Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Perks of Being an Exchange Student #1 : First Selection Test

I'm dying to tell you this.

Well, yeah, I kind of not believing that it is already more than a year since that big moment in my life happened.

Yeah, of course you can tell that ; Bina Antarbudaya selection test.

I attended the open house which was held at my school. There were a lot of AFS, YES and Jenesys alumni, and a lot of Rantai Emas students too! The people were so excited to ask, and I was amazed at those photos the alumni showed. Autumn, winter, spring, holiday photos. Oh my god, what a beautiful experience they had! I thought.

Few days later, I went to buy the registration pin, and actually I tripped in somewhere in Ciomas, near Teh Ndu's house before that, so I was walking with my whatsoever ripped skirts, with my swollen knee, to a place that I don't even know before. I called Dije, one of my friends that already bought the registration pin, and she gave me direction to YBA Chapter Bogor office (which used to be in Irfan Salmon's house, but current chapter Bogor office is at Nastiti's)

That evening, just several hours after I bought my pin, the registration website was crashed. I decided to be patient, there is always good result with being patient, right? :) So, I closed it for a moment and started to search information about general knowledge which will be tested at the first selection test. Anywaym the online registration was quite interesting for me, because they didn't require you just to give your general info like address, phone number, etc but you also need to state what kind of person are you, what are your concerns and hope, your achievements, etc.

You had to prepare some files for the registration too, including the reccommendations from your teachers, close friends, and family. For the adults-who-know-me form, I decided to ask Mbak Maryanah's opinion ; she was my private courses teacher for Bahasa Indonesia and Math in my last year of Junior High. I was happy to see her again and she already had an adorable baby! but the way to her home was pretty confusing. I went to whatsoever address in Jalan Baru, and I got into Bubulak angkot, oh, don't ask me, I'm an A-blooded person, I couldn't remember address easily :p All I remember is that I went there at 4 and got home at 7. But it was fun though!

Days passed, the D-Day for the first selection test came. I was so nervous, and I decided to bring the thick, huge encyclopedia that I borrowed from Irin to the selection test ;) Gratefully, my Dad gave me his motorcycle ride and the test location was pretty near from my house, so I wasn't late eventhough I left home at 6.45 while we were told to come at 7 pm. (because tardiness (lateness) is serious cases in this selection, I reccomend you not to do the same thing--berangkat mepet-mepet! Dan emang iya, pengalaman pas kemaren jadi observer, kalo ada siswa yang telat, resikonya nggak nanggung-nanggung! Be careful ya guys)

The first selection test includes 3 tests, which are : Indonesian Essay Writing Test, General Knowledge Test, and English Test. In the essay test, I almost forgot writing the title of the essay, but right when the observers said that the time was over, I remembered it and wrote the title which passed my mind quickly. I murmured a lot at the general knowledge test, because I remembered that I had read about some informations which was asked at that test, but I did forget about the answers!!! Yeah, I felt the same feeling as when I could not differ coelenterata from cnidaria in biology. (I know I suck at biology at the moment, but wait for a year and I'll be good at it, InsyaALLAH!). One of my biggest regrets was when I answered Hirohito instead of Akihito in that "Who's the current emperor of Japan" question. The english test was pretty standard, almost the same as the one we had at school (the difference was that it was not containing those scary question about analytical and hortatory essay lol). But I did feel confused when the vocab questions appeared. I did not know what's the name of animals' "children", like cub -_-

I got home with a friend of mine, and we were kind of worried of the results. I mean, we were competing with other 800 students from Bogor, Sukabumi, Depok, and other close areas to get about 150 chances to be accepted to the second selection test! Could you imagine that? But I believed that I had done my best, so all I had to do at that time was praying. Tawakal. Arrived home, I opened Ibu's netbook directly and started browsing the answer of the general knowledge test questions. Believe me, I managed to remember about 80 out of 100 questions from the general knowledge test. If only I had this curiousity at biology... #sakali

The results of the test was out 2 weeks later, right in the night before I had chemistry test about stoichiometry, I guess. I was late seeing the result, and I woke up around 4 am, then the second thing that I did after opened chemistry text book was accessed the blog of YBA Bogor. I whispered "bismillah" and  scrolled the website page. And when I saw the number 092 on the list, I was so shocked (in a good way) that I almost forgot that I would be having the chemistry test in 3 hours. Alhamdulillah!! There were about 30 students from my high school which would attend the second selection test ; the interview. I am both excited and nervous at that time, but I surely do curious about the interview test.

Are you curious too? Oh you surely do!!! :) Don't go anywhere guys, I'll be updating this blog ASAP!

See ya!

B.M.H.

Miss you

Being far from family and friends makes me realize how precious they are to me. Missing them, for me (hopefully), is not what I will consider as something that makes me upset and homesick. Instead, I am glad that I have this feeling because it makes me cherishes them even more. I am grateful for having them in my life. They are an important part of my life, and they can never, ever be replaced by anyone else. Thank you will never be enough to express my gratitude. I love you guys, in the name of ALLAH :')



Short farewell--but meaningful for me! :') See you next year ya... All of you should have gotten into your dream college when I go home! Amen....


A picture with Chapter Bogor family. I miss you, kakak-kakak and fellas already! ({})


Two heartwarming pics of me and my parents at AFS farewell party video that surprised me a lot, literally A LOT. Thanks Kakak-kakak!



See you later! 

Bew (It's my official nickname right now :D)
Florence, SC, 11:10 PM