Friday, November 27, 2015

AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL

Hi fellas!
First I wanna say Happy Thankgiving for y'all guys. Be blessed for all that you've gotten in your life.
Okay so, because so many people ask me "Sekolah di Amerika itu gimana sih?" so I decide to write this post. I hope it help answer your curiousness. And I will write it in Indonesian. Check it out!
[P.S. What I write down below are based on what I've experienced in my school; Woodrow Wilson Senior High School]
No Uniform
Iya, di Amerika sekolahnya nggak pake seragam. Pake apa aja boleh. Mau pake pajama, boleh. Pake tanktop, boleh. Pake beha doang juga selaw. Yang penting mah pake baju aja. Eh tapi nggak semua sekolah bisa sebebas ini. Biasanya yang nggak pakai seragam itu public school. Kalau private school biasanya mereka pakai seragam. Bukan seragam semacam seragam di Indonesia. Tapi seragam disini lebih ke kaos polo yang ada nama sekolah+celana kain. Atau baik public or private school biasanya punya dresscode gitu; what to wear or not to wear. Tapi, di sekolahku nggak ada dresscode, jadinya ya bebas mau pakai apa aja.
Choose the Subjects
This is what I like from American HS; I can choose what I wanna learn. Jadi disini itu kita bisa milih pelajaran spa yang kita suka. Even pelajaran wajib masih bisa milih. Jadi pelajaran wajib di sekolah itu ada empat; History, Math, Science, and English. Dan itu bisa milih, misalkan matematika mau ambil Algebra or Trigonometry or Geometry or Pre Calc or Calculus. Dan menurutku ini efisien banget karena kita belajar sesuai apa yang kita mau. Kita juga jadi lebih fokus. Nggak seperti di Indonesia yang mana kita diwajibkan bisa semua pelajaran, padahal belum tentu kita suka sama pelajaran itu. Kayak saya harus bisa kimia karena saya anak IPA, padahal saya nggak suka sama kimia. Jadi saya terpaksa belajar kimia karena tuntutan kelas IPA. Sorry not sorry for saying that but that's the fact tho.
A Lot of Subjects
Yes in America we have a lot of subjects that we can choose! Mulai dari yang bikin pusing kayak AP Calculus sampai yang asik-asik kayak Film Making. Saking banyaknya jadi bingung mau ambil course yang apa. But menurutku ini menguntungkan sih karena bisa belajar spa yang kita suka dan sesuai sama passion kita. Dan lagi disini lebih banyak praktek daripada teorinya. Jadi menurutku berguna banget buat di dunia kerja nanti. Karena kita tau cara aplikasi ilmu kita. Nggak cuma bisa teori tapi nggak bisa nge-aplikasi-in di kehidupan sehari-hari.
No Seniority
Ini nih yang keren. Nggak ada senioritas di Amerika. Karena apa? Karena nggak ada yang gila hormat. Di Indonesia kalau udah jadi kakak kelas, gila hormatnya minta ampun. Selalu pengen orang-orang melihat dirinya sebagai "kakak kelas". Kalau di Amerika mah boro-boro, kadang sekelas isinya mulai dari freshman (9th grade) sampai senior (12th grade). Jadinya nggak ketahuan mana adik kelas mana kakak kelas. Dan itu asik ajasih buatku.
The Exam
Jadi disini itu ujian-ujiannya langsung waktu akhir tahun. Dan biasanya ujiannya adalah AP Exam. Terus lagi disini ujiannya kalau essay kita harus bener-bener ngejelasin sampai mendalam, pokoknya bener-bener detail gitu. Oh iya disini kita ada yang namanya PSAT or ACT. Itu tuh kalau di Indonesia semacam SBMPTN. Tapi kita ambil testnya waktu kelas 11 atau 12. Dan ngambilnya setahuku sih bisa berkali-kali sampai memenuhi target nilai. Selain ambil test itu buat masuk kuliah kita harus bikin portofolio (biasanya essay).

Okay so all that I can share with you guys. I hope it help you to know more about HIgh School in America. See you on the next post! Xoxo.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Four Weeks in A Row

Hi!!
I'm so sorry for the-very-late-update. I've been so busy (or lazy?wkwk). So, I will post what happened in the last 4 weeks. Check it out!

Homecoming Week (October 20-24, 2015)
Homecoming is a culture in American School. In homecoming week, we dressed up in particular themes like "Favorite Decade" or "Class Color". But well, in my school only 5% who dressed up during the homecoming week. I thought it because they were too lazy too dressed up. I was not totally dressed up, I just dressed up in three out of four themes; Twin days (that came out as triplets for me, Lizzy, and Nazrin), DC Pride, and Class Colour. In the last day before the homecoming party, we had a pep rally. All the classes worn their class color shirt (Class of 2017 worn White!) and we did a face painting. We gathered in the gym and did a lot of fun.
The main event of homecoming week is homecoming party. Sadly, I couldn't go to the Wilson's homecoming party but TC's homecoming instead. Well it was worth it though. It was the first real party ever haha.


HALLOWEEN! (October 31, 2015)
TRICK or TREAT? Halloween was so fun! I carved a pumpkin and all the kids that came to do trick or treat in my home loved it. I dressed up as a witch. I went to a halloween party in Egemen's house. I met another AFSers there. We did trick or treat and turned out got lost in the neighborhood. I also fell down in someone's house stairs-_-. But i didn't care because I got a lot of candies! Yeay!. After did trick or treat and got to Egemen's house safely, we had s'mores, and watched a cheesy-zombie-movies entittled Warm Bodies. I really love Halloween! I hope that was not my last halloween.

National Public Radio (November 11, 2015)
It was my officially 3 months living in USA. I was so happy yet sad. I was happy because I can survive till 3 month but it was mean that only 7 months left. Well anyway, I had a private tour to National Public Radio with my YES/FLEX friends. The NPR was totally so cool! I like that. That day also the first day I met my Indonesian friend, Cathay, after 3 months. I was so happy! Because she was healing my indonesian-friend-sick. And I also could speak bahasa indonesia properly haha.


Indonesian Cultural Night 2015
Indonesian Cultural Night 2015 was an event that held by PERMIAS (Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Amerika Serikat) DC. It was my second time volunteering and I got directly 9++ hours hahaha. I also got a committee tag and it was the coolest committee tag that I've so far. The event took place in the Embassy of Indonesia. My Indonesian friend, Silvia, also did volunteering. And I was so happy because I could meet her. I also met a lot of Indonesian people and made friends with some of them. And the best part of this event were the foods! Yes, I could eat sate kambing and tempe goreng, not just once, but a couple times haha. I also could drink es cendol. I had a really fun night!


Okay, that's all I can share with you. See you in my next post! Xoxo.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Weekend

Hi fellas!
It's been a long time since my last post. Forgive my laziness. No, actually I'm not lazy, but I just didn't have time to write in the weekend because I had a lot of fun to do in the weekend.

09/29/2015
I had an overnight AFS camp. It was fun! I met almost all the DC area kids. It was actually an arrival orientation but it didn't feel like an orientation. So, after me and the other students arrived in the camp, we put all our stuffs in the room and then we had sessions in a small group. In that session, we discussed everything about afs with our group leader. At break, me and some other girls did henna tattoo. Mishkat (from India) and Yumna (from Pakistan) did the henna for me and it was so pretty! Then at night there was a talent show. Me and other SP students did the waving flag together. After the talent show we had a free time. I played cards with students from China, French, and Austria. And I went to bed around 1.45 am (the other students went bed around 5/6 am!). In the next morning, we continued our session and had a game and then we back home.

Proudly waved Sang Saka Merah Putih


After the orientation, me, Aidana, Songul, Achraf, and NJ went to the turkish festival. We went there by metro together. In the festival, we did volunteering. We also met Eisha there. I was volunteering in kids tent. I helped them to make a bracelet, put a temporary tattoo, etc. In kids tent I met Sarah. She's a cute-four-years-old-russian-girl that stole my heart. She's so damn cute. She couldn't stop talk with me. When she was coloring she always sang the color that she use. I hope I can meet her again someday.
Took a picture with turkis costume

Eisha, me, and the cutiest girl; Sarah


10/03/205
It was Yumna's birthday party! So, I met her and her sister, Achraf, and Hadia in Democracy Mall's food court because we had dinner together (actually I was late, I came when they just finished their dinner-_-). After that we went to Yumna's house. We celebrated Yumna's birthday with a delicious cake, a 17 candle, and 2 games. It was so fun! After the party ended, the girls had a sleepover. We watched a movie; House for Dogs and cried because it was so emotional movie. In Sunday morning we had a pakistani breakfast which was so delicious.

Me, the birthday girl; Yumna, and Aidana


10/09/2015
Long weekend! I had no school on Friday so I could wake up late in the morning. I had a brunch and chill. At night, me, mom, and NJ picked up 2 of buffalo's kids (Shradda from India and Mireia from Barcelona) who stayed at my home for weekend.
Saturday, 10/10, I went to some place in DC with afs buffalo. First we went to Arlington cemetery (I had no idea why we went there). After that we had a tour inside The Capitol building. Then we went to Haz Space Museum which was so cool! I really love that museum. In there, I tried a simulation which was so fun. The 1st day trip ended at Jefferson Memorial.
The Capitol

Me&Hadia in front of the simulator

The Jefferson's Memorial Park

Sunday, 10/11, we went to National Zoo. For me, Taman Safari is more interesting than the National Zoo. After the zoo, we had a lunch in rock creek park. Then we went to The White House, but sadly we just could see it from the outside.after that we went to Washington Monument. We went inside the monument and saw all the entire DC from the top of the monument. It was so cool! After the monument, me, Aidana, and Mishkat, just walked around the National Mall, had ice creams, and sat in the park. Then our trip ended in Lincoln Memorial. I like the Lincoln memorial with the reflection pool, and the washington monument as its background, plus the blue-purple sky and the sunset. They're a beautiful cominbination.
In front of The Lincoln's Memorial Park

The Lincoln Statue



Well, that's all I can tell to you. See you in the next stories! Xoxo.