One Step Closer - Pengalaman Wawancara Beasiswa LPDP 2014

udah dua hari ini galau banget mikirin jawaban-jawaban dan spekulasi spekulasi semu di otak akibat wawancara beasiswa yang hasilnya entah kapan akan diketahui.. namun dari pada galau berkelanjutan meningan gw nulis, karena nulis merupakan terapi galau yang sangat efektif

begini ceritanya....

Teringat ketika pertengahan bulan Januari 2014, ditengah malam buta di Kota Oslo yang saat itu masih Musim Dingin, aku yang saat itu ditugaskan untuk menemani para delegasi dari Jakarta, ikut menginap di Wisma Duta KBRI Oslo, para tamu menginap di lantai atas, sementara aku menginap di lantai bawah sendirian, suasanya yang sunyi membuat aku berpikir "ah dari pada gue diem meningan gue nulis essay buat beasiswa LPDP" dengan bermodal pemikiran iseng itu, mulailah kuketik tiga buah essay yang berjudul "Sukses Terbesar Dalam Hidupku", "Peranku Bagi Indonesia", dan "Rencana Studi" yang merupakan syarat untuk diterima sebagai penerima Beasiswa LPDP (lebih jelasnya silahkan lihat www.lpdp.depkeu.go.id)

setelah mengunggah semua dokumen dan essay, aku menunggu, satu bulan.. dua bulan kunjung tidak ada kabar bahkan sampai bulan maret 2014 aku tidak kunjung mendapatkan undangan untuk wawancara walaupun di akun LPDP tertulis bahwa aplikasi beasiswaku sudah di proses pada bulan Februari 2014. disana aku berpikir "ah sudahlah, mungkin bukan rejeki gue". dari situ aku sudah mulai tidak menunggu kabar lagi karena kemungkinan besar aplikasiku di tolak. lalu pada tanggal 7 April 2014, tepat jam 6 pagi ketika aku membuka mata, seperti biasa hal yang pertama aku lakukan adalah mengecek Handphoneku, "eh ada 3 email masuk", aku yang tadinya masih mengantuk langsung terbelalak ketika melihat tulisan (LPDP)-Informasi Wawancara Calon Penerima Beasiswa, Alhamdulillah bersyukur kepada Allah sang pencipta karena Dia mendengarkan doa-doa dan mimpi-mimpi seorang anak bangsa ini.

pada tanggal 9 April 2014 Aku mendapatkan Undangan resmi berupa list calon penerima beasiswa, aku mendapat giliran wawancara pada hari Sabtu, jam 9:20 WIB yang berarti pukul 4:20 waktu Oslo, saat itu perasaan sudah mulai tak menentu. ku buka lagi essay yang telah ku buat, kubaca berkali-kali rencana studi yang telah aku buat agar aku dapat berargumen dengan percaya diri di depan para interviewer nanti, didalam hati aku terus berkata "bismillahirrohmanirrohiiim, ya Allah untuk kali ini mohon dengarkan impian hambaMu ini"

tanggal 11 April, sehari sebelum wawancara pulang kantor tepat pukul 5 sore dengan tujuan untuk tidur agar dapat bangun tepat pukul 3 dini hari pada tanggal 12, ku coba pejamkan mata tapi tidak bisa.. sampai jam 11 Malam aku masih terbangun karena kepikiran apa nanti yang harus aku katakan, serangkaian kata perkenalan dalam bahasa inggris telah aku siapkan, juga rangkaian jawaban tentang rencana kegiatan yang aku lakukan jika lulus s2 nanti", tapi jam 11 akhirnya aku teler juga.. sampai jam 3 Alarm handphone ku berbunyi.. tak lama kemudian miss call dari Ibuku juga berdering, ibuku memang wanti-wanti agar jangan kebablasan, sehingga beliau sengaja meneleponku agar anaknya dapat di wawancara tanpa ada masalah.

Saat itu aku pakai baju yang terbaik yang kupunya, tak lupa minyak wangi, walaupun sebenarnya mereka tidak akan mencium aroma apapun karena wawancara dilakukan melalui teleconfrence hehe..tapi PD aja.
akhirnya waktu menunjukkan pukul 4:20, tapi aku tak kunjung mendapatkan telepon dari pihak LPDP melalui skype, aku mulai galau, namun kegalauanku hilang ketika pukul 4:38 tiba-tba ada incoming call masuk dari LPDP, dengan mengucap bismillahirrohmanirrohim aku angkat telepon itu.

jreeng.. terlihatlah 3 orang pewawancara, 2 orang diantaranya adalah pria sepertinya dosen dan satu orang adalah wanita yang sangat ramah menyapaku, setelah melakukan cek suara dan tidak ada masalah tanpa basa basi mereka langsung memintaku untuk memperkenalkan diri, setelah itu mereka bertanya mengenai hal-hal yang tertulis dalam essay seperti apa kontribusi anda untuk Indonesia, Seberapa besar chance anda untuk diterima di universitas, juga mengenai keuntungan mempelajari bidang studi yang akan saya ambil, selain itu satu orang wanita yang tampaknya seorang psikolog juga menanyakan hal-hal pribadi seperti tempat aku bekerja dulu, beliau bertanya mengapa aku bekerja di restoran cepat saji dan pekerjaan orang tua dan sebagainya. wawancara berlangsung selama 28 menit, lebih cepat dari yang dijadwalkan 45 menit.

terakhir pewawancara mengucapkan "semoga sukses"yang aku interpreteasikan ke berbagai hal dan ini sangat menggalaukan haha

saat ini aku menunggu pengumuman dari pihak LPDP , apapun hasilnya.. bismillahirrohmanirrohiiim semoga itu yang terbaik untuk jalanku di masa yang akan datang.. namun apapun hasilnya aku akan tetap berbakti untuk negeri tercinta, Indonesia

Mass Transportations in oslo

I am quite sure many of you have experience about Bus or Angkot driver who having bad deeds speeding in the road or they instinct to wait for the passengers until the buss become full that lead you to come late to destination, however if you guys come to Oslo, I am pretty sure such things are least likely to be happened, Today I’d like to share with you about mass transportations in Oslo, I hope it can help you to add some knowledge in your head that useful if someday you visit Oslo.
In Oslo, Mass transportations take a significant role to all Oslo citizens in their daily life, most of Oslo citizens use mass transportation for shuttling from place to place instead of driving a car  because they feel comfortable with mass transportation and the parking fee is immensely expensive. Unlike transportation system in some countries that don’t have time estimation display in their bus stops, in Oslo we can estimate when the bus or train will come, and of course, they will not wait until the bus become full that caused to come late.
In Norway, there are some companies that provide mass transportation such as Ruter, NSB, etc. however in Oslo most of Buses, Trem and T-bane (Subway), are maintained by Ruter company, in other words we don’t have to purchase numerous number of tickets to be able to ride all transportations in Oslo, we need only one ticket that valid for all transportation, cool huh ?

Purchasing tickets
Purchasing mass transportation tickets in Oslo is easy, we can purchase the tickets in some convenience stores that spread over the city, furthermore we can purchase it online using our cellular phone, the price for all mass transportations in Oslo are vary depending on which zone we are travelling to. However, if you want only travel around inside Oslo, the price is 30 Kroner (if we buy it previously in the stores) and 50 Kroner (if we buy it on the bus). even though the controller who check whether your ticket is valid or not are rarely come to the bus, I’d suggest not to do cheating because once you get arrested, you will have to pay about 1,5x price for the normal price.

Bus
It’s not hard to find bus stops in Oslo, we can find them along the road very easily, the system is basically same with they do in Indonesia, which they sort of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), the buses stop in every stops to take in or drop off the passengers. Unlike bus in Indonesia, inside the bus you there are no conductors who  checking your ticket, most of passengers in Oslo having self awareness to not do cheating, they naturally beep the ticket when they enter the bus. it’s a must to press the red button in front of you before you take off the buss otherwise the buss won’t stop. I have a funny but annoying experience about this button when first time I come to Oslo last year,  I didn’t press the button instead of asking the driver to open the door, the driver then stop driving and walked over me, roaring while say pointing a button in front of me with Norwegian language. Well sorry sir, I am new here.


Trem
Trem is a sort of other transportation in Oslo that resemble like a tran which run in their own rail, we can ride this transportation with firstly waiting at the trem stops that usually situated close to the bus stops, the system is not different to the bus  

T-Bane

The Oslo Metro (Norwegian: Oslo T-bane or Oslo Tunnelbane or simply T-banen) is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Oslo T-banedrift on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of six lines that all run through the city centre, with a total length of 80 kilometres (50 mi). It has a daily ridership of 221,917 (2011)^[2] with 95 stations of which 16 are underground or indoors. In addition to serving 14 out of the 15 boroughs of Oslo (all except St. Hanshaugen), two lines run to Bærum.
The first rapid transit line, the Holmenkoll Line, opened in 1898, with the branch Røa Line opening in 1912. It became the first Nordic underground railway in 1928 when the underground line to Nationaltheatret was opened. The Sognsvann Line opened in 1934 and the Kolsås Line in 1942. The opening of the upgraded T-bane system on the east side of town occurred in 1966, after the conversion of the 1957 Østensjø Line, followed by the new Lambertseter Line, the Grorud Line and the Furuset Line; in 1993 trains ran under the city between the two networks in the Common Tunnel, followed by the 2006 opening of the Ring Line. All the trains are operated with MX3000 stock. These replaced the older T1000 stock between 2006 and 2010.

The magnificent city of Copenhagen.

 The magnificent city of Copenhagen.
 
After spending time for almost sixteen hours inside a huge yacht we were finally arrived in Copenhagen. the environment, building, language and atmosphere weren't really different comparing to Oslo, however   I could see the tourist that come to this city was somehow more crowded,  people walked around for shopping or just taking picture in the walking street which located in the centrum . the weather was very good and the sun was shining brightly so that we could walk around without fear of chilling.
People in Denmark speak Dansk which is similar to Norwegian language in spelling but different in pronunciation  though in Denmark they use exactly the same alphabet like the Norwegian is.  
We didn't spend so much time in Copenhagen because the yacht  had to sailed back to Oslo  at five o clock so that  Mr. Theo, the group leader had warned us to gather at the meeting point at three o clock, otherwise they'll go back to Oslo without us

We were walking around without knowing where we going and what to do, the only thing that I know was to eat Scrumptious fried Chicken In KFC restaurant that I've been missed to eating this chicken since I left my coutry besides, I can't find such restaurant in Oslo.

 we were a group with six people, yoza, iqbal, rahmadi, vivin, wisnu, and amin. Except wisnu and vivin who are a couple, the group was full with single mans. Mrs. Vivin had a friend who was very helpful, he helped us to get free entrance tickets. and because of that we decided to go to Tivoli, a big amusement park that provided many games and rides. Even though the entrance tickets were free, we had to pay for entrance tickets to be able to ride that rides.

At five, the yacht finally set off back to Oslo, I had fallen asleep, and so did my room mates because we felt so tired after a long long journey, however we couldn't really sleep because we had to attend a dinner invitation from Ms. ambassador at half past five in the afternoon

Inside the restaurant was very bright and luxurious, the foods were served perfectly and the foods looked so scrumptious. For me it's a very rare experience that I would never get every day, so I didn't want to waste this chance, I had ate as much as I could until I couldn't eat anymore because too full.

There were two Jacuzzis  and one pool in the deck ten, they were located in outside part of the deck, the weather was so cold and the wind was blow strongly at the time, but I still decide to swim.
I was initially dipped my foots into the water to check if the whether it's warm, the plunged to the pool without with excitement and swum for several minutes, on the other hand, two sides of jacuzzi were full with people who had enjoyed the facility as they bring alcohol with them to the jacuzzi, the worst thing was they didn't clean up the cans and bottles they used and abandoned it in made the Jacuzzi  looked very dirty with cans garbage

Thirty minutes later, I eventually could dip my body to the jacuzzi, I was ruled the jacuzzi and feel like that's my own because no one but me used the jacuzzi.

Cold weather combined with warm water that dipped half of my body make a very good sensation that I've never felt before, there were no stars at the night but I could see the lights were twinkling from the building in the island that could still visible from our yacht. This such a dream come true, though I haven't been dreaming about going to Copenhagen in my life.

The yacht kept going farther and the night was became much colder, I felt tired and laid my body down in a narrow bed. Two of my room mates had fallen asleep and snoring, and it's my turn to go bed, and of course always hoping for good and new great adventure in next days.

Mistery of hovedøya island in Oslo

Last week I went to a little island named hovedøya which can be reached 5 minutes by boat from oslo mainland, this island is situated in very good atmosphere for those who like sunbathing, near to the beach I could find the historical ruins of past monarchy from medieval century, and tells interesting story, hovedøya monastery, in 1147 a prior and twelve indealistic monks disembarked on the island of hovedøya. They had made the north sea crossing from their parent monastery at Krikstead in Lincolnshire, England, to make their home in this northen outpost of the Christian faith. there was already a small wooden chruch on the verdant little island, so some benedictine monks may have preceded them.

Under the rules of their order Cistercian monks were not permitted to live on the fruits of other people’s labour. They had themselves to grow what they needed and were barred from accepting revenue from land leased to tenant farmers; they were also enjoined to live apart from the world, and not to become members of the property-owning class. Those were the ideals, and for the first few years the monks of Hovedøya strove to live up to them. They cultivated the land themselves and divided the day into three parts – work, prayer and rest. But before long they were compelled to compromise on some of their ideals and employ lay brothers to work for them. In the 1160s, when they accepted two tenant farms as a gift from the bishop, the monks renounced their principles entirely. In the generations that followed the property owned by the monastery increased by leaps and bounds, and from about 1400 onwards the monks were able to live exclusively on their frankalmoign revenues. By then the monastery owned land all over eastern Norway and ruled over a range of stoutly constructed buildings on the island.
Monastic life on hovedøya came to dramatic close in the winter of 1531-32. The chief administrative officer of the Akerhus region, mogens gyldenstierne, had Lutheran learnings and nurtured little respect fir monastic orders, in November he despatched his men to the monastery with instruction to seize all the food they could find. Later king Chirstian II’s servant arrived and demanded the handling over all the monastery’s valuables. January of the following year witnessed the last act : the abbot was dragged naked from his bed in the middle of the night and incarcerated in akerhus castle, while Gyldsenstierne’s men stripped both church and monastery of everything of value. By April all the monks had fled and the monastery was transformed into a defensive bastion for King christian’s men. To deny it to the enemy, Frederick I’s warriors set fire to the monastery, and it was never rebuilt, its stones being employed to enlarge akerhus castle

Ramadhan in Oslo

When The holy month of Ramadhan has arrived, I am pretty sure most people in my country will be very busy preparing their needs during fasting period, in Indonesia, the night before Ramadhan will be very crowded, not only the mosques but also all department stores and supermarkets will be packed with people who need to prepare for the coming month.

However, Since moving to Norway seven months ago, this will be the first time that i can compare the differences between living in a Muslim country and a non Muslim country. I used to fast around 14-15 hours in Indonesia. Nevertheless, here in Norway the fasting during the time of Ramadhan is much more longer in summer, 21 hours  that make me terrifying and wondering how can I survive without foods and water for almost one full day. Today I would like to share my first ramadhan day in Oslo.

The Mosque of grøndland

in an attempt to make my own Ramadhan environment, I cycled to the mosque which is located in grøndland, this is the first time that I had entered the mosque in Oslo since coming to Norway Actually I always wanted to go to the mosque, but I never find the right time and they say the “Imam” speaks in neither Norwegian nor English, I couldn’t recognize what language that was, but I guess  that was urdhu. I did  Zuhur and stayed for a while trying to understand what the “Imam” says, but it was almost impossible, so I went out of the mosque and continued my journey.

Making candil 

Suddenly I had an idea to make Indonesian food which is usually served as appetizer when fasting time is up, this food called candil. Usually my mom used to make  it for me, but this time I have to struggle to make it myself, very challenging and I love to do new experiences  I have never done before and another reason is  because candil is my favorite food during Ramadhan. The appearance of candil is like soup but it is sweet and you might consider it as  dessert instead of appetizer. Inside the food you can find chewy balls that is the most deadly delicious ever .  To make this food I had to go to Asian market around Brugata and bought a sweet potatoes and glutinous flour as basic material to make the dough. I immediately processed the material to make dough, and put them in boiled water. Friend of mine who live togheter with me seems so curious and had been watching me making candil, I couldn’t  taste my own food since I am on fast, fortunately  she’s very kind and helpful and help me tasted the foods even I couldn’t guarantee her that my food is scrumptious. when fasting time is up, we ate together and today’s fasting has been successfully conducted and realized that 21 hours fasting wasn't as difficult as my imagination

The most recommended cuisines from Bandung

Bandung is the city in West Java Indonesia that surrounded by mountains, this city also known as the capital city of West Java which the occupants in this area speaking in Indonesian Language and Sundanese language as local language. Bandung also known as fashion city, people from Jakarta usually spend their weekend in Bandung for shopping in the factory outlets that spread around Bandung, and of course the prices are much reasonable than Jakarta. Even Indonesia has many kinds of cuisine that very yummy and strongly recommended for you, you don’t need to go anywhere if it’s about cuisine because in Bandung you can find many kinds of scrumptious cuisines, not only Bandung traditional foods but you can also find cuisines from all regions in Indonesia with very cheap prices and yummy of course. Alright guys! let me share about these cheap delightful cuisines in Bandung.

NASI BAKAR (Grilled Rice)

Grilled rice

This cuisine is served with cucumbers, Piece of grilled rooster, Perkedel Jagung, sambel terasi and special grilled rice that covered with banana leaf. Very delicious and strongly recommended if you come to Bandung!. this cuisine only costs USD 1.5 including beverage. I usually eat Nasi bakar in the place behind of Gedung sate Bandung, Oh GOD!!! I wish I were in Bandung today so I can eat this!

NASI GORENG ( Fried Rice)

Fried rice

Maybe, Nasi goreng is the most popular Indonesian cuisine in the world, because every time I travelling to another countries Nasi goreng is well known by the occupants in those countries. Usually Indonesian people  eat nasi goreng for breakfast. However, maybe it’s weird for western culture for eating rice for breakfast. One day I enjoyed nasi goreng for breakfast and my flat mate in Oslo think that I crazy :D

The prices is vary depending on the restaurant usually it costs around USD 1-2 or more than that if you choose luxury restaurant. however I am recommending you to buy Nasi goreng in walk side because two reason, first more delicious and original taste and second, Cheaper than restaurant. But still, you must be carefully and selective to find clean and safe place. 

SOTO BANDUNG

Soto Bandung

As its name, this cuisine is originally from Bandung Served with beef slices, peanut, horseradish with salty soup. This is very delicious!

BATAGOR 

Bakso Tahu Goreng (Batagor)

Batagor is abbreviation words from Bakso Tahu Goreng, this is the most popular cuisine in Bandung, never say that you have been to Bandung if you didn’t eat this cuisine!. Batagor is served with peanut sauce with lime liquid that very yummy!.

Actually, there are many more cuisines that I should introduce to you. Nevertheless I will share with you little by little due to my time J. Okaay feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my beautiful city, Bandung. Finally, I Hope you enjoy this blog