The Asian Undergraduate Summit (AUS) Experience in Brief

What -- Many of my friends have been asking about what was I doing in Singapore a few weeks back. As some of you may know, I had the pleasure of representing UGM in Asian Undergraduate Summit, a student-run platform connecting students from 7 countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, and South Korea. And yes, it was funded, otherwise I couldn’t afford staying in Singapore for a week. The theme for this year’s AUS is Leadership in a Complex World: Disruptive Change in Everyday Life.

NUS University Town

Where -- AUS was held in National University of Singapore, so I had the chance of experiencing what it might feel like studying in one of the best university in Asia. And man, it was glorious. NUS’ University Town is very well-designed and aesthetically pleasing. It has everything from dorms, bookstore, Guardian, sport store, 24-hour Starbucks, 24-hour convenience store, foodcourts, gym, swimming pool, multiple studying spots, 24-hour computer library, and so on and so forth. They make me realize how little UGM—and most of state universities in Indonesia, really—facillitates its students to learn. We’re not allowed to stay in campus until late at night, so mostly we have to stay in cafes instead of using campus facillities just like in NUS. This one time, my AUS team and I prepared for our presentation until 3 in the morning, aaand we could still use the classroom.

Who – AUS is a student-run program. So the Singapore leg is planned by NUS students. The first moment I arrived in NUS Utown, I was impressed at how professional the committee was. There was no confusion, no wasted time over registration process. I’ve been a committee for a lot of events, but none of them ever compares to how professional AUS was. Indonesian students’ events usually have a looot of committees, unlike AUS which only comprised of less than 20 (!) organisators. So we do need to learn a lot about productivity. AUS is supported by NUS University Scholars Program as well as Temasek Foundation Connects.

What did you do there? – AUS comprises of many activities, ranging from keynote speeches, workshops, site visits, and Design Thinking which is a method of coming up with an idea or innovation. For site visits, we went to Artscience Museum to see how technology has transformed what it means to essentially be human. Nothing is really natural. It really eye-opening to see how cyborgs, synthetic body parts, and a lot of things we usually see in Sci-Fi are actually real and happening right now. We went to Singtel Innovation Center and witness firsthand how communication technology has transformed very quickly. Did you know that 5G is currently being developed and would provide a near real-time communication? And we also visited the Lifelong Learning Institute, Clementi Food Market, and many other places.

Quote in Human+ Exhibition

On the last day of AUS, six best teams present their final idea to a panel of judges as well as the whole AUS participants. My team was one of these best teams (#proud), and we delivered our Amigo Idea as you can see here. It was my first time talking in front of such large international audience, such a nervewracking experience. But I did learn a lot from the pitching workshop before, so that helped.

Did you go sightseeing? – Definitely! Night time is a free schedule for us, so participants can go wherever they like. Other than that, I was lucky to be in a group whose facillitator is really facillitative in taking us to nice places. My group and I went to Chinese Garden (a popular dating spot!), climbed 8 levels into the pagoda, and watched the breathtaking sunset from above. We went to Orchard Road (ofcourse) when there was this Youth Festival thing and apparently we got the chance to watch ex-SNSD’s Jessica perform for free—Eventhough I don’t understand Kpop.

Chinese Garden

Favorite thing about Singapore? – For me, personally, definitely the public service. Coming from a country where public transport is very inadequate, I relished the efficiency and reliability of Singapore’s MRT and buses. Being in Singapore always created a wistful feeling of, Sigh, why wasn’t I born as Singaporean?; a feeling I have to shake off because I am supposed to be a delegate of my country who is proud of it!!!

Favorite part of AUS? – Honestly, AUS is very, very enjoyable. From its formal sessions to informal ones, I feel like I have learned so much. But for me, the chance of meeting fellow students from other countries and actually being friends with them might steal the spotlight. I can’t believe how sentimental I felt during the last night in AUS, where my group gathered together and writing things for each member of the group. I’m really lucky to have met them, and I miss them a lot right now hehe :’) And, the cultural night! It was reeeally exciting to see each countries perform and showcase their culture, tasting their foods, trying out their clothes, playing their traditional games. Dancing to Hindi songs was real fun!

                                          

So, that was AUS in brief. I’ll write some more posts about the ~knowledge stuff~. Stay tune!

The Existential Crisis. (what do I really want to do?!)

what do i really wanna do?

Before I get to the point of the problem, I'd like to tell you where it all began.

So today when I surf around youtube (one of the best things to make me entertained and happy, really) I found another cool youtuber/vlogger, another british boy named Dan Howell or known as danisnotonfire. 

Aaand I watched one of his video titled Draw My Life. Draw My Life is a popular kind of video in youtube, where vloggers (like bloggers but just...using videos. you know.)

And in his videos, Dan told a story about his childhood; and his experiences until he decided to be a professional vlogger. And guess what? Dan was a law student. And as a child, Dan wanted to become an actor. But as he grew older, just like pretty much everybody else, he got a new interest and he didn't want to be an actor anymore. Sooo he got into college and took major in law. (something to make him employable, he thought.)

BUT. Somewhere along the way, he experienced what he call an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS where he thought "Oh, law is so boring, this is not what I wanted to do, OH GOD IT'S TOO LATE to go back" and those kind of things. And well. He decided to work on his youtube seriously and became, yay, a professional vlogger! And he admitted that he loves what he do, and regretted why he didn't do it sooner.

Dan's existential crisis.

So, let's get back to my story.

And after I watched that video, I sort of came across the sudden revelation of; "Does what I always wanna be is what I really wanna be?"

This is the truth: since I was a child, I've always wanted to be a doctor. Well, not really, because there was a time where I wanted to be an archeologist and racer and astronout, but to be a doctor is my most rational future plan. And well, as I grew older and I started to see more of the world and sort of exploring my talent, I also found out that I'm really interested in linguistic stuff. I love to read, write, and just....learning foreign languages.But for me, I think the future of a linguist is not entirely promising. I mean...what if nobody like something we write? But being a doctor is quite promising, even if the studies are really hard and not to mention, expensive.

And then I thought, what if I ended up like Dan? What if I already got into medschool and I dropped out because I don't feel like doing it anymore? What if I make the wrong choice of college? Heck, what if I make a wrong choice in high school's penjurusan? My mind was full of What Ifs.

my existential crisis.

I got confused for awhile. Because, really, I want to be a doctor and a writer or anything to do with languages. But we can't just simply do both if we want to learn about it in college. And then after I thought of this for some time, I conclude: I AM TOTALLY OVERTHINKING EVERYTHING. And, ah, fuck this, why don't wait and see? I mean, I'm just an unstable labile teenager who tends to like a thing and then dislike it the next second and still have pretty much a few time to find out what I want to do. Just....let me enjoy what I like now. I will be in high school next month, so I figured that, I'll see what I do better: science or language. And find out where my true passion lies. Waiting for the 'It' moment when you feel like: "AHA! THIS is what I want to do" and after I find out what you want to do, I have to give my best efforts to be good at it.

And just in case any of you have the same problem as me, just relax, you're not the only one confused and this is totally normal. And, uhh, just...take it easy. Do what you like best and what you most comfortable doing it. Reach your dream! Because every work or job will be easier if you pour your heart in your efforts. 

I hope we all end up like Dan: finally finding out what his real passion and be successful in it.
That's all I want to say to you guys.
I hope you enjoy this and good luck!

Heidiisnotonfire.(because I'm totally obsessed with Dan!)

p.s: -forgive me if there's any grammatical error, but I totally felt like writing in english, this is a side-effect of watching vloggers' videos.
-you should totally check out Dan's youtube channel!

Those Who Can't Be Just Like Us

Hari ini, sedikit-banyak aku belajar untuk lebih banyak bersyukur.  

Tadi, habis latihan di rumah Khansa plus ngerjain batik di rumah Hilman, aku dianter Hilman buat nunggu bemo. (Naik sepeda tandem lho! Keren kan wakaka. Aku semacam bersorak kegirangan karena baru pertama kali._.)

Awalnya papanya Hilman semacam ragu mendengarku naik bemo sendirian. Takut aku nyasar mungkin. Sejujurnya aku nggak ngerti jalan dari Rungkut situ ke rumahku. Tapi dengan jaminan bahwa bemonya lewat Margorejo, aku sih oke-oke aja soalnya itu deket Ahmad Yani. Biasa, Si Bocah Petualang sudah biasa hidup mandiri dan naik apa saja kemana saja \m/

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Nah. Di bemo, sedikit paranoid karena sepi dan isinya ada dua anak (atau pemuda?) berpenampilan preman.  Topi dibalik, nggak pake sendal, omongan sedikit kasar.Yah, you do know what I mean lah. Mereka bercanda-bercanda gitu, meskipun buatku itu nggak lucu. Yang cowok ngerokok. Mereka ngobrol pake bahasa Suroboyoan, dan menyebut nama-nama orang yang aneh. Semacam julukan, I assumed. Lalu, aku denger salah satu dari mereka tentang penjara Medaeng. Kayaknya pernah ditahan 2,5 bulan disitu deh. Gara-gara semacam kasus kericuhan. Nggak tau ah. Takut mikirnya.

Dari situ, aku mikir. Mereka bisa dibilang masih di bawah umur, apalagi yang cewek. Terus, mereka anaknya siapa? Boleh ya sama orangtuanya kayak gitu?  Mungkinkah dari keluarga broken home lalu bergaul di lingkungan yang salah? Atau karena keputus-asaan ekonomi, mereka harus jadi, mm, anak jalanan? Berandal? 

Nggak cuma itu. Gimana dengan anak-anak kecil yang jualan koran, bahkan meskipun hujan deres? Pernahkah mereka sekolah? Inginkah? Beranikah mereka bermimpi tentang masa depan yang berbeda? Bukan sekedar berpikir tentang uang setoran? Tentang apakah mereka masih bisa sarapan esok harinya?

Aku mbayangin, gimana kehidupan mereka sehari-hari. Bangun pagi untuk mencari nafkah sementara anak lain yang lebih beruntung berangkat ke sekolah. Sementara anak yang bersekolah menyimak guru yang menerangkan, mereka berlari kesana kemari menjajakan koran atau mengamen. Ketika anak lain seperti kita berbincang tentang menyebalkannya guru, mereka berbincang tentang daerah yang ramai untuk tempat berjualan koran. 

 Miris melihat keadaan seperti itu. Dan dari situ, aku belajar untuk lebih mensyukuri apa yang aku punya, karena bahkan masih banyak anak yang tidak punya orang tua, terlantar, terjerumus ke hal-hal nggak baik, dan akhirnya tidak bisa mempunyai masa depan yang cerah.

Dimana andil Pasal 34 ayat 1 UUD 1945 yang menyatakan

"Fakir miskin dan anak-anak yang terlantar dipelihara oleh negara"

Inikah?

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We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
Its true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand
-Michael Jackson, We Are The World