, we had to pay! Crazy!! We were so upset that we ended up doing not so much things that day.

The next day was the last day of our trip to Italy. Our flight would depart at 6.10 PM so we had pretty much the whole day in Milan. That day, we were kinda not really in the mood to really explore the city. I don't know why but it seemed that things were not going our way in Milan. It was kinda difficult to find a place for breakfast, and the metro system was practically unreachable for us as there was no elevator or stuff for handicapped people to get down there. We just visited Duomo (the Cathedral) and that's it. After that, we just sat in a cafe and at 2 PM we left the city for the airport.

::: Milan's Duomo (Cathedral)

::: easyJet's Airbus A319-111 which brought us back to the Netherlands as EZY2729.

Our flight departed on time. It was easyJet's EZY2729 on an Airbus A319-111 reg code G-EZIZ. We landed at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at around 8 PM, and that marked the end of our year-end trip to Italy.

THE END

#890 - April Fool

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

No, no, don't worry, I won't tell a lie here. I just put that title as a mark that a new month has come, and it is April. And April is gonnabe relaxing! Well, that is a lie, hahaha. Telling one lie doesn't hurt in April Fool anyway, right? :-)

Well, so, April has come. For TU Delft students, this April marks the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter. What does that mean to me? HELL!! Yeah, it means HELL!! I am taking one resit exam this April, not really a biggie. However, the thing is, I will have a super busy fourth quarter, and it will all start this April. Next quarter, I will have three projects to work on, and they are big ones! I have started working on one of them now, to reduce the ammount of work I will have to endure later. Well, this project that I have started is a very interesting project though, about Expert Judgment! Anyway, beside those projects, I think we can expect the usual assignments from the classes and stuffs. Beside, there will also be one oral exam within. Last week, my friends and I looked at the calendar and marked some dates in the fourth quarter about all the deadlines of our projects, assignments, exams, etc. Just looking at that calendar, I am literally shocked as there seem to be no time for "breathing". The schedule is so dense that we always have something to work on week after week, day after day, to make all the things work out. Well, no use in complaining now, the important thing is that I have to keep working hard and be passionate about it, just wish me luck!

Anyway, speaking of something nicer, I think spring has officially come now. Overall, the temperature has been warmer. Btw, I can't believe that now I feel that 14 degree temperature IS warm! In Indonesia, 14 degree is like really cold! Anyway, beside warmer temperature, some of the past several days the sun was also shining nicely. Of course I made us of those rare time as much as I could. I exercised a bit more, not a heavy one, but just biking around the town of Delft. It was fun! Hopefully many of this kind of day will come in the near future!

::: Spring in TU Delft Campus. I love this kind of weather.

::: Apparently, this is a sakura tree (I guess)!!

::: Yes, at one point, somehow I managed to get out of town literally while biking around!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Engga, engga koq, tenang aja, aku tidak akan menulis kebohongan disini. Aku menulis judul di atas (April Mop) ya sebagai penanda bahwa bulan baru telah datang saja, yaitu bulan April. Dan April adalah bulan yang santai! Ya, ini adalah kebohongan, hahaha. Toh bohong sekali di April Mop nggak papa kan ya? :-)

Yah, jadi, bulan April telah datang. Bagi mahasiswa TU Delft, April ini menandai berakhirnya kuarter tiga dan dimulainya kuarter keempat. Apakah artinya buatku? NERAKA!! Ya, artinya NERAKA!! Aku akan mengikuti satu ujian resit April ini, bukan masalah besar sih. Masalahnya adalah, aku akan memiliki kuarter empat yang sangat amat sibuk banget, dan itu semua akan dimulai April ini. Kuarter besok, aku sudah pasti ada tiga proyek yang harus diselesaikan, dan mereka proyek-proyek besar loh! Aku sudah memulai satu proyek sekarang, hitung-hitung nyicil kerjaan gitu biar nanti nggak berat-berat amat. Lagian, satu proyek ini adalah proyek yang asyik koq, tentang Expert Judgment! Ngomong-ngomong, di samping proyek-proyek itu, aku rasa kami juga bisa menjangka akan ada tugas-tugas seperti biasa dari kelas-kelas. Di samping itu, akan ada satu ujian lisan bulan ini juga. Minggu lalu, aku dan teman-temanku menandai beberapa tanggal di kalender dengan deadline proyek-proyek, tugas-tugas, ujian-ujian, dll. Hanya melihat kalender itu, aku udah geleng-geleng aja nih soalnya bisa dibilang nggak ada waktu buat sejenak "bernafas" deh. Jadwalnya padat banget sampai-sampai selalu saja ada yang harus dikerjakan minggu demi minggu, hari demi hari, agar semua bisa terselesaikan. Yah, nggak ada gunanya komplain sekarang, yang penting adalah bekerja keras dan tetap semangat, doakan aku yah!

Ngomong2, ngomongin hal yang agak lebih mengasyikkan, aku rasa musim semi sudah datang nih. Secara keseluruhan, suhu udara sudah lebih hangat sekarang. Btw, aku nggak menyangka lho kalau sekarang aku merasa suhu 14 derajat itu hangat! Di Indonesia, 14 derajat kan udah dingin kan yah. Ngomong2, di samping suhu yang lebih hangat, beberapa hari terakhir ini juga matahari bersinar dengan riangnya. Tentu saja aku memanfaatkan cuaca langka ini sebaik mungkin. Aku berolahraga sedikit, nggak berat-berat sih, cuma sepedaan aja keliling sekitaran kota Delft. Asyik juga loh! Mudah-mudahan hari-hari semacam ini akan datang lagi dalam waktu dekat.

#889 - Jetlag-ish Effect

2011-03-28T15:33:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Apparently, the DST last Sunday had a jetlag-ish effect.

The first apparent one was the sun, of course. Before the DST, the sun set at around 7 PM around this time in the Netherlands. However, due to DST, the sun now sets at around 8 PM. Also as a consequence, the sun also now rises about one hour "late" than before. Well, no biggie though, it is just sun, no??

The problem arose in my body and mind clock. Yesterday I cooked my dinner at around the "same" time as before, at around 6.45 PM. However, due to the DST, it was the same as 5.45 PM as before DST. I was still not that hungry at that time and it resulted in me having dinner a bit "late" yesterday. Okay, another small problem.

The bigger problem was that yesterday evening at the time I was supposed to get to bed, I did not feel sleepy! The thing was, I would have a morning class in Utrecht on Monday, which meant that I had to get to bed early on Sunday. I wanted to get to bed at 10 PM, but it means that it was equivalent to 9 PM the day before! If my body clock was still set in the winter time, no wonder I did not feel that sleepy at that time. As a result, I got to bed at almost midnight.

Of course the effect was prolonged until today. Having to get up at 6.45-ish this morning to catch the 8.45 AM train to Utrecht (via Rotterdam), it was equivalent with getting up at 5.45-ish last week to catch the 7.45 AM train. So early, wasn't it?? That is why today I was a bit asleep the whole day, hahaha...

So, there it is, just a one hour DST had a jetlag-ish effect on me today.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ternyata, DST hari Minggu kemarin ini ada efek jetlag terhadap diriku loh.

Yang pertama adalah matahari, tentu saja. Sebelum DST, matahari terbenam sekitar jam 7an malam di bulan2 sekarang di Belanda. Namun, karena DST, matahari sekarang terbenam sekitar jam 8an malam. Juga sebagai konsekuensinya, mataharinya juga terbit sejam "terlambat" dari sebelumnya. Yah, nggak masalah kan, cuma matahari gitu??

Masalah mulai muncul pada jam biologis dan pikiranku. Kemarin aku masak makan malam di sekitar jam yang "sama" seperti sebelumnya, sekitar jam 6.45 malam. Namun, karena DST, itu artinya ekuivalen dengan masak jam 5.45 sore sebelum DST. Aku masih belum lapar jam segitu dan akhirnya kemarin aku makan malamnya agak "terlambat" deh. Oke, cuma gini aja, masalah kecil kan.

Masalah yang lebih besar adalah kemarin malam di saat waktunya aku tidur, aku koq nggak ngantuk yah! Masalahnya, aku akan ada kelas pagi di Utrecht di hari Senin ini, yang artinya aku harus tidur agak awal tiap hari Minggu. Aku berencana tidur jam 10 malam, tapi itu artinya ekuivalen dengan tidur jam 9 malam sehari sebelumnya! Jika jam biologisku masih di waktu musim dingin, ya nggak heran aku masih belum merasa ngantuk deh. Sebagai akibatnya, aku baru tidur hampir tengah malam kemarin.

Efeknya tentu berkepanjangan hingga hari ini. Harus bangun pagi jam 6.45-an pagi ini untuk naik kereta jam 8.45 pagi tujuan Utrecht (via Rotterdam), itu ekuivalen dengan bangun jam 5.45-an minggu lalu dan naik kereta jam 7.45 pagi. Pagi banget kan!! Makanya deh hari ini seharian aku agak-agak ngantuk gitu, hahaha...

Jadi, itulah dia, penyesuaian DST sebanyak satu jam ternyata bisa mengakibatkan efek seperti jetlag di diriku hari ini.

#888 - One Week and DST

2011-03-27T00:17:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

This past one week has passed really quick! I mean, literally! I feel that I wrote my last entry just one or two days ago, but it has been one week! Wow! Maybe this is due to the fact that I have kinda been busy with all the stuffs from campus. Bah, same old story. I have one assignment due next Monday, and last Wednesday I had a really great trip to Amsterdam. No, no, it was NOT a vacation trip, it was more like a company visit to one financial company in Amsterdam. Somehow I got selected to be part of the visiting students (not all students could participate at this trip) and of course I accepted it. It turned out that it was so much fun! My eyes were opened wider and it really pumped me up to work harder!

Anyway, I can not believe that tonight, the spring Daylight Saving Time (DST) will take place. Well, it is not that I cannot believe we have a DST, but it is just that now we are already at the point of another DST! I remember writing this entry about my first DST and somehow now we are already approaching the next DST! How fast time flew!! Anyway, tonight the DST is not my favorite one as this Sunday we will only have 23 hours a day. The time will get fast forward one hour once it reaches 2 AM.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Seminggu terakhir ini benar-benar cepat berlalu deh! Maksudku, beneran deh! Rasanya aku menulis posting terakhirku ini tuh baru satu atau dua hari yang lalu, tapi ternyata udah seminggu yah! Wow! Ini mungkin dikarenakan aku sibuk minggu ini dengan semua hal dari kampus. Bah, cerita lama. Aku ada satu tugas yang harus dikumpul Senin besok, dan Rabu lalu aku mengikuti acara di Amsterdam. Bukan, bukan, acaranya bukan acara jalan-jalan, tapi lebih ke kunjungan perusahaan ke sebuah perusahaan finansial di Amsterdam. Aku terpilih untuk bisa ikut acara kunjungan perusahaan ini (nggak semua mahasiswa bisa ikut loh) dan tentu saja aku menerima tawaran ini. Ternyata acaranya asik banget! Acaranya benar-benar membuka mataku dan menyemangati aku untuk bekerja lebih keras!

Ngomong2, aku nggak percaya bahwa malam ini,Daylight Saving Time (DST) musim semi akan berlangsung. Yah, bukannya aku nggak percaya bahwa malam ini ada DST, maksudku aku nggak menyangka aja sekarang kita sudah berada di waktu DST lagi! Aku masih ingat menulis posting ini tentang DST pertamaku dan entah bagaimana sekarang kita sudah mendekati DST selanjutnya! Waktu benar-benar cepat berlalu!! Ngomong2, malam ini DSTnya bukanlah favoritku karena hari Minggu ini hanya akan memiliki 23 jam sehari. Waktu akan maju satu jam begitu waktu menyentuh jam 2 subuh.

#887 - Ten Things of the Week

2011-03-19T23:10:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

My life lately, well, I think you know how it goes. I have been busy lately with, as usual, all the works from campus that I must do. I barely had enough time to take a deep relaxing breath during the weekdays even though in the weekend I have had time to take some rests that I needed. Thanks God for that.

Two weeks ago I went to my friend's birthday celebration here. We all had dinner at a Mexican restaurant downtown in Delft's centrum. Well, I had really wanted to trya Mexican cuisine called "chimichanga", for two reasons: (1) it sounds funny; (2) I watched a movie some years ago where the character had chimichanga and it was depicted that it was super delicious, so I was curious. But then, reading the description (some food with mangos, etc), I decided not to take the "risk" and went with something more "familiar" (carnitas). It turned out that the carnitas was just okay (except for the grilled corn, it was awesome!) and now I feel that I should have taken that risk!

Last week there was an international students gathering where the idea was that everyone brought a meal representing their country of origin. Well, I decided to bring Javanese Fried Noodle as I had a pack of noodles that I bought last month which up to that point I had not had the mood to cook noodles for myself yet. So, fried noodle it was (yeah, in a way: gathering = one way to get rid of unneeded supply without just throwing it away to the garbage).

These past three weekends, I have had the privilege to (finally) have time for nap. I am so thankful of that. However, it just happened that in those three naps, I always dreamed, and those dreams were not nice ones, hmmm. Does it mean I should never take a nap??

After hearing some reviews from friends, I decided to start watching The Big Bang Theory. My friends were right, it was awesome and funny!! I started watching earlier this week and now I am already in the third season. :D I really recommend this show especially if you are pretty much familiar with the world of science :-)

Somehow lately I have this urge to start trying wearing contact lenses. I don't know why, the thought just popped in my head :-D. Then, I did some surveys online (mainly about the price), and the prices shocked me to hell!! Contact lenses are damn expensive!! Well, by expensive, I mean, the prices I saw were kinda higher than my expectation. Hmm...

Lately, I have been in the mood for experiments in the kitchen. You got a peek of one of the results two weeks ago. After that minced meat steak, my kitchen managed to produce lemonade chicken and soto. Yeah, soto!! Well, sure the soto was still not as delicious as many soto I had back in Indonesia, but considering it was my first attempt plus it was from scratch, I am very pleased!

I read on Facebook that today that the moon would appear on a rare size. By "rare size", it meant: bigger size, a.k.a "supermoon". Well, today the weather was great in Delft and some minutes ago I just decided to go outside to see the moon, and walked around for a little bit (That soto made my stomach really full. Thus, taking a walk sound like a good idea). And yeah, the moon was freaking huge!! Kinda cool!!

Talking about good weather in Delft, today I went grocery shopping for a while and I noticed something a bit unusual: Delft was more crowded today. By that, I mean the traffic was busier than other normal Saturday! Well, I guess it was because of the sun. The sun shone nicely today and the temperature was not that cold (nor that hot either). My theory was that this rare condition stimulated people to go outside and enjoy the rare good weather that somehow occured on a Saturday!

Third quarter's exam week is around the corner now. Well, just like last October, technically I will have no mandatory exam this term (even though last October I had one oral exam though :-P). But I decided two weeks ago that I will take one resit exam, even though I have passed the subject, to get a better grade. Well, so, wish me luck! :-)

::: Spring is around the corner! Spring in Delft

::: Some cookings at international dinner gathering last week.

::: My first ever attempt to cook a bowl of soto.

::: Supermoon

BAHASA INDONESIA

Kehidupanku akhir-akhir ini, yah, mungkin pada bisa nebak yah. Aku akhir-akhir ini, seperti biasa, disibukkan dengan kerjaan dari kampus yang harus dikerjakan. Di kala hari-hari kerja, beneran deh akhir-akhir ini susah mencari waktu bahkan untuk istirahat sejenak sambil menghela nafas. Walau di akhir minggu aku masih bisa beristirahat sih. Untunglah.

Dua minggu yang lalu aku pergi ke perayaan ulang tahun seorang teman. Kami makan malam di sebuah restoran Meksiko di centrum-nya Delft. Yah, aku sudah sangat pengen mencoba masakan Meksiko yang bernama "chimichanga", karena dua alasan: (1) namanya lucu; (2) aku nonton di film beberapa tahun yang lalu dimana tokoh di film itu makan chimichanga dan kayanya koq enak banget, jadi penasaran deh. Tapi kemudian, membaca deskripsi menunya (makanan dengan mangga, dll) koq malah aku agak goyah dalam mengambil "risiko"-nya yah, dan akhirnya malah memilih menu lain yang deskripsinya lebih "familiar" (carnitas). Eh ternyata, carnitas-nya rasanya biasa saja (kecuali jagung bakarnya sih, enak buangett!!) dan sekarang aku koq malah merasa seharusnya aku mengambil "risiko" itu!

Minggu lalu beberapa mahasiswa internasional kumpul2 gitu dan idenya adalah setiap orang membawa makanan yang mewakili negara asal mereka. Nah, aku memutuskan untuk membawa Mie Goreng Jawa buatanku sendiri karena aku memiliki satu pak mi yang kubeli sebulan sebelumnya dan sampai saat itu belum ada mood buat masak mie buat diri sendiri. Jadi, mie goreng lah yang kubawa (yah, di satu sisi: kumpul2 = satu cara menyingkirkan bahan masakan yang nggak dibutuhkan tanpa harus menyia-nyiakannya dengan membuangnya ke tempat sampah).

Tiga wiken terakhir ini, aku mendapatkan privilege untuk (akhirnya) tidur siang loh. Aku sangat bersyukur karenanya. Hanya saja, koq di tiga tidur siang itu aku selalu bermimpi yah, dan mimpinya tuh bukan mimpi yang menyenangkan deh, hmmm. Apa artinya aku nggak boleh tidur siang nih??

Setelah mendengar beberapa ulasan dari teman-teman, aku akhirnya memutuskan untuk mulai menonton The Big Bang Theory. Teman-temanku benar, acara ini benar-benar keren dan lucu!!! Aku mulai menonton awal minggu ini dan kini aku sudah ada di musim ketiga loh :D Aku menyarankan untuk menonton acara ini deh, apalagi kalau pada kenal dan familiar dengan dunia sains :-)

Entah kenapa akhir-akhir ini koq rasanya seperti ada dorongan untuk mencoba memakai lensa kontak yah. Nggak tau deh kenapa, cuma pikiran ini tiba-tiba muncul gitu aja :-D Trus, aku melakukan survey online (terutama tentang harga), dan ternyata harganya mengejutkanku loh!!! Lensa kontak ternyata mahal yah!! Yah, maksudnya mahal adalah, harga yang aku lihat lebih mahal daripada ekspektasi hargaku. Hmm...

Akhir-akhir ini, aku koq sedang dalam mood melakukan eksperimen di dapur. Satu hasilnya sudah aku posting dua minggu yang lalu. Setelah steak daging cincang, dapurku kemudian menghasilkan ayam goreng lemon dan soto. Ya, soto!! Yah, memang sotonya masih belum seenak soto yang pernah kumakan di Indonesia lah, cuma mempertimbangkan bahwa soto ini adalah soto pertama yang kubuat sendiri dari nol, aku sangat senang nih!

Aku baca di Facebook bahwa hari ini bulan akan muncul dalam ukuran yang langka. Maksud dari "ukuran langka" adalah: ukuran yang lebih besar, atau "supermoon" atau "bulan super". Yah, karena hari ini cuacanya lagi bagus di Delft, aku memutuskan untuk jalan keluar melihat bulannya beberapa menit yang lalu, dan sekalian jalan kaki keliling sebentar deh (Sotonya membuat perutku jadi penuh banget. Makanya ide jalan kaki sebentar sambil menurunkan isi perut terdengar menarik). Dan memang loh, bulannya besar banget!! Keren juga!!

Ngomong2 tentang cuaca yang bagus di Delft, hari ini aku pergi belanja bahan masakan dan aku memperhatikan satu hal yang agak tak biasa: Delft lebih ramai hari ini. Maksudku, lalu lintas lebih ramai dari hari-hari Sabtu yang lain! Yah, aku rasa ini karena mataharinya sih. Hari ini matahari bersinar cerah dan temperaturnya juga nggak dingin-dingin amat (walau nggak panas juga). Teoriku adalah, kondisi langka ini merangsang orang untuk pergi keluar dan menikmati cuaca indah yang kebetulan bisa terjadi di hari Sabtu ini!

Minggu ujian kuarter ketiga sudah mulai datang. Yah, seperti Oktober lalu, secara teknis sih aku nggak ada ujian wajib di waktu ini (walau Oktober lalu aku ada satu ujian lisan sih :-P). Tapi dua minggu yang lalu aku memutuskan untuk mengambil satu ujian resit, walau aku sudah lulus mata kuliahnya sih, untuk mencoba mendapat nilai yang lebih baik. Yah, doakan aku yah! :-)

#886 - 2010 Year-End Trip : Italy (Part III)

2011-03-13T12:59:00.003+07:00

Previously on 2010 Year-End Trip : Italy : Zilko and his friends went to Italy for Christmas and New Year Break and now he had used most of his time in Rome getting around the city during Christmas.

Before I start, well, I think I have to speed up my pace now otherwise this entry will be a never-ending one, hahaha.

So, we only had less than one day left in Rome since that day we planned to leave for Florence by evening. We still had one destination in mind: the Vatican Museum in Vatican City as the museum was closed when we first visited Vatican City three days before because of Christmas (see Part I).

So, that was it, our plan for that day was obvious. We also had a date with our Italian friend for lunch that day. So, after lunch, we all (including our Italian friend) went to Vatican Museum. Lucky the queue was not that long that day and we got a pretty good discount for the entrance fee because we were students! My own agendas for the Vatican Museum were two things: visiting Sistine Chapel and taking a picture of the famous purple spiral stairs in the museum.

Well, in fact, the WHOLE Vatican Museum was SO beautiful! It was definitely the best museum I had ever been into in my life (well, I have not visited Louvre in Paris yet so I cannot make a comparison at this point :-) ). With that entrance fee (15 euro, but we only paid 8 because we were students), I think it definitely worthed it. I loved the Roman architecture of the museum, and the art masterpieces in it. There was this long hallway which was divided in rooms, and they somehow designed the rooms to be so symmetric so that you were like seeing a mirror!!

::: One Roman Palace inside the Vatican Museum.

::: A magnificent hallway in Vatican Museum.

Anyway, so we finally got in the Sistine Chapel. Entering the chapel was so magical for me. As you might recall, about two years prior, I worked on a project about Michaelangelo for my Aesthetics Class. And the movie I watched in that class mainly focused on this Sistine Chapel. So just imagine how incredible it was for me that that time I WAS IN the Sistine Chapel itself, seeing Michaelangelo's masterpieces with my own eyes!!

::: The purple spiral stairs.

We also visited Raphael's Room just nearby Sistine Chapel (of course), and it was another magnificent place to visit!! Anyway, after going around the museum (and taking picture of that purple spiral stairs), we decided to leave Vatican Museum as it was already about 5 PM. We visited St. Peter's Square for a while. After that we left for Roma Termini Station. After taking our luggages (earlier that day we deposited our luggages in Termini Station), we bought our tickets to Florence. Somehow, we did not buy the regular train's tickets but we bought the Eurostar Train ticket instead. Well, the ticket was of course more expensive but Eurostar was a faster train and in a way I also wanted to experience how it felt like to ride a Eurostar! :-)

::: St. Peter's Square in the dusk.

Eurostar was awesome. Even the second class was incredible and nice! And it was fast (of course)! Once we arrived at Florence there was a funny incident as we (somehow) arrived about 15 minutes earlier in Florence, causing us to be like "F*ck, we are in Florence!" because it took a bit of time for us to get ready to get off the train (because one of my friend was in a wheelchair, so it took more time to prepare) and we planned to prepare for it 10 minutes before our scheduled time arrival, which meant at that point, we were not ready yet, lol.

::: Eurostar Italia, an Italian bullet train.

Anyway, that night in Florence we had dinner at a bar (it was more like an American bar though, as I ordered Ribs steak). The hostel was also not really good. They messed up with the reservation and they prepared smaller room for us. We of course complained and for the first night we got an extra room and for the rest, well, they sort of packed all of us in that smaller rooms but gave some discounts. But still, not a really nice experience.

The next day, we asked a recommendation for good places to eat in Florence and we got some. The problem was, one of them was closed because it was holiday! hahaha. Anyway, this day we went around the city. Florence was a nice city. One of the most landmarky place was Ponte Vecchio. We also wanted to enter the Palazzo Pitti, a museum at around 5 PM. But we realized a paper on the ticket booth saying something "gratis" ("gratis" is a very common word in many European languages as it means exactly the same as in Indonesian :D) after 7 PM that day and we suspected it was the entrance fee. Of course we opted to wait for two more hours (it would be a free entrance for God's sake! :D) and we could explore the city a little bit more. Well, after Vatican Museum, this museum was just fine for me, a little bit verging on boring even in a way. Anyway, that evening, we had dinner at one of the recommended restaurant to eat the famous Florenzian Beef Steak! It was kinda unique as we ordered not based on how many portions we wanted, but how many grams of steak we wanted, lol. And the steak was nice! It had a bit of raw taste, and that is why if you love medium-cooked steak, you will also like this Florenzian steak! :-)

::: Ponte Vecchio in Firenze.

::: Firenze as seen from Ponte Vecchio.

::: Florenzian Beef Steak!

The next day, we visited the Accademia Gallery as my friend really wanted to see David. We could skip the lines (because my friend was in a wheelchair, lol). There was a funny incident happening when we got in. Before getting in, we had to get through the security check first. Just like at the airport, we had to walk through a metal detector. I forgot to take my keys off my pocket and the detector beeped. I took my keys off and walked through the detector again. And the security guy was like: "Signore, this is a metal detector and these [pointing at my keys] are metals". I was like "Okay" since technically what he said was something too trivial, wasn't it? And I had no idea how to react to that. Feeling the awkwardness, that security guard even restated what he just said, making it even more awkward. I said "Okay" again and then he was like "Well, these are metals that is why it beeps!". And I was like "Yeah, of course, so?". Tired, he let me go in, lol. Probably he was trying to be a bit funny but he put a damn serious face, making me unsure whether he was joking, playing around with me, or was in fact serious! hahaha.

The statue of David was so magnificent! It was HUGE (all this time I thought it was small. Well, not small "small", probably 2 or 3 meter in height, but in fact it was 5+ meter!). Michaelangelo also sculpted it in a unique way in depicting David's victory over Goliath (in Indonesian, David is "Daud" and Goliath is "Goliat" :-D). But that was pretty much it in the museum. The other arts were just okay, but not as outstanding as David.

::: Firenze's Cathedral.

After the museum, we went to the cathedral. Well, again, after St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, this cathedral was just "okay", even though I am a bit sure that HAD we entered this cathedral BEFORE St. Peter's Basilica, we would have been "wow"-ed by it :-) We then went around the city and went to the open market.

::: Delicioius Gelato in Firenze.

I was looking for a water proof shoes as our next destination was Venezia (Venice) and there was a rumor that it was flooding there. I was thinking buying a pair of new shoes didn't hurt as I could use those shoes also as my winter shoes back in the Netherlands. I found a good pair of shoes with reasonable price. However, I had a problem with the color (yellow) as I did not see myself wearing yellow shoes, lol. The seller tried to provoke me to buy them (of course) by saying I could color the shoes MYSELF using a polish or something and I also had to buy that polish. Well Sir, if I would not buy new shoes whose color I did not like in which I had to "recolor" it myself with some polish that I also had to buy! If he would recolored it for me with no charge, well, I would be considering the offer and it would depend on how the shoes looked like after the process. I ended up not buying those shoes :-)

TO BE CONTINUED

#885 - First Week of March

2011-03-05T00:00:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

The first week of March has been okay for me. I got some new informations regarding my study here in TU Delft and I think I have to make some adjustments in my study plan to compensate with that, but overall it is not really a problem. Regarding my study, I got (finally) a good news: I got 9 in one of my class!! I am SO happy because I really worked hard for it! :-) Getting good grade here in TU Delft requires a lot of super f**king hard work! And I also decided to take a resit exam in one of the class that I took last semester, even though I have passed the class :-) Wish me luck!

Anyway, this early March has also been exciting for me as new season of three of my favorite American reality shows were premiered: The Amazing race 18, American Idol 10, and The Apprentice 11. Even though The Apprentice is switching back to my less-favorite version of it: the celebrity one. Along with several other non-reality shows that I am currently following now, well, my tv-shows watching activity is getting busier now. Hopefully I can manage my time really well! Amen for that!

Btw, I don't know why but lately, I am getting hungry easier than usual. Is it because of the season change? Well, I think it is not because of the cold because in the winter, my appetite was just as usual, hmmm. And I noticed this after I came back from Luxembourg. Does it mean that going to Luxembourg for just three days somehow dilated my appetite? Come to think about it, it makes sense though because meals in Luxembourg were HUGE!!!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

::: A surprisingly delicious minced meat steak (or bistik) with barbeque sauce that I made as my dinner yesterday.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu pertama bulan Maret sejauh ini masih baik-baik saja untukku. Aku mendapat beberapa informasi baru mengenai studiku kini di TU Delft dan aku rasa aku perlu melakukan sedikit penyesuaian di rencana belajarku karena informasi baru ini, tapi secara keseluruhan ini bukan masalah besar sih. Tentang studiku, aku (akhirnya) mendapat nilai 9 loh di salah satu kelasku!! Aku SENANG sekali nih, soalnya aku beneran belajar ekstra keras untuk ujiannya! :-) Mendapatkan nilai bagus di TU Delft itu membutuhkan kerja yang sangat amat keras dan ekstra! Dan aku juga memutuskan untuk mengambil satu ujian resit di salah satu mata kuliah, walau sebenarnya aku sudah lulus sih di kelas itu :-) Doakan aku yah!

Ngomong2, awal Maret ini juga mengasyikkan untukku karena musim baru dari tiga reality show favoritku akhirnya dimulai juga: The Amazing race 18, American Idol 10, dan The Apprentice 11. Walau sebenarnya The Apprentice justru balik ke versi yang aku kurang suka sih: versi selebriti. Bersama dengan beberapa acara tv non-reality show yang sedang aku ikuti sekarang, yah, kegiatan nonton tv-ku menjadi semakin sibuk nih. Mudah2an aku bisa mengatur waktu dengan baik! Amin!

Btw, nggak tahu kenapa tetapi akhir-akhir ini, aku koq lebih gampang lapar dari biasanya yah. Apakah ini karena perubahan musim? Yah, aku rasa sih bukan karena dingin soalnya waktu musim dingin kemarin, nafsu makanku juga biasa-biasa saja, hmmm. Dan aku menyadari hal ini setelah kembali dari Luxembourg. Jangan-jangan jalan-jalan ke Luxembourg selama hanya tiga hari tuh membuat nafsu makan lebih besar ya? Kalau dipikir-pikir masuk akal juga sih, soalnya porsi makanan di Luxembourg tuh BESAAR banget!!

Selamat berakhir pekan semua!

#884 - Welcoming Spring

2011-03-01T21:55:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Spring, or lente or voorjaar in Dutch, is the season that officially started today in Europe. If people ask me if I was excited to welcome spring, well, the answer would be "yes, I am excited to welcome spring". However, the fact lately has been kinda contradictory to the "spring stereotype". These past two weeks, the temperature dropped to somewhere around 4 or 5 degree in average (before that, I think it was already somewhere around 10 degree). It was even snowing last week. Not that bad though, but it was snowing! However, it is true that days are now getting longer as lately the sun sets at around 6.45 PM. But still, even though officially it is spring now, I still kinda feel this is still winter in a way, lol.

Anyway, speaking of welcoming Spring, TU Delft decided to give its students a one week spring break. Awesome!? Of course!! Was it refreshing?? Well, it was supposed to be refreshing. However, people do not call TU Delft for nothing. I still had several assignments and projects to work on. And to finish them on time, I had to use my time during my spring break. Plus, my Dutch class was still held during the break, and there was one extra class for one lecture. So, yeah, even though it was spring break, I did not really have a break, until Friday.

On Friday, my friends and I decided to go on a short trip during the weekend to a neighboring country: Luxembourg. It was an awesome weekend trip. Just at the time I needed, I got a nice short trip. Luxembourg was a really nice country with beautiful scenery (and mountain. Well, the Netherlands is really FLAT so that seeing mountainous landscape is such a refreshing). But it was sooooo tiny. And also, I felt that it was so "quiet". I mean, on Friday evening at around 8 PM, literally noone was there and it was like there was no more life there. The traffic was like traffic in Bandung or Yogyakarta at 1 AM: so empty. But yeah, it was really nice and here are some photos of my short trip there:

::: A view of Luxembourg City

::: A view from Vianden Castle, Vianden

::: Vianden. You can see Vianden Castle on top of the hill.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Musim Semi, atau lente atau voorjaar dalam bahasa Belanda, adalah musim yang secara resmi dimulai sekarang di Eropa. Kalau orang bertanya padaku apakah aku bersemangat menyambut musim ini, yah, jawabannya tentu: "ya, aku bersemangat nih dalam menyambut kedatangan musim semi". Namun, fakta belakangan ini malah agak bertentangan dengan "stereotip musim semi". Dua minggu terakhir ini, temperaturnya turun ke sekitar 4 atau 5 derajat rata-ratanya (padahal sebelumnya sudah sempat naik sampai sekitar 10an derajat tuh). Bahkan, minggu lalu juga sempat bersaljut loh. Nggak parah sih, cuma aja, bersalju! Namun, bener sih kalau sekarang siang hari sudah mulai memanjang karena matahari sekarang terbenamnya sekitar jam 6.45 sore. Tapi masih aja sih, walau secara resmi sekarang ini sudah musim semi, tapi rasanya kaya masih musim dingin deh, lol.

Ngomong2 tentang menyambut musim semi, TU Delft memutuskan untuk memberikan mahasiswa2nya libur awal musim semi selama seminggu loh. Asyik?? Tentu saja!! Apakah liburannya menyegarkan?? Yah, seharusnya sih begitu ya. Cuma saja, orang tidak sekedar memberikan prestise pada TU Delft dong. Aku masih ada beberapa tugas dan proyek yang harus diselesaikan. Dan supaya aku bisa menyelesaikannya tepat waktu, aku harus menggunakan waktuku selama libur musim semi itu. Plus, kelas Bahasa Belandaku juga tetap jalan tuh di minggu itu, dan ada satu kelas tambahan di mata kuliah yang lain. Jadi yah, walau di libur musim semi, aku nggak terlalu menikmati libur yang beneran "libur", sampai hari Jumat.

Di hari Jumat, aku dan teman2ku memutuskan untuk jalan-jalan sebentar ke negara tetangga: Luxembourg. Perjalanan itu adalah perjalanan wiken yang asyik loh. Tepat berlangsung di saat aku membutuhkan liburan. Luxembourg adalah negara yang bagus dengan pemandangan yang indah (dan gunung-gunung. Nah, Belanda kan negara yang RATA tuh, jadi melihat gunung aja sudah serasa kaya cuci mata). Tapi negaranya tuh keciiiiil banget. Dan juga, aku merasa negaranya tuh "sepi" banget. Maksudku, pas hari Jumat malam sekitar jam 8 gitu, seperti nggak ada orang gitu deh disana dan seperti nggak ada kehidupan (lebay nih). Lalu lintasnya juga seperti lalu lintas di Bandung atau Yogyakarta kalau jam 1 subuh: lengang banget. Tapi ya, tetep aja negaranya bagus tuh. Di atas aku unggah beberapa foto dari perjalanan terakhir kemarin.

#883 - 2010 Year-End Trip: Italy (Part II)

2011-02-22T16:27:00.002+07:00

Previously on 2010 Year-End Trip: Italy : Zilko and his friends went to Italy over the Christmas break. They spent their Christmas Eve eating Japanese food for dinner with a good (free) red wine and cake.

The thing was, we had been a bit worried about our agendas on the Christmas Day itself. Well, it is true that Rome (Vatican City to be precise) is the center of Catholicism and that is why Christmas is supposedly nothing to worry about. Well, the truth was quite the contrary. Because people there did celebrate Christmas, ALL places were closed on Christmas Day! By ALL, yes, I mean ALL: including Vatican City, ALL museums in Rome, Colosseum, etc. To make things worse, that day ALL public transports were inactive for some period of hours (three hours if I am not mistaken, from around 12 or 1 PM until 3 or 4 PM) because the government decided that public service people should spend those time with their families on Christmas Day. To make the already worse things even "worser" (from visitors' point of view), December 26th is also a national holiday in Italy! So people, do really think about your trip to Rome if you plan to go on these dates!

Luckily, we were not stupid people. We still planned to get what we could get that day: the city of Rome itself. It was true that many museums in the city were closed, but it did not mean the city was "closed", right? Even though we did not get in into something, we still could enjoy the city by going around it. Another luck was on our side, we had a friend who came from Rome and that day he was back home for the Christmas break. And he was really nice to offer to walk us around the city in the afternoon.

Anyway, you might wonder why we did not attend the famous and glorious Christmas Mass Liturgy in Vatican City on Christmas. Well, we had several reasons for that: (1) We did not have the "tickets" (yeah, to attend the mass, apparently we had to have the so-called tickets. Well, the tickets were free though but to get them, there were several procedures we had to follow. Plus, the procedures should have been started like months before); (2) I am not proud of this, but I was not really a morning-type person. To attend the mass liturgy, we had to get up like really early and somehow found a transportation to get there. FYI, we stayed in a different side of the city where it took us around 30 - 40 minutes to get to Vatican City; (3) The weather in Rome the past few days had not been nice. Drizzle constantly fell from the sky; Well, not that I do not want to attend the mass liturgy, but it seemed that in this trip it was too troublesome for us. But still, I might plan another trip to Rome someday in the future with the main agenda to attend the liturgy.

::: Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome, Italy. It did look like the White House :-)

So, while waiting for our friend, we spent the morning pretty much around the Ancient Rome, a spot in Rome where the ruin of the old Rome were preserved. We did not (yet) enter the Colosseum and the Roman Forum (simply because they were closed) but we managed to get a glimpse of the old Rome (even though it was nothing compared to what we would see the day after when we entered the Roman Forum). Anyway, then we met our friend and we walked around the city. We had a nice coffee break in a cafe in front of the Pantheon (and yes, we did not enter the Pantheon this day because it was Christmas).

Having a friend who really knows the city around is always great, for many reasons: (1) There is no need to worry about getting lost. Sure; (2) He/She knows which places should be in our priority list to visit, as if you browse the information yourself, you might get confused and sometimes the information in the internet is just exaggerated (to attract people to come, of course); (3) He/She knows which restaurants we should go to, to have a nice, local, and decent meals; (4) He/She (supposedly) speaks the local language so just in case there is something involving locals, we do not have to really worry about the language barrier; and the most interesting one: (5) He/She can tell us many (interesting) stories about the city and some spots that we visit. Just like when our friend told us the following story when we passed this structure:

So once upon a time, there were two famous Roman architects: Bernini and Borromini. They were rivals and they hated each other. One day, they got jobs which employed them in Piazza Navona. Borromini's job was to build (and design) a church while Bernini's job was to build (and design) a fountain in front of it. Bernini decided to build a fountain sculptured with four gods circling it. The funny thing was that one of the god was in a position as the church would fall towards him! (you can see in the picture). It could be interpreted that Bernini did it on purpose to mock Borromini as he basically said: "I think your building is really badly-designed and it will fall apart", LOL.

We ended the day having a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant in Rome. I had a nice pasta and one of my friend had a really nice meal (I forgot the name).

The next day, many of the main interesting sites were open for public again. We dedicated this day for an Ancient Rome Tour, starting with THE Colosseum. People had been reminding us that we should get there really really early to avoid the long queing line as Colosseum was a really popular destination (no question why). But here was the thing: Travelling with someone in a wheelchair apparently had its own perks: (1) sometimes we could get an extra discount; (2) we could SKIP the queing line! The second one is my personal favorite, honestly :-) So we did not really bother about getting up that early to beat the line.

::: Just outside the Colosseum.

Anyway, when we arrived at the Colosseum, the warning was true. There was a ridiculously long queing line to the ticket booths. Then, some salesguys approached us trying to sell their guided tours to us. Of course the total price was a bit higher than if we bought tickets from the booth, BUT with this tour we got a guide who would tell us all interesting stories and history of the Colosseum (and the Roman Forum). Even, one of them said that because we were travelling with someone on a wheelchair, we could get some price reduction. Thinking that the price still made sense (we had to pay 16 euro each), we decided to join the local tour.

::: Inside the Colosseum

The tour was really fun. The guide was an Italian guy with heavy Italian accent with a really good sense of humor. And yeah, Colosseum was awesome! I do not know how to put it in words, but I felt SO happy that finally I stepped my feet in the Colosseum, a place that I had wanted to go for so so long time. Yes, finally I could check one site in my "must visited places before I die" list. The guide told us many interesting stuffs of the building, making the visit even more enjoyable as I soaked myself in the history of the structure.

The package of the tour we bought was including a visit to the Roman Forum. For this site, we had another guide, a Canadian lady who had lived in Rome for 9 years. Roman Forum is a site with the ruins of ancient Roman buildings. We even got access to get into the Palatino Hill, a hill which in the Roman Mythology was the place where Romulus and Remus were found by the wolf. The best place of this hill was the small garden on top of the hill overlooking the Roman Forum (and the city of Rome in the background).

::: A view from the Palatino Hill towards the Roman Forum.

This part of Rome really offered a different side of the city which was not related to the religiosity of the city. Even, in a way, some of the structures there (including the Colosseum) represented the non-religious acts the old Roman people did centuries ago. Seeing this side of the city was really interesting.

Later that day, we had some time to kill and we went around the city. We managed to get in the Pantheon, in where I think I met Margaret Mountford, one of Sir Alan's advisor in the tv-show: The Apprentice UK. I am so regretful now that I did not ask her to take a picture with me, hahaha. We also visited several spots in Rome, and the nicest one was the Trevi Fountain. This fountain is also a must-visited place in Rome, IMO.

::: The Pantheon.

::: Trevi Fountain. I did the ritual of throwing a coin to the fountain :-)

Anyway, that night we had dinner at another Italian restaurant in Rome. And I had one of the best pasta I have ever had in my life: bucatini carbonara! It was for 8 or 9 euro and I think it was meant for a share between two or three people, but I managed to finish it myself because I was soo hungry and it was soo delicious! I definitely want to eat this meal again when I come back to Rome!!

::: A very delicious Bucatini Carbonara in Rome.

TO BE CONTINUED...

#882 - Three Thought of the Week

2011-02-20T22:12:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

For the last six months, I have been familiar with the power and awesomeness of one popular website in the internet, whose power and awesomeness was pretty much underestimated back in Indonesia: youtube. One day, I somehow wanted to listen to oldies songs (well, by "oldies", I mean the songs that I used to hear to when I was a kid, somewhere in the 90s). I then put the title of those songs in its "search" box, expecting nothing, really, nothing! But then, most of them showed up! Even some oldies Indonesian songs! (well, the success rate for Indonesian songs is much lower than English songs though, obviously, but its rate is not that bad either). One time I also wanted to see the opening/closing of some cartoons/animes I used to watch when I was younger, and I could also find them in youtube! See?? How amazing is that!?!?

Well, now I fully understand the phrase "youtube procrastination" though, hahaha.

One of the hottest topic in Indonesia this week was the halt of foreign films import to Indonesia. Well, many people have been whining about it (as I observe in Facebook) as now they cannot watch "high quality" films, but I do not think they should worry that much. I somehow feel that this is just like a "game" they play in this business. One side is trying to "bluff" the other side and see how they react as it might establish their position in the negotiation. In a way, it is like "bluffing" in a poker game.

The thing is, Indonesia is a really big market for films. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world in term of population and there are cinemas in every major city in the country, which implies that watching movies in cinema are (easily) accessible for most Indonesians. That is why I do not think those film producers will let Indonesia go "that easy", without any means of necessary measures done.

I predict that in the very near future, a "deal" will take place and this problem will be resolved.

Sometimes, I just like to skip (or procrastinate) visiting one place because that place is so close to where I live. This was the case with the Delftse Hout, a recreational public park just in the outskirt of Delft. Today, somehow I felt like going out somewhere new and I decided to bike around. I thought this was a good chance to go to Delftse Hout as I had never been there, and it was quite far (in term of biking distance), thus it would make a good exercise, right? So, there I went today.

And I saw something good! It was a countryside, definitely not a city nor a town, and I think this was the reason why this place is such a popular place for relaxation. Well, I definitely should think about going to this place when I need refreshment as it is just practically next door and it is good for exercising! hahaha

And it is quite a shame that I went to this place the first time after living in Delft for six months now, lol.

Okay, I do not have many thought this week as my week was full with me preparing for the oral exam that I had last Friday, in which I did really well on it (and I am so pleased with that). Btw, I have also decided to go to Luxembourg next week. Yeaah! I can't wait!

::: A canal near Delftse Hout.

::: A tiny lake in Delftse Hout. This lake was so tiny that after some minutes biking around the lake I was like: "hey, I was here some minutes ago" :-D

::: A nice house in Delftse Hout.

::: Leaning trees in Delftse Hout.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Selama enam bulan terakhir, aku sudah lumayan kenal dengan kekuatan dan kekerenan dari satu situs populer di internet, yang kekuatan dan kekerenannya agak kurang terapresiasi di Indonesia: youtube. Suatu hari, entah kenapa aku koq ingin mendengarkan beberapa lagu lama (yah, maksudnya "lama" itu adalah lagi yang biasanya aku dengar waktu masih kecil, di era 90an gitu deh). Aku kemudian iseng memasukkan judul lagunya di kotak "pencarian"-nya youtube, tanpa mengharapkan apa2. Eh, tapi kemudian beneran muncul loh! Bahkan lagu lama Indonesia juga sebagian ada! (yah, tentu tingkat kesuksesan pencarian lagu lama Indonesia lebih rendah daripada lagu Barat yah, jelas deh, tapi ya itu pun sudah lumayan lah). Satu kali juga aku tiba2 ingin nonton adegan pembukaan/penutupan beberapa kartun/animes yang biasa aku tonton dulu, dan aku juga bisa menemukannya di youtube loh! Nah, keren kan!?!?

Yah, sekarang aku ngerti deh istilah "youtube procrastination", hahaha.

Satu topik yang sedang hangat diperbincangkan di Indonesia saat ini adalah berhentinya impor film asing ke Indonesia. Yah, banyak orang sudah mengeluhkan tentangnya (seperti yang kuamati di Facebook) karena mereka jadi nggak bisa menonton film "berkualitas tinggi" lagi. Tapi aku rasa sih mereka seharusnya tidak perlu sekhawatir itu deh. Entah kenapa aku koq merasa kejadian ini hanyalah seperti "permainan" yang dimainkan para pelaku bisnis di dunia itu yah. Satu pihak sedang berusaha "menggertak" lawannya dan menunggu reaksinya karena ini akan menentukan posisi mereka. Yah, mirip sama "gertakan" di poker gitu lah.

Yang jelas adalah, Indonesia adalah pasar besar bagi industri film. Indonesia adalah negara terbesar keempat di dunia dari segi populasi dan terdapat bioskop di semua kota utama di seluruh penjuru Indonesia, yang artinya nonton film adalah suatu aktivitas yang (mudah) dilakukan oleh orang Indonesia. Makanya aku rasa produsen film itu tidak akan melepaskan Indonesia semudah itu deh, tanpa segala macam upaya untuk tetap memasarkan produknya di Indonesia.

Aku duga sih nggak lama lagi, "deal" akan tercapai dan masalah ini terselesaikan deh.

Kadang, aku suka untuk melewatkan (atau menunda-nunda) kunjungan ke satu tempat karena tempat itu dekat dengan tempat tinggalku. Ini adalah kasus yang terjadi dengan Delftse Hout, sebuah taman rekreasi umum yang terletak di luaran kota Delft. Hari ini, entah kenapa aku merasa ingin pergi keluar ke tempat yang baru dan aku memutuskan untuk keliling sambil naik sepeda. Nah, aku rasa ini adalah waktu yang baik untuk pergi ke Delftse Hout karena kan aku belum pernah kesana, dan lokasinya lumayan jauh (dengan ukuran sepeda), yang artinya lokasinya cocok kan untuk olahraga? Makanya aku kesana hari ini.

Dan aku melihat sesuatu yang bagus! Tempatnya memang terasa di luar kota, jelas nggak kerasa deh aura kotanya, dan aku rasa inilah alasan mengapa tempat ini adalah tempat populer untuk refreshing. Yah, mulai sekarang aku harus mempertimbangkan tempat ini deh kalau aku butuh refreshing karena kan tempat ini bisa dibilang berada di sebelahku, dan juga tempat ini ok buat berolahraga! hahaha

Dan agak payah juga ya aku baru mengunjungi tempat ini untuk pertama kalinya sekarang, setelah enam bulan tinggal di Delft, lol.

Oke, memang aku nggak ada banyak hal yang terpikirkan minggu ini karena minggu ini full aku konsentrasi untuk satu ujian lisan yang diadakan Jumat lalu, dimana aku menjalani ujiannya dengan sangat baik (dan aku sangat senang karenanya). Btw, aku juga akhirnya memutuskan untuk pergi ke Luxembourg nih minggu depan. Yeaah! Udah nggak sabar!

#881 - My First Tennis Tournament

2011-02-13T23:01:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Today is one of the historic days in my life. What happened today? Well, today I watched my first ever tennis tournament in my life! It was the Rotterdam Tournament in Rotterdam, not so far away from where I live now. Well, you might know that I am a fan of tennis and back in Indonesia, there was no easy opportunity for me to freely watch a tournament, namely a big one. This tournament in Rotterdam can be categorized as big tournament as it was part of the ATP World Tour 500, in term of level just below ATP Masters Series and Grand Slams.

Anyway, my ticket allowed me to watch both finals held today, singles and doubles. Actually, none of my favorite players made it to the final though (Andy Murray and Gilles Simon both lost in the first round of singles and the Murray brothers lost in the semifinals to Melzer/Petzschner in doubles). But still, I was so excited to finally watch my first tennis tournament!

So this morning I departed at around 10 AM from Delft and arrived there at Ahoy Stadium at almost 11 AM. As the first match would start at noon, I killed time by walking around the tennis complex. I was so excited! I mean, finally!! I got "wow"-ed. Anyway, when I reached the Centre Court (the main court), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was practising there! The second "wow" striked me.

Btw, I got a little problem in finding my seat. My seat number was a little unusual as my ticket indicated it was in G1 area. I asked the official and they said there was NO G1 area, so they suggested me to try Gi instead as the area should be indicated with "two letters" instead of one letter and one number. I went to Gi, but the seat number did not match (seat with the number indicated in my ticket was not in Gi area). So I decided to ignore the area and just found a seat with my number as I recognized that the seat-numbering continued from one area to another, so there was a good chance the area meant really nothing in the seat-numbering system. However, I was (partly) wrong (and a bit unlucky) as I got the wrong seat. A Dutch man said that that seat was his as it was in area Gc, so mine was not supposed to be that one. So, where the hell was my seat?? I went to the other part of the stadium, and finally also found a seat with that number. I did not pay attention to the area as the double match was almost started. Noone was sitting on that seat and so I just sat there, enjoying the match. During the break, I checked the area, and yes, it was G1 area, hahaha. Btw, I just realized one thing: it might not be G1 afterall, it might be Gl (Golf Lima)!! See!! Gl, typed with several fonts, looked like G1!! Well, now it just makes sense!! hahaha

Btw, that Dutch man was really kind. During the break between the two final, I met him when I was walking to the cafe to buy a drink. He approached me and asked if I found my seat! Wow!!

Anyway, so I watched the two finals. The doubles final was cool. Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner defeated Michaël Llodra and Nenad Zimonjić by 6-4, 3-6, [10-5]. There were several great and entertaining points. It was a bit a shame that Zimonjic double faulted in the last two points, giving the victory to Melzer/Petzschner away. Btw, the match was led by Mohamed Kalyani. Well, this guy is really one of the most entertaining chair umpire in the world! :-)

As for the singles final, it was also a great match. Well, none of Robin Söderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is my favorite player, so I was kinda in the neutral side today. Well, both players demonstrated a really high quality of play today. There were so many great points produced. In the second half of the match, actually Tsonga got the momentum. At one point, he even produced four consecutive aces, giving him one game free!! However, he did choke at one game in the deciding set, and this game proved to be the key to Robin Söderling's victory over him. Robin Söderling closed the championships with an ace and won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Well, for my first tennis tournament, I think it went really well. All matched that I watched took three sets (good, it meant longer match so I got more match to watch with the same price of ticket, lol). And all of them were really good quality! I think I am coming back next year! Btw, I am also looking for some affordable upcoming tournaments nearby. I am currently eyeing at the Brussels Ladies Open next May, it will be a Premier level tournament for the women played on red clay. But I need to see the entry list first before deciding whether I should go or not, hmmm.

::: Doubles' Final match between Michaël Llodra/Nenad Zimonjić and Jürgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner.

::: Jürgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner defeated Michaël Llodra/Nenad Zimonjić by 6-4, 3-6, [10-5]

::: Robin Söderling serving.

::: Closing ceremony of the 2011 ABM Amro World Tennis Tournament.

::: Robin Söderling was crowned as this year's winner, defending his title from last year.

::: Championships point for Söderling. Robin Söderling won this point, thus closing this year's tournament, with a beautiful ace.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hari ini adalah hari bersejarah dalam hidupku. Mengapa demikian? Yah, karena hari ini aku untuk pertama kalinya seumur hidup nonton yang namanya turnamen tenis! Turnamennya adalah Turnamen Rotterdam di Rotterdam, nggak jauh dari dimana aku tinggal sekarang. Yah, mungkin pada tau lah kalau aku ini fans-nya tenis dan di Indonesia, nggak ada banyak kesempatan dimana aku bisa dengan mudah dan bebas nonton turnamen tenis, apalagi yang besar. Turnamen di Rotterdam ini bisa dikatakan besar, karena turnamen ini ada di level ATP World Tour 500, yang dari segi level hanya ada di bawahnya ATP Masters Series dan Grand Slams.

Ngomong2, tiketku memberikanku akses untuk nonton kedua final hari ini, tunggal dan ganda. Sebenarnya, pemain favoritku nggak ada yang amsuk final sih (Andy Murray dan Gilles Simon sudah kalah di babak pertama tunggal dan Murray bersaudara kalah di semifinal ganda dari Melzer/Petzschner). Tapi ya, masih aja dong aku bersemangat nonton turnamen tenis pertamaku!

Jadi, pagi ini aku berangkat jam 10 pagi dari Delft dan tiba di Stadium Ahoy sekitar jam 11 pagi. Karena pertandingan pertama baru mulai jam 12 siang, aku jalan-jalan dulu lah keliling komplkeksnya. Aku sangat bersemangat loh! Maksudku, akhirnya gitu!! Aku merasa "wow". Ngomong2, ketika aku sampai di Centre Court-nya (lapangan utama)m disana Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sedang berlatih! Yah, "wow" kedua menghampiriku.

Btw, aku mendapat masalah kecil dalam mencari kursiku. Nomer kursiku agak nggak biasanya karena tiketku menunjukkan kursiku ada di area G1. Aku bertanya ke panitianya dan katanya nggak ada tuh area G1, jadi mereka menyarankanku mencoba mencarinya di area Gi karena areanya diberi nama dengan "dua huruf" bukannya satu huruf satu angka. Aku kemudian mencarinya di Gi, tapi nggak ketemu soalnya nomer kursinya nggak ada yang cocok (nomer kursiku nggak ada di area Gi). Makanya kemudian aku memutuskan untuk mengabaikan areanya dan mencari kursi dengan nomer yang cocok denganku karena aku sadar bahwa nomer kursinya berlanjut dari satu area ke area lain, jadi ada kemungkinan sebenarnya area itu tidak berarti apa-apa dalam sistem penomoran kursi. Namun, ternyata aku (setengahnya) salah (dan agak kurang beruntung) karena aku duduk di kursi yang salah. Ada seorang Belanda yang berkata kalau kursi yang kududuki adalah kursinya karena kursi itu ada di area Gc, jadi kursiku ya bukan kursi itu. Nah, jadi dimana dong kursiku?? Aku trus jalan ke sisi lain stadionnya, dan akhirnya menemukan satu kursi dengan nomer itu. Aku nggak terlalu memperhatikan areanya karena pertandingan final ganda sudah mau dimulai. Nggak ada yang duduk disana ya udah aku duduk aja disitu, menikmati pertandingannya. Di saat istirahat, iseng aku mengecek areanya, dan bener, itu adalah area G1, hahaha. Btw, aku baru menyadari sesuatu nih: mungkin area itu bukanlah area G1 loh, mungkin aja adalah area Gl (Golf Lima)!! Lihat kan!! Gl, kalau diketik dengan beberapa fonts, kan kelihatan mirip banget sama G1!! Ah, akhirnya semua masuk akal sekarang!! hahaha

Btw, orang Belanda yang itu baik banget loh. Di sesi istirahat antara kedua final, aku bertemu dengannya lagi ketika aku lagi jalan ke kafe buat beli minum. Dia menghampiriku dan bertanya apakah aku akhirnya menemukan kursiku! Wow, ramah banget yah!!

Ngomong2, jadi aku menonton kedua finalnya. Final ganda keren juga tuh. Jürgen Melzer dan Philipp Petzschner mengalahkan Michaël Llodra dan Nenad Zimonjić dengan skor 6-4, 3-6, [10-5]. Ada beberapa poin yang hebat dan sangat menghibur. Sayang aja di dua poin terakhir Zimonjic melakukan double fault dua kali, memberikan kemenangan pada Melzer/Petzschner. Btw, pertandingan final ini dipimpin oleh Mohamed Kalyani. Yah, dan memang, orang satu ini memang salah satu wasit tenis yang paling menghibur di dunia deh!! :-)

Untuk final tunggalnya, pertandingannya juga keren banget. Yah, baik Robin Söderling maupun Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bukan pemain favoritku sih, makanya aku lumayan netral tadi. Keduanya bermain dengan sangat baik hari ini. Ada banyak poin keren yang dimainkan. Di setengah kedua pertaandingan, sebenarnya Tsonga yang lebih menguasai momentumnya. Bahkan, di satu poin, ia menghasilkan empat aces berturut-turut loh, memberikannya satu game dengan mudah!! Namun, ia agak "tersedak" sedikit di satu game di set ketiga dan memang akhirnya terbukti game inilah kunci kemenangan Robin Söderling's atas dirinya. Robin Söderling menutup turnamen dengan sebuah ace dan menang 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Yah, untuk turnamen tenis pertamaku, aku rasa turnamen ini keren banget sih. Semua pertandingan yang aku tonton berlangsung tiga set (bagus, artinya makin banyak dan lama pertandingan yang kutonton dengan harga tiket ini, lol). Dan semuanya juga berkualitas bagus! Aku rasa aku akan nonton lagi deh tahun depan! Btw, aku juga sekarang lagi mencari beberapa turnamen akan datang yang harga tiketnya terjangkau nih dan lokasinya dekat2 nih. Aku sih sekarang sedang memasang mata di turnamen Brussels Ladies Open bulan Mei nanti, sebuah turnamen level Premier untuk petenis wanita yang dimainkan di tanah liat merah. Tapi aku harus melihat daftar pemainnya dulu deh sebelum memutuskan akan pergi atau tidak, hmmm.

#880 - So, This Is How Monday Will Look Like

2011-02-07T21:40:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

I did write two weeks ago that two of my courses this quarter are both held on Monday, but they are held in two different cities: Utrecht and Delft. At first, I thought the first Monday I would experience this thing was last week's Monday. But apparently, the morning course at Utrecht did not start last week, but it started this week. I was not complaining last week, as it meant that I had an extra time to relax, lol.

Anyway, so, this Monday came. I was kinda excited, to be honest, as it was literally the first time ever in my life I had a regular class that would be held in different city and I had to come back to Delft in the afternoon!! I would be part of the morning rush (which turned out that it was kinda not fun)!!

So, this morning I got up pretty early (because I also had to cook my breakfast and prepare my lunch as I did not want to be starving during the course). At 8, I met my friends at the station and we left Delft catching train at 8.15 to Rotterdam (we had to transit once at Rotterdam). Being part of the morning rush was very not fun. Just for you to get a seat, you need luck, let alone you want to sit with your group of friends! Beside, my kortingkaart (discount card) is not valid during morning rush before 9 (although it does not really matter as my ticket will be reimbursed by the university).

Anyway, so we finally made it to Utrecht, sitting separately but we all got our own seat (thanks God for that!). From the station, we caught a frikkin' long bus (it looked like three buses joint together) to get to the university. As predicted, we got lost just to find the frikkin' building in which the class would be held. There was no clear sign about the location of the building. Well, I did survey it on Google Map before going, but I forgot to mark which one was north, south, etc, so it did not really help, lol. Twenty minutes getting lost, we finally found the building and subsequently, our class.

Then, I expected the class to be interesting. I read the class' description so I pretty much had an idea (supposedly) about what to expect. However, in the first class this morning, the professor talked about something completely different (from my perspective)! I mean, well, I understand that what he explained today might be, in a way (supposedly), the very very very basic of all things that we might need. I thought it was supposed to be "brief", but I just felt it was not brief at all. Even at one point in the middle of the lecture, he said that he just compressed a 5 classes (which objective was really that field he explained) material into a 90 minutes lecture. Well, for me, it was like a slap in the face! How was I supposed to absorb all those things, plus the fact that we were preparing ourselves for something else! It was like you were ordering pizza for a meal in a restaurant but what you got was a big pile of cheese. Well, hopefully the next lecture will be better though.

Anyway, after that class, we went back to Delft. This time, because it was not the rush hour anymore, it was easier to get seats. Short story even shorter, we arrived at Delft at 2.45 PM. I went back home and prepared myself for my evening class which started at 4.45 PM: Dutch class. And as written here, this class is demanding as we have exams right after EACH class.

So, that was it: my Monday this quarter: getting up early - catching early train to Utrecht - being part of the morning rush - class in Utrecht - rushing back to Delft - preparing for Dutch test - Dutch class - Dutch test. Now, when I still basically have no big assignment due in the near future, Monday already looks demanding. Well, but I know I can beat it!! :-)

::: Long bus in Utrecht. Picture was taken from here. Well, next week (if I do not forget about it) I will try to take a picture of this frikkin' long bus.

note : illustration was taken from here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Dua minggu yang lalu aku menulis bahwa dua kelasku kuarter ini diadakan di hari Senin, tetapi mereka diadakan di dua kota yang berbeda: Utrecht dan Delft. Awalnya sih, aku kira hari Senin pertamaku dengan jadwal seperti ini adalah Senin minggu lalu. Tapi ternyata, kelas pagi di Utrecht baru dimulainya minggu ini, bukan minggu lalu. Minggu lalu sih aku nggak protes soalnya jadi ada sedikit waktu ekstra untuk santai-santai, lol.

Ngomong2, akhirnya, hari Senin ini tiba juga. Aku lumayan bersemangat dalam menghadapi hari ini, jujur, karena ini adalah hari pertama dalam seumur hidupku aku ada kelas reguler yang akan diadakan di kota lain dan aku harus balik lagi ke kota asalku (Delft) di siang harinya!! Aku juga akan menjadi bagian dari morning rush (jam sibuk di pagi hari) (yang ternyata tidak menyenangkan loh)!!

Jadi, pagi ini aku bangun lumayan pagi (kan aku harus masak sarapan dan menyiapkan bekal makan siang soalnya aku nggak mau dong kelaparan di tengah-tengah kelas). Jam 8, aku bertemu teman2ku di stasiun dan kami meninggalkan Delft naik kereta jam 8.15 pagi tujuan Rotterdam (ya, kami harus transit sekali di Rotterdam). Menjadi bagian morning rush ternyata sangat nggak menyenangkan. Untuk dapet kursi aja membutuhkan keberuntungan loh, apalagi kalau mau duduk bareng sama sekelompok teman! Disamping itu, kortingkaart-ku (kartu korting) nggak berlaku ketika morning rush sebelum pukul 9 (yang ini sebenarnya nggak masalah sih soalnya ongkos transportnya bakal diganti sama universitas).

Ngomong2, akhirnya kami tiba di Utrecht, duduk terpisah di kereta tapi setidaknya semuanya dapat kursi (untung banget deh!). Dari stasiun, kami naik bus yang panjang banget (penampakannya kaya tiga bus digandeng) untuk pergi ke kampusnya. Seperti yang sudah diduga sebelumnya, kami kesasar dalam upaya pencarian gedung tempat kuliah diadakan. Nggak ada petunjuk yang jelas sih. Memang sih sebelumnya aku sudah survey peta di Google Map dulu, tapi aku malah lupa ngecek mana arah utara, selatan, dll, makanya nggak terlalu membantu deh, lol. Dua puluh menit kemudian, akhirnya kami menemukan gedungnya dan tentu saja, kelasnya.

Trus, aku berharap kelasnya menarik. Aku membaca deskripsi kelasnya jadi aku memiliki bayangan lah (seharusnya) akan apa yang bisa diharapkan. Namun, di kelas pertama tadi pagi, profesornya malah membahas hal yang sangat berbeda (dari sudut pandangku)! Maksudku, ngerti sih kalau materinya tadi itu, mungkin di satu sisi, akan menjadi hal yang sangat amat dasar sekali dari apa yang akan kita bahas nantinya. Cuma saja, aku rasa seharusnya cukup "singkat" saja lah, dan aku sih nggak merasa yang tadi itu singkat. Malahan aja di satu waktu profesornya bilang dia baru saja memadatkan materi 5 pertemuan di kelas yang memang membahas materi itu, menjadi penjelasan selama 90 menit. Yah, untuk aku sih, rasanya seakan-akan kaya baru ditonjok, gitu aja! Bagaimana deh kita harus memahami semua materi itu, disamping fakta bahwa bukan materi itu yang kita persiapkan! Bisa diibaratkan kita memesan pizza untuk makan di restoran tapi yang keluar adalah keju sepanci. Yah, mudah2an kuliah selanjutnya akan lebih ok deh.

Kemudian, setelah kelas itu, kami kembali ke Delft. Kali ini, karena bukan jam sibuk, lebih gampang deh dapet kursinya. Memendekkan cerita yang udah pendek, akhirnya kami tiba di Delft jam 2.45 sore. Aku balik ke apartemen dan langsung mempersiapkan diriku untuk kelas sore hari yang mulai jam 4.45 sore: kelas Bahasa Belanda. Dan seperti yang kutulis disini, kelas ini tuh lumayan menuntut karena kami ada tes di akhir SETIAP kelas.

Nah, jadi ini deh: hari Seninku kuarter ini: bangun pagi - naik kereta pagi ke Utrecht - menjadi bagian morning rush - kelas di Utrecht - langsung balik menuju Delft - mempersiapkan tes bahasa Belanda - kelas bahasa Belanda - tes bahasa Belanda. Sekarang dimana aku masih belum ada tugas besar untuk dikumpulkan dalam waktu dekat aja sudah kerasa nih tuntutannya. Yah, tapi aku pasti bisa melalui semua ini! :-)

#879 - 2010 Year-End Trip: Italy (Part I)

2011-02-05T11:35:00.002+07:00

note: due to its length, this entry will only be written in English.

Well, it has been a month now, and I have not written anything yet about my last year-end trip to Italy (well, except for this one) because of my hectic January. Anyway, let me get started.

As you should have found out through that link above, our first destination was actually Pisa, but because we already booked return-ticket to and from Milan, it meant that on the first day we had to travel a lot. Well, I did not mind traveling around a lot actually. However, it turned out that the first day of traveling to be a very unforgettable day with everything went wrong (details in that link).

Pisa

Fast forward, we arrived at Pisa at around 2 AM and of course we were so exhausted. We finally got to the hostel and because we picked a hostel which was literally just like 100 meter away from the tower, of course we SAW the tower getting there. The thing was, I had always wanted to visit the Pisa Tower. And that night, finally seeing it for the first time with my own eyes, I felt overwhelmed!! I remember feeling fired-up and excited, like all the exhaustion just disappeared (well, of course this was only because of some hormones or other things my body secreted due to this excitement that tricked my body to "forget" the exhaustion while it was actually still there). Anyway, I was so excited that after putting my stuffs down in the room, I just fleed to the Pisa Tower to enjoy it, at THREE AM in the morning!! Btw, I walked there with one friend and there was noone else there. Well, the last sentence was not really true, let me rephrase it: there was no "other tourist" there. We took some photos and decided to get a bit closer to the tower where a policeman somehow popped out from nowhere in the dark shooing us away. The exhaustion started to take the control of my body over from the adrenaline, and I decided to get back to the hostel.

::: The Leaning Tower of Pisa. The grand building in front of it was the Baptistry.

The next day, we got up a bit later in the day. Our agenda that day was to get around the Pisa Tower (and its complex) and then left the city, heading to Rome. Well, because we had a really late start in Italy, our schedule for this day was also a bit affected. We started getting around the tower at around 1 PM (our original schedule was at about 9 or 10 AM). Btw, I still remember that that day started awesomely for us: it was HOT!! Well, do not interpret the "hot" as in Indonesian standard for "hot" day. It was probably somewhere in the 10 degree. I even did not feel the urge to wear my winter jacket and I eventually just wore my short sleeved polo shirt. But then, the weather played around with us. At about 3 PM, it started raining! Dammit! hahaha...

Anyway, that day, tourists flocked the complex (of course). Well, nothing much I could write here as it was what it was: awesome!! Finally seeing THE Leaning Tower of Pisa with my own eyes: WOW!! (btw, looking at it with your own eyes: you will really feel its awesomeness, that the structure is really leaning and it looks like it is going to crumble!)

Rome

At about 4 PM, we arrived at Pisa Station to continue our journey to Roma. We bought tickets for train departing at around 6.15 PM and it was scheduled to arrive at 9.30 PM or so in Roma Termini Station. Our main goal that day was to finally get to our hostel.

Then, one small incident happened. We got in a "cab", which was not really a cab. For a 10 minutes ride, he charged us like 40 euro (he did not run the meter as there was NO meter in the cab). Well, I know that it was our mistake that we got in that "cab" in the first place, but it was the driver who played a good "trick" by standing in front of the real cabs just outside the station's exit door and approached us and acted like a real cab driver! After two long days and trips we had, of course we were kinda tired and it was easy to assume that he was a real cab driver.

Anyway, so of course we did not want to pay frickin' 40 euro. We were okay with just 15 euro max. He got mad. We were practically already in the doorstep of our hostel where he asked us to get back into his cab and he would drive us back to the station, and we would not have to pay anything. But come on. Please, who wanted to do that?? We knew that he was doing this thing to us because he knew we were tourists. So, we got an idea. We called the hostel guy and asked him to go down to the door to talk to this "cab" driver in Italian. The guy then came and the problem was solved and we paid only 15 euro, hahaha. Btw, the hostel guy was apparently Dutch :-)

The next day, we explored the city of Roma. Our main destination that day was the Vatican City. There was also a small funny incident that happened that morning. We asked an old guy on the street where the bus stop was. He explained to us, with heavy Italian accent. We then followed the direction he showed us but on the way, to make sure, we asked another guy. Apparently, the old guy was watching us and he got kinda mad that we asked another guy the same thing! Lol, it was kinda funny.

Anyway, so we finally arrived at THE Vatican City. It was drizzling that day, definitely not the best day to get around. We were a bit disappointed that the Vatican Museum was closed earlier that day (as it was the 24th of December) and of course we could not make it. We then made a plan to get back to Vatican City one more time before we left Roma. So, we took what we could get that day: St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica.

::: One of many works of art in St. Peter's Basilica.

::: St. Peter's Basilica

Well, St. Peter's Basilica REALLY resembled and represented the center of Catholicism. It was SO AMAZINGLY GRANDEUR!! I was really amazed with this building and all the art-works in it. I had never seen a church that beautiful and magnificent. In fact, maybe St. Peter's Basicila is the most majestic church in the world. I also (finally) saw the original Pieta with my own eyes. Visiting this place is also even more magical for those who have read or watched "Angels and Demons". In fact, I got the opportunity to visit the underground chamber where the graves of late popes were buried. Well, reading the novel, I imagined the chamber to be dark, cold, and kinda spooky. In reality, it was not. It was so bright, warm, but yet, solemn. The grave of Pope John Paul II was also there, and I prayed there. We were apparently the last few visitors allowed to get in to that underground chamber as the Vatican was getting ready for the Christmas. One of the guard even asked us to hurry up, saying: "Hurry up! The pope is coming here!". LOL.

::: St. Peter's Square

::: The underground chamber at St. Peter's Basilica. It was far from the spooky and cold atmosphere.

It was still drizzling when we got out, and it turned out that this bad weather would continue for the whole day. After having a quick lunch at 3 PM, we decided to walk to Castel Sant'Angelo which was pretty close to Vatican City. We got lucky that somehow, we walked at the Via della Conciliazione as it provided a majestic view of St. Peter's Basicila, as depicted in this picture:

::: A majestic view of St. Peter's Basilica from Via della Conciliazione (it is the wide street connecting St. Peter's Square and Castel Sant'Angelo).

See?? WOW!!! Anyway, Castel Sant'Angelo was also beautiful. There was a room which was wholly painted with Rennaissance-taste pictures. Well, at this point, I had not visited Sistine Chapel yet (don't worry, I will get there later), so I found this room was SO beautiful! And there was a narrow stairs which led us to a balcony on top of the castle, which would offer a spectacular view of the city, given that it was NOT raining.

::: A majestic view of Roma with its Tiber River and St. Peter's Basilica, as seen from the balcony of Castel Sant'Angelo.

::: The statue of Archangel Michael on top of Castel Sant'Angelo.

After Castel Sant'Angelo, we decided to get back to our hostel. We got a surprise from the hostel: we got a bottle of wine and a cake for free because it was Christmas Eve!! God bless our hostel!! It was awesome!! For dinner, we decided to look for an Italian restaurant nearby. The thing was, it was Christmas Eve!! And to make things worse, our hostel was located in a residential area of the city. What did these things mean? Well, these two factors combined together resulted in: "all restaurants were closed during Christmas Eve" but one restaurant: Sushi Tei. Yeah, Sushi Tei for God's Sake!! Finding no other option, we decided to take some meals away from this restaurant. For myself, I picked a gyoudon. And there we were, eating Japanese food for dinner in Italy during Christmas Eve. Interesting... .

TO BE CONTINUED...

#878 - February It Is!!

2011-02-03T00:00:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, time really flies, one full month has passed since the year 2011 rang its bell for the first time. Well, I barely felt January though because I had a really hectic month with assignments and exams (you can tell, I am sure). And now, here we are, in the beginning of a whole brand new month: February.

Things have been going pretty okay for my in the new month. One result of my exam was published yesterday, and the result is: *drumroll playing* I PASS it! I am really happy that I PASS the exam and I am really grateful for that! But somehow I am not really satisfied with my grade. I think I could have done better and honestly, I am really considering about taking a resit (reexam) now. I mean, practically, there is nothing to lose for me because I already have that "pass" badge in my bag. If I do worse in the resit exam, I already have the "pass" badge and I am still safe. The only "loss" (if I want to see it that way) is that I will have to invest some time, energy, and effort to restudy all the materials again. So what do you think?

Anyway, finally I have been exam-free and assignment-free for almost one week now. Well, this statement is not really true though. I am taking a Dutch Course for Beginners now and it is kinda really demanding. We have to start working hard from day zero (we even have to pass a preliminary test before qualifying to join the class, and by passing, it is getting 80%). And the hard-working continues from day one (which was last Monday) and on as we have tests every time the class ends and we have to pass them. If we fail them, then we will have to retake them the next class, which also has its own set of tests. So, if we keep failing, the tests will start to pail up. Well, but for now I am kinda enjoying it though. Hopefully I can keep this spirit up the whole course. :-)

Well, to close this entry, apparently today is the Chinese New Year!! Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone!!

note : pictures were taken from here and here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wah, waktu berlalu begitu cepat yah, nggak kerasa satu bulan penuh sudah berlalu semenjak bunyi bel tahun 2011 pertama kali dikumandangkan. Yah, aku sih nggak terlalu merasakan sebulan Januari lalu karena aku memiliki bulan yang sangat padat dan sibuk dengan semua tugas dan ujiannya (pasti pada sadar deh ya, aku yakin). Dan sekarang, disinilah kita, di awal bulan yang baru: Februari.

Hal-hal di sekitarku berlangsung dengan baik nih di awal bulan ini. Satu hasil ujian sudah diumumkan kemarin, dan hasilnya adalah: *genderang berdendang* Aku LULUS loh! Aku sangat bahagia aku LULUS ujian itu dan aku sangat bersyukur karenanya! Tapi kenapa ya koq aku nggak terlalu puas sama nilainya. Rasanya aku bisa mendapat nilai yang lebih baik deh dan jujur nih, aku sedang mempertimbangkan ambil ujian ulang sekarang. Maksudku, pada dasarnya, posisiku saat ini nothing to lose kan. Aku kan sudah memiliki tanda "lulus" nih. Jadi, kalau ujian ulangku lebih buruk, kan aku sudah "lulus" dan aman deh. Satu-satunya kerugiannya adalah (kalau mau dilihat sebagai kerugian) aku harus inves waktu, tenaga, dan usaha untuk mempelajari lagi semua materinya. Bagaimana nih pendapat kalian?

Ngomong2, akhirnya seminggu terakhir ini aku nggak ada ujian dan tugas untuk dipikirkan nih. Yah, kalimat sebelumnya itu nggak sepenuhnya benar sih. Kuarter ini aku mengambil kelas bahasa Belanda bagi pemula dan beban dari kelasnya lumayan juga. Kami harus bekerja keras mulai dari hari nol (kami bahkan harus lulus ujian awal dulu hanya supaya bisa ikut kelasnya, dan dengan lulus, maksudnya dapat nilai 80%). Dan kerja kerasnya berlanjut di kelas semenjak hari pertama dan seterusnya karena kami ada tes di setiap akhir kelas dan kami harus lulus tes-tes itu. Andaikata nggak lulus, tes harus diulang di pertemuan selanjutnya yang juga sudah ada agenda tes tersendiri. Dengan kata lain, kalau gagal terus, ya artinya tes-tes itu bakal selalu menumpuk deh. Yah, aku sih sekarang bisa menikmatinya koq. Mudah2an aja aku bisa tetap menjaga semangat ini sepanjang kursus :-)

Yah, untuk menutup posting ini, ternyata hari ini adalah Tahun Baru Ilmek!! Gong Xi Fa Chai semuanya!!

#877 - 2011 Australian Open

2011-01-31T11:19:00.001+07:00

pre-note: this entry will only be written in English :-)

Last Sunday, this year's edition of the Australian Open, one of this year's grand slam tournaments, was concluded. As the first grand slam of the year, which is held in the end of January, of course this tournament is always very interesting to watch as we can expect a bit more upsets because some top players might still have not found their top forms yet. Anyway, let me elaborate my thought about this year's edition of the tournament.

Women's Singles

Even before the tournament started, about one month prior, there had been a big upset in the women's draw. The defending champion, Serena Williams, announced her withdrawal from the tournament because of the continuing rehabilitation of her foot injury. This left the women's draw to be extremely wide open: many players could be the champion. For me, before the tournament started, I had three players in my mind who were more likely to be the champion: Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki, and Venus Williams. Well, picking Venus Williams might be a "weird" one since she had been sidelined for most of the second half of 2010 due to knee injury, but she is one of the Williams sisters, of course she is still a contender to win the title. Even with that knee injury, she came so close to winning the US Open title last year.

::: Li Na of China

As the tournament progressed, I think my picks was proven to be a good one. Well, of course Venus Williams got eliminated in the third round, but it was because of an unexpected injury she suffered during her second round match (in a match that she miraculously still won). Both Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters made it to the semifinal where en route, Clijsters created a history by double-bageling a former world no.1 (Dinara Safina) in the first round, the first time ever in the open era it happened in a grand slam tournament. However, an underdog, Li Na of China, slowly and steadily dug deeper into the tournament. In the end, she beat the world no.1 Wozniacki after saving a match point to be the first ever Chinese player to reach a grand slam final. From the other side of the draw, Kim Clijsters emerged to be in the other side of the net.

Of course Kim Clijsters was the heavy favorite of this final match. Well, but then, it turned out that Li Na was mentally so strong! She was really calm in the first set, taking it 6-3! It was her first grand slam final, so it must have been very overwhelming for her, but she managed the pressure well. She definitely handled it way better than Dinara Safina two years ago (Safina lost the first set 0-6 to Serena Williams exactly two years before). However, in the second set, Clijsters proved why she had won three US Open titles and many other titles. She had all the experiences and she definitely took advantages out of that. While Li Na somehow could not maintain her level, Clijsters geared up and never looked back. She won the last two sets 6-3, 6-3 to claim her first ever Australian Open title.

::: Kim Clijsters with her Australian Open throphy.

Btw, there has been a rumor that 2011 might be Clijsters' last year on tour. It was getting more worrying when Clijsters did not say "See you next year" in her winning speech, hmmm...

Men's Singles

In the beginning, the men's draw was a bit more predictable. Robin Soderling and Andy Murray's ranking change (Soderling to number 4, Murray down to number 5) did not appear to be a major change as the two were still in the same quarter of the group (not like last year where Murray met Nadal in the quarterfinals). The favorite one was of course Rafael Nadal, who had won all three major proceeding this Australian Open and was chasing for "Rafa Slam" where IF he won this tournament, he would have hold all grand slam titles simultaneously (kinda like Serena Williams in 2003). The other favorites were familiar faces: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych followed silently behind them. My pick for the winner would be Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Andy Murray, and maybe Novak Djokovic (it was tough to pick one of these guys though, because they were pretty much at the same level and they were all hungry to win a major title).

As the tournament progressed, all these players proved that they were the favorites. Nadal lost in the quarterfinal to David Ferrer because of an apparent injury. But aside from him, Federer, Djokovic, and Murray moved to the semifinals. Federer lost to Djokovic there, and I was so happy because finally we would have a major final with no Federer nor Nadal. Well, do not get me wrong. Not that I do not like both of them, but it is just that the two of them had been dominating grand slam for the past several years. Some new names to be in that league are of course a really nice addition as the competition is getting more open, right? Anyway, in the other side of the draw, Murray managed to make his way to his second straight Australian Open final.

::: Andy Murray celebrating after winning a point.

For the final, I really hoped Murray would win, as I think it was already a time for him to finally win a major title. It had been tough for him, with all the expectations from UK media, and I think it would be nice for him to finally release that burden. Beside, I think he had all he needed to win a major title and he was not facing Roger Federer this time. However, somehow in the final, he just shrank!! I did not what happened to him but it was clearly he was not even close to his best. Djokovic controlled pretty much everything on the match, winning it in straight sets. I still do not understand why Andy Murray, so far, always shrinks everytime he reaches a major final, hmmm. Well, it actually does not matter if he lost in the final, as long as he played his best effort and games in that final, but the thing is, he was not playing his best in that final. That is what's strange for me, hmmm... . I still hope Andy will win a major title soon :-)

Doubles

The Bryan brothers created a history by winning Australian Open for the third time in a row, and women's doubles' world no.1, Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, won the women's doubles title. I do not have many comments about this though, hehehe

::: Novak Djokovic and his Australian Open throphy.

Anyway, so finally, congratulations for Kim Clijsters and Novak Djokovic for winning Australian Open this year!! And also the Bryans, Gisela Dulko, and Flavia Pennetta!!

note : All photos were taken from the official website, link above.

#876 - It is DONE!!!

2011-01-29T23:27:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

So, finally, after working my ass of for the past two weeks, I am free!!! Yesterday I had my last exam this semester and I am really happy about that. Well, hopefully I did good so that I do not need to take the resit though. Certainly I am more sure in one than the other, but overall, I think I did well. Hopefully they are really well. So, finally now I have a literally free weekend with no assignment (nor exam) to think. Well, even though I have decided to take the Dutch Class for Beginners next quarter and I have to study one chapter of the book for that class. But it is a bit nothing (for now) compared to all the crazy assignments I had before (and might have in the near future).

Btw, next quarter, I will be a moving student. On Monday, I am taking two classes that are held in TWO different cities, about 52 km apart. I will have a morning class in Utrecht and an evening class in Delft. Well, I guess I have to really travel back and forth those days, hahaha.

Well, that is pretty much the update of my life lately. Lately, my life is not really interesting, as you know, I just got out of my campus just when I needed to do grocery shopping. The other time, I just stayed in my apartment or in my office to prepare myself for the exam, hahaha

BAHASA INDONESIA

Jadi, akhirnya, setelah bekerja membanting tulang selama dua minggu terakhir, aku bebas juga!!! Kemarin aku mengikuti ujian terakhirku semester ini dan aku sangat senang karenanya. Yah, mudah2an sih aku mengerjakan semua ujianku dengan baik jadi gak harus ngulang sih. Tentu aku lebih yakin di satu ujian dibanding yang lain, tapi secara keseluruhan sih kayanya aku cukup bisa deh. Nah, akhirnya sekarang aku beneran memiliki satu akhir minggu yang bebas nih tanpa tugas (apalagi ujian) untuk dipikirin. Ya, walaupun untuk kuarter depan aku akan mengambil Kelas Bahasa Belanda bagi pemula dimana aku harus mempersiapkan satu bab untuk itu. Tapi itu nggak masalah lah (untuk saat ini) dibanding dengan tugas2 gila yang aku jalani sebelumnya (dan mungkin akan aku jalani lagi bentar lagi).

Btw, kuarter depan aku akan menjadi mahasiswa nglaju nih. Di hari Senin aku mengambil dua kelas yang diselenggarakan di DUA kota yang berbeda yang terpisah sekitar 52 km loh. Kelas pagi di Utrecht dan kelas sore di Delft. Alhasil, sehari itu aku harus bolak-balik deh, hahaha.

Yah, kurang lebih itu aja sih update tentang kehidupanku akhir2 ini. Akhir2 ini memang nggak menarik koq, tau lah, aku cuma keluar kampus ketika harus belanja kebutuhan sehari-hari aja. Selain itu, aku ya cuma di apartement ato kantor buat belajar, hahaha

#875 - One Down, Two to Go! Oops, It's Three!!

2011-01-22T10:33:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, as you may have noticed, I have been muttering about my mega busy weeks. They are filled with big assignments and exams. Well, this week, I had one of the exams. How did I do on my exams? Well, I think I did enough to pass the course (Amen for that!!) but the thing is, I am not really satisfied with my performance on the exam as I think I could have done better. Plus, I was kinda misled and prepared slightly the wrong things for the exams. I did researh the old exams and examined the type of the questions, a bit focusing on the last two years. But then, the exam this year was SO different from the past two years! Well, I guess I was just being unlucky there.

Anyway, so one is down. I still have two more exams which will be held next week, on Wednesday and on Friday. Arrgggh, I cannot wait next week to pass soon!! Btw, did I just say two?? Arrrgghh, I just remembered that I still have one more exam next week on Wednesday, it is the Dutch class pre-exam!! Well, I think I will take the Dutch course next quarter (I am still not sure though whether I will take it now or not). And to take that class, we have to enrol ourselves in the pre-exam first. If we pass the pre-exam, we can take the course. So, apparently, instead of two, I still have three!!

Btw, let's talk about something a bit more fun. As you can read at my last entry, I bought a tennis tournament ticket which will be held in Rotterdam next February. Well, finally, last Thursday, I got the ticket delivered! I am so excited!! :-)

Well, speaking about tennis, now the 2011 Australian Open is underway. Maybe I will write a whole entry dedicated for this next week. But in a nutshell, it is still exciting to watch but in the women's side, it is not really because so many top players are injured.

::: My ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament's Final's ticket.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, seperti yang mungkin sudah disadari, akhir-akhir ini aku ngedumel tentang mingguku yang mega menyibukkan. Minggu-mingguku dipenuhi tugas-tugas dan ujian. Yah, minggu ini, aku menghadapi salah satu ujiannya. Bagaimana kabarnya? Yah, aku rasa jawabanku cukup lah untuk lulus (Amiiiin!!) cuma, aku nggak terlalu puas sama performaku di ujian itu karena aku rasa aku dapat mengerjakannya dengan lebih baik. Plus, aku juga agak salah arah dan mempersiapkan hal yang sedikit salah untuk ujianku. Aku meriset ujian-ujian yang lama dan fokusku lebih pada ujian dua tahun terakhir. Tapi kemudian, ujiannya beda BANGET dari ujian dua tahun terakhir! Yah, aku rasa sih aku lagi sial aja disitu.

Yah, pokoknya satu sudah lewat. Aku masih ada dua ujian lagi yang akan diadakan minggu depan, di hari Rabu dan Jumat. Arrgggh, aku nggak sabar nih agar minggu depan segera beres!! Btw, apakah aku baru saja mengatakan dua?? Arrrgghh, jadi inget deh kalau aku masih ada satu lagi ujian ekstra hari Rabu besok, yaitu pra-ujian kelas bahasa Belanda!! Yah, mungkin aku akan mengambil kelas bahasa Belanda kuarter depan (aku masih nggak yakin sih akan hal ini). Dan untuk mengambil kelas ini, kami harus ikut pra-ujian dulu. Dan kalau lulus, baru deh kami bisa ikut kuliahnya. Yah, ternyata, bukannya dua ujian lagi nih, tapi masih tiga!!

Btw, mari berpindah topik ke sesuatu yang lebih mengasyikkan. Seperti yang bisa dibaca di posting sebelumnya, aku membeli tiket turnamen tenis yang akan diadakan di Rotterdam bulan Februari nanti. Yah, akhirnya, Kamis lalu, tiketnya datang! Aku sangat bersemangat nih!! :-)

Hmm, ngomong-ngomong tentang tenis, kini turnamen Australian Open 2011 sedang berlangsung. Mungkin aku akan menulis satu posting khusus tentang ini minggu depan. Cuma untuk sekarang, secara ringkas, aku merasa turnamen ini masih sangat asyik untuk ditonton walau di bagian putrinya agak kurang seru karena terlalu banyak pemain top yang cedera.

#874 - Typing in the Dark, Exams, and Tennis Tournament

2011-01-18T03:43:00.005+07:00

ENGLISH

Setting : In my studio apartment which currently has no power because for some reason and I don't know (yet) how to fix it. I cannot report it to the caretaker now because it is already almost 10 PM and the caretaker is not here by this time of the day.

Laptop's battery : currently 85%

About one hour ago I just came back home from my office. Yes, I got back home at 9 PM ++ today because I had to study for one exam next Wednesday, the first written exam I have during my study in TU Delft. I have reviewed all materials but I know it is better for me to reread all of them tomorrow and on Wednesday morning to give me an even better preparation. Talking about exam's preparation, I just checked today that next Wednesday's exam would be in room with code CT IZ-0.96. I had no idea where the hell that room was, and so I asked my friends on Facebook and saw my campus' scheme. Earlier today, my friends and I tried to find it first, so that if we really had to get lost in finding it, it'd better be now, not on Wednesday, hahaha.

Anyway, so I got back to my apartment like one hour ago. I felt weird because the outdoor lamp of my room was off, usually it is always on. When I entered my room I felt even weirder because it was too dark (I always leave my showerroom's lamp on and open its door a bit so in case I come back home late, it is not going to be totally dark to find the switch of my main lamp). I thought maybe I forgot to turn it on today or I closed my showerroom's door. Then, I tried to turn my lamp on but it did not work. Dammit! I had a feeling about what was going on. The problem was that because this thing has never happened before, I do not know where the electric fuse is. To make things worse, I got back home late tonight, when the caretaker had already got back home. So, I can only report and complain about this problem tomorrow morning. Lucky my internet is still working and I fully charged my laptop last night so it still has some power now, hahaha. And somehow, I decided to type this entry in the dark, I do not know why, hahaha...

Btw, as you might know, I am a fan of tennis. And the good thing about living in Europe is that there are many reachable prestigious tennis tournaments nearby. The most prestigious are, of course, grand slams. And the closest grand slams from Delft are held in Paris (French Open) and London (Wimbledon). However, the ticket price to watch a grand slam is incredibly expensive for me now! (yea, I have done some surveys) I am now not sure whether I want to actually go there this year or not (damn this crazy ticket). But it does not mean I cannot afford watching tennis tournament. There will be a pretty prestigious tennis tournament nearby, just in Rotterdam, next February. Many of the top 10 players will participate there including my favorite male player now: Andy Murray. And yesterday, I just bought the ticket of the final of that tournament!! I was pretty late so I did not get the better seat (down near the court) but I do not care! I am still really excited!! Well, the final would better be between Murray and Djokovic now, hahaha :-)

Laptop's battery : 67%.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Setting : Di apartemen kecilku yang sekarang lagi mati lampu karena satu alasan dan aku nggak tahu bagaimana cara memperbaikinya. Aku nggak bisa melaporkannya ke caretaker sekarang karena sudah jam 10 malam dan caretaker-nya nggak ada di kompleks ini jam segini.

Batere laptop : sekarang 85%

Sekitar sejam yang lalu aku balik ke rumah dari kantor. Ya, aku balik ke rumah jam 9 malam lebih hari ini karena aku harus belajar untuk satu ujian di hari Rabu nanti, ujian tertulis pertamaku di TU Delft. Aku sudah membaca semua materinya dan aku tahu sih akan lebih baik lagi kalau aku membaca ulang semuanya besok dan Rabu pagi untuk memberikan persiapan yang lebih matang. Ngomong2, tentang persiapan ujian, aku tahu bahwa ujian Rabu besok akan diadaka di ruangan dengan kode CT IZ-0.96. Aku tadi nggak tahu ni ruangan ada di sebelah mana, dan kemudian aku tanya teman2ku di Facebook dan melihat denah kampus. Hari ini tadi aku dan beberapa teman berusaha mencarinya dulu, jadi andaikata kami harus kesasar dulu untuk mencari ruangan itu, mending kesasarnya hari ini, bukan hari Rabu nanti, hahaha.

Ngomong2, jadi aku balik ke apartemenku sekitar sejam yang lalu. Aku merasa aneh karena lampu di luar kamarku mati, biasanya selalu nyala. Aku merasa makin aneh lagi ketika aku masuk kamar, kamarnya terlalu gelap (aku biasanya selalu menyalakan lampu kamar mandi dan pintunya aku buka sedikit jadinya andaikata aku pulang kemalaman, paling nggak kamar nggak gelap2 amat lah untuk mencari saklar lampu utama). Aku berpikir mungkin aku lupa nyalain atau aku menutup pintu kamar mandi. Lalu, aku menyalakan lampu kamar tapi lampunya nggak nyala. Sial! Tau deh aku apa yang terjadi. Masalahnya, kejadian ini belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya dan aku nggak tahu dimana sekeringnya berada jadi aku nggak bisa ngecek. Yang lebih parah lagi adalah karena aku pulang malem, caretaker-nya sudah pulang. Jadi aku baru bisa melaporkan dan komplain akan kejadian ini besok pagi. Untungnya koneksi internetku masih jalan dan semalam aku menge-charge penuh laptopku jadi sekarang masih ada tenaga deh, hahaha. Dan entah kenapa, koq aku memutuskan mengetik gelap-gelap gini yah, aku nggak tahu deh mengapa, hahaha...

Btw, seperti yang mungkin pada tau, aku nge-fans sama tenis. Dan hal baik tentang tinggal di Eropa adalah ada beberapa turnamen tenis bergengsi yang jaraknya terjangkau dari sini. Tentu yang paling bergengsi adalah grand slam. Dan grand slam terdekat dari Delft diadakan di Paris (French Open) dan London (Wimbledon). Dan memang keduanya jaraknya terjangkau sih. Masalahnya, harga tiketnya itu lho koq mahal banget yah untukku sekarang! (yea, aku sudah survey harga). Aku jadi nggak yakin apakah aku memang akan beneran mencoba nonton grand slam langsung tahun ini. Tapi bukan berarti aku nggak bisa membeli tiket untuk nonton tenis sih. Bulan Februari nanti akan ada turnamen tenis putra lumayan bergengsi deket dari tempatku berada, di Rotterdam. Banyak pemain 10 besar putra yang akan main disitu, termasuk pemain putra favoritku sekarang: Andy Murray. Dan kemarin, aku baru saja membeli tiket final turnamen itu!! Aku belinya agak terlambat jadi aku nggak mendapat kursi yang bagusan dikit (di bagian bawah stadion di dekat lapangan) tapi nggak papa lah! Aku masih bersemangat nih karenanya! Yah, sekarang sih sebaiknya finalnya antara Murray dan Djokovic aja deh, hahaha :-)

Laptop's battery : 67%.

#873 - I Survived the Week!

2011-01-14T21:22:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Crazy Week but I Beat It!!

So, technically, this week has come close to an end, and somehow, I managed to survive this week!! Why am I so surprised? Well, as you can read here, I had three assignments due this week. Honestly, about ten days ago, I had no idea how I would survive this week. I knew it would be crazy: three assignments which were not easy at all!! And I am really glad that I somehow managed to survive it! :-)

I think the main contributor of my survival this week was my very-productive Monday where I managed to finish two assignments that day. And this could come to reality because I "sacrificed" my weekend last week, by still keeping working on my assignments. I think it was "fair enough" because I already had like two-weeks off in Italy, so one less weekend should do no harm to me. I then worked on the last assignment the whole week, and it was not easy at all. I got misled one time that made me waste one entire day of my precious time focusing on the wrong thing. It kinda sucked, but I learned my lesson. And today, I finished it. I am feeling a bit relieved. However, I can not really relax now as the exam week is approaching. I am having exam next Wednesday and I have to start preparing for it now!! Wish me luck!!

Spring Vacation??

Anyway, my friends told me this week that there will be a one-week spring-break holiday next February. Of course I am really excited as I can use that time to explore a little bit of more Europe. I have already got two invitations from two groups of friends: going to Paris for four days and going to Luxembourg for three days. The good news is: they are not during the same time, so if I want to go on both trips, technically I can go. The bad news is: I already had a two-week trip to Italy during Christmas and New-Year and in total, it cost pretty much. Well, I would not say I was being extravagant in Italy, in fact, I think my expenses was really well-controlled as I managed to be on budget by a few hundred of euros. But still, two-week holiday in Italy during the high season, even if its expenses was well-controlled, would still cost some money. That is why I am a little bit not sure now. I think I should not go on both offers. I might only be able to pick one. Or in fact, maybe I should not pick either of them, just stay in Holland for that one whole week. So, what do you think? :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu Gila tapi Aku Berhasil Melaluinya!!

Secara teknis, minggu ini sudah mendekati akhir, dan entah bagaimana, aku berhasil melalui minggu ini!! Mengapa aku sangat terkejut? Yah, seperti yang bisa dibaca disini, aku ada tiga tugas yang harus dikumpulkan minggu ini. Jujur, sekitar sepuluh hari yang lalu, aku nggak tahu bagaimana aku akan melalui minggu ini. Aku tahu minggu ini akan menjadi minggu yang gila: tiga tugas yang tidak ada yang mudah!! Dan aku sangat lega akhirnya aku berhasil melaluinya! :-)

Aku rasa, kontributor utama dari keberhasilanku melalui minggu ini adalah hari Seninku yang sangat produktif dimana aku berhasil menyelesaikan dua tugas hari itu. Dan ini bisa terjadi karena aku "mengorbankan" wikenku minggu lalu, dengan tetap mengerjakan tugas-tugas. Aku rasa itu masih "imbang" lah karena aku kan sudah menikmati liburan selama dua minggu di Italia, jadi ya satu wiken lebih sedikit nggak masalah lah ya. Aku kemudian mengerjakan satu tugas tersisa lainnya sepanjang minggu, yang juga tidaklah mudah. Aku salah arah di satu waktu yang menyebabkanku membuang waktu sehari dari waktuku yang sangat berharga karena aku fokus di hal yang bukan krusial. Menyebalkan memang, tapi aku belajar darinya. Dan hari ini, akhirnya tugasnya selesai. Aku meraasa lega deh. Namun, aku nggak bisa bersantai-santai karena minggu ujian sudah sangat dekat. Aku akan mengikuti ujian yang pertama di hari Rabu nanti dan aku harus mulai mempersiapkannya dari sekarang!! Doakan aku yah!!

Jalan-Jalan di Musim Semi??

Ngomong-ngomong, beberapa teman memberitahuku minggu ini bahwa akan ada liburan musim semi selama seminggu di bulan Februari nanti. Tentu saja dong aku tertarik karena aku bisa menggunakan waktu itu untuk mengeksplorasi Eropa sedikit lebih banyak. Aku sudah mendapat dua ajakan jalan-jalan dari dua grup teman yang berbeda: jalan selama empat hari ke Paris dan jalan selama tiga hari ke Luxembourg. Berita baiknya adalah: kedua acara ini bukanlah di waktu yang sama, jadi andai aku mau ikutan kedua agenda itu, secara waktu sih aku bisa pergi. Berita buruknya adalah: aku baru saja pergi jalan-jalan selama dua minggu ke Italia ketika libur Natal dan tahun baru, dan secara total, biayanya lumayan juga. Yah, aku nggak mengatakan kalau aku boros yah, malah kebalikannya, aku rasa pengeluaranku di Italia sangat terkontrol dengan baik dan aku berhasil menghemat sekian ratus euro dari ekspektasi pengeluaranku. Tapi ya masih saja kan, liburan dua minggu di Italia di saat musim liburan, walau pengeluarannya sangat terkontrol, tetap saja membutuhkan uang yang lumayan juga. Makanya nih aku sekarang agak nggak terlalu yakin. Aku rasa aku nggak bisa mengikuti kedua agenda itu. Aku mungkin bisa memilih salah satunya. Atau malah, mungkin aku nggak usah memilih keduanya, dan hanya tinggal di Belanda aja selama seminggu itu. Bagaimana nih menurut kalian? :-)

#872 - Crazy Week

2011-01-10T22:56:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, I am really sorry for not being so active in the blogosphere lately, especially after my trip from Italy. This inactivity is due to the crazy ammount of workload from campus. I had three assignments to submit within ten days after I came back from Italy. And the assignments from TU Delft are not well-known for their easiness, in fact it is kinda the opposite :-D

To make things even worse, I wrongly read the deadline for one assignment! I thought for this particular assignment (let's call it RA), the deadline was next Friday. I had another assignment (SP) due this Wednesday and the other one (SC) next Saturday. Based on this fact, I made an agenda to work on SP first, then RA, then SC. But then, last Saturday my friend told me that the deadline for RA was actually THIS Monday!! I checked it and my friend was correct, it was THIS Monday!! I felt doomed!! The good thing was that my friend told me this fact on Saturday, which meant that I still had time to make things up. I immediately changed my plan. I stopped working on SP and started working on RA all weekend. The result was fantastic: I finished RA on time, on Monday afternoon, AND I also finished SP on Monday!! I guess I was on a full gear today, I was so productive!! But there is an effect, after finishing SP, I think I got a headache, hahaha. I need to take a little rest now and start working on SC again tomorrow.

Well, these assignments will not be the end of the crazy workload. I am having an exam starting next week. Well, I "only" have three exams though, one for next week and two for the week after that. But it doesn't mean they are going to be easy. I know I have to work my ass off to get good grades on them. Wish me luck!! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wah, sorry banget yah kalau aku tidak terlalu aktif di dunia perblogan akhir-akhir ini, terutama setelah pulang dari Italia. Ketidak-aktifan ini dikarenakan banyaknya kerjaan dari kampus. Aku ada tiga tugas yang harus dikumpulkan dalam waktu sepuluh hari semenjak aku pulang dari Italia. Dan tugas-tugas da

Untuk membuat keadaan semakin buruk, aku salah membaca deadline tugas salah satu tugas! Aku kira deadline salah satu tugas (sebut saja tugas RA) adalah hari Jumat esok. Aku ada tugas lain (SP) yang deadline-nya hari Rabu esok dan tugas lain (SC) yang deadline-nya Sabtu esok. Berdasarkan fakta ini, aku menyusun agenda untuk mengerjakan SP dulu, kemudian RA, kemudian SC. Tapi kemudian, hari Sabtu lalu temanku bilang ke aku kalau deadline tugas RA adalah hari Senin INI!! Aku kemudian mengeceknya dan ternyata temanku benar, deadline untuk RA adalah Senin INI!! Aku merasa hancur!! Untungnya, temanku memberi tahu aku di hari Sabtu jadinya aku masih ada waktu untuk mengerjakannya. Aku langsung mengubah rencanaku. Aku berhenti mengerjakan SP dan mulai mengerjakan RA sepanjang akhir minggu. Hasilnya menakjubkan: Aku menyelesaikan RA tepat waktu, hari Senin siang, DAN juga aku menyelesaikan SP di hari Senin ini!! Aku rasa aku sangat bersemangat untuk bekerja keras hari ini, aku sangat produktif!! Tapi ada efeknya, setelah menyelesaikan SP, aku rasa aku sudah memberikan cukup sakit kepala untuk diriku, hahaha. Aku perlu mengambil istirahat sejenak dan mulai bekerja di SC besok.

Yah, tugas-tugas ini bukanlah akhir dari banyaknya kerjaan dari kampus. Minggu ujian akan dimulai minggu depan. Yah, aku "hanya" ada tiga ujian sih, satu untuk minggu depan dan dua untuk minggu setelahnya. Tapi ini bukan berarti minggu depan akan menjadi mudah. Aku tahu aku harus bekerja ekstra keras agar mendapat hasil yang memuaskan. Doakan aku ya!! :-)

#871 - Screwed Day

2011-01-05T23:37:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Hi all, I just got back from my awesome two-week trip to Italy over the Christmas break last night. As you might expect, I have so many stories to tell and let me catch up a little bit. By the way, this entry is practically just a repost of my note on Facebook I posted like two weeks ago, so maybe some of you have already read it :-)

One of the most interesting thing that happened during the trip was the adventure we had on the very first day. It was literally an adventure as many things went wrong simultaneously. Let me elaborate all of them, trust me, it is so adventurous and exciting! ;-)

FIRST

The first thing that went wrong was the flight. When we checked in at easyJet's desk, there was no indication something would go wrong. It was smooth, we got our boarding-passes with still on time time departure (9.30 AM), gate, etc. But then, because one of my friend had to travel with wheelchair and crutches, we had to report to the service desk first before getting through the security. There, the lady told us that our flight was delayed until 12.50 PM. We said no and that we just checked in and it was said it was on time. She insisted and said the announcement just came to the system so that was why when we checked in, it was still on time. We checked, and yes, it was delayed until 12.50 PM.

At first we thought it was the snow but then we realized something weird as no other flight was canceled for more than 1 hour that day. Finally, at around 1.15 PM, we were allowed to board the plane, an Airbus A319-111 reg code G-EZEB. On board, it was revealed that the reason behind the delay was that earlier that morning, the first officer (copilot) who was supposed to fly the plane got a really bad accident so that the company had to find another guy to fill in his job. Of course it took time.

Well, the accident that happened to that first officer apparently caused all these things to happen.

SECOND

We landed at around 3.30 PM at Milan Malpensa International Airport. Our next destination was Milan Central Station as we needed to go to Pisa that day. To get there, we chose to catch a bus as the bus-ticket seller said that it would only take around 45 minutes to get to the station. But then, in reality, it took NINETY minutes, freaking NINETY minutes, to finally arrive at the station!! We arrived there at around 5.45 PM, leaving us with only TWO train options to get to Pisa.

THIRD

Both options were not direct trip. We had to transit one time in both trips, and of course we picked the earlier one (and because the earlier one was some 4 or 5 euro cheaper). The first train was scheduled to depart at 7.05 PM and the transit was in a town called Genova. It was scheduled to arrive at 8.46 PM, and our connecting train would depart at 8.56 PM, which meant that we only had like 10 minutes to transfer.

BUT THEN, because the theme of the day was: "we were screwed", another thing went wrong. Our train departed at 7.30 PM from Milan, some 25 minutes behind schedule!! We only had like 10 minutes between trains and now we were suddenly 25 minutes behind schedule?? NIGHTMARE!!! Our only hope was that our connecting train would also be late for some 20 or 30 minutes. But then, because of that theme, it was not the case. When we arrived at Genova Station at around 9.15 PM, our connecting train had already gone. GONE!!! We were officially stranded in Genova, and it was not even a big town!! We looked at the train schedule and saw that the next train to Pisa would leave at 10.45 PM from Genova. Okay, this was our only feasible option, we had to wait for like 1.5 hours in Geneva Station.

The train arrived and we arrived at 12.50 AM in Pisa. "Yeah, finally we are in Pisa", that's what we thought at that point, not knowing that the day loved us so much that two other unfortunate things were still waiting for us.

FOURTH

We were in Pisa Station at around 1 AM and to get out, we had to climb down the stairs to cross the platforms and then climb another stairs up. If you read carefully, one of my friend was travelling with a wheel-chair, so this was a problem. Actually, there was an elevator for handicapped people, but there was a stupid regulation stating that the elevator could only be used for public between 6 AM and 10 PM AND that noone from Trenitalia was in charge that night (if there was one, we could have asked him to activate the elevator just that time to help my friend). We tried to look for different solution(s), but none was there. There was this ramp to cross the rail but it would only bring us one platform closer but not to the exit gate. So, it seemed that we had no other option than for my friend to climb down the stairs using her ass and we carried all the luggages.

FIFTH

About one hour after we arrived at Pisa Station, we finally made it to the gate. Another problem occured. We had to find a taxi. The only available taxi at that time was the small one, so we called our hostel to call us a bigger one. Some fifteen minutes later, a bigger taxi showed up, but he did not seem to have the intention to slow down looking for passengers waiting for him. He just came there, drove around the roundabout and just fleed. F**k!! We waived but because (I think) he did not really care, he did not see us. So we called the hostel again and asked the guy to call another cab. Some fifteen minutes more, finally the cab arrived and now finally he saw us!! We left the station at around 2.15 AM and arrived at the hostel at about 2.30 AM!!

Well, that was pretty much the end of that day. We left Delft at around 6.30 AM and arrived at our hostel in Pisa at 2.30 AM the next day!! It was kinda amazing that all these things (starting with an unfortunate fate for a first officer to a sucky cab-driver) could happen in the same day, in the trip of a specific group of people. Eventhough they all undeniably sucked, but the whole trip was a real adventure and it was super exciting!! Waaaay more interesting than just smooth and all-things-were-fine trip as this trip will always be remembered!!

Anyway, our hostel was only like 100 meter from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so I could take a peek of the tower and the park (with the Baptistry) that night. And yes, it was really beautiful!! I remember feeling that all the things we had been going though that day worthed it!! (beside, the hostel was really good though :-D)

::: easyJet's Airbus A319-111 reg code G-EZEB which brought us to Milan Malpensa Airport from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as EZ 2724.

::: the train that took us to Genova Station from Milan Station which were late for 25 minutes.

::: one view at Genova Station.

::: Pisa Station. If you are curious enough, you can actually see the clock there pointing 1.50 AM!!

::: The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Baptistry. Beautiful!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Halo semua, aku baru saja balik dari liburanku yang hebat selama dua minggu di Italia nih semalam. Seperti yang mungkin bisa ditebak, ada banyak cerita untuk dibagikan dan izinkan aku memulai menuangkannya sedikit. By the way, di posting ini sebenarnya aku hanya mem-posting ulang note-ku di Facebook yang kutulis sekitar dua minggu yang lalu sih, jadi mungkin sebagian sudah pada baca :-)

Satu hal yang paling menarik yang terjadi selama liburanku adalah petualangan yang terjadi di hari pertama. Hari itu benar-benar sebuah petualangan karena banyak hal yang kacau secara bersamaan. Aku akan menguraikannya sekarang, dan percaya deh, cerita ini sangat seru dan mengasyikkan! ;-)

PERTAMA

Hal pertama yang kacau adalah penerbangan. Ketika kami check-in di konternya easyJet, tidak ada indikasi sesuatu akan berubah menjadi kacau. Semua berjalan lancar, kami mendapat boarding-pass dimana tertera waktu keberangkatan yang tepat waktu (jam 9.30 pagi), gerbang keberangkatan, dll. Namun kemudian, karena salah satu temanku harus bepergian dengan kursi roda, kami harus melapor ke meja servis dulu sebelum berjalan memasuki area keberangkatan. Disana, petugasnya bilang bahwa penerbangan kami ditunda sampai jam 12.50 siang. Kami berkata itu tidak mungkin karena kami baru saja check in dan waktu penerbangannya masih tepat waktu. Ia kemudian bersikukuh bahwa memang pengumumannya baru saja masuk ke sistem dan oleh karenanya pada saat check in, waktunya masih tepat waktu. Kami kemudian mengecek di layar keberangkatan, dan memang, penerbangan ditunda hingga jam 12.50 siang.

Awalnya kami mengira keterlambatan ini disebabkan oleh salju tapi kami kemudian mengamati bahwa hanya penerbangan kami lah yang ditunda lebih dari satu jam hari itu. Akhirnya sekitar jam 1.15 siang, kami dipersilakan naik ke pesawat, sebuah Airbus A319-111 kode registrasi G-EZEB. Di pesawat, akhirnya dibeberkan alasan di balik keterlambatan ini bahwa pada pagi harinya, kopilot yang seharusnya menerbangkan pesawatnya kecelakaan parah dan easyJet harus mencari kopilot pengganti untuknya. Tentu ini memakan waktu.

Yah, kecelakaan yang terjadi ke kopilot itu ternyata adalah awal dari semua hal yang terjadi pada kami hari itu.

KEDUA

Kami mendarat sekitar jam 3.30 sore di Bandar Udara Internasional Milan Malpensa. Tujuan kami selanjutnya adalah Stasiun Kereta Api Milan Sentral karena kami harus pergi ke Pisa di hari itu. Untuk pergi kesana, kami memutuskan untuk naik bus karena penjual tiketnya menginformasikan bahwa perjalanan dengan bus menuju stasiun akan memakan waktu sekitar 45 menit. Tapi kemudian, pada kenyataannya, waktu yang dibutuhkan adalah SEMBILAN PULUH menit, SEMBILAN PULUH menit saudara-saudara, untuk sampai di stasiun!! Kami tiba disana sekitar jam 5.45 sore, menyisakan hanya DUA pilihan kereta tujuan Pisa.

KETIGA

Kedua pilihan kereta itu bukanlah perjalanan kereta yang langsung, kami harus melakukan satu kali transit di keduanya, dan tentu saja kami memilih perjalanan yang pertama (dan juga karena perjalanan yang pertama lebih murah sekitar 4 atau 5 euro sih). Kereta pertama ini dijadwalkkan berangkat jam 7.05 malam dan transitnya adalah di sebuah kota kecil bernama Genova. Kereta dijadwalkan tiba di Genova jam 8.46 malam, dan kereta lanjutan akan berangkat jam 8.56 malam, yang artinya kami memiliki waktu 10 menit untuk pindah kereta.

NAMUN KEMUDIAN, karena tema hari itu adalah: "kami sial", hal lain berubah menjadi kacau. Kereta kami baru berangkat jam 7.30 malam dari Milan, yang artinya terlambat sekitar 25 menit!! Waktu transit kami hanyalah 10 menit dan sekarang kami sudah telat 25 menit?? MIMPI BURUK!!! Satu-satunya harapan adalah kereta lanjutan kami juga akan terlambat 20 atau 30an menit. Tapi kemudian, karena tema tersebut di atas, itu bukanlah hal yang terjadi. Kami tiba di Stasiun Genova jam 9.15 malam, dan kereta lanjutannya sudah berangkat. Kami ketinggalan kereta!! Resmilah kami terdampar di kota Genova, yang bukanlah kota besar. Kami kemudian melihat jadwal kereta dan kereta selanjutnya tujuan Pisa akan berangkat jam 10.45 malam dari Genova. Oke, hanya inilah pilihan memungkinkan bagi kami, kami harus menunggu selama 1,5 jam di Stasiun Genova.

Keretanya akhirnya tiba dan akhir kata kami tiba di Pisa sekitar jam 12.50 subuh. "Yeah, akhirnya kami tiba di Pisa", itulah pikiran kami pada saat itu, tanpa menyadari bahwa hari itu sangat mencintai kami sampai dua kejadian tak mengenakkan masih menunggu kami.

KEEMPAT

Kami tiba di Stasiun Pisa sekitar jam 1 subuh dan untuk keluar, kami harus menuruni tangga (untuk menyeberangi jalur kereta) kemudian naik tangga lain di pintu keluar. Kalau pada membaca dengan cermat, salah satu temanku bepergian dengan kursi roda, dan ini adalah satu masalah. Sebenarnya, ada lift untuk turun ke penyeberangan itu, hanya saja ada aturan tolol dimana lift hanya beroperasi antara jam 6 pagi hinggal jam 10 malam DAN tidak ada seorang petugaspun dari Trenitalia yang bertugas malam itu (kalau ada, kan kami bisa tuh memintanya mengaktifkan lift hanya sekali itu saja untuk membantu temanku). Kami mencoba mencari solusi lain, tapi nggak ketemu. Ada sih penyeberangan biasa antara jalur, tetapi penyeberangan itu tidak berlanjut sampai ke pintu keluar. Ya udah, nggak ada pilihan lain selain melakukan cara paling sederhana: temanku harus menuruni tangga itu satu per satu sambil duduk di lantai dan kami membawa semua barang bawaan.

KELIMA

Sekitar sejam setelah tiba di Stasiun Pisa, kami akhirnya berhasil mencapai pintu keluar. Masalah lain muncul. Satu-satunya taksi yang sudah siap di stasiun itu hanyalah yang taksi berukuran kecil, maka kami menelepon hostel kami untuk meminta taksi yang lebih besar. Sekitar lima belas menit kemudian, satu taksi yang lebih besar datang, tapi sopirnya seperti tidak ada niat untuk mencari penumpang yang sedang menunggunya. Ia cuma datang kesana, menyetir mengelilingi bundaran di depan stasiun, dan langsung pergi begitu saja. Si***n!! Kami tentu melambaikan tangan tapi (sepertinya) ia tidak begitu peduli, dan ia tidak melihat kami. Kemudian kami menelepon hostel kami lagi dan meminta orangnya menelepon taksi lagi. Sekitar 15 menit kemudian, akhirnya taksinya tiba dan akhirnya ia melihat kami!! Kami meninggalkan stasiun sekitar jam 2.15 subuh dan tiba di hostel jam 2.30 subuh!!

Yah, kira-kira itulah akhir hari itu. Kami meninggalkan Delft sekitar jam 6.30 pagi dan tiba di hostel kami di Pisa sekitar jam 2.30 subuh keesokan harinya!! Agak menakjubkan juga bagaimana semua hal ini (dimulai dengan nasib malang kopilot hingga sopir taksi menyebalkan) bisa terjadi di hari yang sama, di perjalanan sebuah grup. Walaupun semua hal ini sangat menyebalkan, tapi keseluruhan perjalanannya benar-benar sebuah petualangan dan sangat mengasyikkan loh!! Jauuuh lebih menarik daripada perjalanan yang lancar dan semua-hal-baik-baik-saja karena perjalanan ini justru akan lebih terkenang!!

Ngomong2, hostel kami berada hanya sekitar 100 meter dari Menara Pisa, jadi aku bisa mengintip menaranya dan tamannya (dengan katedralnya) di malam hari. Dan ya, Menara Pisa memang sangat indah!! Aku ingat merasa bahwa semua hal yang telah kami lalui hari itu setimpal dengan keindahannya!! (di samping fakta bahwa hostelnya bagus sih :-D)

#870 - Happy New Year 2011!!

2011-01-01T00:00:00.000+07:00

Hello all!! I want to say:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

to all of us!!

May 2011 be a lot better and more awesome year than 2010!!

Anyway, if at this time last year I was thinking that 2009 was an unproductive year for this blog, well, 2010 has kinda been even more unproductive in that kind of point of view as I only posted 82 entries. Well, forget about that, why do we have to dwell about numbers?? The more important thing is the essence, right? :-)

Well, thanks for supporting my blog and I will keep writing here!! :-)

p.s: Just as before, I am now in the middle of my holiday in Italy, to be precise, in Venice, when this entry is posted. That is why I put this entry in automatic-post so that I still can post it when I am away in holiday. :-)

#869 - Merry Christmas 2010!!

2010-12-25T00:00:00.000+07:00

Hello All :

I want to say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

to all of you who celebrate it

May He shower us with abundant of blessings and fortunes!!

p.s : by the time this entry was posted, I was in Italy, in Rome to be precise. So that was why I put this entry in automatic-post (thanks Blogger for this feature :-D) so I "still" can post in holiday :-)

#868 - Updates

2010-12-21T20:45:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

A little updates on me. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I am going to Italy!! Yeaah!! But that's not what I want to share right now. I want to update about my life lately.

Well, the winter holiday is coming up, and of course everything is in the holiday mood. One of those holiday-mood occasions is Lichtjesavond (Evening of Light) that took place in Delft last week. In this occasion, Delft's centrum beautified itself with lights and all other Christmasy ornaments. Plus, there were several attractions opened there, like an open stage with orchestra and choir singing Christmas songs, and all other things. The thing is: the Christmas atmosphere was SOOO strong and I had never experienced something like this before!! I really really felt Christmas and how all (most) people around me were celebrating it!! This kind of atmosphere can never be felt in Indonesia, at least based on my 21 years of experience there :-)

Aside from that, my week has been very hectic. I had to finish several assignments, and also I had to deal with several damn problems. For example, last Friday, I lost my room's key. The good news was that it happened on Friday, when the office of my apartment was still open (if it was the weekend, I would have been screwed). So, I had to miss one class, which was one of my favorite, to deal with this problem. Then, just today, I had to move back to my original room because the renovation is complete. While tomorrow I am going to Italy, so I also have to pack my belongings, hahaha.

The thing is, after my two-week break, I will have three assignments to submit!! Crazy!! That is why I am bringing some of my notes on my trip so that I can work a little bit on them if I manage to find some time (for example, during a train ride, etc).

Anyway, winter (year-end) holiday is here now, so Happy Holiday!! :-) See you next year!! ;-)

::: Lichtjesavond in Delft's Nieuwe Kerk

::: A group of singers performing at the Lichtjesavond in Delft.

::: A choir performing during the Lichtjesavond in Delft.

::: An orchestra performing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" during the Lichtjesavond in Delft. How could you not want Christmas after seeing this??

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sedikit update ah. Besok, hari Rabu, aku akan pergi ke Italia!! Yeaah!! Tapi bukan itu yang aku ingin tulis sekarang. Aku ingin menulis sedikit update tentang kehidupanku akhir-akhir ini.

Yah, liburan musim dingin sudah dekat, dan tentu saja semuanya berada di mood liburan. Salah satu dari banyak acara dengan mood liburan itu adalah Lichtjesavond (Malam Lampu) yang berlangsung di Delft minggu lalu. Di acara ini, centrum-nya Delft mempercantik dirinya sendiri dengan lampu dan segala macam ornamen Natal lainnya. Plus, ada beberapa atraksi yang dibuka, misalnya panggung terbuka dengan orkestra dan koor yang menyanyikan lagu-lagu Natal, dan hal-hal lainnya. Yang jelas adalah: suasana Natal terasa SANGATLAH kental disini dan aku blum pernah merasakan yang seperti ini sebelumnya!! Aku benar-benar merasakan Natal dan bagaimana semua (kalo bukan kebanyakan) orang di sekitarku merayakannya!! Atmosfer seperti ini nggak akan pernah bisa dirasakan di Indonesia deh, setidaknya berdasar pengalamanku. Pokoknya beda banget!!

Di sisi lain, minggu2ku akhir2 ini sangatlah menyibukkan. Aku harus menyelesaikan beberapa tugas, dan harus berurusan dengan beberapa masalah sial. Misalnya, Jumat lalu, aku nggak sengaja menghilangkan kunci kamarku. Kabar baiknya adalah hal itu terjadi di hari Jumat, ketika kantor apartemennya masih buka (kalau saja itu di akhir minggu, mati deh). Karenanya, aku harus melewatkan satu kelas, yang merupakan salah satu kelas favoritku, untuk berurusan dengan masalah ini. Trus hari ini, aku harus balik pindah ke apartemenku yang lama karena renovasinya sudah selesai. Padahal juga karena besok ke Italia, aku juga harus mengepak barang nih, hahaha.

Hal lain adalah, setelah libur dua minggu, aku ada tiga tugas yang harus dikumpulkan!! Gila!! Makanya besok aku mau membawa beberapa catatan deh selama liburan jadi aku bisa belajar sedikit lah kalau ada waktu (misalnya, waktu naik kereta, dll).

Yah, pokoknya, liburan musim dingin (akhir tahun) sudah tiba, jadi Selamat Liburan!! :-) Sampai jumpa di tahun depan! ;-)

#867 - Review of the Year 2010

2010-12-19T03:13:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

I know the end of the year is still relatively pretty far ahead. But because I am going to Italy for my year-end holiday until the 4th of January, I will not have time to post this entry later so I will just post it now. Anyway, I feel like that I kinda want to write an entry like this one, about a review of my life in the year of 2010 (though that entry in the link was only in Bahasa Indonesia, now I am writing bilingual).

Overall, 2010 has been a great, inspiring, and meaningful for me. A lot of things have happened to my life, including moving me to the other part of the world. I have done an above-average number (as for my standard) of traveling this year. I have achieved something. I have got many new experiences. Well, let me elaborate them one by one.

Achievement and Life-Changing Event

The biggest achievement I have done this year is that I graduated with my bachelor degree. I am now entitled to have those three-letter title behind my name (though I have not used it until now :-D). This one was planned, very-well planned. Since I got to the university, I had already planned to graduate in 3.5 years. I worked hard and it paid off: I achieved it. I was so happy and proud of myself.

But then, a question came: "What should I do next?" I had been thinking about it for months. I had two options: to continue studying or to find a job. This was a no-brainer for me, of course I picked the former. But then the next question came up: "Where?" The answer came on the 1st of March, 2010, through this great news: I got a full scholarship to continue my study in TU Delft, in the Netherlands. I was extremely happy at that time, feeling on top of the world as that was such a dream coming true!! I had always been wanting to study abroad, let alone Europe!! And with this economy now, I felt (and still feel) so blessed and lucky to have got this opportunity.

So, I had set a course on what I was going to do next. It was time to make the preparations. The first one was clear: leaving Bandung, the city I had been living in for 46 months. It was kinda emotional and I wrote this entry. And eventually, it was official: I started my life in Bandung on August 7, 2006 and I officially left the city on May 23rd, 2010. I will never forget a great life I had in Bandung.

Then, the big day came: my departure to Europe. It was Wednesday, August 18th, 2010. I was catching Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam with one transit in Dubai (well, two if Jakarta is counted). It was my first inter-continental flight and I was so excited! I arrived in the Netherlands one day later and so it was official: my life in the Netherlands had started.

Trips

Let's change topic to something more fun. One of my passion is traveling. For my standard, 2010 is the year with most trips I have had so far. I have stepped my feet on ten different countries this year (including Indonesia and the Netherlands (of course), and United Arab Emirates (if this counts as I had one hour transit there during my flight to Amsterdam)). Let me elaborate them:

#1. Bali Trip

I went to Bali with my college friends for one week on January. It was such a great week and a dream came true for us. We had been planning that trip for about one year and a half and we were so excited that it finally came to realization.

#2. Three Countries Trip

On June, my friends and I went on a vacation to three countries: Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. We got really cheap tickets from AirAsia about nine months prior, and I was happy that it finally came true. This is mainly because I finally visited one place that I had always wanted to go to: Krabi, in Thailand.

#3. China Trip

This was actually a pretty "abrupt" trip as we only planned it some two weeks before the departure. So, I went to China with my mom at the end July until early of August for ten days. It was not really a vacation, but I still did enjoy the trip and in fact: it opened my eyes a lot.

#4. Portugal Trip

This trip was my first "big" trip since I arrived in the Netherlands. I went to Portugal for one week. It was a trip during a quarter break and I think that trip worked so well as it refreshed my mind and put myself on a "working" gear at full throttle. Honestly, for me at this time one year ago, this was a trip that I never thought I would have in less than one year.

#5. Italy Trip

Well, this trip is kinda in the near future. I am going to Italy next Wednesday, and it is going to be two weeks!! Two freaking weeks!! This is the longest trip I have ever had in my life!! I am really excited of this trip and I really wish it will not be snowing next week (as snow apparently paralyzes transportation in Europe now).

#6. Many Other Smaller Trips

I also had many other smaller trips throughout the year. Most of them were just a one day trip, and one other (trip to East Java) was only a two-day trip. In Indonesia, I went to Sukabumi on March and to Tulung Agung and Blitar on April. In Europe, I went around the Netherlands (to Den Haag, Rotterdam, Roermond, Maastricht, and Amsterdam) and Belgium (to Leuven and Ghent).

Overall Life Experience

Overall, I really love my life. I am currently in a state where I had always wanted to be: living in Europe. And the experience has met my expectation. It is not only about the academic life, but it is the overall living experience that I have been in. I have made many new friends, from many different countries (and this is so fascinating btw). I have learnt about how to live in a country that is so different in many aspects than Indonesia. I have experienced new things in life, out of my "box"!! And this is including another thing that I had always wanted to experience in my life: SNOW!! This is great!!

So, how has 2010 been for me? It has been awesome!! I would consider 2010 as one of the best year of my life personally, one year that changed my life. I have accomplished many things in my life, both the serious side and the fun side, this year. I feel really blessed this year, and I am looking forward to another great year just in front of my eyes now: 2011.

::: Bali

::: Phi-Phi Don Bay

::: Maya Beach

::: First Inter-Continental Flight

::: Dutch Windmill

::: Delft

::: Belem, Lisbon, Portugal

::: My First Winter

::: Stunning Winter

BAHASA INDONESIA

Aku tahu akhir tahun masih relatif lama dari sekarang. Tapi karena aku akan pergi ke Italia di liburan akhir tahunku sampai tanggal 4 Januari, aku jadi nggak ada waktu untuk mengepos posting ini nanti, jadi aku post sekarang deh. Ngomong2, aku merasa ingin nulis posting seperti yang ini, tentang review kehidupanku selama tahun 2010 ini (dan aku akan menulis dalam dua bahasa sekarang).

Secara keseluruhan, 2010 adalah tahun yang hebat, penuh inspirasi, dan berarti untukku. Banyak hal yang terjadi dalam hidupku, termasuk memindahkanku ke sisi lain dari planet Bumi ini. Jumlah acara jalan-jalanku juga di atas rata-rata (untuk standarku) tahun ini. Aku sudah mencapai sesuatu. Aku mendapatkan banyak pengalaman baru. Yah, aku akan menguraikannya satu per satu.

Pencapaian dan Kejadian yang Mengubah-Hidup

Pencapaian terbesarku tahun ini adalah aku lulus dengan gelar S1. Aku sekarang berhak menggunakan tiga huruf itu di belakang namaku (walau aku masih belum terlalu menggunakannya sih sampai sekarang :-D). Hal ini memang sudah direncanakan, dengan sangat baik malah. Semenjak aku masuk universitas, aku sudah merencanakan untuk lulus dalam tiga setengah tahun. Aku bekerja keras dan ternyata ada hasilnya: aku mencapainya. Aku sangat bahagia dan bangga terhadap diriku sendiri.

Tetapi kemudian, sebuah pertanyaan muncul: "Apa yang harus kulakukan setelahnya?" Aku sudah memikirkannya semenjak berbulan-bulan sebelumnya. Aku memiliki dua pilihan: melanjutkan kuliah atau mencari pekerjaan. Ini pilihan yang mudah untukku, tentu saja aku memilih yang pertama. Nah, lalu pertanyaan selanjutnya muncul: "Dimana?" Jawabannya muncul di tanggal 1 Maret 2010, melalui berita membahagiakan ini: Aku mendapatkan beasiswa penuh untuk melanjutkan studiku di TU Delft, di Belanda. Aku sangat bahagia waktu itu, bagaikan di awang-awang karena memang rasanya seperti mimpi yang menjadi kenyataan!! Aku sudah sangat ingin sekali belajar di luar negeri, apalagi Eropa!! Dan dengan kondisi ekonomi seperti sekarang ini, aku merasa (dan masih merasa) sangat diberkatu dan beruntung karena mendapatkan kesempatan ini. .

Nah, jadi arah hidupku selanjutnya sudah ditetapkan. Sudah waktunya mulai mempersiapkannya. Persiapan pertama sih jelas: meninggalkan Bandung, kota yang sudah kutinggali selama 46 minggu. Waktu itu agak emosional juga dan aku menulis posting ini. Dan, selanjutnya resmilah: aku memulai kehidupanku di Bandung tanggal 7 Agustus 2006 dan aku secara resmi meninggalkan kota itu di tanggal 23 Mei 2010. Aku nggak akan pernah melupakan kehidupanku yang sangat berwarna di Bandung.

Trus, hari besarnya tiba juga: keberangkatanku ke Eropa. Waktu itu hari Rabu, tanggal 18 Agustus 2010. Aku naik pesawat Garuda Indonesia menuju Amsterdam dengan satu transit di Dubai (dua sih kalau Jakarta dihitung). Penerbangan itu adalah penerbangan antar-benua pertamaku dan aku sangat bersemangat! Aku tiba di Belanda sehari setelahnya dan resmilah: kehidupanku di Belanda telah dimulai.

Perjalanan-Perjalanan

Mari kita berganti topik ke sesuatu yang lebih menyenangkan. Salah satu hasratku adalah jalan-jalan. Nah, untuk standarku, tahun 2010 ini adalah tahun dengan perjalanan terbanyak yang pernah kumiliki. Aku sudah menginjakkan kaki di sepuluh negara yang berbeda tahun ini (termasuk Indonesia dan Belanda (tentu saja), dan Uni Emirat Arab (kalau ini dihitung soalnya kan penerbanganku ke Amsterdam transit disana selama sejam). Mari kuurai:

#1. Perjalanan ke Bali

Aku pergi ke Bali dengan teman-teman kampusku selama seminggu di bulan Januari. Minggu itu adalah minggu yang menyenangkan dan bagaikan mimpi yang jadi nyata. Kami sudah merencanakan perjalanan ini selama sekitar satu setengah tahun dan kami sangat bersemangat ketika akhirnya rencana itu menjadi kenyataan.

#2. Perjalanan ke Tiga Negara

Di bulan Juni, aku dan teman2ku jalan-jalan liburan ke tiga negara: Singapura, Malaysia, dan Thailand. Kami mendapat tiket yang sangat murah dari AirAsia sekitar sembilan bulan sebelumnya, dan aku sangat bahagia ketika saatnya tiba. Ini karena aku akhirnya mengunjungi satu tempat yang memang sudah sangat ingin kunjungi sebelumnya: Krabi, di Thailand.

#3. Perjalanan ke Cina

Perjalanan ini bisa dikatakan "mendadak" karena kami merencanakannya sekitar dua minggu sebelum berangkat. Nah, jadi ceritanya aku pergi ke Cina dengan mamaku di akhir bulan Juli hingga awal Agustus selama sepuluh hari. Perjalanan ini bukan dalam rangka liburan sih, tapi aku masih sangat mengikmati perjalanannya dan malah: ini membukakan mataku lebar-lebar. as not really a vacation, but I still did enjoy the trip and in fact: it opened my eyes a lot.

#4. Perjalanan ke Portugal

Perjalanan ini adalah perjalanan "besar" pertamaku semenjak aku tiba di Belanda. Aku pergi ke Portugal selama satu minggu. Perjalanan ini kulakukan di masa libur kuarter dan aku rasa perjalanan ini sangat baik karena menyegarkan kembali pikiranku dan membuatku dalam mode "siap tempur" menghadapi tugas-tugas dari kampus. Jujur, di tanggal ini tahun lalu, aku nggak pernah menyangka akan bisa melakukan perjalanan ke Portugal ini dalam waktu kurang dari setahun.

#5. Perjalanan ke Italia

Yah, perjalanan ini masih ada di masa depan sih. Aku baru pergi ke Italia hari Rabu besok ini, dan ini adalah perjalanan selama dua minggu!! Ya, dua minggu!! Ini adalah perjalanan terlama dalam hidupku loh!! Aku sudah sangat bersemangat dan aku berharap mudah-mudahan minggu depan nggak bersalju (soalnya salju melumpuhkan sistem transportasi di Eropa nih).

#6. Banyak Perjalanan Kecil Lainnya

Aku juga melakukan banyak perjalanan kecil lainnya sepanjang tahun ini. Kebanyakan darinya adalah perjalanan selama sehari, dan lainnya (perjalanan ke Jawa Timur) adalah perjalanan selama dua hari. Di Indonesia, aku pergi ke Sukabumi di bulan Maret dan ke Tulung Agung dan Blitar di bulan April. Di Eropa, aku pergi keliling Belanda (ke Den Haag, Rotterdam, Roermond, Maastricht, dan Amsterdam) dan Belgia (ke Leuven dan Ghent).

Pengalaman Hidup Secara Keseluruhan

Secara keseluruhan, aku sangat suka akan hidupku. Kini aku berada di posisi yang memang sudah aku ingini sejak dulu: hidup di Eropa. Dan pengalaman ini memang sudah memenuhi harapanku. Nggak hanya tentang kehidupan akademiknya, tapi pengalaman hidup secara keseluruhannya. Aku jadi memiliki banyak teman baru, dari banyak negara (dan ini keren juga kan). Aku juga belajar bagaimana hidup di sebuah negara yang sangat berbeda dalam banyak aspek dari Indonesia. Aku jadi memiliki banyak pengalaman baru dalam hidup, di luar "kotakku"!! Dan tentu ini termasuk satu hal yang memang sudah sangat ingin aku rasakan dalam hidupku ini: SALJU!! Dan ini sangat hebat!!

Nah, jadi bagaimana tahun 2010 ini bagiku sejauh ini?? Wah, sudah keren banget deh!! Aku secara pribadi mengategorikan 2010 sebagai salah satu tahun terbaikku. Aku mencapai banyak hal di tahun ini, baik di sisi serius maupun di sisi menyenangkannya. Aku merasa sangat terbekati tahun ini, dan aku menunggu tahun berikutnya yang juga hebat: tahun 2011 yang sudah ada di depan mata.

#866 - Portugal Trip (Part 3)

2010-12-13T22:48:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, I just realized that apparently the trilogy about my trip to Portugal has kinda been postponed for a while now. Well, before it is being way out of date and while I have the time now, I am going to finish the trilogy with this entry :-)

Actually all of what I did and visited in Portugal have kinda been shared in both previous entries. What I want to share in this entry is about my experience in Portugal. Well, what I will write here is just based on what I experienced and I have no mean to be rude or judgmental towards all who are mentioned in this entry :-)

Language Barrier

I bet you are not surprised with this. Portuguese people spoke Portuguese as their native language, and only small percentage of them spoke English. Well, they did understand English to some extent, but not that advance enough to be able to communicate with me with no problem. This kind of thing happened several times during my stay there:

Setting : in a restaurant and I was looking at a menu book which was only in Portuguese and I did not understand a single thing written there and I decided to call the waiter to ask something.
Me : "Hi, can you please explain to me what is this?" *pointing at one menu*
Waiter : *explaining things in Portuguese and I did not understand what he said*
Me : "Umm, I am sorry but I do not speak Portuguese. Do you speak English?"
Waiter: "No" *then he continued explaining things in Portuguese slowly hoping that I would understand in which of course I still did not understand*

I ended up picking a random menu from the book and thanks God it was good! :-)

This incident also happened once: My friend and I went into a crowded restaurant ('crowded' is a good sign for a restaurant, right?). We walked in and a maître d’ greeted us in Portuguese. We then said we would like to get a table and so on. We got in, and another maître d’ asked us something in Portuguese, and we said we wanted a table. He asked us something in Portuguese, again, making us to realize that we did not really answer his question. We asked him if he spoke English, and apparently he could not. He then called another waiter there, who also had a limited English proficiency, to communicate with us and we by then understood that we had to make a reservation first as that day there was a big group already reserved that whole restaurant.

Another thing also happened. We were looking for Oceanorium (we got lost because there was no clear sign pointing where the Oceanorium was, damnit!) and we decided to ask direction to a lady. Well, she understood what we were asking but she could not explain the direction in English. So what she did was she mimicked the direction using her hands.

Well, all these incidents taught me that we can not take language for granted. We can not expect everyone to speak English, and even I think it is going to be better and more respectful if we learn some phrases in local language before going to a country.

Portuguese People

My general impression about Portuguese is that they are really nice and helpful! But based on my experience, there were two steps before I could feel that friendliness. In fact, the first impression I got was the exact opposite: they were annoying. These are several incidents that happened:

Annoying #1

During the second day in Portugal, I had an incident: I stepped on dog poo and I did not realize it until I was sitting in a boat tour and crapped my jeans with that poo. (yea, it sucked to hell). I then decided to get my jeans laundered in my hostel.

The next morning, I went to the reception and met a lady there (it was the first time I met her) and I told her about my intention to get my jeans laundered (of course I was willing to pay a reasonable price for that). At first she was really not helpful by responding: "You want me to wash your jeans?" in a not-so friendly tone. Now having felt the not so nice tension, I backed down and basically said "never mind" to her. I then walked back to my room. But then, about 10 minutes later when I was about to leave the hostel to explore the city, she "changed". She said that she could wash my jeans and I had to pay 1.5 euro for that. I thought it was a reasonable price and I said okay. I went back to my room, took my jeans, and gave it to her. She even joked that my jeans was heavy. From here on, suddenly the evil-not-so-friendly image was gone from her!! She became a really nice and friendly woman right after that!! She even expressed how she loved Portugal's weather as it was sunny all week long in a cheerful and funny way!!

Annoying #2

One day I had no idea how to get to Cristo-Rei, so I thought it would be wise to ask some help from the locals. There was one information booth nearby and I decided to get there. Then this sort of conversation happened:

Me : "Hi, do you know how to get to Cristo Rei?"
Guy in the information booth (GIIB): "No"
*well, at this point, I remember thinking that this guy was so rude as he blatantly said "no" with no "sorry" nor sympathetic voice nor what, but then some seconds later, he continued*
GIIB : "But maybe you can go to the information booth in the city center. You can get there by catching bus number #"

I think there were several other incidents but I can not recall them now (damn, this is what we get if we postpone to write things for too long: we forget some details!).

Food

Well, to me, the food in Portugal is not bad, in fact, I enjoyed some of the delicacies!!

I did a little survey and one website suggested that I should try Tripas à moda do Porto in Porto. I wrote something about it in the first part of this trilogy. So, if you are interested enough, just browse it! :-)

Then, a friend told me that I must try "bacalhau". He said it was something like a salted fish cooked in Portuguese style. Well, "bacalhau" sounded exotic and I was really interested in it. Of course, in Portugal, I ate "bacalhau". Apparently, "bacalhau" is a name of a fish and so it can be cooked in several different ways. And I enjoyed some of the bacalhau menus, especially the fried one! hahaha. There was one bacalhau menu I had in Belem where it was cooked in a way such that it looked like a fried rice!! Being curious, my friend asked one of the restaurant what bacalhau was. Then, he said it was a Portuguese word for: "COD"!! My friend, who was from Canada, just said that bacalhau officially lost its exoticity, hahaha....

There was also another exotic food in Portugal: octopus!! Yes, octopus, not cuttlefish or squid! Well, (lucky enough, I guess) I did not eat its head, but its tentacles. It tasted kinda weird, because the tentacles were thick and fat enough so you could taste its chewiness and what was in that tentacles!

Well, I think that is pretty much what I want to share in this blog about my trip to Portugal. Hopefully all of you enjoy this, and future me (a note to myself), do not forget this: never postpone at least writing a draft about a trip or you will forget more details as time goes by!! :-)

::: Tripas à moda do Porto

::: Pasteis de Belem.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, baru saja aku sadar bahwa ternyata trilogi tentang perjalananku ke Portugal sudah agak tertunda beberapa waktu nih. Hmm, sebelum menjadi terlalu basi dan sementara lagi ada waktu sekarang, aku akan menyelesaikannya melalui posting ini :-)

Sebenarnya, semua hal yang aku lakukan dan kunjungi di Portugal telah aku tulis di kedua posting sebelum ini. Yang ingin aku tulis disini lebih ke pengalamanku di Portugal. Yah, sebelum aku memulai menulis, aku ingin berkata dahulu bahwa aku tidak ada maksud sama sekali menyindir apalagi mengejek pihak yang disebut di posting ini ya :-)

Kendala Berbahasa

Aku yakin pasti pada nggak kaget dengan hal ini. Orang Portugal itu berbahasa Portugis sebagai bahasa ibu mereka, dan hanya sedikit yang berbahasa Inggris dengan lancar. Yah, mereka mengerti bahasa Inggris koq sampai tingkat tertentu, hanya saja tidak semahir itu untuk dapat berkomunikasi dengan lancar. Hal-hal seperti ini terjadi beberapa kali ketika aku disana:

Setting : di sebuah restoran dan aku sedang melihat sebuah buku menu yang ditulis hanya dalam bahasa Portugis dan aku nggak ngerti satu hal pun yang tertulis disana sehingga aku memutuskan untuk bertanya pada pelayan.
Aku : "Hi, can you please explain to me what is this?" *menunjuk satu menu*
Pelayan : *menjelaskan dalam bahasa Portugis dan tentu saja aku nggak ngerti apa yang ia bicarakan*
Aku : "Umm, I am sorry but I do not speak Portuguese. Do you speak English?"
Pelayan: "No" *kemudian ia kembali menjelaskan dengan bahasa Portugis dengan pelan-pelan sambil berharap aku akan mengerti dan tentu saja aku masih nggak ngerti maksudnya apa*

Akhirnya aku milih menu secara acak dari buku dan untungnya menunya enak! :-)

Insiden ini juga terjadi sekali: Aku dan temanku masuk ke sebuah restoran yang rame ('rame' itu pertanda bagus bagi sebuah restoran kan?). Kamu masuk dan pelayannya menyambut kami dengan bahasa Portugis. Kami berkata kami ingin mendapat meja dan seterusnya. Kami masuk, dan seorang pelayan lain datang dan bertanya dalam bahasa Portugis, dan kami bertanya kami ingin duduk. Dia kemudian bertanya lagi, dalam bahasa Portugis, dan akhirnya kami sadar kalau kami tidak memberikan jawaban yang tepat. Kami bertanya apakah ia bisa berbahasa Inggris dan ternyata tidak. Dia kemudian memanggil pelayan lain, yang juga berbahasa Inggris dengan terbata-bata, untuk berkomunikasi dengan kami dan akhirnya kami baru tahu kalau kami harus pesan tempat dulu karena di hari itu lagi ada grup besar yang sudah memesan tempat di seluruh restoran.

Hal lain juga terjadi. Kami mencari Oceanorium (kami kesasar karena nggak ada petunjuk yang jelas sih yang nunjukin lokasi Oceanorium, sial!) dan memutuskan untuk bertanya ke seorang wanita. Yah, ia sih mengerti apa yang kami tanyakan tapi masalahnya ia tidak bisa menjelaskan dengan bahasa Inggris. Oleh karenanya ia menggunakan tangannya untuk menunjukkan arah.

Yah, semua insiden itu mengajarkan aku bahwa kita tidak bisa menyepelekan masalah bahasa. Kita tidak bisa mengharapkan semua orang untuk dapat berbahasa Inggris, dan aku rasa bahkan akan lebih baik dan lebih menghormati apabila kita juga belajar beberapa frasa dalam bahasa lokal sebelum pergi ke suatu negara.

Orang Portugis

Impresi umumku tentang orang Portugis adalah mereka sangat baik dan ramah! Tapi menurut pengalamanku sih, untuk mencapai level itu, ada dua langkah terlebih dahulu. Malah, impresi awal yang kudapat sangatlah berlawanan: mereka menyebalkan. Ini adalah beberapa insiden yang terjadi:

Menyebalkan #1

Di hari kedua di Portugal, aku mengalami sebuah insiden: aku menginjak kotoran anjing dan aku nggak sadar sampai aku duduk di kapal di tur kapal dan mengotori celana jins-ku dengan kotoran itu. (ember, menyebalkan sekali kan). Aku kemudian memutuskan untuk mencuci celana jinsku melalui jasa laundry di hostel.

Keesokan paginya, aku pergi ke resepsi hotstel dan bertemu seorang wanita disana (ini adalah kali pertama aku bertemu dengannya) dan aku mengutarakan niatku untuk mencuci celana jinsku disitu (tentu saja aku berniat membayar harga yang masuk akal untuk itu). Awalnya, ia sangat tidak membantu dengan merespon: "Kamu ingin saya mencuci celanamu?" dengan nada yang nggak terlalu ramah. Ya karena aku merasa koq ada sedikit ketegangan, ya sudah aku mundur saja dan berkata kira-kira "lupakanlah kalau gitu". Aku kemudian balik ke kamar. Kemudian, sekitar 10 menit kemudian ketika aku akan meninggalkan hostel untuk jalan ke kota, dia "berubah". Ia berkata ia bersedia mencuci celana jinsku dan aku harus membayar 1,5 euro untuknya. Aku merasa harga itu masuk akal dan aku berkata oke. Aku balik ke kamar, mengambil celana jinsku, dan memberikannya padanya. Ia bahkan kemudian bercanda dengan berkata celana jinsku berat. Setelahnya, kesan jahat-dan-nggak-ramahnya hilang sama sekali darinya!! Ia menjadi sangat baik dan ramah setelahnya!! Dia bahkan menceritakan kecintaannya pada cuaca Portugal yang cerah sepanjang minggu dengan cara yang sangat lucu dan riang!!

Menyebalkan #2

Di satu hari aku nggak tahu bagaimana caranya untuk pergi ke Cristo-Rei, jadi aku rasa adalah bijaksana untukku bertanya kepada beberapa orang lokal. Ada sebuah pusat informasi di dekat lokasiku waktu itu dan aku memutuskan untuk menuju tempat itu. Kemudian, percakapan kaya gini terjadi:

Aku : "Halo, apakah Bapak tahu bagaimana cara pergi ke Cristo Rei?"
Bapak-bapak di pusat informasi (BBPI): "Enggak"
*di titik ini, aku sangat ingat berpikir bahwa orang ini nggak ramah amat sih koq cuma gitu aja ngomong "enggak"-nya dengan tanpa kata "maaf" atau kata lain yang lebih simpatik kek, atau solusi kek, tapi kemudian beberapa detik kemudian ia melanjutkan omongannya*
BBPI : "Tapi mungkin kamu bisa pergi ke pusar informasi di pusat kota. Kamu bisa kesana dengan naik bus nomer #"

Aku rasa ada beberapa insiden lain tapi aku nggak bisa ingat nih (sial, inilah yang kita dapat kalau kelamaan menunda menulis: melupakan beberapa detail!).

Makanan

Untukku, makanan di Portugal lumayan tuh, malah, aku suka beberapa menunya!!

Aku melakukan survey kecil dan satu website menyarankanku untuk mencoba Tripas à moda do Porto di Porto. Aku menulis sesuatu tentang ini di bagian pertama trilogi ini. Jadi, kalau mau tahu, buka aja link di atas! :-)

Trus, seorang teman memberitahuku bahwa aku harus mencoba "bacalhau". Kayanya sih "bacalhau" ini semacam ikan asin yang dimasak alah Portuhis. Nah, "bacalhau" terdengar eksotis kan? Makanya aku tertarik. Dan tentu saja, di Portugal, aku makan "bacalhau" dong. Ternyata "bacalhau" itu adalah nama sejenis ikan yang bisa dimasak dalam beberapa cara. Aku suka beberapa menu bacalhau ini, terutama yang digoreng! hahaha. Ada satu menu bacalhau yang aku makan di Belem yang dimasak sedemikian rupa sehingga mirip nasi goreng loh!! Penasaran, temanku bertanya ke salah satu restoran sebenarnya apa sih bacalhau itu. Kemudian, pelayannya berkata bahwa "bacalhau" adalah kata Portugis untuk ikan: "KOD"!! Temanku, yang orang Kanada, langsung bilang kalau keeksotisan bacalhau langsung hilang seketika, hahaha....

Ada juga menu eksotis lain di Portugal: gurita!! Ya, gurita loh, bukan sotong atau cumi-cumi!! Yah, (untungnya, mungkin) aku nggak makan kepalanya, tapi makan tentakelnya. Rasanya rada aneh gimanaa gitu, soalnya tentakelnya kan tebal jadi bener-bener deh terasa kekenyalan dan ketebalan dagingnya itu!

Yah, kurang lebih ini deh yang ingin aku bagikan di blog ini tentang perjalananku ke Portugal. Mudah2an pada menikmatinya ya, dan untuk diriku di masa depan (catatan untuk diri sendiri ceritanya), jangan lupa ini: jangan pernah menunda setidaknya menulis draft tentang perjalananmu atau kamu akan lupa banyak detail seiring dengan berjalannya waktu!! :-)

#865 - Updates

2010-12-09T00:03:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, my life has been okay as for now. I apparently survived the crazy week and now my room is being renovated. To update my story, I will put this entry in three parts:

#1 Crazy week ahead

I just realized that I am going to Italy in two weeks!! How exciting is that!?!? Well, no. It is because before I reach that date, I will have tons of things to work on first. I have four assignments due before Italy and maybe I will have to move back to my apartment before that! Well, at this point I feel that a point two weeks in the future is still so far away!!

#2 Adventure to Amsterdam and Utrecht

Anyway, last weekend I went to Amsterdam with my friends. It was nice and fun, except for the damn snow-storm that happened earlier that day. Well, all I can say is that walking outside in a snow-storm is definitely not fun, unless you like the feeling of snow hitting your face hardly (and at some points snow hit my lips and I felt that the nature forced me to eat some ice, LOL). The thing is, at one point we decided to get in a cafe and had a coffee there to warm ourselves. From inside, the snow-storm looked beautiful!!! Kinda an ironic, isn't it? :-)

Later that day, after visiting some place in the city, we decided to go to Utrecht as we had a day pass train ticket. Something was wrong as the train was late from Amsterdam Centraal but we did not really think about it. We reached Utrecht, about 40 minutes LATE behind the scheduled time arrival of the train (we even stopped some hundred of meters before the station for about 20 minutes). By then we realized that something was terribly wrong!! The snow-storm that occurred earlier that day had affected the railway network in the Netherlands!! It was so severe that many trains were delayed and had to be canceled! It meant that the frequency of train to Den Haag or Rotterdam (two big cities closest to Delft) was reduced significantly. To make things worse, the actual information and update about the upcoming train was the one announced in the station every time a train is passing, which was only in Dutch!! Well, the thing is, I understand Dutch, to some extent, but when it is in an extra-ordinary case where it involves many "foreign" words for me, I get confused :-) And this was one of the case. Lucky we found a Dutch lady who told us that a train heading for Den Haag is coming :-)

#3 New phone or not??

Well, my phone has kinda been annoying these past couple of months. I fully charged my battery, but then when I accessed the internet, the battery dropped (it dropped just one minute after I accessed the internet! Kinda sucks!). It also frequently drops in several other occasions, like when I snap pictures (just after three or four pictures, it dropped) or when I received a phone call (just after one or two minutes, it dropped). It sucks!!

This led me to think about buying a new battery for my phone. But then I realized something. My phone is now two years old and maybe it is already the time to get a new one. After some researches and suggestions from friends, I think a smart phone would be cool to have. I dug some further research and got a really interesting deal from one of provider here in the Netherlands. I did some calculation and basically I can afford this new phone with my own money, because I will pay for it in installments for two years. I have not made the deal since I want to take some time to really think about it first :-)

Now I am in a dilemma. Well, I can just buy a new battery for my (current) phone which does not cost that much OR I can buy this new smart-phone which is kinda expensive but I can afford it. Hmmm.... . What do you think?? :-)

::: Snow-Storm in front of Amsterdam Centraal Station.

::: Amsterdam.

::: The Dam in a Snow-Storm.

::: Inside the Koninklijke Paleis Amsterdam.

::: One spot in Amsterdam.

::: One of many canals in Amsterdam.

::: Winter Plaza.

::: Another canal in Amsterdam.

::: Utrecht.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, kehidupanku baik2 saja saat ini. Ternyata aku bisa selamat dari minggu gila dan sekarang apartemenku sedang direnovasi. Untuk meng-update ceritaku, aku membagi posting ini dalam tiga bagian:

#1 Minggu gila akan datang

Aku baru sadar kalau aku akan pergi ke Italia dua minggu lagi!! Nah, mendebarkan sekali kan!?!? Hmmm, jawabannya adalah tidak. Ini karena sebelum aku mencapai tanggal itu, ada banyak hal yang harus aku kerjakan dulu. Aku ada empat tugas yang harus kuselesaikan sebelum Italia dan ada kemungkinan aku harus balik ke apartemenku sebelum aku pergi ke Italia! Yah, di titik ini, satu waktu di dua minggu ke depan terasa masih jauh sekali!!

#2 Petualangan ke Amsterdam dan Utrecht

Ngomong2, wiken lalu aku pergi ke Amsterdam bersama teman2. Acaranya asyik dan menyenangkan, kecuali badai salju yang terjadi di pagi harinya. Yah, yang bisa aku katakan adalah berjalan di luar di tengah badai salju itu nggak asyik loh, kecuali Anda suka muka Anda dihantam salju dengan lumayan keras (dan pada beberapa saat saljunya mengenai bibirku dan aku merasa seakan-akan alam ingin aku makan es, LOL). Hal yang menarik adalah, di satu titik akhirnya kami memutuskan masuk ke sebuah kafe dan minum kopi sambil menghangatkan badan disana. Nah, dari dalam, badai saljunya terlihat indah loh!!! Ironis juga kan? :-)

Kemudian di hari itu, setelah berkunjung ke beberapa lokasi di Amsterdam, kami memutuskan untuk pergi ke Utrecht karena kami memiliki tiket kereta seharian. Ada yang salah dengan keretanya karena berangkatnya terlambat dari Amsterdam Centraal tapi kami tak terlalu memperhatikannya. Kami kemudian tiba di Utrecht, 40 menit TERLAMBAT dari jadwal kedatangan kereta (kami bahkan berhenti beberapa ratus meter dari stasiun selama sekitar 20 menitan tuh). Baru kemudian kami sadar bahwa ada yang sangat salah!! Badai salju yang terjadi pagi hari itu ternyata berakibat buruk pada jaringan kereta di Belanda!! Saking parahnya, banyak kereta jadi terlambat dan dibatalkan! Ini artinya frekuensi kereta ke Den Haag atau Rotterdam (dua kota besar terdekat ke Delft) berkurang secara signifikan. Membuat hal tambah buruk, informasi aktual dan update tentang kereta yang akan datang adalah pengumuman yang diumumkan tiap kali ada kereta datang, yang hanya ada dalam bahasa Belanda!! Ya, aku ngerti sih bahasa Belanda, sampai jangkaan tertentu, tapi kalau sudah melibatkan kasus tidak biasa yang melibatkan banyak kata-kata yang masih "asing" buatku, aku jadi bingung juga :-) Dan ini adalah satu dari kasus itu. Untungnya, ada ibu2 orang Belanda yang memberi tahu kami ketika ada kereta tujuan Den Haag tiba :-)

#3 Telepon baru atau tidak??

Yah, hp-ku bersikap menyebalkan dua bulan belakangan ini. Aku menge-charge penuh batere hape dan kemudian ketika aku internetan dengannya, baterenya langsung drop (drop hanya setelah satu menit dipake! Nyebelin!). Baterenya juga lumayan sering drop di beberapa waktu lainnya, misalnya ketika aku mengambil foto (baru tiga atau empat foto sudah drop) atau ketika aku menerima telepon (baru semenit dua menit uda drop). Nyebelin banget!!

Ini membuatku berpikir untuk membeli batere baru untuk hapeku. Tapi kemudian aku jadi berpikir. Hapeku kan sudah dua tahun lebih nih umurnya dan mungkin ini sudah waktunya ganti baru kan? Nah, setelah beberapa riset dan saran dari beberapa teman, aku berpikir bahwa smart phone adalah pengganti yang keren. Aku kemudian menggali informasi lebih dalam dan kemudian mendapat tawaran menarik dari satu operator di Belanda. Aku menghitung-hitung dan dasarnya sih aku mampu membeli hape ini dengan uangku sendiri, karena aku akan membayarnya dengan cara mencicil selama dua tahun. Aku belum deal sih, soalnya aku mau waktu untuk memikirkannya dulu dengan benar-benar :-)

Nah, sekarang aku menghadapi dilema nih. Yah, aku kan bisa aja beli batere baru untuk hapeku yang sekarang dan ini adalah opsi yang tidak terlalu mahal. Atau aku bisa membeli smart phone baru yang harganya lumayan mahal tapi aku mampu membelinya. Hmmm.... . Menurut kalian bagaimana nih?? :-)

#864 - (Another) Crazy Week

2010-12-01T22:35:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, if I could have fun weekend two times in a row, then of course I can have another crazy week, right? Yup, that is my theme this week: I have another crazy week.

Anyway, before that, as you can read at my previous entry, I was really waiting for snow to come in Delft and I missed some of the first ones because it happened during my sleep-time in the night. But then, this week, I finally got it!! IT WAS SNOWING!!!! YEAAAAHHH!!!! I was really happy to finally experience snow in my life!! Well, aside from the really cold temperature (below 0) and many frozen stuffs (i.e: my bike's gear), snow is cool!! :-)

Back to topic. Yes, I am having a crazy week now. Now I am writing this entry because I am kinda in the middle of my resting time. I am really exhausted and continue working on stuffs now is (I think) a bad idea since my brain is definitely not in a 100% condition now, I will make some small unnecessary mistakes and I tend to overthink a problem when I am tired. Well...

So, I have another two assignments this week. Well, usually, having two regular assignments in one week was still okay, I could handle them. But this week, finishing them requires much more effort, time, brain-power, and more discussions. The assignments are (for me) more complicated and thus needing more focus on them. The thing is, the ammount of time we have is still the same. So ... . Well, wish me luck!! I have finished one of them (and finishing it took one day LONGER than I expected last week) and the second one, well, I should not take that for a granted and the deadline is next Friday...

The thing is, assignments is not the only "thing" I have this week. Last Sunday, I found something horrible. Apparently, there has been some leakages in my apartment causing water sipping in through the wall. This caused my apartment to be damp and of course it was not healthy. Plus, this is the most disgusting part: last Sunday, when I tried to replug my internet cable (because I accidentally unplugged it), I found out that there were apparently some fungi that grew in my room!! I was so shocked!! I had never seen them before because they (smartly) grew in a place that I always overlooked (in one secluded corner of my room). I immediately contacted the caretaker and he said that it was a really bad problem.

The problems caused by the leakages were that bad so that it would need a full-time reparation to repair my apartment. It would not be a quick repair as they have to repaint the wall, clean the fungi (of course), fix the leakages, and some other things. It means that I cannot stay there during the process and I need to move somewhere. Since it is not my fault, I asked the housing company to find a temporary housing for me this afternoon. They found one and luckily they arranged a housing just nearby my old apartment (if not, it would have been a hell for me as I will have to move back to my old apartment after the reparation is finished).

Well, so, that was part of my story today. I had to move ALL of my stuffs from my apartment to my temporary apartment. Plus, as you may know, Wednesday is a long day. Well, "lucky" the morning class was cancelled today so I could have a little bit longer rest last night which gave me more energy today. But still, it was so tiring. This is the reason why I do not really like moving.

At least the day is coming to an end now and basically everything is done. So I can dedicate all of my day tomorrow working on the second assignment. Well, wish me luck!

::: Snow at TU Delft Science Center.

::: If you think this was a road, you are wrong, big time!!! It was a FROZEN canal (yea, it was that cold, a canal this big was frozen!!)

::: White Snow and A Car.

::: White snow in Delft.

::: winter at TU Delft Campus.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ya, kalau aku bisa mengalami wiken yang menyenangkan dua minggu berturut-turut, tentu aku juga bisa mengalami minggu gila lagi kan? Yup, itulah temaku minggu ini: Aku mengalami minggu gila lainnya.

Ngomong2, sebelum itu, seperti yang bisa dibaca di postingku sebelumnya, aku sangat menantikan salju untuk turun di Delft nih dan aku melewatkan beberapa kesempatan pertama soalnya kejadiannya pas malam banget. Kan aku tidur jam sgitu. Tapi kemudian, minggu ini, akhirnya aku mendapatkannya!! Minggu ini BERSALJU!!!! YEAAAAHHH!!!! Aku senang sekali akhirnya bisa merasakan yang namanya salju dalam hidup ini!! Yah, selain suhunya yang dinginnya ga ketulungan (di bawah 0 loh) dan banyak hal yang membeku (misalnya gigi sepedaku), salju itu keren!! :-)

Balik ke topik. Ya, aku mengalami minggu yang gila sekarang. Aku bisa menulis posting ini sekarang karena aku berada di waktu istirahatku. Aku sangat lelah hari ini dan kembali mengerjakan pekerjaan sekarang adalah hal yang buruk (aku rasa) karena otakku jelas tidak sedang berada dalam posisi siap 100%. Aku akan membuat beberapa kesalahan tak penting kecil dan aku cenderung berpikir terlalu jauh ketika capek. Yah...

Nah, minggu ini tuh aku memiliki dua tugas yang harus dikupul. Biasanya sih, dua tugas dalam seminggu itu masih oke lah, aku masih bisa meng-handle-nya dengan baik. Cuma minggu ini, menyelesaikan dua tugas membutuhkan usaha yang lebih, waktu yang lebih, pemikiran yang lebih, dan lebih banyak diskusi. Tugasnya (menurutku) lebih rumit dan membutuhkan fokus lebih banyak. Masalahnya, jumlah waktu yang kami punya kan masih sama aja. Jadi ya... . Ya, doakan aku yah!! Aku sudah menyelesaikan satu diantaranya (yang beresnya sehari LEBIH LAMA daripada yang jangkaan awalku minggu lalu) dan yang kedua, yah, nggak bisa diremehkan juga dan deadline-nya Jumat ini nih...

Masalahnya, tugas bukanlah satu-satunya hal yang terjadi minggu ini. Hari Minggu kemarin, aku menemukan sesuatu yang sangat mengerikan. Ternyata, ada beberapa kebocoran di apartemenku yang menyebabkan air bisa merembes masuk melalui dinding. Ini menyebabkan udara di dalam kamar menjadi lembab dan tentu ini nggak sehat. Dan, ini nih hal yang paling menjijikkan: Hari Minggu lalu ketika aku akan membenarkan posisi kabel internet (aku nggak sengaja menarik kabelnya), aku menemukan bahwa ternyata ada beberapa jamur yang tumbuh di dalam kamar!! Aku sangat kaget sekali!! Aku tidak pernah melihatnya sebelumnya karena mereka (dengan cerdiknya) tumbuh di tempat yang selalu nggak aku perhatiin (di pojokan kamar yang sangat terpencil). Aku langsung mengontak caretaker apartemenku dan dia berpendapat bahwa ini adalah masalah yang sangat buruk.

Masalah yang ditimbulkan kebocoran ini parah banget sampai reparasi penuh dibutuhkan untuk memperbaiki masalahh ini. Proses ini nggak akan berlangsung cepat karena mereka kan harus mengecat ulang tembok, membersihkan jamur (tentu saja), memperbaiki kebocoran, dan hal-hal lainnya. Artinya, aku tidak bisa dong tinggal disana selama proses ini dan aku harus pindah kemana gitu. Karena ini bukan salahku, aku meminta perusahaan penyedia tempat tinggal ini buat mencarikan tempat tinggal sementara buatku siang ini. Mereka menemukan satu dan untungnya mereka mencarikan tempat tinggal yang dekat banget sama apartemen lamaku (kalo engga bisa mati deh aku soalnya nanti aku juga harus balik lagi ke apartemen lama setelah proses reparasi selesai).

Yah, itulah satu bagian dari ceritaku hari ini. Aku harus memindahkan SEMUA barang-barangku dari apartemenku ke apartemen sementaraku. Plus, seperti yang mungkin uda pada tahu, Rabu adalah hari yang panjang di kampus. Yah, "untungnya" kelas pagi tadi ditiadakan jadi aku bisa beristirahat agak lamaan semalam yang memberikanku lebih banyak energi hari ini. Tapi masih aja, capek banget nih. Inilah alasan mengapa aku nggak gitu suka pindahan.

Setidaknya hari ini sudah selesai sih dan semua urusan hari ini sudah selesai. Jadi aku bisa menggunakan seluruh waktuku besok untuk mengerjakan tugas kedua. Yah, doakan aku ya!

#863 - Five Thoughts of the Week

2010-11-27T23:51:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Lately, my entries have been about traveling, traveling, and traveling and not really much about what I have been going through in my daily life here. I am afraid it triggers the impression that what I do here in the Netherlands is just having fun and going around freely like a person who has nothing on his shoulder. Well, of course it would have been nice, but that is not the way life is, right? In a daily basis, I work my ass off working on all stuffs from my campus. I know that I must work hard but it does not mean I need to be on working mode 24/7, right? A little balance plays a vital role to succeed.

You might recall that I am a big fan of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Well, true, I am a big fan, but not a hardcore fan, apparently. Back in Indonesia, the only way I watched this sitcom is through tv. And since everything was kinda left behind in Asia, I had only watched (almost) three seasons of HIMYM before I moved to the Netherlands this August. Kinda sad because this year, the sixth season is on air in the US.

Anyway, so last week my friends talked about the fifth season of HIMYM and I asked them where they watched it. They said they watched it online and I asked them for the link and they gave me that link. So, up to now, one week after my friends gave me that link, I have finished season 4. It means that I have watched one and a quarter season (because I had to "patch" some "holes" in season three as I missed some episodes of it back in Indonesia). Wow, kinda proud of it, LOL.

It is quite surprising to see Clint and Steuart lost in this week's episode of The Apprentice US season 10. The editors made it like they would win while Liza and Brandy screwed up. This was a smart "move" by the editors as this far, we have been "fed" with the impression that Liza was useless while Clint and Steuart would likely to be the final two (with their impressive winning streak and boardroom-free until this stage of the competition) and Brandy was kinda strong but tend to play it "safe". If we "believe" the story the editors told us, we would have guessed Liza would probably be fired this week. See, smart move, right? They made us think Liza was the weakest candidate out of the four and they made us think her team screwed up this week. But in the end, Liza and Brandy won and it totally went out of the (pre-designed) expectation!

Anyway, but I agree that it must have been a really difficult call for Donald Trump to make a decision whether he would fire Clint or Steuart. And I also like both of them. They were really classy up there in the boardroom. They respected each other and did not throw the other one under the bus with sadistic heartless dirty move (like, apparently, some other candidates (not only from this season but also from many previous seasons) did).

Next week's episode will be the first part of the finale, which means that at the beginning of the episode, one of the remaining three would be fired. If I have to guess now, based on the story the producers have thrown to us, I think Liza would likely to be fired at this point. But we will see... .

Anyway, it makes me think of something. Let's say, in this episode, Clint and Steuart had won. So, Trump had to fire either Liza or Brandy. Clint and Steuart were safe, and they were (of course) the most favorite finale candidates. Would Trump still (only) have fired one candidate between Liza and Brandy or would he have fired both Liza and Brandy just like what he did in the final four of season four and five where he fired both candidates in the losing team of the final four? Quite interesting...

I am excited when I read the weather forecast for this week that it would be snowing in Delft!! Well, having lived in Indonesia for my whole life until last August, of course I have never experienced "snowing" weather in my life. That is why I am so excited!! Last Wednesday, I read it would be snowing that night. I was so exhausted that day because Wednesday is a long day for me this semester. But I tried my best to stay awake as I wanted (that bad) to see the snow. Until midnight, it was still not snowing. Sure it was damn cold outside my room, but there was still no snow. Okay, I gave up. I went to bed. The next morning, my friend posted some pictures in Facebook that that night, it was really snowing in my neighborhood!! It was at about 2 AM!! Daaaammmnnnn....

This sucks:
.
I know that they put their ad there and it was from the ad that the live coverage streaming could be performed. But: Did they really have to put the ad there?? It blocked the score for God's sake!! Why did not they move it just a little bit away so that watcher can still enjoy the broadcast completely with the factual scoreline?

BAHASA INDONESIA

Akhir-akhir ini, posting-ku berkutat di seputar jalan-jalan, jalan-jalan, dan jalan-jalan dan bukan tentang apa yang terjadi sehari-hari disini. Aku agak khawatir kalau hal itu menyebabkan munculnya impresi bahwa apa yang aku lakukan di Belanda ini hanyalah bersenang-senang dan keliling-keliling dengan bebas tanpa beban. Yah, memang sih hal kaya gitu tuh menyenangkan sekali, cuma masalahnya hidup tu nggak seperti itu kan? Sehari-hari, aku juga kerja keras banget nih mengerjakan banyak hal dari kampus. Aku tahu bahwa aku harus bekerja keras tapi bukan berarti aku harus selalu dalam mode bekerja setiap waktu kan? Keseimbangan kan memainkan peran penting untuk sukses.

Mungkin pada ingat kalau aku sangat ngefans sama sitkom How I Met Your Mother. Yup, betul bahwa aku sangat ngefans sama HIMYM, tapi nggak fanatik, ternyata. Waktu di Indonesia dulu, aku hanya menonton sitkom ini di tv. Dan karena semua hal itu agak tertinggal di Asia, aku hanya menonton (hampir) tiga musim pertama dari HIMYM sebelum aku pindah ke Belanda Agustus lalu. Agak menyedihkan juga sih, soalnya tahun ini musim keenam dimainkan di Amrik.

Ngomong2, minggu lalu temanku ngobrol tentang musim kelima dari HIMYM dan aku bertanya ke mereka dimana mereka nonton. Kata mereka sih mereka nonton online dan aku meminta link-nya dan kemudian mereka memberiku link-nya itu. Nah, sampai sekarang, seminggu setelah temanku memberiku link itu, aku sudah selesai menonton musim keempat. Yang artinya, aku sudah menonton sekitar satu seperempat musim (soalnya aku juga harus "menambal" beberapa "lubang" di musim tiga karena aku nggak sempat nonton beberapa episode itu di Indonesia). Cukup bangga dengannya, LOL.

Agak mengejutkan juga melihat Clint dan Steuart kalah di episode minggu ini dari The Apprentice US musim 10. Editornya membuat seolah-olah mereka akan menang sementara timnya Liza dan Brandy kacau. Ini adalah "langkah" cerdas dari produser karena sejauh ini, kita sudah dijejali dengan impresi bahwa Liza itu tidak berguna sementara Clint dan Steuart sepertinya akan menjadi dua besar (dengan kemenangan beruntun mereka yang impresif dan bebas dari boardroom sejauh ini) dan Brandy itu lumayan kuat tapi cenderung bermain "aman". Kalau kita "mempercayai" apa yang diberikan editor kepada kita, kita akan menduga kalau Liza yang akan dipecat minggu ini. Nah, langkah cerdas kan? Mereka membuat kita berpikir Liza adalah kandidat yang terlemah di empat besar dan mereka membuat kita merasa timnya Liza kacau. Tapi akhirnya, Liza dan Brandy menang dan ini benar-benar mengejutkan!

Ngomong-ngomong, aku setuju sih kalau minggu ini adalah minggu yang berat untuk Donald Trump untuk memutuskan apakah ia akan memecat Clint atau Steuart. Aku juga suka keduanya. Mereka sangat berkelas di boardroom. Mereka saling menghormati satu sama lain dan tidak memfitnah satu sama lain dengan cara yang kotor nan sadis dan kejam (kaya yang, ternyata, dilakukan kandidat lain (nggak hanya dari musim ini tapi dari banyak musim sebelumnya)).

Episode minggu depan adalah bagian pertama dari final, yang artinya di awal episode, satu diantara tiga yang tersisa akan dipecat. Kalau aku harus menebak sekarang, berdasar cerita yang telah produser acara berikan ke kita, sepertinya Liza yang akan dipecat di titik ini. Tapi akan kita lihat... .

Ngomong2, jadi kepikiran satu hal nih. Andaikata nih, di episode minggu ini, Clint dan Steuart menang. Nah, kini Trump harus memecat antara Liza atau Brandy. Clint dan Steuart aman dan mereka (tentu) adalah kandidat favorit untuk berada di final. Apakah Trump masih akan (hanya) memecat satu di antara Liza dan Brandy atau dia akan memecat kedua Liza dan Brandy seperti yang ia lakukan di empat besar di musim empat dan lima dimana ia memecat semua kandidat di tim yang kalah di empat besar? Menarik....

Aku sangat bersemangat ketika membaca ramalan cuaca bahwa minggu ini akan bersalju di Delft!! Yah, karena sebelum ini selalu tinggal di Indonesia sampai Agustus lalu jadinya aku belum pernah merasakan yang namanya cuaca "bersalju" selama ini. Makanya aku sangat bersemangat karenanya!! Rabu alu, aku membaca bahwa malam itu akan bersaljut. Aku capek sekali hari itu karena Rabu adalah hari paling melelahkan buatku. Tapi aku benar-benar mencoba untuk tetap bangun selama mungkin karena aku (sangat) ingin melihat salju itu. Sampe tengah malam, koq belum turun ya saljunya. Akhirnya aku menyerah deh karena memang sudah capek banget, dan aku tidur. Keesokan paginya, temanku mengunggah beberapa foto di Facebook bahwa malam itu memang bersalju di tempatku!! Cuma saljunya turunnya jam 2 pagi!! Siaaaaaaallllll....

Hal ini menyebalkan sekali:
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Aku tahu benar bahwa mereka beriklan di situ dan dari iklan itulah tayangan langsung via internet ini bisa dilangsungkan. Masalahnya: Apa iya gitu iklannya harus ditaruh disitu?? Itu kan nutupin skornya woi!! Mbok ya dipindah dikit kemana kek gitu iklannya, jadi penonton masih bisa menikmati tayangan utuh lengkap dengan skor sementaranya.

#862 - (Another) Fun Weekend

2010-11-25T22:37:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

Okay, apparently, I have not been as productive (in blogging) as I expected to be on November, kinda weird though.

Anyway, so last weekend, I went to Belgium, again, for the second consecutive weekend. But this time, my friends and I went to a different city: Ghent. Wait, you have never heard of Ghent before?? Well, in that case, you are not alone, me too. Before my friend posted this link from lonelyplanet in Facebook about three weeks ago, I had never heard of Ghent before. The two closest cities in that list to where I live now were Ghent and Valencia. And because Ghent was waaay closer to Delft than Valencia, so suddenly this trip was planned.

So, last Saturday, this plan was executed. We took an international train ride to Antwerpen and took a local train there to get us to Ghent. We learnt from our experience that traveling on Sunday in Europe was a bad idea since many places were closed (I did not write this detail in my last entry. In that Sunday trip to Leuven, a small town in Belgium, most things (like stores, cafes, restaurants) were closed and of course it kinda sucked! It was a small town and everything in it was closed!! What would be the worse combination??). So we decided to go on Saturday :-)

Anyway, so we finally arrived in Ghent after about three hours of train-ride from Delft. Ghent was a much bigger city and it was more "alive" than Leuven (maybe it was because of the fact that I went to Ghent on Saturday while I went to Leuven on Sunday). There were many beautiful and classical buildings (like churches, cathedral, spire) and we could climb up the clock tower.

Aside from the magnificent architecture, I was really in love with one of the local delicacy (and I still remember the name, so that is a thing). It was stoverij. Stoverij was tender meat cooked for three hours in dark beer with a brown gravy. We tried this delicacy at one restaurant in the Historic Centrum (this might explain why it was kinda expensive (well, not "that" expensive tho for Europe standard): 15 euro). But it was daaaaamn goood!!! I encourage you all to try this menu if you visit Ghent! :-)

Anyway, that day we went to Ghent was apparently the day where the sinterklaas parade took place. And my professor said that the sinterklaas (and Zwarte Pit (Pit the Black)) would be in Delft the whole day. I was a little disappointed with this because I would not be in Delft that day and there would be something going on in Delft that day!?!? That sucked!!! (beside, I had not seen sinterklaas probably since I was in elementary school, LOL). Anyway, so that day in Ghent, apparently they celebrated the same tradition as I also met sinterklaas there!!! Yeaaahhh!!! Sure I did not get any present (c'mon, I was not a little boy anymore) but I was still happy! :D

Well, that pretty much summed up my Saturday. We went back to Delft later that evening after missing the 7.24 PM train (and we gotta take the 8.24 train because of that). Lucky this time the train was not "that" full so we got seat quite easily.

On Sunday, I got my first haircut in Europe and it cost me 12 euro. Well, the price was okay. Then, my friends and I had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant in Den Haag. I had soto babat :-)

::: Ghent's Historic Centrum.

::: A really delicious Stoverij with french fries.

::: Sinterklaas Parade in Ghent, really interesting to see!!

::: sinterklaas!!

::: The city of Ghent as seen from the top of Ghent Clock Tower.

::: Ghent Clock Tower.

::: Sint Baafskathedraal, Ghent, Belgium.

::: Sint Baafskathedraal, Ghent, Belgium with lights on.

::: The city of Ghent at night.

::: Soto Babat!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hmmm, ternyata, aku tidak seproduktif (dalam hal nge-blog) yang aku bayangkan di bulan November ini, agak aneh nih.

Ngomong2, jadi wiken lalu, aku pergi ke Belgia, lagi, dua minggu berturut-turut. Kali ini, aku dan teman2 pergi ke kota yang lain: Ghent. Eh, belum pernah dengar Ghent sebelumnya?? Tenang aja, Anda nggak sendiri koq, aku juga. Sebelum temanku merujuk tautan dari lonelyplanet ini di Facebook sekitar tiga minggu yang lalu, aku juga belum pernah mendengar Ghent. Dua kota terdekat di daftar kota itu adalah Ghent dan Valencia. Dan karena Ghent itu jauh lebih dekat ke Delft daripada Valencia, direncanakanlah perjalanan wiken lalu ini.

Jadi, Sabtu lalu, rencana ini dijalankan. Kami naik kereta internasional menuju Antwerpen kemudian pindah ke kereta lokal tujuan Ghent. Kami belajar dari pengalaman bahwa jalan-jalan di hari Minggu di Eropa itu adalah ide yang sangat buruk karena buanyak tempat tutup (aku nggak menulis detail ini di posting sebelumnya nih. Hari Minggu itu, dalam rangka perjalanan ke Leuven, sebuah kota kecil di Belgia, banyak tempat (kaya toko-toko, kafe, dan restoran) tutup dan tentu saja ini sangat menyebalkan!! Leuven adalah kota yang kecil dan apa-apa disana tutup!! Coba deh kombinasi apa yang lebih buruk lagi??). Makanya kami memutuskan untuk pergi di hari Sabtu :-)

Ngomong2, akhirnya kami tiba di Ghent setelah perjalanan tiga jam dengan kereta dari Delft. Ghent adalah kota yang lebih besar daripada Leuven dan lebih "hidup" (ini mungkin karena aku pergi ke Ghent di hari Sabtu sementara aku pergi ke Leuven di hari Minggu). Ada banyak gedung-gedung (kaya gereja, katedral, menara, dll) yang sangat indah dan klasik dan kami juga bisa naik ke atas menara jamnya loh.

Di samping arsitektur yang menawan, aku sangat suka sama salah satu masakan lokalnya (dan aku masih ingat namanya, jadi pertanda bagus tuh). Namanya adalah stoverij. Stoverij adalah daging empuk yang dimasak selama tiga jam dengan dark beer dengan kuah daging. Kami mencoba masakan ini di sebuah restoran di Historic Centrum (ini mungkin menjelaskan mengapa harganya agak mahal (ya sebenarnya nggak mahal-mahal amat sih untuk standar Eropa): 15 euro). Tapi memang enaaaaak banget loh!!! Aku sarankan kalau pas berkunjung ke Ghent, harus mencoba menu ini deh! :-)

Ngomong2, hari dimana kami berkunjung ke Ghent itu ternyata adalah hari dimana diadakannya parade sinterklaas (sinterklas). Dan dosenku bilang kalau akan ada parade sinterklas (dan Zwarte Pit (Pit Hitam)) di Delft sepanjang hari. Aku agak kecewa dengan ini karena aku nggak akan berada di Delft hari itu dan pada hari itu ada sesuatu spesial yang berlangsung di Delft!?!? Nyebelin banget!!! (di samping itu, aku kan uda lama nggak liat sinterklas, mungkin sejak SD kali ya, LOL). Ngomong2, di hari itu di Ghent, ternyata mereka juga merayakan tradisi yang sama karena aku bertemu dengan parade sinterklas!!! Yeaaahhh!!! Tentu saja aku nggak dapat hadiah apa-apa (iya lah kan uda bukan anak kecil lagi :D) tapi masih senang tuh! :D

Yah, kurang lebih itulah hari Sabtuku. Kami balik ke Delft malam harinya setelah ketinggalan kereta yang jam 7.24 malam (dan kami harus naik kereta berikutnya yang berangkat jam 8.24 malam). Untungnya kali ini keretanya nggak penuh-penuh amat jadi kami bisa dapat kursi dengan mudah.

Di hari Minggu, aku potong rambut untuk pertama kalinya di Eropa loh dan ongkosnya adalah 12 euro. Harganya ok sih menurutku. Trus, aku dan teman2 makan malam di sebuah restoran Indonesia di Den Haag. Aku makan soto babat :-)

#861 - Fun Weekend

2010-11-18T23:11:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

Okay, it has kinda been awhile since my last update, and it was longer than I expected it to be. Not that I was "that" busy this week (click that link above to get what I meant by "that"), but I was kinda not feeling about writing something up earlier this week, haha. Anyway, also stated in that link, I had a funtastic weekend last week. I'll try to keep everything in a nutshell now:

On Saturday, I joined an excursion held by the international office of TU Delft for international students to the Neeltje-Jans Delta Works in Zeeland. Some sources said it was considered to be the eight wonder of the world, and this even made me more excited to get there. It was really a great deal as we only needed to pay 7.50 euro for the entrance fee and to bring our own lunch (or buy there).

So, there I went last Saturday. It was pretty far away, about 90 minutes bus-ride from Delft. Though it was not sunny that day, but at least it was not raining, so I was really pleased with that. Anyway, there, we watched a (supposedly) 3-D documentary about the project (but up to now, I still do not understand what was so "3-D" about that as to me, it was just an ordinary 2-D movie, LOL). Then, we went around the park. And in the afternoon, we joined a 1 hour boat-tour around the delta. I really think the place was fantastic and marvelous but to me, it is not a touristy place. Yes, engineers (like many of TU Delft's students) will be so interested and happy to go there, but I do not think people will go there for a vacation (at least me). I think that's why it was called "excursion" and not "picnic", LOL. Btw, there were several attractions there, like some slides, a water park, etc but they were all NOT working while we went there, whatta shame!!

Saturday night, I went to my friend's place to have a Mexican dinner there while also planning about our year-end trip to Italy. It was a really fun night! And also I had my first ever taste of an: enchiladas! LOL

On Sunday, my friends and I went to a city called Leuven, in Belgium. I took my first ever international train-ride that day, quite exciting, rite?? :-) At first the weather was not that great as it was drizzling a bit when we arrived at Leuven. But some minutes later, it stopped, thanks God! :-) Anyway, Leuven was a really nice small town. I really like one park there (I do not know the name but it was beautiful).

We spent the whole day in Leuven and took the 7.45 PM train back to Delft. O yea, with train, it was a three hour trip from Delft to Leuven as it was pretty far away. On our trip from Mechelen until Antwerpen, we did not get any seat as the train was so damn full. Lucky after that we got some, haha...

Well, that is pretty much my fun weekend last week. I am expecting another funtastic weekend this week as I am going to Belgium again this Saturday, and I am going to Den Haag this Sunday!! hehe :-)

::: Dam as part of the Delta-Works.

::: The boat used in the boat-trip in Neeltje-Jans.

::: Enchilada my friend cooked.

::: One spot in Leuven, Belgium.

::: Grote-Markt in Leuven.

::: Oude-Markt in Leuven.

::: Cool picture of autumn in Leuven.

::: Autumn in Leuven.

::: Grote-Bijgenhof. The site reminded me of some movies about the World Wars.

::: Library in Leuven.

::: A really weird monument about a back-stabbed bug in the square of the library of Leuven.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Oke, agak lama juga ya sejak terakhir kali aku update disini, lebih lama dari sangkaan awalku. Yah, bukannya aku sesibuk "itu" minggu ini (klik link di atas untuk mengetahui apa yang aku maksud dengan "itu"), tapi rasanya rada angin2an untuk nulis aja awal minggu ini, haha. Ngomong2, seperti yang kusebut di link di atas, wikenku minggu lalu sangat asik banget. Aku coba tuliskan secara singkat ya:

Di hari Sabtu, aku mengikuti studi ekskursi yang diadakan kantor internasionalnya TU Delft untuk mahasiswa internasional ke Neeltje-Jans Delta Works di Zeeland. Beberapa sumber menyebutkan tempat ini dibilang sebagai keajaiban kedelapan di dunia, dan ini membuatku makin penasaran aja. Acara ini ok banget loh soalnya kami cuma perlu membayar 7,5 euro sebagai biaya masuk dan membawa makan siang sendiri (atau beli disana).

Jadi, kesanalah aku pergi Sabtu minggu lalu. Tempatnya lumayan jauh juga, sekitar 90 menit naik bus dari Delft. Walau hari itu nggak cerah, tapi setidaknya nggak hujan lah, makanya aku senang karenanya. Trus, disana, kami menonton film dokumenter (yang seharusnya) 3-D tentang proyek itu (tapi sampai sekarang aku masih nggak ngerti film itu "3-D" darimananya sih, soalnya untukku kerasa kaya film 2-D biasa aja, LOL). Trus, kami berkeliling taman di sekitarnya. Siangnya, kami ikutan tur dengan kapal selama sejam mengelilingi delta itu. Aku rasa tempatnya memang hebat dan keren tuh tapi untukku, tempatnya bukan untuk turis deh. Ya, insinyur (kaya kebanyakan mahasiswa TU Delft) tentu akan bersemangat dan senang pergi kesana, tapi aku rasa orang nggak akan kesana untuk liburan (paling nggak untuk aku). Makanya ya disebutnya "studi ekskursi", bukan "piknik", LOL. Btw, sebenarnya ada beberapa atraksi sih kaya luncuran, taman air, dll tapi semuanya NGGAK beroperasi ketika aku disana, nyebelin banget!!

Sabtu malam, aku pergi ke tempat temanku untuk makan malam ala Meksiko disana sambil merencanakan acara akhir tahun ke Italia nanti. Benar2 malam yang asyik! Aku juga memakan untuk pertama kalinya sebuah: enchiladas! LOL

Di hari Minggu, aku dan teman-temanku pergi ke sebuah kota bernama Leuven di Belgia. Untuk pertama kalinya seumur hidup aku naik kereta internasional loh, asik kan?? :-) Pertamanya cuacanya agak nggak berkompromi soalnya gerimis kecil waktu kami tiba di Leuven. Tapi beberapa menit kemudian, untungnya hujannya berhenti, untunglah! :-) Ngomong2, Leuven adalah kota kecil yang sangat indah. Aku benar-benar suka sebuah taman disana (aku nggak tahu namanya tapi indah banget).

Kami menghabiskan waktu seharian di Leuven dan naik kereta jam 7.45 malam balik ke Delft. Oya, dengan kereta, Leuven lumayan jauh loh soalnya perjalanannya sekitar tiga jam tuh. Di perjalanan balik dari Mechelen sampai Antwerpen, kami nggak dapat kursi tuh di kereta soalnya lagi penuh banget. Untungnya setelahnya kami dapat kursi, haha...

Yah, itulah kira-kira ringkasan wiken mengasyikanku minggu lalu. Aku bisa berekspektasi wiken ini juga bakal asik sih soalnya aku akan pergi ke Belgia lagi Sabtu ini dan pergi ke Den Haag hari Minggu ini!! hehe :-)

#860 - Crazy Week

2010-11-13T08:25:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

Well, this past one week has been really crazy for me. There were tons things happened this week which literally took most of my time, focus, and energy. The "interesting" thing is that, some incidents were the effect of "chain events". And that is why I am super glad that that week is now over.

Part of those "things" were, of course, campus-related stuffs. I had two assignments to hand in this week. And both of them were "big" ones. The one that due (last) Wednesday was really big that the lecturer gave us the whole quarter to work on it. Not that I was so lazy or procrastinated until the last minute, but due to the heavy workload I had in the first quarter, I did not have that much time to work on it. That is why I had to be on full gear to finish it on time. Last weekend, I even went to my office on Sunday just to work on it!! I needed to put myself in a "working" environment so that I would perform effectively (in my apartment, it was easier for me to get "distracted" :-D). In the end, I finished that one. The second one was due yesterday (Friday). It was not really "heavy" though, even the first three questions were really easy, the fourth one was okay, and the fifth one was kinda tricky. But, because I had big assignment due Wednesday, there was no way for me to work on it before Wednesday while on Wednesday, I was occupied with classes the whole day. So, practically, I only had a full Thursday to finish it. "'Only'? One day is a lot!". That is what you might think. Well, unfortunately for me, there were "complications" happening on Thursday.

In a way, last Thursday was an important day for me because it was the day I could collect my "Residence Permit" IN my campus. So, it was really practical as if I wish to take it on the other date, I would have to go somewhere and arrange appointment or stuffs like that first. This one factor was not really a big deal, I might only need just 15-20 minutes max to do this. What is so complicated with that, right? Well, the thing is, there was another incident that happened the day before that devastated me and it affected my Thursday schedule.

Last Wednesday was also my laundry day. As implied above, it was such a long and hectic day: I had classes the whole day and I had one big assignment to hand in. I was so exhausted. That was why I just put all my dirty clothes to the washing machines without checking if there was nothing else but clothes there!! Then, after taking them from the drying machine, I realized that one of my favorite gadget: my pocket camera, was in the sack of my jacket!! Of course it had been died. ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! It was a damn new camera, I just got it last July!! I was so devastated with this. Anyway, so I had to move on. And because a pocket camera has been an integrated part of me, I decided that I needed to buy a new one. I have a little saving with a little money in it so that I could afford a not-so-expensive pocket camera. Well, I had to buy it kinda soon because I have exciting plans for this weekend and I think I am going to need my camera :-) I could not do camera-shopping on Friday due to scheduling conflict, so I had to do it on Thursday. So, that was how this thing complicated Thursday: I had an "extra" agenda on it.

There was another thing with Thursday: I was running out of supplies and I had to also do grocery-shopping. But I managed to did that as I was camera-shopping as the supermarket and the electronic store were all in the centrum. Anyway, once I arrived at my office, I read my email and there was in invitation to attend a colloquium about "Managing Climate Risk" that afternoon. Of course I would come as it was a super interesting subject. Beside, it was only for one hour, so I thought I could afford that and it was good as I got a "one-hour" rest from my assignment. Sometimes, a rest clears my mind and helps me find an idea to solve a problem. However, after that colloquium, another "complication" occured: we got invited to go to the pub! We all got invited so that we had to come to the pub and of course: drank some beer!! The thing was that it had already been almost 7 PM and I was kinda hungry and of course drinking beer did not relieve my hunger while at that point, I had only solved four problems of the second assignment and I still had exercise no. 5 to do and I was not nearly "close" to solving it.

After that pub-thing, my colleagues and I went back to our offices, not thinking about our empty-and-crying-for-meals belly and tried solving exercise 5. Then, at about 8 PM, I suddenly got a general idea about a method to solve it. It was one of my favorite method: using numerical approach. Anyway, I do not think you are interested with this so I will just skip the details. I got a strong feeling that we were on the right path in solving it using this method, but some problems occured. One hour of discussing, we then decided to call it a day and I got back home at 9.15 PM (my personal record).

I got a pretty decent sleep that night and on Friday morning, I felt kinda refreshed. I had two classes on Friday: morning class and afternoon class, and I have about three hours break in between. Anyway, so on Friday, I put my refreshed-mind back on that problem 5 and suddenly I realized that we were thinking waaay too complicated the day before, as the model we were looking for was super simple!! I still do not know whether we were only too exhausted or the beer had affected us (or the combination, which I think was more likely) so that we were overthinking the problem, hahaha....

So, I finished the assignment on time, and for the first time: I felt SO relieved and free afterward!! I felt that I could finally breathe some air and relax for a while. The good news is that I already have exciting plans for this weekend!! Yeaaahhh!!!! I can not wait for it!! :-)

note : picture taken from here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Haha, seminggu terakhir ini benar-benar minggu yang gila deh untukku. Ada banyak sekali hal yang terjadi yang benar-benar memakan sebagian besar waktu, fokus, dan energi. Hal yang "menarik" adalah, beberapa insiden yang terjadi itu adalah "efek mata rantai". Dan makanya sekarang aku senang sekali minggu ini sudah selesai.

Sebagian dari "hal-hal" ini berkaitan dengan kampus (tentu saja). Ada dua tugas yang harus dikumpulkan minggu ini. Dan keduanya itu tugas yang "besar". Tugas pertama yang harus dikumpulkan hari Rabu (lalu) adalah tugas sangat besar karena dosennya memberikan waktu satu kuarter untuk menyelesaikannya. Nah, bukannya aku malas atau menunda-nunda mengerjakannya sampai menit terakhir, tapi karena banyaknya tugas di kuarter pertama, nggak terlalu banyak waktu yang bisa kualokasikan untuk menyicil tugas ini. Itulah mengapa aku harus dalam kondisi siap tempur untuk menyelesaikannya. Akhir minggu lalu, aku malah pergi juga ke kantor di hari Minggu untuk menyelesaikannya!! Aku merasa perlu untuk menempatkan diriku dalam lingkungan "kerja" sehingga aku bisa bekerja dengan efisien (kalau di apartemen kan lebih mudah untuk "teralihkan" perhatiannya :-D). Akhirnya, aku bisa menyelesaikannya tepat waktu. Tugas yang kedua harus dikumpul kemarin (Jumat). Nggak terlalu "berat" sih sebenarnya tugas kedua ini, malah tiga soal pertama gampang banget, yang keempat oke lah, yang kelima agak "tricky". Tapi, karena aku ada tugas yang harus dikumpul hari Rabu itu, nggak mungkin aku mengerjakan tugas ini sebelum Rabu sementara di hari Rabunya sendiri, aku disibukkan dengan kelas seharian. Jadi, praktis aku "hanya" memiliki satu hari Kamis untuk menyelesaikannya. "'Hanya'? Sehari itu kan banyak!". Ini mungkin yang kalian pikirkan sekarang. nah, sayangnya untukku, ada "komplikasi" yang terjadi di hari Kamis.

Di satu sisi, Kamis lalu adalah hari penting buatku karena di hari inilah aku mengambil "Residence Permit"-ku DI kampus. Ini adalah suatu fasilitas yang sangat praktis karena kalau aku mau mengambilnya di tanggal lain, aku harus pergi ke suatu tempat, mengatur janji temu atau yang gitu-gitu lah. Satu faktor ini seharusnya bukanlah urusan yang terlalu besar lah ya, paling kan cuma butuh waktu 15-20 menit tuh. Apa yang rumit dari itu, ya kan? Nah, masalahnya, ada insiden lain yang terjadi sehari sebelumnya yang membuatku sedih dan itu mempengaruhi jadwalku di hari Kamis.

Rabu lalu adalah hari mencuci baju buatku. Seperti yang tersirat di atas, Rabu lalu adalah hari yang panjang dan melelahkan: aku ada kelas sepanjang hari dan ada satu tugas besar untuk dikumpul. Intinya, aku capek banget. Dan itulah mengapa aku ya tinggal memasukkan saja semua pakaian kotor ke mesin cuci tanpa mengecek apakah nggak ada barang-barang yang tertinggal di dalam pakaian!! Trus, setelah aku mengambilnya dari mesin pengering, aku sadar kalau satu gadget favoritku: kamera sakuku, ada di dalam saku jaket!! Tentu saja sudah mati deh. ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! Itu adalah kamera yang baru banget, aku baru dapat bulan Juli!! Aku bener-bener terpukul deh dengan kejadian ini. Ngomong2, aku harus merelakannya kan. Dan karena kamera saku adalah barang penting untukku, aku memutuskan untuk beli yang baru deh. Aku ada sedikit tabungan dengan sedikit uang yang mana aku bisa membeli kamera yang nggak-terlalu-mahal untukku. Yah, aku sih merasa harus segera membelinya karena aku ada rencana yang mengasyikkan untuk akhir minggu ini dan aku akan membutuhkan kamera :-) Aku nggak bisa membeli kamera di hari Jumat karena jadwalku penuh, jadi aku harus melakukannya di hari Kamis. Nah, begitu deh satu hal ini mempengaruhi hari Kamisku: aku jadi ada satu kegiatan "ekstra" untuk dilakukan.

Ada hal lain di hari Kamis: persediaan bahan-bahan mentahku sudah habis dan aku harus belanja. Tapi aku bisa melakukannya sekalian sambil beli kamera sih soalnya supermarket dan toko elektroniknya kan ada di centrum. Ngomong2, begitu aku tiba di kantor, aku membaca emailku dan aku mendapat undangan untuk menghadiri kolokium tentang "Managing Climate Risk" sore harinya. Tentu saja aku mau datang karena topiknya sangat menarik. Di samping itu, acaranya juga cuma sejam, jadi kayanya aku bisa deh menghadirinya dan kan bagus tuh karena aku bisa mendapat "sejam" istirahat dari tugas. Kadang, istirahat bisa menjernihkan pikiran kembali dan ini membantuku mendapat ide untuk menyelesaikan masalah. Namun, ternyata setelah kolokium itu, ada "komplikasi" lain yang terjadi: kami diundang ke pub! Kami semua diundang dan kami mesti datang ke pub dan tentu saja: minum bir!! Masalahnya, waktu itu sudah sekitar jam 7 malam dan aku sudah agak lapar dan tentu saja minum bir tidak menghilangkan rasa laparku sementara di titik itu, aku baru menyelesaikan empat soal dan masih ada satu soal lagi yang mana aku masih "jauh" dari menyelesaikannya.

Setelah dari pub, aku dan teman2 balik ke kantor dan melupakan perut yang kosong-dan-meraung-raung-minta-makanan dan mencoba menyelesaikan soal nomer 5. Kemudian, sekitar jam 8 malam, aku tiba-tiba mendapat ide umum untuk menyelesaikannya. Ide ini dengan menggunakan salah satu metode favoritku: pendekatan numerik. Aku lumayan yakin sepertinya pada nggak tertarik sama detail dari metode ini jadi aku nggak menulis detailnya deh. Aku lumayan yakin bahwa kami sudah berada di jalan yang benar dengan menggunakan metode ini, tetapi ada masalah yang muncul. Satu jam diskusi, kami memutuskan cukup untuk hari itu dan aku balik ke rumah jam 9.15 malam (rekorku).

Aku tidur dengan cukup baik malam itu dan di hari Jumat, aku merasa segar. Aku ada dua kelas di hari Jumat, di pagi hari dan siang hari. Ngomong2, jadi di hari Jumat, aku kembali memikirkan soal nomor 5 dengan otak yang sudah beristirahat dan tiba-tiba aku sadar kami memikirkannya terlalu rumit sehari sebelumnya karena model yang kami cari itu sederhana banget!! Aku nggak tahu ya apakah kami terlalu capek atau pengaruh bir (atau kombinasinya, yang menurutku sih ini paling mungkin) jadi kami bisa sampai terlalu jauh memikirkannya, hahaha...

Jadi, aku menyelesaikannya tepat waktu, dan untuk pertama kalinya: Aku merasa SANGAT lega dan bebas setelahnya!! Aku merasa kaya akhirnya aku bisa menghirup udara segar dan santai sejenak. Hal baiknya lagi adalah aku sudah memiliki rencana yang sangat menyenangkan akhir minggu ini!! Yeaaahhh!!!! Sudah nggak sabar nih!! :-)

#859 - Portugal Trip (Part 2)

2010-11-10T21:39:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Previously on Portugal Trip : Zilko went to Portugal for a one week vacation during the quarter-break. He spent the first three nights in Porto, a city 300 km north to Lisbon.

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal.

There are three places that must be visited, in my opinion, if we go to Lisbon, and two alternatives.

(1) Belem

Belem is a small area nearby Lisbon. In history, this place was the departing point of the voyages the world-wide-known Portuguese explorers during the Discovery Age, i.e Vasco da Gama in the 15th century.

Anyway, reading some webs about tourist destinations in Lisbon, most of all lead us to visit this Belem. Even there was one website claiming that Belem is like the Eiffel Tower of Paris or the Colloseum of Rome. If you go to Lisbon, you have to visit Belem. That's what they said. And, the worst time to visit Belem is Monday (and other national holiday days) as the access to some sites in this place is closed during those days.

There are two sites in this area that are included in the "UNESCO World Heritage Site" list, which are Torre de Belém and Jerónimos Monastery. The first one is a tower in a shape of a small fort with a unique Medieval architecture which was constructed in the 16th century as a lighthouse. To get in there, each person had to pay 5 euro (and no discount for students :-( (I already asked the ticket officer, I don't know whether there really was not any discount or she was just lying). To get to the upper floors of it, we had to use a spiral stone-stairs which was really narrow so that there were always long lines just to use this stairs. The second one is a monastery with a beautiful architecture. Honestly, I don't know that much about the second one as I didn't get in there due to a limited ammount of time.

Beside that, in Belem, there is another tower, which is also a monument to commemorate the well-known Portuguese explorers in the 15/16th century, it is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. There was a discount for students in this place, and for students, it was 1.5 euro per person (after discount). The height of this monument was 52 meter and there was a balcony where we could see around from up there. There was an elevator to get up there. HOWEVER, unfortunately, at that time the elevator was broken down. And to get up there, I had to climb the stairs with 268 steps on it. Well, having made all the waty to Lisbon, why wouldn't I get up? Plus, it was "only" 268 steps! This last sentence was exactly what I thought at that point when I knew the elevator was out of service, not thinking that (apparently) 268 steps was A LOT!! Btw, if you are wondering how I knew the number of steps up there, it is not because I was so desperate that I counted them, but it was that when I was buying the ticket, the ticket-lady informed me about that I had to climb the stairs and there were 268 steps. Well, it was so exhausting, climbing a 268 steps stairs, haha. Up there, the wind was strong, and I could see the area of Belem and the surrounding (including Ponte 25 de Abril).

Apparently, Belem also has a unique delicacy, which is Pasteis de Belem. This pasteis is like a tart pastry with a really sweet stuffing. The taste was good, but I think I couldn't eat it that much as it was too sweet for me. Maybe because it was so famous so that there was a really long line in a bakery that sold this pasteis.ena saking terkenalnya, ada antrian panjang di salah satu toko yang menjual pasteis ini loh.

(2) Downtown Lisbon

Of course when we go to Lisbon, we have to go around the city itself. Lisbon is a city with a Portuguese-acrhitecture touch (of course), which (probably) because they "keep" the originality a bit too much, it was kinda slummy and dirty in some parts of the city.There are several spots in Lisbon that are interesting, which I personally call as the "Praça Triangle". There are three praça (square) which are really close to each other in the central of Lisbon, which are Praça do Comércio, Praça Don Pedro IV, and Praça da Figueira. More or less, this is the center of tourist activity in Lisbon, as there are many cafes, restaurants, stores, etc there.

There is also one more praça not so far away from those three praças, which is Praça dos Restauradores. Nearby, there are roads which are full of restaurants. If you walk to the north from this praça, you will pass by several branded fashion stores (like LV, Prada, D&G, etc).

(3) Cristo-Rei

Cristo-Rei is a Jesus-Christ monument which located accross the Tagus River, more precisely in the district of Almada. This monument is an 82-meter tower with a 28-meter statue of Jesus Christ on top of it. To reach this place, we can catch a ferry to cross the river (from Cais do Sodré) then take bus number 101. According to some sources, this monument was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

We can also climb up (and fortunately, the elevator was working at that time, I was in no mood to climb up anymore :D). To get up there, I paid 4 euro. There was a unique thing in there. The elevator brought us to the upper floor of the tower, but it was not the balcony. After getting out the elevator, we still had to climb several stairs (not that much) and we arrived in a : STORE!! I went around the store and it seemed that there was no other door than the door I came from or stairs to go up. Automatically, I felt deceived!! I paid 4 euro just to get up to a store and I couldn't get up to the balcony where the statue of Christ stood!! Well, apparently, there was a secret door in that sore, in which if we opened it, there was a stairs that would lead us to the balcony where the statue of Christ stood. Lucky I could find it after a little analysis, LOL. Yup, for me it was a secret door as it was not really in a shape of a door and in that "door" there was no handle to open it. To open it, we had to step on a mat for few seconds and that "door" would open. Up there, the wind was strong and the statue of Christ looked really huge (of course)! Up there, we could also see the scenery of Lisbon just accross the Tagus River.

I also think that this Cristo-Rei was one of the best places to see the whole skyline of Lisbon in the banks of Tagus river. This was possible because Almada was located just accross the Tagus river from the center of Lisbon. From this spot, we could get a nice view of Ponte 25 de Abril (it looked like the Golden Gate in San Francisco).

Aside from those three places, there are two more places that I think are also interesting to see in Lisbon:

(1) Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge is a Medieval castle that looked like a fort located on top of a high hill in the center of Lisbon. To get in, we had to pay. For students, it was 3.5 euro per pax. There was a funny incident when I was buying the ticket, but I will keep it for later. To get to the top of the hill, we could take a trem or bus (no. 737) to take us there. But after getting off, we still had to walk uphill for a bit :-)

(2) Parque das Nações

A park that is located in the north-east of Lisbon. It is really close from Oriente railway station. In this park lied Lisbon Oceanarium Lisbon, a sort of Sea World in Indonesia. To get in, each person had to pay 12 euro, but because I had a student card, I only needed yo pay 11 euro (yeah, I saved one euro!). As written above, many tourist destinations in Lisbon are closed on Monday. Well, this Oceanorium opened on Monday, that's why that Monday I went there. It was a cool place, with a big tank filled with many fish. Unfrotunately, there was no that tube-alley which went around the bottom of the tank just like the one in Sea World. The interesting was that there were alive pinguins there!! haha... . While I went there, it was being expanded, so maybe in some times we will get a bigger Oceanorium in Lisbon.

There was also a cablecar in this park. Actually, Torre da Gama, the tallest tower in Lisbon, was located in this park. But because it was (likely, this is just my guess) being renovated, it was closed. This park was also really close to Ponte de Vasco da Gamma, a bridge in Lisbon which was 17.185 km in length!! Up to now, it is the longest bridge in Europe (and waay longer than Suramadu bridge which is "only" 5.438 km in length).

To get around in Lisbon, just like Porto, the best way was to catch public transport. Just like in Porto, to get to a public transport, we could buy a daily pass in the metro station. The different thing was that we got charged by 0.5 euro if we asked for a new card. So, when your card gets expired, do NOT throw it away as you can recharge it (and you save 0.5 euro from that).The price ticket for a daily pass was 3.75 euro for a 24 hour access while a one way ticket (for a metro) cost 0.85 euro. We could use this card to catch all kind of transports in Lisbon, like subway, tram, bus, and also electric tram.

To get around Lisbon AND enjoying the atmosphere, one alternative is by catching a sightseeing bus. There were several companies offering this service. All of them opreated similar buses actually, a double decker bus with open upper deck. Of course the best spot on this bus was on the upper deck. In this bus, they gave us earphone that could be plugged to the seat and we could listen to some explanations of the visited spots. The service was available in eight different languages, and as easily guessed, Indonesian language was not one of them :-D The price varied between companies. And that 25% discount I wrote on the previous entry was only valid in one company. The one I picked offered a package of 15 euro for two days trip (and that was not the company who offered 25%. But that company who gave the discount offered 19 euro ticket for one day. So, even after discount, it was still more expensive, hahaha).

TO BE CONTINUED...

L : Praça da Figueira in Lisbon.
R : A shopping district near Praça do Comércio.

L : Classical Trams in Lisbon.
R : A Gate in Praça do Comércio.

L : Praça Don Pedro IV in Lisbon.
R : District of Alfama.

L : Praça do Comércio as seen from Castelo de São Jorge.
R : Castelo de São Jorge.

L : Castelo de São Jorge
R : A Railway Station with cool architecture.

L : A Roundabout in Lisbon.
R : A church we passed during the sightseeing tour.

L : One park in Belem just accross the Jerónimos Monastery.
R : Park in the heart of Lisbon.

L : Portugal's Flag.
R : A popular relaxing area by the Tagus River.

L : Sightseeing Bus.
R : Funicular (I still think "funicular" is a funny word :-D)

L : Pasteis de Belem.
R : Jerónimos Monastery as seen from top of Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

L : Padrão dos Descobrimentos.
R : A tower in Lisbon which looked ugly in the day :D.

L : Torre de Belem.
R : A guy singing, he had a really great voice!! He COULD sing!!

L : Sea dinosaur made from cans at Lisbon Oceanorium.
R : Tasty Paella.

L : Ponte 25 de Abril as seen from a ferry. Cristo-Rei is also visible.
R : Ponte 25 de Abril. It looked like Golden Gate in San Francisco.

L : Cristo-Rei.
R : Torre de Vasco da Gama and cable car in Parque das Nações.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelumnya dalam Portugal Trip : Zilko pergi ke Portugal dalam rangka jalan-jalan selama seminggu ketika libur kuarter. Ia menginap di Porto, sebuah kota kira2 300 km di sebelah utara Lisbon, selama tiga hari pertama.

Lisbon

Lisbon adalah ibukota dari Portugal.

Ada tiga tempat yang menurutku harus dikunjungi kalau berkunjung ke Lisbon, dan dua alternatif.

(1) Belem

Belem adalah sebuah area kecil di dekat Lisbon. Sejarahnya, dari Belem inilah para penjelajah Portugis ternama memulai perjalanan mereka keliling dunia, misalnya Vasco da Gama di abad ke 15.

Anyway, baca-baca di web tentang destinasi wisata di Lisbon, hampir semua pasti mengarahkan kita untuk mengunjungi Belem ini. Bahkan ada website yang menyatakan bahwa Belem itu ibarat Menara Eiffel-nya Paris atau Colloseum-nya Roma. Kalau berkunjung ke Lisbon, harus pergi ke Belem. Begitu katanya. Nah, waktu terburuk untuk mengunjungi Belem adalah hari Senin (dan beberapa tanggal merah lainnya) karena akses masuk ke beberapa situs di area ini ditutup pada hari-hari itu.

Ada dua bangunan di area ini yang masuk ke dalam daftar "UNESCO World Heritage Site", yaitu Torre de Belém dan Jerónimos Monastery. Yang pertama sebuah menara yang berbentuk seperti benteng dengan arsitektur yang unik yang dibangun di abad ke-16 sebagai mercusuar. Untuk masuk ke menara ini, per orang harus bayar 5 euro (dan tidak ada diskon pelajar :-( (aku sudah tanya ke petugas loketnya tapi katanya tidak ada diskon pelajar, entah beneran nggak ada atau dia malas aja ngasi diskon). Untuk naik ke bagian atas menaranya, kita harus menggunakan tangga batu spiral di dalam benteng yang sangat sempit, alhasil selalu ada antrian panjang untuk naik/turun lewat tangga ini. Yang kedua adalah sebuah biara berarsitektur unik dan indah. Aku nggak gitu banyak tahu tentang lokasi ini karena aku tidak masuk ke dalamnya karena keterbatasan waktu :-)

Selain itu, di Belem ada menara lain, yang juga adalah sebuah monumen untuk memperingati para penjelajah ternama Portugis di abad 15/16-an, yaitu Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Ada diskon untuk pelajar di tempat ini, dan untuk pelajar harga tiketnya (setelah diskon) adalah 1,5 euro per orang. Tinggi monumen ini adalah 52 meter dan ada balkon di atas dimana kita bisa melihat sekeliling dari atas sana. Ada lift koq untuk naik kesana. HANYA SAJA, sialnya, waktu itu lift-nya lagi rusak. Dan untuk naik ke atas, aku harus naik tangga yang jumlah anak tangganya adalah 268 biji. Nggak mau rugi dong, uda jauh-jauh ke Lisbon masa nggak naik?? Lagian, kan "cuma" 268 anak tangga tuh. Kalimat terakhir ini adalah pikiranku ketika tahu lift-nya rusak, dan waktu itu nggak kepikiran kalau 268 anak tangga itu banyak!! Baidewei, kalo penasaran koq aku tahu jumlahnya, jawabannya adalah bukan karena aku kurang kerjaan terus ngitung banyak anak tangganya, tapi waktu beli tiket, petugasnya menginformasikan bahwa aku harus naik tangga dan jumlah anak tangganya 268 biji. Capek banget loh menaiki tangga yang jumlah anak tangganya 268 biji, haha. Di atas, anginnya kenceng, dan aku bisa melihat area Belem dan sekitarnya (termasuk Ponte 25 de Abril).

Rupanya di Belem juga ada satu menu kuliner yang khas, yaitu Pasteis de Belem. Pasteis ini adalah semacam kue khas sana yang rasanya sangat manis di dalamnya. Rasanya lumayan enak sih, cuma kalau makan kebanyakan sepertinya bikin eneg juga. Mungkin karena saking terkenalnya, ada antrian panjang di salah satu toko yang menjual pasteis ini loh.

(2) Downtown Lisbon

Sudah tentu kalau pergi ke Lisbon, ya harus keliling kotanya dong. Lisbon adalah sebuah kota dengan bangunan arsitektur khas Portugis, yang karena (mungkin) saking "dijaga" keasliannya, beberapa bagian kotanya nampak agak kumuh atau kotor. Ada beberapa titik di Lisbon yang menarik untuk dikunjungi, yaitu daerah (yang aku sebut sebagai) "Segitiga Praça". Ada tiga praça (semacam lapangan, atau yang disebut square dalam bahasa Inggris) yang lokasinya berdekatan di tengah kota Lisbon, yaitu Praça do Comércio, Praça Don Pedro IV, dan Praça da Figueira. Kira-kira disinilah pusat aktivitas turis di Lisbon, karena ada banyak toko, kafe, restoran, dsb di area ini.

Ada satu lagi praça di dekat tiga praça di atas, yaitu Praça dos Restauradores. Di dekat sini ada jalanan yang penuh dengan restoran-restoran yang layak dikunjungi. Jika kita berjalan ke arah atas (utara) dari praça ini, kita akan melewati deretan toko-toko barang branded (misalnya LV, Prada, D&G, dll).

(3) Cristo-Rei

Cristo-Rei adalah sebuah monumen Yesus Kristus yang berada di seberang sungai Tagus, tepatnya di kota Almada. Monumen ini berbentuk sebuah menara setinggi 82 meter yang di atasnya ada patung Yesus Kristus setinggi 28 meter. Untuk mencapainya, kita bisa naik kapal ferry menyeberangi sungai (dari Cais do Sodré) kemudian naik bus nomor 101. Menurut beberapa sumber sih monumen ini terinspirasi oleh patung Christ the Redeemer di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kita bisa naik ke atas monumen loh (dan untungnya waktu itu lift-nya jalan, ogah banget naik tangga lagi :D). Untuk bisa naik ke atas, kita harus bayar 4 euro. Nah, ada hal unik di dalamnya. Lift mengantar kita sampai lantai di bagian atas menara itu, tetapi nggak sampai balkonnya. Setelah keluar dari lift, kita harus naik tangga (nggak terlalu banyak) dan sampailah kita di sebuah: TOKO!! Aku keliling toko itu dan nampaknya tidak ada pintu lain (selain pintu dari mana aku datang) atau tangga lain untuk naik ke atas. Otomatis aku merasa tertipu!! Uda bayar 4 euro untuk naik masa cuma buat masuk toko doank dan nggak bisa naik sampai balkon tempat patung Yesus-nya?? Nah, ternyata, sebenarnya ada pintu rahasia di dalam toko itu yang jika dibuka, di baliknya ada tangga untuk naik ke balkon tempat patung Yesus berada. Untung aku bisa menemukannya setelah melakukan sedikit analisa :D. Yup, pintu rahasia, karena pintunya nggak berbentuk seperti pintu biasa, dan di "pintu" itu tidak ada gagang untuk membukanya. Cara untuk membukanya adalah kita harus berdiri beberapa saat di keset yang ada di depan "pintu" itu dan "pintu" otomatis terbuka. Di atas, anginnya kencang dan patung Yesusnya nampak besar sekali (iyalah). Dari atas, kita juga bisa melihat pemandangan kota Lisbon yang ada di seberang sungai Tagus.

O ya, Cristo-Rei ini menurutku adalah salah satu tempat yang terbaik untuk melihat keseluruhan pemandangan kota Lisbon yang nampak dari pinggir sungai Tagus. Ini memungkinkan karena Almada, tempat dimana Cristo-Rei berada, terletak tepat di seberang sungai Tagus dari pusat kota Lisbon. Dari lokasi ini juga Ponte 25 de Abril juga terlihat jelas dan bagus (mirip Golden Gate di San Francisco).

Selain tiga tempat di atas, ada dua lagi lokasi yang bisa jadi menarik di Lisbon:

(1) Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge adalah sebuah kastil kuno yang berbentuk seperti benteng yang terletak di atas bukit tertinggi yang ada di tengah kota Lisbon. Untuk masuk, kita harus bayar. Untuk pelajar, harga tiketnya 3,5 euro. Ada kejadian lucu saat membeli tiket ini, tapi karena berhubungan sama masalah bahasa Inggris, aku simpan buat bagian selanjutnya ya. Untuk naik ke atas bukit, kita bisa naik trem atau bus (nomor 737) yang mengantar kita kesana. Tapi, setelah turun dari trem / bus, kita masih harus sedikit mendaki sih :-)

(2) Parque das Nações

Sebuah taman yang terletak di bagian timur laut Lisbon. Letaknya dekat sekali dengan stasiun kereta Oriente. Di taman ini ada Oceanarium Lisbon, semacam Sea World gitu deh kalau di Indonesia. Untuk masuk, seorang harus bayar 12 euro, dan kalau ada kartu pelajar, cukup membayar 11 euro (lumayan ngirit 1 euro). Seperti yang kutulis di atas, sebagian besar destinasi di Lisbon tutup pada hari Senin. Nah, Oceanarium ini buka di hari Senin, makanya waktu hari Senin aku mengunjungi tempat ini. Tempatnya bagus sih, di dalamnya ada tangki besar yang berisi banyak ikan. Sayangnya, nggak ada lorong berbentuk seperti tabung yang mengelilingi dasar tangki seperti di Sea World itu. Yang menarik, di tempat ini ada pinguin hidup loh!! haha.... . Waktu kesana kemarin ini Oceanarium ini sedang diperluas, jadi sepertinya dalam beberapa waktu tempatnya akan semakin besar.

Di taman ini juga ada kereta gantung. Sebenarnya, di taman ini ada Torre de Vasco da Gama, sebuah menara tertinggi di Lisbon. Cuma karena (sepertinya) sedang direnovasi, menara ini ditutup untuk umum. Taman ini juga terletak dekat dengan Ponte de Vasco da Gama, sebuah jembatan di Lisbon yang panjangnya 17,185 km!! Sampai saat ini, jembatan ini adalah jembatan terpanjang di Eropa (dan lebih panjang dari jembatan Suramadu yang panjangnya 5,438 km).

Untuk berpindah tempat di Lisbon, sama seperti Porto, yang paling enak adalah dengan menggunakan transportasi umum. Mirip seperti di Porto, untuk naik angkutan umum, kita bisa membeli daily pass di stasiun kereta. Bedanya, di Lisbon, kita kena charge 0,5 euro kalau kita menggunakan kartu baru. Jadi, kalau jangka waktu pemakaian kartu sudah habis, kartu jangan dibuang karena kartu bisa kita isi ulang (dan kita menghemat 0,5 euro karenanya). Harga tiket daily pass adalah 3,75 euro untuk 24 jam masa penggunaan sementara harga tiket one way (untuk naik subway) adalah 0,85 euro. Kartu ini bisa digunakan di berbagai macam alat transportasi di kota Lisbon, seperti subway, bus, trem, dan electric trem.

Kalau mau keliling kota Lisbon sambil menikmati atmosfer sekeliling kota, satu alternatif adalah dengan naik sightseeing bus. Ada beberapa perusahaan yang menawarkan jasa ini. Semua sih rata-rata menggunakan bus bertipe sama: double decker bus (bus tingkat) yang tingkat atasnya terbuka. Dan tentu saja, spot paling enak di bus ini adalah di atas, hahaha. Dan di bus ini kita dikasi earphone yang bisa dicolokin ke kursi untuk mendengarkan penjelasan tentang tempat-tempat yang dikunjungi. Ada delapan pilihan bahasa untuk fasilitas ini, dan seperti yang bisa ditebak, bahasa Indonesia bukanlah satu diantaranya :-D Harganya bervariasi antara perusahaan. Dan diskon 25% yang aku singgung di posting sebelumnya itu hanya berlaku di salah satu perusahaan saja. Perusahaan yang aku pilih menawarkan paket seharga 15 euro dan ini berlaku dua hari (dan bukan perusahaan yang memberikan diskon 25% itu. Hanya saja, perusahaan yang memberi diskon ini menawarkan paket dengan harga 19 euro untuk tur satu hari. Jadi, setelah diskon 25% pun jatuhnya masih lebih mahal deh, hahaha).

BERSAMBUNG...

#858 - Seven Things that Suck

2010-11-06T19:16:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

Thinking that something present is wrong and then we make an adjustment to correct it but then it turns out that the whole time we had been correct and now we are really wrong and as a result we have to de-adjust all things back.

One day I was in my office and I needed to get some water to boil to make a cup of tea. To get it, I must leave my room as the nearest galley is like 30 meter from my room. But because none of my colleagues was there yet, I locked my door and walked to the water tap in the galley with an empty water heater in my hand. After getting the water heater full, I walked back to my office and needed to open the door (of course). I was holding the heater with my left hand because I thought I put my key in my right pocket. But then I thought that the key was actually in my left pocket and so I switched the incredibly-full-of-water heater to my right hand carefully (I didn't want the water to spill). Then, I checked my left pocket with my now-free left hand but then it turned out that the key was in my right pocket! So, I switched the incredibly-full-of-water heater BACK to my left hand carefully again then I got the key in my right pocket. D*mn, such a waste of time! :D

Making a plan on a supposedly off day but then it turns out that it is not an off day as the board-who-decides-off-days mistakenly announced the false information and now we end up with sacrificing either the plan or the "not-off" day.

It is not really our fault but now we have to deal with the "consequence". And yeah, this thing happens.

When the weather is playing around with us.

It is when we have an outdoor plan, somehow the weather is not in a "good mood" to support our activity so we have to either deal with that or cancel our plan which any of them is a "lose" thing for us. But then when we cannot have an outdoor activity (for instance we have to be stuck in our office or classes or etc), the sun shines nicely.

Last month, my friends and I went to our friend's place. Of course we went there in a so-Dutch way of transporting, by bike. When we were about to go back home, it started showering. We decided to still go back home anyway (since it was only a light shower) and we also planned to do supermarket-hopping along the way as we waited the rain to end. After the second supermarket, the rain seemed to get harder and harder. Because time was ticking and it was nearly 6.30 PM, we decided to bike through the rain to get back home. The rain was so brutal so that it required full concentration to bike through it. To make things worse, I wore the wrong jacket!! I wore the one with no head-cover and of course, it made things difficult as water was literally pouring to my head and my glasses, making it a bit harder to see. My friend even fell down along the way. Anyway, we eventually made it back safely to our own apartments. To make things more miserable, just after I arrived at my apartment, the rain stopped!!! Damnit!!!

Definitely not my day!!

Waking up before the conclusion of a really beautiful dream.

It happens quite frequently, at least to me. But it doesn't mean that everytime I have a beautiful dream this happens though. Anyway, because the title of this entry is things that suck, so I'll just focus on the bad part now, lol.

It just sucks, doesn't it? It is like we are watching a movie in a cinema and towards the climax of the movie, we got escorted out of the cinema, hahaha.

When we realize that thing(s) we bring in a daily basis (and thus, we take it (them) for granted) is (are) not in its (their) regular place(s) and we automatically think someone stole it but then realize that it might be us who misplaced it (them) somewhere but we cannot recall where.

This incident happened to me few weeks ago: One gadget that now I always bring everywhere is my pocket camera. I usually put it in one pocket of my jacket (yea, now I wear jacket everywhere here in Holland :-D). That day, when I put my hands in both pockets, there was NO camera!! My brain then automatically retraced what happened but I could not remember where I last put it! Something then appeared in my mind: "it is stolen". But then I knew it was impossible. I tried to remember where I put it but I couldn't, and all I could do was making guess. My first guess was that I somehow left it back in my apartment. So, I went back home, and found it lying on my table, LOL.

When someone asks us to pick between two preferences and we act "cool" by answering "anything is fine with me" and that someone makes the choice for us and it ends up to be the preference we actually like the lesser and we start thinking: "Damn, I should have picked that other preference in the first place" and we regret our choice of not using our right to choose one preference.

It happened to me this week. I had my first exam in the Netherlands last Thursday. There were two chapters that we had to master and because it was an oral examination, we had to answer the questions asked orally and explained what we understood. The thing was that I fully understood the first chapter and most of the second chapter (I think I kinda missed some details in one part in the second chapter due to misunderstanding of the exam's materials). It was a 1 hour exam.

In the beginning of the exam, my lecturer asked me which one I prefered to go first, the first or the second chapter. And here I went to the "wrong" path. At that point, I saw no significant pro nor con I would acquire if I chose to go with either of those first (but I did understand the first chapter was relatively easier). So, I answered by any one first would be fine with me. My lecturer then said she would go with the second one first then. Then, against all odds, out of all those materials in the second chapter, somehow we got to that one small part that I missed!! I got stuck for a little bit and I remember me thinking at that point: "Damn, I am screwed. I should have picked to go with the first chapter first!! Noooo...!!"

The thing is, strategically, it would have been better to go with the first one first as that meant I would have spent (at least) the first half of my exam with the first chapter. And because of the exam time was limited, there was a chance that we would not go to that one small thing. While in the actual case, because we went with the second chapter first, we had "all" the time to go with any materials in the second chapter.

Anyway, it is done now. Overally, I did well on that exam, even though I know I could have done waay better!! I got an 8 :-D And considering that I actually missed that one small part, yes, I deserved this score.

Having "endured" all the efforts to get to somewhere to get specific thing there but then it turns out that that "thing" is not available there at that moment.

It happened to me last week. I went all the way the oriental market which is really far away from where I live to buy tempe there (the reason why I was willing to make all the effort to go there can be found in that link :D). Getting to the oriental market is an "expensive" thing for me now as I have to, at least, spare 90 minutes of my time in one day to make it while with this busy schedule and weather, that 90 minutes free time is kinda a luxurious thing :-) But then, when I arrived there, all tempe had already been sold out!! Arrrgggghhhh.... .

BAHASA INDONESIA

Berpikir bahwa suatu hal yang ada saat ini salah dan kita melakukan penyesuaian untuk "membenarkannya" tapi kemudian kita sadar bahwa selama ini kita itu sebenarnya sudah benar dan sekarang malah jadi salah dan sebagai hasilnya kita harus membalikkan penyesuaiannya lagi ke asal. .

Suatu hari, aku ada di kantor dan aku membutuhkan air untuk menyeduh teh. Untuk mendapat air, aku harus meninggalkan kantor dan jalan ke dapur kecil sekitar 30 meter dari kantorku. Karena teman sekantorku lagi nggak disana semua, jadi aku mengunci kantorku dan kemudian jalan ke dapur itu sambil membawa pemanas air. Setelah mengisi pemanas airnya sampai penuh, aku kembali ke kantor dan (tentu saja) harus membuka pintu. Nah, aku memegang pemanas airnya di tangan kiriku karena aku mengira aku menyimpan kunci kantor di saku kanan. Tapi kemudian aku berpikir kalau sebenarnya kuncinya ada di saku kiri dan jadinya aku memindahkan pemanas air yang penuh-sekali-dengan-air dari tangan kiri ke tangan kanan dengan pelan-pelan (aku nggak mau airnya tumpah). Aku kemudian mengecek saku kiriku dengan tangan kiri yang sekarang bebas dan kemudian aku sadar kalau kuncinya ada di saku kanan! Jadi, aku kemudian memindahkan (kembali) pemanas air yang penuh-sekali-dengan-air dari tangan kanan BALIK ke tangan kiri dengan pelan-pelan dan kemudian aku mengambil kuncinya di saku kanan. Si*l deh, benar-benar membuang waktu! :D

Membuat sebuah rencana di hari yang seharusnya hari libur tapi ternyata sebenarnya itu bukan hari libur karena orang-yang-kerjaannya-menentukan-hari-libur mengumumkan informasi yang salah dan akhirnya sekarang kita harus mengorbankan salah satu antara rencana kita atau hari "tidak-libur" kita.

Bukan kesalahan kita kan, tapi kita jadi harus berurusan dengan "konsekuensinya". Dan ya, hal seperti ini terjadi.

Ketika cuaca bermain-main dengan kita.

Ini terjadi ketika kita memiliki rencana acara di luar ruangan, dan kemudian tiba-tiba cuacanya tidak dalam "mood yang baik" untuk mendukung aktivitas kita jadi kita harus memilih antara tetap pergi dengan risiko cuaca tak mendukung atau membatalkan rencana kita. Kedua pilihan sih kayanya situasi "jelek" ya untuk kita. Tapi kemudian, ketika kita tidak bisa mengikuti acara di luar ruangan (misalnya kita harus kerja di kantor ato harus kuliah), mataharinya bersinar dengan cerah.

Bulan lalu, aku dengan teman-teman pergi ke tempat teman. Tentu kami pergi kesana dengan alat transportasi yang Belanda-banget gitu, yaitu dengan sepeda. Kita kami akan pulang, eh koq mulai hujan. Kami memutuskan untuk tetap pulang (karena waktu itu baru gerimis saja hujannya) dan sekalian kami mau mampir di beberapa supermarket sambil nunggu hujannya berhentu. Setelah supermarket kedua, hujannya malah tambah deras. Karena waktu terus berdetik dan sudah jam 6.30 sore, kami memutuskan untuk nekad sepedaan sambil hujan-hujanan saja untuk pulang. Hujannya deras banget dan aku harus benar-benar konsentrasi selama itu. Untuk menambah penderitaan, aku mengenakan jaket yang salah!! Aku memakai jaket yang nggak ada kupluknya, dan ini memperburuk situasi karena air tuh benar-benar kaya "tumpah" di mukaku membasahi kepala dan kacamataku, membuatku sulit untuk memandang ke depan dengan jelas. Temenku sampai ada yang jatuh loh di tengah jalan. Akhirnya, kami sampai kembali di apartemen. Dan yang membuat tambah menyebalkan adalah, setelah aku menginjakkan kaki di apartemenku, eh hujannya berhenti!!! Sialan!!!

Benar-benar bukan hariku deh!!

Bangun sebelum akhir dari mimpi yang sangat indah.

Hal kaya gini terjadi lumayan sering, paling nggak untuk aku. Bukan berarti setiap kali aku bermimpi indah hal ini terjadi sih. Ngomong2, karena judul posting ini adalah hal-hal yang menyebalkan, aku akan fokus ke hal yang jelek-jelek aja deh, lol.

Menyebalkan kan? Ibaratnya tuh seperti sedang nonton film di bioskop dan tepat sebelum klimaks dari film yang kita tonton, tiba-tiba kita diseret keluar dari bioskop, hahaha.

Ketika kita sadar bahwa barang yang selalu kita bawa (dan karenanya, kita nggak terlalu memikirkannya) tidak berada pada tempatnya yang biasa dan kita secara otomatis berpikir seseorang mencurinya tapi kemudian kita sadar kalau mungkin sebenarnya kitalah yang menaruhnya di tempat lain tapi kita tidak ingat dimana tempat itu.

Insiden ini terjadi beberapa minggu yang lalu: satu barang yang selalu aku barang kemana-mana sekarang ini adalah kamera sakuku. Aku biasanya menyimpannya di salah satu saku jaketku (ya, aku sekarang memakai jaket kemana-mana di Belanda :-D). Hari itu, ketika aku menaruh kedua tanganku di saku, NGGAK ada kamera di dalamnya!! Otakku kemudian secara otomatis menelusuri ulang kejadian hari itu tapi aku nggak ingat dimana terakhir kali aku meletakkannya!! Satu hal muncul di otakku: "wah, dicuri nih". Tapi kemudian aku tahu hal itu tidak mungkin. Aku berusaha mengingat-ingat dimana tapi masih nggak bisa juga, dan yang bisa kulakukan hanyalah membuat tebakan. Tebakanku adalah aku meninggalkannya di apartemen. Dan benar saja, ketika balik ke rumah, kameraku ada di atas meja, LOL.

Ketika seseorang meminta kita untuk memilih satu di antara dua pilihan dan kita bersikap (sok) "keren" dengan menjawab " yang mana pun ok buatku" dan orang itu kemudian membuat pilihan untuk kita yang sebenarnya lebih tidak kita suka dari dua pilihan itu dan kita mulai berpikir: "Sial, harusnya aku memilih pilihan yang satunya dari tadi" dan kita menyesali pilihan kita untuk tidak menggunakan hak untuk memilih satu pilihan.

Ini terjadi padaku minggu ini. Aku menghadapi ujian pertamaku di Belanda hari Kamis lalu. Ada dua bab yang harus kami kuasai dan karena ujian itu adalah ujian lisan, kami harus menjawab pertanyaan secara lisan dan menjelaskan apa yang kami mengerti. Nah, aku benar-benar menguasai semua hal di bab pertama dan hampir semua di bab kedua (aku agak melewatkan sedikit detail di satu bagian dari bab kedua karena kesalah-pahaman akan bahan ujian). Ujiannya berlangsung selama satu jam.

Di awal ujian, dosenku bertanya padaku apakah aku lebih suka diuji bab pertama atau bab kedua dulu. Nah, disinilah aku memilih jalur yang "salah". Di titik itu, aku tidak melihat perbedaan yang signifikan akan keuntungan atau kerugian dari memilih bab pertama atau bab kedua untuk diuji duluan (tapi aku memahami bahwa bab pertama relatif lebih mudah). Jadi, aku menjawab yang manapun tidak masalah buatku. Dosenku kemudian berkata ia akan memulai dengan bab kedua dulu. Nah, kemudian, entah bagaimana, dari semua bahan yang ada di bab kedua, tiba-tiba aku ditanya mengenai satu bagian kecil yang aku lewatkan itu!! Aku agak macet di bagian itu dan aku ingat betul waktu itu aku berpikir: "Mati deh aku. Harusnya tadi aku memilih bab pertama untuk diuji duluan!! Tidaaaakk...!!"

Nah, strateginya, seharusnya aku memilih bab pertama duluan karena itu berarti aku akan menghabiskan (setidaknya) setengah awal dari ujianku di bab pertama. Dan karena waktu ujian terbatas, ada kemungkinan kami tidak akan sampai di satu bagian kecil itu. Di kasusku ini, karena kami membahas bab kedua duluan, kami memiliki "semua" waktu untuk tiba di materi mana pun di bab kedua itu.

Ngomong2, akhirnya selesai juga. Secara keseluruhan sih aku melaluinya dengan baik, walau aku tahu aku sebenarnya bisa melaluinya dengan jauh lebih baik!! Aku dapat 8 :-D Dan mengingat bahwa aku miss satu bagian kecil itu, aku memang layak dapat nilai segitu sih.

Sudah bersusah-payah melakukan semua usaha untuk pergi ke suatu tempat untuk mendapatkan satu barang spesifik tetapi kemudian kita sadar bahwa barang itu sedang tidak ada di tempat itu pada waktu itu.

Ini terjadi padaku minggu lalu. Aku bela2in pergi ke orientalmarkt yang jauh banget dari apartemenku untuk membeli tempe disana (alasan mengapa aku mau melakukan semua upaya untuk pergi ke tempat yang jauh itu bisa dibaca di link itu :D). Pergi ke orientalmarkt itu "mahal" bagiku saat ini karena aku harus, setidaknya, meluangkan waktu 90 menit dari waktuku di siang hari (orientalmarkt cuma buka di siang hari) sementara dengan jadwalku sekarang dan cuaca di Belanda, waktu luang 90 menit di siang hari itu seperti hal yang mewah deh :-) Tapi kemudian, ketika aku tiba disana, semua tempenya sudah terjual habis!! Arrrgggghhhh.... .

#857 - 31 October

2010-11-01T23:59:00.003+07:00

ENGLISH

I think one intermezzo entry before continuing my Portugal Trip entry won't hurt, so here we go, hehe.

Last Sunday was October the 31st. Well, what is identic with that date? Well, when I hear this date, I don't think anything, honestly, probably just "another end of a month". But if I am forced to think a bit further, okay, I then think about "Halloween". In the Netherlands, Halloween is not that widely "celebrated" (well, at least based on my experience here and I don't know whether I can generalize it or not). Unless that two weeks ago there was a Halloween party (yup, the party was two-week early because this year's Halloween is exactly in the middle of exam weeks and of course no student is in the modd of party-ing in that circumstances).

Anyway, what I want to write is not about Halloween, but about my experience I had last Sunday. That was: having one day with 25 hours in it (yeah, twenty FIVE)!! Well, for those who are used to live in the northern-latitude part of the globe (and probably the southern), this might not be a "weird" thing. But it is for those who are used to live in the equatorial area (i.e Indonesia). It never happens there, hahaha.

Last Sunday October the 31st, there was a time adjustment, called the Daylight Saving Time (DST). In a year, two adjustments take place, during the transition to summer (in spring) and the transition to winter (in fall). Last October the 31st, it was the transition to winter. The adjustment was done by "rewinding" the time for one hour. So, last Sunday, at 3 AM, suddenly the time was "reverted back" to 2 AM "again". It meant that last Sunday had one extra hour, which meant that that day had 25 hours. Well, this winter time is actually the "actual" European time, which means that the time difference between Western Indonesian Time and Greenwich is 7 hours (only six hours in the summer time due to this DST). DST takes place so that the sun doesn't rise "too soon" in the summer (because during summer, day in Europe is longer than night, just like when I first arrived at the Netherlands last August, the sun rose at 6 AM and set at 9 PM), so the time was forwarded back one hour.

Well, I personally have no problem with this DST as it means that I have one extra hour ~~to sleep~~ to study, hahaha. But the "annoying" effect is the transition to the summer time next spring. Because the time is forwarded by one hour, it means that the transition day will only have 23 hours, which means that ~~the time to sleep will be reduced by one hour~~ the time to do activities is reduced by one hour.

Well, that's pretty much this entry. I am now kinda busy with an exam that will take place this Thursday and two assignments due next week. Maybe I will post the next part of my Portugal trip entry a little bit late, but I will work on it really soon, hehehe :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Satu posting selingan dulu ya sebelum melanjutkan cerita perjalanan ke Portugal, hehe.

Hari Minggu lalu adalah tanggal 31 Oktober. Apa hal yang identik dengan tanggal itu? Rasanya, begitu dengar tanggal ini, aku nggak berpikir apa-apa sih, paling hanya "akhir bulan". Kalau dipaksa berpikir agak jauhan dikit, baru deh terpikir "Halloween". Di Belanda, Halloween nggak se-wah itu untuk dirayakan sih (nggak tahu juga apakah aku bisa meng-generalisir-nya atau tidak, yang jelas sih dari pengalamanku tahun ini, gemanya tidak terlalu terasa), kecuali dua minggu yang lalu ada party bertemakan Halloween (yup, party-nya dua minggu sebelum Halloween berlangsung, soalnya hari Halloween tahun ini berada di tengah-tengah minggu ujian. Jelas lah nggak ada mahasiswa yang mood nge-party di tanggal-tanggal kaya gini, hahaha).

Eniwei, yang mau aku tulis bukanlah tentang Halloween, tapi tentang pengalaman pertamaku yang kualami hari Minggu lalu. Pengalaman itu adalah: merasakan satu hari yang panjangnya 25 (ya, dua puluh LIMA) jam!! Bagi yang sudah terbiasa hidup di daerah lintang utara (dan selatan mungkin?), mungkin hal ini nggak aneh ya. Tapi buat yang terbiasa hidup di daerah ekuator (misalnya Indonesia), hal ini aneh karena tidak pernah terjadi, hahaha.

Jadi, hari Minggu tanggal 31 Oktober lalu, terjadi penyesuaian waktu yang disebut Daylight Saving Time (DST). Dalam setahun, dua kali penyesuaian waktu DST dilakukan, pada perpindahan ke musim panas (di musim semi) dan perpindahan ke musim dingin (di musim gugur). Tanggal 31 Oktober lalu, penyesuaian ini adalah perpindahan ke musim dingin. Penyesuaian dilakukan dengan "memundurkan waktu" selama satu jam. Jadi, subuh hari Minggu lalu, waktu jam 3 pagi, tiba-tiba waktunya "mundur" jadi jam 2 pagi "lagi". Jadilah hari Minggu lalu mendapat jatah tambahan satu jam "ekstra", yang artinya dalam sehari ada 25 jam. Nah, waktu musim dingin ini sebenarnya adalah waktu "asli" Eropa, yang artinya beda waktu antara WIB dengan Greenwich benar-benar tujuh jam di musim dingin (di musim panas hanya enam jam karena DST ini). DST dilakukan agar di musim panas si matahari nggak terbit "kepagian" (karena di musim panas, siang di Eropa lebih lama daripada malam, waktu aku baru tiba di Belanda Agustus lalu saja, matahari terbit jam 6 pagi dan terbenam jam 9 malam), makanya waktunya dimajukan satu jam.

Aku sih senang-senang aja sama DST kali ini sih, soalnya jadi memiliki satu jam ekstra ~~untuk tidur~~ untuk belajar, hahaha. Tapi, efek "menyebalkan" DST adalah perpindahan waktu ke musim panas nanti. Karena jam dimajukan, artinya hari perpindahan waktu itu hanya akan memiliki 23 jam. Yang artinya, ~~waktu tidur jadi berkurang sejam~~ waktu beraktivitas menjadi berkurang sejam.

Yah, itulah posting selingan kali ini. Aku sekarang sedang sibuk sama ujian yang akan berlangsung hari Kamis besok ini dan dua tugas yang menanti untuk minggu depan. Mungkin kelancaran pemublikasian bagian selanjutnya dari cerita perjalanan ke Portugal akan sedikit tersendat. Tapi aku usahakan segera beres kok, hehehe :-)

#856 - Portugal Trip (Part 1)

2010-10-29T02:30:00.006+07:00

ENGLISH

Trip to Portugal

The flight to Portugal takes a pretty long time, almost 3 hours. And up to the departure day, I had no idea that Portugal is in a different time zone with ALL other mainland-Europe countries. (and I think this is ridiculous). Portugal is in GMT+0 which means that it is 1 hour behind the time in the Netherlands. This led me to falsely calculate at what time I should arrive at Schiphol Airport. What I knew for sure were that it would be a 3-hour flight and the flight was scheduled to arrive at 2.30 PM (and I didn't really pay attention at the departure time in the ticket because with the assumption that Portugal was in the same time-zone, these two datas were enough to deduce the departure time. Unfortunately, the assumption was wrong). From these datas, I deduced that the departure time would be around 11.30 AM. And because of the time difference, the REAL departure time was 12.30 PM!! And it made me arrive at Schiphol Airport way too early, hahaha. Lucky there was a Panorama Terrace in Schiphol so that I could kill my time there before checking-in.

Anyway, I caught TAP Portugal for this trip. TAP Portugal is Portugal's flag carrier and this is one reason why I decided to go to Portugal just three weeks prior to departure. For a national airline with a full-service concept, the offered ticket-price was kinda not expensive, adding the fact that it was already 3 weeks prior to departure and it would be a 3-hour flight. That is why I found the price of 170 euro vv nett was okay for me. Btw, the flight was comfortable. The aircrafts were Airbus A320-214 (reg code CS-TNP in the flight to Lisbon and CS-TNH in the flight back to Amsterdam) with a pretty roomy seat-pitch. The complimentary meal was also good: one meat sandwich (which was so tasty) and one peanut-chocolate cupcake, and drinks (plus hot tea and coffee). The landing in Lisbon Portela Airport was also perfectly smooth. O yea, this airport was also located in the city of Lisbon. So, before landing, we could see the city of Lisbon from above (if we sat in the window seat and not above the wings :D).

The first pleasant impression about Portugal was that: people in Portugal were "normal-sized" (read: I felt TALL there :D). Well, with height of 180 cm, I am just average in the Netherlands (many people here are 190-ish cm in height, even many people are around 2 meter, and they are not only boys, some girls are also very tall). While in Portugal, most people were shorter than me. The point is, I felt alive! LOL

The other pleasant impression surfaced because I think I am (getting) used to with life in the Netherlands: in Portugal, it is SHINY all day!! In Portugal, the "worst" weather was cloudy. In the Netherlands, the "best" one is shiny with cloud and that is rare to happen. Plus, during my trip to Portugal, there was a hailstorm in Delft!! Wow, whatta timing to have a trip (while in Delft, I have never experienced hailstorm)!!

In Portugal, I went to two biggest cities in Portugal, Lisbon (the capital city) and Porto (the second biggest city, about 300 km north of Lisbon). I stayed in Porto for the first three days, then I stayed in Lisbon for the rest of the trip. That was why just after landing at Lisbon, I directly went to a railway station to go to Porto. The nearest railway station was Oriente Station. To get there, we could catch a shuttle-bus by paying 3.5 euro per pax. After using this ticket, we'd better KEEP it because we could get a 25% discount on a sightseeing bus tour in Lisbon AND we could use it to use several facilites in Lisbon for FREE and it could be used several times (i.e the funicular which was a really cool way of transport because funicular was a trem whose route was to climb a steep hill (so we needed not to climb it up on foot and it was for free, LOL). Without this ticket, per person should pay 1.45 euro one way). Back to topic, the train that I caught was a fast train with 28.5 euro ticket on the second class. Actually there was a slower train with a bit cheaper ticket (20 euro) but at that time the schedule wasn't friendly enough for me. The distance of 300 km (almost the same with the distance from Jogja to Surabaya) was conquered in just 2 hours and 44 mins with only three short stops (at Coimbra, Aveiro, and Vila Nova de Gaia) and the maximum speed reached 222 km/hr! Portugal, which is not as modern as the Netherlands, already has a fast train! When will Indonesia have one? hahaha... . To be fair, Portugal can do this because the rail track in Portugal is wider than rail track in Indonesia. Thus, allowing train to move much faster.

Porto

I think, there are three places that have to be visited if we go to Porto. They are:

(1) Ribeira

Ribeira is the oldest part of Porto and it is included in UNESCO's World Heritage List. There are many ancient buildings in this area, and one of the most beautiful is the Oporto Cathedral (Sé do Porto). If you go to this cathedral, you should also enter the Gothic cloisters just in the same complex. To enter this cloisters, I had to pay 3 euro (but because I had student card, I only had to pay 2 euro, not bad). The street in this area is also uphill because it is by the bank of the river. In the evening, in the side of Douro River, there were many restaurants and cafes.

(2) Ponte do Luis

Maybe this bridge is actually also in the "area" of Ribiera. But I deliberately separate it here because I think this bridge is actually the "landmark" of Porto. There are two roads in this bridge. The upper road is for metro and pedestrian, and the lower road is for car/bike/motorbike/bus and pedestrian. This bridge connects Porto, which is in the northern bank of Douro river, and Vila Nova de Gaia, which is in the south side of the river.

(3) Vila Nova de Gaia

What's so special about this town was not the place, nor the buildings there, nor the food, but wine. In this town, there are several wineries which produce Porto typical wine, which is widely known as "Port Wine". The interesting thing is that these wineries conduct free tour for tourists to go around the factory and the storages (with all the wine barrels), plus a tour-guide who explains the process of producing Port Wine (and also the history). The tours are conducted in English and Portuguese, just pick which one you want :D. The most fun part of the tour is the end (unless you are really interested in knowing the process of wine-producing and all kind of them which actually can be read online, lol) where the wineries give us their wine for free to taste! Of course how much wine they give us is also limited. One winery gave us 1 glass, the other one gave us 2 glasses with 2 different wines (usually 1 white and 1 red) and the type of free wine they gave us was also determined by them (for sure they wouldn't give us their 400 euro wine per bottle for free). Just like Porto, this town is also hilly, so be ready to have aching legs after getting around the town.

To get around Porto, the best way is by public transportation. To get on a public transport, we can buy a daily pass in the metro station. A daily pass is way cheaper as we only need to pay 3.95 euro for ALL access to all kind of public transportation (excluding taxi) for 24 hours counted after the first time the pass is used (NOT from the time we buy). This daily pass also covers the funicular ride just below Ponte de Luis. Good, so we don't have to climb that high hill :D

In Porto, I also took a 1 hour boat tour around the Douro river. It was kinda nice, and it cost me 10 euro. I think it was worthed but unfortunately at that time I had an incident which kinda diminished the fun of it. Apparently, some time before, I stepped on dog's poo (and I didn't realize it). After sitting cozily on the boat, I realized that I had incidently touched the poo (because I was touching my shoes) and also dirtied my jeans (damn!). I immediately walked to the boat's washroom and washed my shoes, hands, and jeans (but my jeans were still dirty that I had to have it laundried the next day). Maybe I wasted like 10 minutes of my tour on that boat because of this silly incident. Anyway, the tour was nice. We could see and enjoy the city from the boat :-)

For cuisine, there is one typical Portonese menu, Tripas à moda do Porto. This menu is made from beef stomach with white bean which cooked as a soup. While ordering, the waiter warned me that this menu was made from eccentric and unusual ingredient. Well, already making all the way to Porto, at least I must try it (and praying that it would be good so that I wouldn't waste that 7.5 euro I spent on it :D). The menu then came out. Well, for Indonesian, I think what was in there were not really "strange", as it was babat, liver, ampela, intestine, dll. But indeed, it tasted kinda weird because it was a "different" cooking, hehe.

Well, because this entry has already been kinda long, I think it is better for me to stop here. Wait for the next part of it :D

TO BE CONTINUED

Next on Portugal Trip:
- Story about Lisbon

L : TAP Portugal's Airbus A320-214 reg code CS-TNP was arriving at Schiphol Airport. She would next fly back to Lisbon as TP 665.
R : Some few minutes before touching down at runway 03 of Lisbon Portela Airport.

L : Lisbon Oriente Railway Station.
R : On board the fast train to Porto.

L : A neighborhood at Campanha at night.
R : Ribiera as seen from Ponte do Luis.

L : Ponte do Luis Bridge.
R : Ponte do Luis Bridge with the classic boats.

L : Ribiera as seen from the boat tour.
R : Barrels of wine in one of the storage of the winery.

L : A winery in Porto, nice, isn't it?
R : Tripas à moda do Porto.

L : A classic trem in Porto, we can catch it to get around the city.
R : Nice road just by the beach.

L : Beach in Porto.
R : Beachside in Porto.

L : Casa da Musica.
R : Ponte do Luis with mist.

L : Porto City Hall.
R : A statue in Porto City Hall Square.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Perjalanan ke Portugal

Penerbangan ke Portugal memakan waktu yang lumayan lama, hampir 3 jam. Dan sampai hari keberangkatan, aku nggak tahu kalau ternyata Portugal berada di zona waktu yang berbeda dari SEMUA negara-negara Eropa daratan lainnya. (dan menurutku ini agak2 konyol). Portugal berada di GMT+0, yang artinya waktunya lebih lambat 1 jam dari Belanda. Ketidak-tahuan ini membuatku salah memperkirakan waktu kapan sebaiknya aku tiba di Bandara Schiphol. Yang aku tahu pasti adalah lama penerbangannya 3 jam dan penerbangan dijadwalkan tiba sekitar jam 2.30 siang (dan nggak terlalu memperhatikan jam keberangkatan di tiket karena dengan asumsi Portugal berada di zona waktu yang sama, dua data itu sudah cukup untuk menyimpulkan waktu keberangkatan pesawat. Sayangnya, asumsinya ternyata salah). Dari data ini, kesimpulanku adalah keberangkatan dari Schiphol sekitar jam 11.30. Dan karena perbedaan waktu itu, jam keberangkatan yang SEBENARNYA adalah jam 12.30!! Jadi deh aku datang kepagian di Schiphol, hahaha. Untung di Schiphol ada Panorama Terrace, jadi aku bisa jalan-jalan kesana dulu sambil menunggu waktu check-in.

Eniwei, aku naik maskapai TAP Portugal untuk perjalanan ini. TAP Portugal adalah maskapai nasional Portugal dan ini adalah salah satu alasan mengapa aku mau pergi ke Portugal dengan "mendadak". Untuk kelas maskapai nasional yang memberi layanan full-service, harga tiketnya bisa dikatakan murah tuh, apalagi baru beli tiket 3 minggu sebelum berangkat dan penerbangannya selama 3 jam. Makanya harga tiket 170an euro pp nett masih ok lah menurutku. Ngomong2, penerbangannya nyaman. Pesawat yang digunakan adalah Airbus A320-214 (kode CS-TNP di penerbangan ke Lisbon dan kode CS-TNH di penerbangan balik ke Amsterdam) dengan seat-pitch yang lumayan lowong. Makanan yang diberikan di pesawat juga enak. Satu sandwich daging (yang enak banget) dan satu cupcake coklat kacang, beserta minuman (termasuk teh dan kopi hangat). Pendaratan di Bandara Portela di Lisbon juga sangat mulus. O ya, bandara ini berada di tengah kota loh. Jadi sebelum mendarat, kita bisa lihat pemandangan kota Lisbon dari atas (kalau duduk di jendela dan tidak di atas sayap :D).

Kesan menyenangkan pertama tentang Portugal adalah: orang di Portugal itu ternyata berukuran "normal" (baca: Aku merasa TINGGI disana :D). Yah, ini kerasa banget soalnya dengan tinggi badan sekitar 180 cm, tinggiku ini adalah hanya rata-rata saja di Belanda (banyak orang sini yang tingginya 190an, malah yang 2 meter juga banyak, dan ga cuma cowo aja tuh yang setinggi itu, beberapa cewe juga ada yang tinggi banget). Sementara di Portugal, sebagian besar orang lebih pendek daripada diriku. Intinya, I feel alive! LOL

Kesan menyenangkan yang lain muncul karena aku sudah (mulai) terbiasa dengan kehidupan di Belanda: di Portugal itu CERAH!! Selama di Portugal, cuaca paling "buruk" adalah mendung. Sementara di Belanda, cuaca paling "baik" adalah cerah berawan dan ini sangat jarang terjadi. Apalagi, selama liburan ke Portugal kemarin, (katanya) di Delft malah hujan es!! Benar-benar timing jalan-jalan yang tepat deh (selama di Delft, belum pernah deh mengalami yang namanya hujan es)!!

Di Portugal, aku pergi ke dua kota besar terbesar di Portugal, yaitu Lisbon (ibukota) dan Porto (kota terbesar kedua di Portugal, sekitar 300 km di utara Lisbon). Aku menginap di Porto di tiga hari pertama, kemudian sisanya aku menginap di Lisbon. Oleh karenanya, begitu mendarat di Lisbon, aku langsung pergi ke stasiun kereta api di Lisbon untuk naik kereta ke Porto. Stasiun kereta terdekat dari bandara adalah Stasiun Oriente. Untuk kesana, kita bisa naik mini-bus dengan membayar tiket 3,5 euro per orang. Setelah dipakai, tiket ini sebaiknya DISIMPAN karena bisa memberikan diskon 25% untuk naik sightseeing bus di Lisbon DAN bisa digunakan untuk naik beberapa fasilitas di Lisbon dengan GRATIS dan bisa dipakai berkali-kali (misalnya funicular yang merupakan alat transportasi yang menyenangkan karena funicular adalah trem miring yang rutenya berada di jalur yang sangat menanjak naik/turun bukit (jadi ga perlu capek2 mendaki bukit, mana gratis lagi, LOL). Kalau tidak punya tiket ini, per orang harus bayar 1,45 euro sekali jalan). Back to topic, kereta yang aku tumpangi adalah kereta cepat dengan harga tiket 28,5 euro sekali jalan di kelas 2. Sebenarnya ada kereta yang lebih lambat dengan harga tiket lebih murah (20 euro) untuk pergi ke Porto. Cuma waktu itu jadwal kereta yang lebih murah itu kurang bersahabat sih. Jarak 300 km (hampir sama dengan jarak Jogja ke Surabaya) ditempuh dalam waktu 2 jam 44 menit dengan hanya berhenti sebentar di 3 stasiun (Coimbra, Aveiro, dan Vila Nova de Gaia) dan kecepatan maksimum mencapai 222 km/jam! Di Portugal yang negaranya tidak terlalu maju (dibandingkan dengan Belanda) saja sudah ada kereta cepat seperti itu! Kapan ada di Indonesia ya? hahaha... . To be fair, ini mampu dilakukan Portugal karena rel kereta di Portugal lebih lebar daripada di Indonesia, sehingga memungkinkan kereta untuk melaju lebih cepat.

Porto

Menurutku, ada tiga tempat yang harus dikunjungi kalau pergi ke Porto. Yaitu:

(1) Ribeira

Ribeira adalah bagian kota tertua dari Porto dan daerah ini telah masuk dalam daftar World Heritage yang dikeluarkan oleh UNESCO. Ada banyak gedung-gedung kuno di daerah ini, dan salah satu yang paling bagus adalah Katedral Oporto (Sé do Porto). Kalau ke katedral ini, harus masuk juga ke Biara Gothik yang juga terletak di dalam kompleks yang sama. Untuk masuk ke bagian ini, seorang harus bayar 3 euro (tapi kalau punya kartu pelajar bisa dapat diskon dan cuma bayar 2 euro saja, lumayan). Jalanan di daerah ini juga agak naik-turun (aka menanjak) karena berada di pinggir sungai. Kalau sore, di pinggir sungai Douro ada banyak restoran dan kafe yang buka.

(2) Ponte do Luis

Jembatan ini mungkin sebenarnya masuk ke dalam "wilayah" Ribiera ya. Cuma memang sengaja aku pisah disini karena menurutku justru jembatan ini yang menjadi "landmark" Porto. Ada dua "jalan" di jembatan ini. Jalan di atas yang didedikasikan untuk jalur metro dan pejalan kaki, dan jalan di bawah yang didedikasikan untuk pengendara mobil/motor/sepeda/bus dan pejalan kaki. Jembatan ini menghubungkan Porto, yang berada di sisi utara sungai Douro, dengan kota Vila Nova de Gaia, yang berada di sisi selatan sungai.

(3) Vila Nova de Gaia

Yang spesial dari kota ini bukanlah tempatnya atau bangunan yang ada di kota ini atau makanannya, tetapi justru anggur (wine). Di kota ini ada beberapa pabrik anggur khas Porto, yang dikenal luas dengan nama "Port Wine". Yang menarik, pabrik-pabrik itu memberikan tur gratis kepada turis untuk berkeliling pabrik dan gudang penyimpanan anggur (lengkap dengan barel-barelnya), lengkap dengan pemandu tur-nya yang menjelaskan secara mendetail proses pembuatan Port Wine (sampai sejarahnya juga). Tur ini diadakan dalam bahasa Inggris dan Portugis, silakan pilih mau ikut yang mana :D. Bagian paling menyenangkan dari tur ini adalah akhir tur (kecuali kalau peserta memang ingin tahu banget proses pembuatan port wine dan jenis-jenisnya yang sebenarnya bisa dibaca di internet, lol) dimana peserta tur juga diperkenankan mencoba port wine produksi mereka dengan gratis! Tentu jumlah yang boleh diminum dibatasi ya. Ada pabrik yang memberikan 1 gelas, ada yang memberikan 2 gelas dengan 2 jenis wine (biasanya 1 white dan 1 red) dan jenis wine yang diberikan gratis juga ditentukan mereka (jelas lah mereka nggak akan memberikan wine yang sebotol harganya 400 euro dengan gratis). Sama seperti kota Porto, kota ini juga berbukit-bukit, jadi siap-siaplah untuk pegal setelah jalan-jalan keliling kota.

Untuk berpindah tempat di Porto, yang paling enak adalah menggunakan angkutan umum. Untuk naik angkutan umum, turis bisa membeli daily pass di stasiun metro. Daily pass lebih murah karena kita cukup membayar 3,95 euro untuk akses SEMUA jenis alat transportasi umum (taksi ga termasuk) selama 24 jam terhitung sejak daily pass pertama kali kita sentuhkan ke mesin yang ada di stasiun/kendaraan umum (BUKAN semenjak kita beli). Daily pass ini juga berlaku untuk naik funicular yang ada di bawah jembatan Ponte do Luis loh. Lumayan, naik ke atas bukit ga perlu capek-capek :D.

Di Porto, aku juga ikutan tur dengan kapal selama 1 jam keliling sungai Douro. Turnya asik juga tuh, dan aku harus membayar 10 euro. Aku rasa harganya pantas lah tetapi sialnya waktu itu aku mengalami insiden menyebalkan yang agak mengurangi keasyikannya. Ternyata, beberapa waktu sebelumnya, aku menginjak kotoran anjing (dan aku nggak sadar tentangnya). Setelah duduk dengan nyaman di kapal, aku baru sadar kalau aku tidak sengaja menyentuh kotorannya (karena aku menyentuh sepatuku) dan juga mengotori celana jinsku (sialan!). Aku kemudian langsung pergi ke toilet kapalnya dan membersihkan tangan, sepatu, dan celana jinsku (tapi celana jinsku masih agak kotor sih dan aku harus me-laundry-nya keesokan harinya). Mungkin aku membuang waktu sekitar 10 menit deh di kapal gara2 insiden konyol ini. Ngomong2, turnya asik tuh. Kita bisa melihat dan menikmati kota Porto dari atas kapal :-)

Untuk makanan, ada satu menu yang khas Porto, yaitu Tripas à moda do Porto. Menu ini terbuat dari isi perut sapi yang dimasak dengan kacang dan dibuat menjadi sup yang kental. Waktu memesan, pelayannya memperingatkan aku bahwa menu ini terbuat dari bahan yang "eksentrik" dan nggak biasa. Uda jauh-jauh ke Porto, ya paling ga dicoba lah (sambil berharap masakannya enak jadi duit 7,5 euro yang dikeluarkan buat menu ini ga terbuang sia-sia :D). Menu kemudian keluar. Bagi orang Indonesia sih isinya nggak terlalu "aneh" ya, karena isinya adalah babat, hati ayam, ampela, usus, dll. Cuma memang, rasanya agak aneh karena cara memasaknya "beda", hehe.

Karena posting ini kayanya sudah kepanjangan, aku potong sampai sini dulu ya. Nantikan kelanjutannya di edisi selanjutnya *halah* :D

BERSAMBUNG

Selanjutnya dalam Portugal Trip:
- Cerita tentang Lisbon
- Cerita dan kesan tentang orang Portugal

#855 - Back from Portugal!!

2010-10-27T23:59:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

Technically, I have been back in the Netherlands for about 24 hours by now. Last night, my flight, TAP Portugal's TP 662, landed at Schiphol Airport after flying my from Lisbon, Portugal.

I will write in a more detail about my one week trip to Portugal a bit later, since I know I need a lot of time to do that. But the thing is that: it was an AWESOME vacation to Portugal!! I really enjoyed it!! Beside, the vacation also "worked". What I mean by that is that by the end of the vacation, I felt refreshed enough that I could not wait to go back to the Netherlands and work my ass off to finish all the assignments and exam that are ahead of me!! In the end, that is the point of a vacation, right?? :)

A little sneak-peak of my vacation can be seen from this few photos :)

::: Ponte do Luis, the landmark of Porto, Portugal.

::: A wine storage with all the barrels containing "Port".

::: The castle of Belem.

::: Skyline of Lisbon. The Ponte do 25 Abril (or I prefer to call it the "San Fransico Bridge") can be seen here.

::: Cristo-Rei, a monument of Jesus Christ in Lisbon.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Secara teknis sih, aku sudah balik lagi di Belanda sekitar 24 jam deh sekarang. Semalam, penerbanganku, TAP Portugal TP 662, mendarat di Bandara Schiphol setelah terbang dari Lisbon, Portugal.

Aku akan menulis detail tentang perjalananku selama seminggu ke Portugal agak nanti, karena aku tahu butuh waktu untuk itu. Cuma satu hal yang pasti nih: perjalanan ke Portugal ini ASYIK BANGET tuh!! Aku benar-benar menikmatinya!! Selain itu, liburan ini juga "bekerja dengan baik". Maksudnya adalah, di akhir liburan, aku merasa segar kembali sampai aku nggak sabar untuk balik ke Belanda untuk bekerja keras menghadapi semua tugas dan ujian yang menghadang!! Ya, sebenarnya inti dari liburan itu kan?? :)

Sedikit cuplikan mengenai perjalananku aku tampilkan melalui sedikit foto di atas yah :)

#854 - Time for Refreshment

2010-10-18T18:32:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

Woo Hoo!! Finally the time has come!! Tomorrow I am going on a one week vacation to Portugal!! I am really looking forward to this quarter-break holiday because of the crazy work load I have had from campus up to now. About two weeks ago, this time seemed to be really far away as there were soo many big assignments and I had to focus on them. Well, the good news is that all assignments due before the quarter-break have all been done, so I can go on this vacation with good feeling. But I still have several assignments due the week just after the quarter-break. But what the hell, I am going to keep them for next week!! hahaha....

So, see you next week! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Asiiiiik!! Akhirnya waktunya tiba juga!! Besok aku akan pergi dalam rangka jalan2 seminggu di Portugal!! Aku sudah sangat menantikan liburan kuarter ini setelah semua tugas yang banyak banget dari kampus itu sampai saat ini. Kira-kira dua minggu lalu, saat ini tuh masih jauuh banget karena tugasnya ada banyak dan materinya lumayan juga, jadi pusing mikirin tugas. Berita baiknya adalah semua tugas yang harus dikumpul sebelum libur kuarter sudah selesai, jadi aku bisa pergi jalan-jalan dengan perasaan yang tenang. Tapi masih ada beberapa tugas yang harus dikumpul tepat seminggu setelah libur kuarter sih. Ah, tapi biar ah, dipikirin minggu depan aja ah!! hahaha....

Jadi, jalan-jalan dulu ya seminggu :-)

#853 - Year-End Trip

2010-10-14T19:52:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

The end of the year is still a bit more than a couple of months ahead. But I have been thinking about it :-) I am very sure that I am not going back to Indonesia this end of the year because it will cost a lot (it is the peak season), beside I will also have exam in January and this holiday is only about 2 or 3 weeks. So, I don't think it is wise to go back home :D.

In the other hand, I also don't want to just stay miserably in my apartment during Christmas and New Year. Well, most of my European friends will go back to their homes because they live "nearby" here :D. So, what do I have? Only one option: travelling :-) Some friends and I, who are not going back home this end of the year, had been talking about it and we concluded that we need to go somewhere this Christmas. Beside, it is also going to be great if we go somewhere south so that it is not going to be as cold as in the Netherlands (even though we perfectly understand that we cannot expect something "warm" unless we go really south to, let's say, Africa or even South Africa or Australia or Southern America where it is going to be summer there, but that is, for sure, out of context).

Anyway, so, we were looking some informations about it. One of my friend was really eager to go to Italy. I was basically up for any country. My other friend at first was kinda more eager to go somewhere within train-distance. Then, I found an interesting offer from one LCC in Europe, easyjet, about flight ticket from Amsterdam to Milan, in northern Italy. I brought this info up to the table, and because it was a really good offer, we were all really "in" to it. And yesterday, we bought it!! WOW!! So, it is official now: I am going to ITALY this December - January!! YEAAHHH!!! Well, we bought Amsterdam - Milan ticket, and because we are scheduled to get back to Amsterdam after 2 weeks, we have a plan to go around Italy. I really want to go to Rome (Roma), Pisa, and Venice (Venezia). My friend wanted to go to Florence. Well, we will see. But I think it is going to be great if we spend Christmas in Rome and Vatican City!! And I know I MUST visit Venice before it sinks, LOL!! Yeah, I am so excited!! :)

note : photos taken from here and here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Akhir tahun masih sekitar lebih dari dua bulan ke depan. Tapi aku sudah memikirkannya :-) Aku sangat yakin kalau aku tidak akan balik ke Indonesia akhir tahun ini karena biayanya mahal (kan lagi musim liburan tuh), disamping aku juga ada ujian di bulan January dan liburannya juga cuma sekitar 2 atau 3 minggu. Jadi, aku rasa bukanlah keputusan yang bijak untuk pulang :D .

Di sisi lain, aku juga nggak mau dong tinggal di apartemen aja dengan menyedihkan selama Natal dan Tahun Baru. Hampir semua temanku yang orang Eropa akan pulang ke rumah mereka karena mereka kan tinggalnya "dekat" dari sini :D. Jadi, apa dong pilihan yang tersisa untukku? Hanya satu pilihan: jalan-jalan :-) Beberapa teman dan aku, yang nggak akan pulang akhir tahun ini, sudah membicarakannya dan kami berkesimpulan bahwa kami harus pergi ke suatu tempat deh Natal ini. Disamping itu, kan ok juga ya kalau kita pergi ke suatu tempat yang agak selatan dikit yang nggak akan sedingin Belanda (walau kami sangat sadar koq kalau nggak mungkin deh kami bisa mengharapkan suatu tempat yang "hangat" kecuali kalau kami pergi benar-benar ke selatan kaya ke Afrika, atau malah sekalian Afrika Selatan atau Australia atau Amerika Selatan yang sedang musim panas, tapi itu kan, jelas, nggak dihitung lah).

Jadi, kami kemudian mencari info tentangnya. Satu teman sangat ingin pergi ke Italia. Aku sih kemana aja hayukk aja. Satu teman lain agak lebih senang untuk pergi ke suatu tempat yang bisa dijangkau dengan kereta. Kemudian, aku mendapatkan satu tawaran menarik dari maskapai LCC di Eropa, easyjet, mengenai penerbangan dari Amsterdam ke Milan, di Italia utara. Aku kemudian memberi-tahu mereka tawaran ini, dan kami sangat "tertarik" kepadanya. Dan kemarin, kami membelinya!! WOW!! Jadi, resmi deh sekarang: Aku akan pergi ke ITALIA bulan Desember - awal Januari ini!! YEAAHHH!!! Yah, kami membeli tiket Amsterdam - Milan memang, tapi karena kami dijadwalkan kembali ke Amsterdam setelah 2 minggu, kami berencana untuk sekalian keliling Italia deh. Aku sangat ingin pergi ke Roma, Pisa, dan Venezia. Temenku ada yang ingin pergi ke Firenze. Ya liat nanti deh. Tapi kayanya keren ya kalau Natalan di Roma dan Kota Vatikan!! Dan aku juga tahu kalau aku HARUS mengunjungi Venezia sebelum kotanya tenggelam, LOL!! Yeah, aku udah sangat bersemangat nih!! :)

#852 - Seven Random Things

2010-10-10T17:16:00.001+07:00

ENGLISH

Today is a special day, 10/10/10. I always like the number 10, and now we have a triple ten day :D There is one more crazy thing. Today, the world no.1 men doubles tennis players, the twin-duo Bob & Mike Bryan won their tenth doubles title in their tenth final this year in a tournament in Beijing. Wow, whatta crazy thing!!

I don't know why but lately, one week seems to pass by really quick for me. I just feel that last week's Friday was just yesterday, when I felt a little taste of "freedom" after a grueling week with two assignments. Now, ten days later, I am also in my weekend, but I don't feel this weekend is much "free" as last weekend because I will, again, have two assignments to hand in next week. Well, another busy and grueling week is waiting for me.

Wait, wait, I am not complaining here. In fact, being busy like this is kinda "fun" to me, as I enjoy it. Well, the process (of working on assignments) is not always fun "fun", as sometimes it also gives me a headache, LOL. But I think I kinda like it, and in a deeper sense, it is a way of life, work hard and enjoy the process! :-)

Anyway, I got an interesting offer last week. One store in Delft sold a day-trip train ticket for 12.49 euro and the ticket holder can travel (by train of course, as the buyer bought train ticket not flight ticket :D) all over and anywhere in the Netherlands with that ticket in one day during the weekend, without paying anything more. At first I thought we had to pick an exact date and I was a bit doubtful about this since I cannot really pick an exact date now. But then, apparently, we didn't have to!! We can just buy the ticket and travel any time we want (as long as the ticket is still valid). That's why I decided to go for it and last Friday, I bought four tickets!! LOL. Now I must go somewhere in the Netherlands before the ticket expires!!

Finally, last week, I got my campus card. Now I can borrow some books from the library!! Yeah!! Also, once I got my campus card, I got it activated so that I can now access my building during the weekend (if I want to go to my office during the weekend).

All this time, I have been trying to save much money so that I will have my own savings. One thing I have done is "skipping" the drying machine when I launder my laundry. The reason is that because I think it is kinda expensive (to use the washing machine in my apartment I have to pay 2.5 euro for one washing process. To use the drying machine, I have to pay another 2 euro. So, if I use the washing machine and the drying machine, I will have to pay at least 4.5 euro (yea, at least, because maybe I will use more than one washing machine as the capacity of the washing machine is so limited and if I have loads of dirty clothes)) and that I think I can hang my laundry in my room and the nature will dry them up, lol.

So far, it has been working fine, but not this week. I don't know whether it is the humidity of what but my clothes seemed to dry much slower this week. That's why the last time I laundered my dirty clothes, I decided to give the drying machine a try for the first time (beside, I just charged my laundry card with 30 euro :D). Now, after using it, I fully know the importance of drying machine!! LOL. It dries your clothes effectively and also wipes most of the wrinkles!! :D Now I must really consider whether 2 extra euro worths that or not, hmmmmmm... . Any idea?? :D

I also have to be careful with price here, because the price difference between one supermarket and another can be very significant!! Well, one thing I regularly buy here is tempe (yeah, tempe, living in a European country tens of thousand kilometers away from Indonesia, I still eat tempe, LOL). In the nearest supermarket, I regularly buy it with the price of around 2.5 euro. But last Saturday, I went to an Oriental Market (and it was SOOOO far away from my apartment as I have to bike for 20 minutes just to get there) and found out that the same tempe was sold for only 1 euro there!! One freaking euro!!!

Talking about Indonesian food, last week, my friends and I had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant in Den Haag. It was nice!! At first I thought the price was kinda expensive (well, to their fairness, it is not that expensive tho comparing to the standard price in Holland. I say it was expensive because I compared it with the price in Indonesia, LOL, not fair). I had Nasi Rawon for 5 euro. When it was served to my table, the portion was HUGE!! So, I revised what I said before and I think it was a really good price!! :-) The taste was also good, just like what I expected from a portion of rawon!! :-D

::: Bob & Mike Bryan (after winning the ATP World Tour Finals in London last year). Picture was taken from here.

::: Special Train Ticket :-)

::: Laundry Room in my apartment.

::: Tempe (I deliberately put the cutter there as a size-comparison :D).

::: Nasi Rawon I had in Den Haag last week, tasty!! :D

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hari ini tuh unik yah, 10/10/10. Aku selalu suka sama angka 10, dan sekarang kita sedang berada di hari dengan tiga sepuluh :D Ada hal gila lainnya juga. Hari ini, petenis ganda putra peringkat 1 dunia, duo-kembar Bob & Mike Bryan memenangkan gelar juara ganda kesepuluhnya di final kesepuluh mereka tahun ini di sebuah turnamen di Beijing. Wow, bener-bener deh!!

Nggak tahu kenapa koq akhir-akhir ini aku merasa seminggu itu berlalu dengan sangat cepat yah. Rasanya tuh hari Jumat minggu lalu terasa seperti kemarin, ketika aku merasakan sedikit "kebebasan" setelah seminggu penuh dengan dua tugas. Sekarang, sepuluh hari kemudian, juga di akhir minggu, tapi aku nggak merasa "sebebas" itu karena aku akan, lagi-lagi, mengumpulkan dua tugas minggu depan. Wah, satu minggu yang sibuk dan kerasa menungguku nih.

Eh, tunggu dulu, aku nggak mengeluh loh disini. Malah, aku merasa bahwa diriku sibuk seperti ini justru agak "mengasyikkan", karena aku koq menikmatinya ya. Memang benar kalau prosesnya (mengerjakan tugas) nggak selalu m"enyenangkan" bener, karena kadang tugas-tugasnya juga bikin pusing, LOL. Tapi aku suka tuh, dan dengan pemikiran yang lebih dalam, ya inilah hidup itu, bekerja keras dan nikmati prosesnya! :-)

Ngomong2, aku mendapat tawaran menarik minggu lalu. Sebuah toko di Delft menjual tiket satu-hari untuk naik kereta seharga 12,49 euro dan pemegang tiket bisa jalan-jalan (dengan naik kereta tentunya ya, masa naik pesawat, kan belinya tiket kereta) keliling Belanda, kemanapun, sepuasnya loh selama perginya di hari yang sama dan ketika akhir minggu, tanpa membayar apa pun lagi. Pertamanya aku kira kita harus memilih tanggal dulu dan aku agak ragu karena agak sulit untuk menentukan satu tanggal di posisiku sekarang. Tapi ternyata, nggak harus!! Kita bisa beli tiketnya dan jalan-jalan kapan pun kita mau (selama tiketnya masih berlaku lah). Makanya aku memutuskan untuk akhirnya membelinya dan Jumat lalu, aku beli empat tiket!! LOL. Nah, sekarang aku harus jalan-jalan keliling Belanda deh sebelum tiketnya hangus.

Akhirnya, minggu lalu, aku mendapatkan kartu kampusku. Sekarang aku bisa deh pinjam beberapa buku dari perpustakaan!! Yeaahh!! Juga, begitu aku dapat kartu ini, aku langsung mengaktifkan kartu ini jadi aku bisa mengakses gedung kampusku ketika akhir minggu (kan siapa tau pas akhir minggu dan nggak ada kerjaan aku mau ke kantor).

Selama ini, aku sudah mencoba untuk menghemat uang sehingga aku punya tabungan. Satu hal yang aku lakukan adalah "melewati" proses "mesin pengering" (drying machine) ketika aku mencunci pakaianku. Alasannya adalah aku merasa harganya mahal sih (untuk memakai mesin cuci di apartemenku, aku harus membayar 2,5 euro untuk satu proses mencuci. Untuk memakai mesin pengering, harus tambah lagi 2 euro. Jadi, kalau aku memakan mesin cuci dan mesin pengering, aku harus membayar paling sedikit 4,5 euro (ya, paling sedikit, karena mungkin aku akan menggunakan lebih dari satu mesin cuci karena kapasitasnya kan kecil dan baju kotorku lagi banyak)) dan aku kan bisa tuh menggantung baju di kamar dan akhirnya alamlah yang mengeringkannya, lol.

Sejauh ini, semua baik-baik saja sih, kecuali minggu ini. Nggak tahu ya karena kelembaban atau apa, yang jelas bajuku rasanya mengering dengan jauh lebih lambat nih minggu ini. Makanya terakhir kali aku mencuci baju kotor, aku memutuskan untuk mencoba pakai mesin pengering lah sekali-sekali (selain itu, aku baru saja mengisi kartu laundry-ku dengan kredit 30 euro :D). Sekarang, setelah memakainya, aku jadi benar-benar paham kepentingan mesin pengering!! LOL. Tentu lah mesin ini mengeringkan baju-baju dengan efisien, selain itu, mesin ini juga bisa menghilangkan kerut-kerut di baju loh!! :D Sekarang aku harus mempertimbangkan nih apakah 2 euro ekstra memang bernilai untuk keunggulan itu, hmmmmmm... . Ada ide?? :D

Aku juga harus hati-hati nih sama yang namanya harga, soalnya beda harga di satu supermarket dengan yang lain bisa sangat jauh loh!! yah, satu barang yang aku beli secara teratur disini adalah tempe (ya, tempe, tinggal di sebuah negara Eropa yang jauhnya puluhan ribu kilometer dari Indonesia, aku masih makan tempe, LOL). Di supermarket terdekat, aku biasanya membelinya dengan harga sekitar 2,5 euro. Nah, Sabtu lalu, aku pergi ke Oriental Market (dan lokasinya tuh JAUUUUH deh dari apartemenku soalnya aku harus naik sepeda 20 menit untuk sampai kesana, belum pulangnya) dan ternyata harga tempe disana adalah: SATU EURO!!! SATU EURO SAJA!!!

Ngomong2 tentang makanan Indonesia, minggu lalu, temen2ku dan aku makan malam di sebuah restoran Indonesia di Den Haag. Asik tuh!! Pertamanya aku merasa harganya agak mahal (yah, kalau mau adil, harganya nggak mahal sih untuk standar harga makanan di Belanda. Aku merasa harganya agak mahal soalnya aku membandingkan sama harga di Indonesia, LOL, nggak adil yah). Aku pesan Nasi Rawon seharga 5 euro. Ketika rawonnya sampai di mejaku, ternyata porsinya BESAR loh!! Jadi, aku menarik kembali kata-kataku sebelumnya dan dan aku rasa harganya sih sangat nggak mahal!! :-) Rasanya juga enak tuh, memang seporsi rawon seperti yang aku harapkan!! :-D

#851 - The Apprentice

2010-10-09T17:47:00.000+07:00

ENGLISH

One of my favorite reality show is The Apprentice. If you do not have anything else to do or you feel bored, you can do some research in this blog and you will find several Apprentice-related entries written by me. I was also happy when the Indonesian version of it was made about five years ago.

Anyway, so I have been watching the newest season of the US Version of The Apprentice. and I am extremely happy that for this season, the format was changed back to its original one, where ordinary people were cast to be the candidates. I think this is waaay more interesting because we watch real people work real hard to get something done, in an ordinary and daily-basis situation. I mean, I don't think we will see a burgershop sells burgers for 250 dollar a piece and ask tips for up to 1,500 dollar for it. Puhleeeaaassseeeee. That's not business at all, I think :-) Anyway, if you do not trust me, just look for an older episode of The Celebrity Apprentice and you will find an episode where one team sold burger for 250 dollar and asked tips up to 1,500 dollar. In fact, in the end, most of their revenue came from the tipping (of course)!! Who would be willing to buy a 250 dollar burger and give tips up to 1,500 dollar?? Not an "ordinary" customer, of course, but their contacts!!

So, yeah, I really dislike the concept of The Celebrity Apprentice because it significantly diminishes the essence of The Apprentice as the theme of the show was shifted from business to "celebrity exploitation". Plus, because they ARE (already) celebrities, some of them might not feel the need to "respect" Donald Trump. In other words, Trump lost his "power" in the boardroom and his presence on the show has waay less meaning.

So far, four episodes of this new season have been aired and something comes to my attention. Somehow I do not feel that the tasks given were really "The-Apprentice" typical tasks. I mean, the "business feel" is not felt as "strong" as in previous seasons. For example, this week, the task was to create a viral video. Team Fortitude lost because their video was more like a commercial for the product and not "extreme" enough. In the original season(s) of it, the highlight would have been in the word "commercial", not "extreme". Another example, last week, the task was to run a doggy day-care. Okay, good I thought, but then the winner was determined by the owner of the daycare and a dog expert rather than the actual sales teams could make that day. C'Mon!! I am afraid having runned three seasons of The Celebrity Apprentice, the producer has already forgotten the essence of the "original" The Apprentice.

About three weeks ago, a friend of mine recommended me to watch the British Edition of the show. As a refreshment activity to do in my weekend, I decided to go for it. The British version apparently offers a different atmosphere. It seems that playing "low" is seen as a very despicable thing to do and participants need to focus more on the task, playing it in the "highway". Even in the original US Version, playing "low" is considerably okay until several degrees. The tasks given in the UK version were "s0-business". This "so-business" atmosphere is even more felt now, after comparing it to the newest season of the US version. This is really refreshing!! I think I will watch several more seasons of the UK version.

By the way, some hours ago, I found a youtube video about one very classic moment that happened in the Celebrity Apprentice. It involved Omarosa (no wonder), and this is the reason why I really love the appearance of Omarosa in this show :-) See the video below. My comment: Omarosa is a classic!! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Satu acara realitas favoritku adalah The Apprentice. Kalau misalnya kalian lagi nggak ada kerjaan atau merasa bosan, bisa deh melakukan riset sedikit di blog ini dan kalian kana menemukan beberapa postinganku yang terkait dengan topik The Apprentice. Aku juga merasa senang ketika versi Indonesia darinya dibuat sekitar lima tahun yang lalu.

Ngomong2, sekarang aku juga sedang mengikuti hmusim terbaru dari versi Amerikanya The Apprentice. Dan aku sangat senang bahwa musim ini, formatnya kembali ke format awal, yaitu orang biasa lah yang menjadi pesertanya. Aku rasa format seperti ini jauuuh lebih menarik karena kita memang melihat orang biasa yang bekerja keras untuk menyelesaikan suatu tugas, dengan situasi yang biasa dan sehari-hari. Maksudku, aku rasa aku nggak akan deh melihat sebuah restoran burger yang menjual burger dengan harga 250 dollar sebijinya dan kemudian meminta tip sampai 1.500 dollar atasnya. Aduh, plis deh ah!! Menurutku sih, hal begitu itu bukan bisnis sama sekali :-) Kalau nggak percaya, coba deh cari sebuah episode yang agak dulu dari The Celebrity Apprentice dan disitu memang terjadi bahwa sebuah tim menjual burger seharga 250 dollar dan kemudian meminta tip sampai 1.500 dollar. Akhirnya, malah sebagian besar pendapatan mereka datang dari tip (ya iya lah)!! Siapa sih orang yang mau beli burger seharga 250 dollar dan memberi tip sampai 1.500 dollar?? Ya bukan pembeli "biasa" tentunya, tetapi kontak para selebriti itu!!

Jadi, ya, aku memang sangat nggak suka sama konsep The Celebrity Apprentice karena konsep ini secara signifikan mengurangi esensi dari The Apprentice dan tema dari acaranya berpindah dari bisnis ke "eksploitasi selebriti". Plus, karena mereka ADALAH selebritis, jadi sebagian dari mereka mungkin tidak merasa perlu untuk memberi "hormat" pada Donald Trump. Dengan kata lain, Trump kehilangan "kekuasaannya" di boardroom dan kehadirannya dalam acara ini jadi kurang berarti.

Sejauh ini, sudah empat episode yang ditayangkan dan satu hal agak mengkhawatirkanku. Rasanya aku merasa bahwa tugas yang diberikan di musim ini tuh bukan tipikal tugas di "The Apprentice". Maksudnya, aku rasa "bisnis"-nya nggak terasa sekuat di musim-musim yang dulu. Misalnya, minggu ini, tugasnya adalah membuat sebuah viral video. Tim Fortitude kalah karena video mereka terasa lebih seperti iklan komersial dari produknya dan kurang "ekstrim". Di konsep yang asli, tentu penekanannya adalah pada kata "komersial" dan bukan di kata "ekstrim". Contoh lain, minggu lalu, tugasnya adalah menjalankan sebuah pusat penitipan anjing. Oke, bagus, itu yang aku pikir, tetapi kemudian pemenangnya ditentukan oleh pemilik tempat penitipan itu dan seorang pakar anjing, bukan dari nilai pendapatan yang bisa mereka peroleh hari itu. Aduh!! Aku agak khawatir nih karena sudah menjalankan tiga musim The Celebrity Apprentice, produsernya sudah lupa akan esensi dasar The Apprentice "yang orisinil".

Sekitar tiga minggu yang lalu, seorang teman merekomendasikanku untuk menonton Edisi Inggis dari acara ini. Nah, sebagai salah satu aktivitas penyegaran selama akhir minggu, aku memutuskan untuk mengikuti versi ini deh. Versi Inggris ternyata menawarkan atmosfer yang sangat berbeda. Sangat terasa bahwa bermain "kotor" itu sangat tercela di versi ini dan para kontestan harus fokus lebih dalam terhadap tugas yang diberikan, dan menjalankannya dengan cara yang "bersih". Bahkan di versi Amerika yang orisinil, kadang bermain "kotor" itu diperbolehkan sampa taraf tertentu. Tugas-tugas yang diberikan di versi Inggris ini juga "bisnis-banget". Atmosfer "bisnis-banget" ini makin terasa sekarang, setelah membandingkannya dengan musim terbaru dari versi Amerika. Bener-bener menyegarkan nih!! Aku rasa aku akan menonton beberapa musim dari versi Inggrisnya nih.

Ngomong2, beberapa jam yang lalu, aku menemukan video di youtube tentang satu momen klasik yang terjadi di Celebrity Apprentice. Momen ini melibatkan Omarosa (nggak heran), dan inilah alasan mengapa aku sangat suka dengan kehadiran Omarosa di acara ini :-) Lihat deh videonya di atas. Komentarku: Omarosa memang klasik!! :-)

#850 - New Month

2010-10-01T17:21:00.002+07:00

ENGLISH

So, here we are, in the very beginning of October 2010. September 2010 has kinda been "special" for me since it is my first full month not living in Indonesia. And in Europe, it has become cooler and cooler as the sun is "moving back south" and now the sun rises at around 7 AM and already sets at around 7.15 PM. It is cold, but I think it is still bearable (for me) and still hasn't reached the point where it is snowing. :D

In the pas few days, my life here has been good. I am extremely busy with all the assignments from my course and I am handling it quite well for now. I met some pretty difficult materials but I know I can tackle all of those. Just wish me luck so that I will be able to tackle it well and pass this semester with satisfying result!! Amen!! Anyway, having enrolled my master degree here for about a month, I come to a realization that the actual "classes" are not really the one we formally have on campus. They are actually the time we spend on working by ourselves, when we discuss a problem (and how to solve it) with our colleagues and sometimes the professors, and the catalyst is the assignments given from the lecturers. It is a bit rough, but the good thing is that we learn many things more effectively this way.

Anyway, I am also glad that my scholarship money has been transfered to my bank account here. I was kinda shocked some days ago when I found that suddenly there was a big ammount of money in my account. I felt rich for a while, but then I realized that it was my scholarship money and the university will take most of those money for the tuition fee, lol.

Btw, today is Friday, and now my favorite day is Friday. Friday means the weekend is so near and my next formal class will not be until the next Wednesday (though normally I still go the my office on Monday and Tuesday working on all the assignments). But still, when Friday afternoon is here, I can relax and take a breath for a little bit :)

::: One spot in Den Haag, taken from Den Haag HS Station.

::: Double-Chip Cheesecake at Den Haag. Lekker!! :D

::: A double-decker train and the rainbow.

::: Wow!! A double rainbow!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wah, tiba2 kita sudah berada di awal bulan Oktober 2010 yah. Bulan September 2010 adalah bulan yang agak "spesial" buatku karena bulan itu adalah sebulan penuh pertama dimana aku tinggal bukan di Indonesia. Dan di Eropa, sekarang ini setiap hari makin dingin aja nih karena mataharinya "berpindah ke selatan" dan sekarang matahari terbit sekitar jam 7an pagi dan terbenam jam 7.15 malam. Dingin sih, tapi masih bisa ditahan koq (untuk aku) dan masih belum mencapai titik dimana salju mulai turun :D

Beberapa hari belakangan ini, hari-hariku berlalu dengan ok lah. Aku sangat sibuk dengan semua tugas dari kampus dan aku rasa sampai saat ini aku menanganinya dengan cukup baik. Memang ada beberapa materi yang lumayan sulit tetapi aku tahu aku bisa mengatasinya. Doakan aku ya supaya bisa mengatasi semua itu dan semester ini lulus dengan nilai yang bagus!! Amin!! Ngomong2, sudah kuliah S2 selama kira-kira sebulan disini, aku mulai sadar bahwa ternyata "kelas" yang sebenarnya itu justru bukan kelas resmi yang diadakan di kampus. Menurutku, justru mereka adalah waktu yang kita habiskan ketika kita belajar sendiri, mendiskusikan masalah (dan bagaimana menyelesaikannya) dengan teman-teman dan kadang dosen, dan katalisnya adalah tugas yang diberikan dosen. Agak bikin stress memang, tapi hal baiknya adalah kita bisa belajar banyak hal dengan lebih efektif dengan cara ini.

Ngomong2, aku juga senang karena uang beasiswaku sudah turun dan sudah masuk rekening bank-ku disini. Aku agak kaget waktu beberapa hari yang lalu tahu bahwa tiba-tiba ada jumlah uang yang banyak yang masuk ke rekeningku. Aku merasa kaya untuk beberapa saat, dan kemudian aku sadar kalau itu uang beasiswa dan universitas akan mengambil sebagian besar uang itu untuk biaya kuliah, lol.

Btw, hari ini adalah Jumat, dan sekarang hari favoritku adalah Jumat. Jumat berarti akhir minggu sudah dekat dan nggak akan ada kelas formal sampai hari Rabu (walau biasanya aku masih ke kantor di hari Senin dan Selasa untuk mengerjakan tugas sih). Tapi ya, ketika Jumat siang sudah datang, aku bisa agak santai dan mengambil napas sedikit :)