Still sticking in mind about my very first step in Johannes Kepler University, I was still wearing t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of flat shoes. And now, wearing my thickest coat and my leather boots, I have to say goodbye to this university that I have stayed in a semester.
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I touched down Austria for the first time in early September when the weather was still warm and the sun still shined. Now it's been the last week of October, it's time for the leaves to fall and the weather to get colder. But on the other side, deep inside me, I feel the opposite. Even though the weather is getting cold, I feel deep inside myself is getting warmer day by day. -------------------- My very first impression in Austria was not that good. I felt that people here is so cold. How could I feel that way? After 15-hours flight from Jakarta, eventually I touched down Vienna Schwechat Airport. But the journey hadn't accomplished yet, I still had to catch a train to Linz, the city where I live for exchange program now. On the way to the train platform, I got a surprise from an old woman that suddenly approached me, right in front of my face. "Go back to your home country!"she said. "...%$$%^^&&(...", I didn't respond at all. I was trying to digest what she said to me and trying to calm down myself because I was suddenly feeling 'homesick'. I kept thinking during the train was going ahead Linz. The question that bearing in mind was, "will they (local people) accept me to be here?" But those feeling was disappear quite fast. When, I and Ruth (my friend who is on the same program) in difficulty brought down our super big luggages out of the trains, without asking the people helped us brought them down. I couldn't say anything but thank you. And when I came out the train station, my mentor (a student that help us here) was already there and welcomed me and Ruth. It was such relief. During my stay in Linz (which is now going to be 2 months), I never get any bad treats anymore. As I said on the previous post I am just notoriously insecure about myself, about their perception on me, etc. But, as time goes by, I get many lesson-learned that I can use for dealing my culture shock. Here three lesson-learned that I can share to you. 1. National political situation does matter. It is related to my story where I was asked to 'go back to my home country' by an old woman. Maybe some of us already know that some part of the world like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan are no more comfortable for the people to make a living. How could you make a living, when your music turns out to be bomb explosion sound, when your fear turns out to be your everyday feeling. At this situation, indeed, you'll find a better place for you and your family to make a living. And here, Europe is one of the places that they think they have a hope and is reachable for them. At first, they were sincerely accepting them in the name of humanity but as time goes by it turns out to be crisis. There appears pros and cons to accept the influx of people coming to the Europe. Some people might be disagree to accept refugees and some others might be agree. And in my case, she (the old woman) might be one of them who disagree. So, when she saw someone who she thought as a 'refugee' she'd do something. Thus, in my opinion knowing the national political situation is sometimes needed for you in dealing with culture shock, at least to prevent to get (feeling) irritated. 2. Be yourself, but never forget about respect. I am actually an introvert one and I was thinking to get more social life here. But then I realized, changing ourselves in a short time is indeed hard. And here, attending party is one of the fastest ways to get in touch with new people and socialize with friends. Nevertheless,in Indonesia, party (literally party) is not even listed in my life. And here the party can be held more than twice a week. Quite intense, right? And since being in a crowd of people sometimes making me uncomfortable, it is then resulted me to never come to the party here. The bad thing is I have got fewer friends than the others. Nonetheless, I found the 'inner' peace, in the other words, I keep being myself which is really comfortable. So, how is it related to 'respect'? It might be significantly different how people in Indonesia and here look upon the idea of party. In Indonesia, it tends to be seen as negative. But here, it is not. To respect the value that's being here (even it's really different to ours) is essential for us not to get big culture shock. And I can say that this respect is the way where we'll be more open-minded person. 3. Never (fully) trust on stereotypes. When I was searching about Austrian stereotypes, one of them told that they are rude and cold. But then, when I had a mini project to interview someone I found the opposite. I interviewed a family which they are full of smile. They are warm and kind. Another story, when I was in the market, I accompanied my friend eating 'sausages with curry' (just accompany not eating because the sausage made of pork). And when waiting them served, the owner started chit chat with us and turned out to chit chat to other customers as well. The lesson-learned is you can just search and find out about what stereotypes they have but never put a high degree of confidence on it. Do you own observation. Stereotypes could never be depicted all population. We should never judge people based on stereotypes they have because basically it depends on the individual. Rather than, feeling insecure because we believe that they are rude and cold, we should better getting rid of that thought and keep observing our new home. I was born in October, in a tropical country, Indonesia. It was the month which the rainy season started. In another part of the world, where the four seasons lies on, it was the start month of the autumn. And those are probably why I love both of season: rainy and autumn. Nevertheless, during my 20 years of living in this world, I barely saw how the autumn was, until this year I got the time to see it. It has been two weeks since I arrived Austria for the first time. I come here for an exchange program in one of university in Austria, specifically in Upper Austria (Linz), called Johannes Kepler University. The story why I am coming here is quite long but in short, I would like to say that's because I am interested in Europe and I want to experience living in it. I was also accepted to have an exchange program in Japan. Such a gambling to choose which one is better, but then I dared myself to choose Austria with several reasons which I would like to tell you in the next paragraph. I decided to have an exchange semester rather than accomplishing my study as soon as possible is because I want to gain skills, knowledge, and experiences that I don't have yet. I want to have myself a personal growth. I know that Japan is a very decent or even excellent for it. The university where I had been accepted is acknowledged better than JKU but the thing is I already feel that Japan is my home. I want to spend my 6 months to build a really new home. I never know about Austria deeper, I just know that the capital city is Vienna and many famous composers living in Austria. A place where the life is quite-significantly different to my home country, Indonesia. I want to know how I deal with myself in this situation, how I pace myself to adapt in the new environment and I want to build a new home for myself. So far, it was all fine. Homesick? A little bit. I am still spending most of the time dealing with myself rather than dealing with my new environment. What does it mean, dude? Yes! I am still not confident with myself mingling with the others. I am still overthinking what should I talk about, how others think about me who wearing hijab, and so on and so forth. I wouldn't blame it to my new environment. I prefer to blame myself because I promise myself to build a new home in Austria for this 4-5 months ahead. I never put United States in my dream countries. Nevertheless, in this early 2016 I got a chance to visit United States especially in the east coast part: New York City and Boston. It was a really long journey. I prepared all of my journey more than four months. I went there to have a model United Nations conference and also a social business competition (Social Venture Challenge). Overall it was tiring and exciting at the same time. I went there with other three members that also have a conference, Edward, Hafiz and Dipo. Guess what? I am the oldest member hence I had to become head delegate, a position that I never dream too. I never wanted to be in that position. As a person, I admit that I prefer not to be the spotlight or the leader but if people trust me to keep those responsibilities, I'd consider it and put some effort to hold the responsibilities. At the end, I realized that held that position was not that bad. Preparation and the Drama I don't know how many times I cried during the preparations, almost everything was unexpected. If people thought that it was very enjoyable to have a chance to US, I would say "yes it looks enjoyable but everything behind it was miserable". And here I would like to share the miserable experiences that we faced during the preparation time. First, usually in a model united nations we formed a delegation that consist of more than 6 members. And this year, our MUN club appointed six members to join the Harvard National Model United Nations, the conference that I attend in US. But in the end we got only four, because some withdrawals from other three members. Luckily there is one other member that would like to join us. Don't you know why? Because to flying there we need money that becoming problems to most of the members. Second, we should prepare everything in only four months. It seems a long time but in reality it was a very short time for preparing such journey. In four months you have to practice, to apply visa, to buy ticket, to look for sponsors, to accomplish the registration, to find accommodation, to plan itinerary, etc. Beside it, I also still needed to accomplish your hardest semester ever in college since I still took a role as chief of editor in my student press organization and still going on an annual magazine project. Splendid and overwhelming! That's the two miserable things that I think have represented all because the rest are wonderful things! Who would not be happy to see Liberty Statue? Who would not be happy to stand in the middle of the crowd of Times Square? Who would not be happy to visit UN Headquarters? Who would not be happy to visit the best university in the world, MIT and Harvard University? I am more than happy. Dear Spring, You know that I couldn't meet you last year. But then the world is so kind to me, giving me a chance to see you with your magical colors and the beautiful blooming flowers. I truly adore you. See you again in the right time. Sincerely, Me Last year, I was quite disappointed not able to meet you, Spring. And apparently, God listened to my words then this year I made it true. I am so grateful to have an opportunity to see through my own eyes the magical color of spring, the blue sky of this flower blooms time.
Around 7 A.M In a cloudy morning on Wednesday (8/4), I was in hurry to go to Balairung building of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), since one of the committee of the conference I'd attend at that day already sent me a message that remind the participants to register at 7 AM at the latest. And as the consequence, if the participants didn't register on time, the seat will be given to waiting list participants. Indeed, I didn't want to lose my seat at that time, that's why I was sincerely to be in hurry to catch the registration booth. Why I attend this conference? On January (during the vacation in Bandung), I and Azka visited Museum of Asia Africa Conference. In my own perspective, It is a remarkable museum. I was amazed by the A-Z explanation about the conference , including about Bandung Spirit. And I have been still amazed by the awesomeness of the museum up until now. And one day around March, I saw a poster about Bandung Conference and Beyond that was arranged by Institute of International Studies (IIS) UGM in collaboration with Queensland University . And FYI, what catching my attention is the opening speech would be presented by Foreign Affairs Minister of Republic Indonesia, Madam Retno Marsudi (In my opinion she is prettily awesome). Without too much ba bi bu, I register myself to the conference. After the conference Honestly, it's my first conference about International Studies. A lot of new terms that I didn't know the exact definition were flying around the conference room. But that is what make it special, I learned a lot of new things here, one of them is how the perspective of international studies about economics. Even though in that room I was a-kind-of-intruder (the only economics student in a pool of international studies students) , overall It was such an unforgettable experience. Dear Spring,
I should have seen you around this end of April. I had a hope to see you in Strasbourg, France but I failed to get the chance though. But for sure I'll get another chance next spring. Yours sincerely, Nela Navida If I ask everyone in the world to mention one of the most beautiful city in the world, I can guess, that Istanbul will be raised on more than one among all the answers. In my opinion, Istanbul is a perfect recipe that God has created. The combination of the history, nature, weather, geography, and many more could captivate your heart. You'll dare to spend your time by sitting on the side of the coast to see Bosphorus strait, cross the strait by Kabatas-Uskudar ferry to enjoy sunset, or maybe just chilling out by walking along Taksim. When I asked my friends about what-to-do in Taksim, they only gave me a clue to do shopping. Yet, somehow I have to admit that I am not a kind-of-shopping-person. The thing is I don't have money. What else to do? But in the end, I went to Taksim for a walk, just to chill out. And it was good. I could hear Turkish typical music along the way, to see local people enjoying cay with their friends, and for me it's a good time to imagine the ancient Constantinople while walking Taksim street. :D
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Nela Navidacurrently is passionate economics student who has strong willingness to travel the world. Archives
April 2015
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