This weekend, I went eating out to a restaurant, called Gelbes Krokodil. Here was the restaurant where I tried my very first Wiener-Schnitzel, one of typical foods in Austria. And I love it! The bread crumps tasted really great in my mouth. It was crunchy and delicious. My friend tried the semmelknodel, but I couldn't taste it well because there are pork in it. So I just tried the dumpling. But overall, it was a nice experience. If there is a question, am I willing to come back? I don't know because somehow it's quite expensive for me (an honest answer :p). Yet, if I miss the taste of the schnitzel, I am willing to spare some money to eat there again, definitely!

As a price-sensitive consumer, it's really important for me to match money that I spend with the satisfaction that I'll get. After five days researching where the best place to eat out this weekend, I and a friend of mine decided to go to Mongolian BBQ that is located in Arcade, Landstrasse, Linz. It was written on the Google Maps review that the price for mittagbuffet (buffet in the afternoon) is only 9.9€. But after touched down the place, it has apparently changed to 12.9€! Remembering that it's got 4.5/5 star in Google Maps review, I didn't have any other excuse other than price not to try this restaurant.

Well, there are two kinds of buffet here which depends on the time you come to the restaurant. As you can see, mittagbuffet is cheaper than deluxe buffet (17.00-22.00). They are cheaper because there is no 'special menu' served at the mid day time.

Since it's our first time visiting this restaurant, we asked the waitress to explain us about how the buffet works (we don't want to get lost #haha). Fortunately, we got a kind waitress to explain us about everything in English. So, lucky you Mongolian BBQ, you got my thumbs up for this. Well all they said are, with mittagbuffet we'll get everything starting from appetizer, main course until the dessert.
The appetizers that they serve are quite varied. There are salad, soups, some sushi and maki, and some sort of deep fried foods as well. Then for the main course, which is the BBQ itself, we can have chicken, turkey, kangaroo, lamb, beef, pork, salmon, tuna, cod, squid, and prown. The good thing that I can tell you is we have more six choices of the sauces (or you can just let your meat cook without sauce). And for the dessert, I think they are pretty generous to serve various kind of dessert such as ice cream, pudding (with four choices of taste), fruits, muffin, tiramisu cake, and many others.

Appetizers

For the taste of the appetizers, I would say they got 4/5. I like the fried potatoes and the chicken wings they serve, it was crispy and quite fresh. The sushi and maki was okay for me, it was so so because for me personally it's not that fresh but somehow they serve it really well (big slice of salmon, sushi with caviar in different colors). And for the appetizers, I also tried the miso soup they serve. It's a bit too salty but still okay because I can still enjoy the seaweed within which they put them (seaweed) generously.

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.

My first visit to Flea Market, Linz,

One of our interviewee who is living in one of district in Linz, named Solar City

The nice family that I told in one of the paragraphs

My team in cultural sensitivity class

Dear readers,

I am here writing about my experience trying free Doha city tour, a complimentary tour that is provided by Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism Authority for the passengers who's got layover more than 6 hours. I would say that the process to register until to get on the tour is quite simple. The hard part is to find the best schedule of the flight. To get this tour, I should choose the schedule which has 13 hours layover. It was quite long, right? But somehow, when you do have time, it's nice to enjoy chilling out to a place where you never touch down before (and for free). Without further due, I'll tell you how to get this chance. So, basically there are three steps to be able to enjoy this free city tour.

1. Register your self to the Doha city tour desk. The place is quite strategic. So, when you have touched down Hamad International Airport (after the security check), just go straight to the main hall, where the giant bear is sitting there. Then, go find the way to gate B, there you will find the desk. You will see that it is lying between WHSmith and Mont Blanc. And about the tour schedules they provide four different schedules (08.00, 11.00, 16.00, and 19.00). When I talked to the staff who works on the desk, they said that most of customers prefer to choose the latest schedule to avoid the heat.

2. Immigration check in. You don't have to be worry about the visa fees, they provide it for you, guys *smile*. The thing you need to worry about is whether you are eligible to enter Qatar or not. And I was quite surprised to see the waiting line of the immigration was incredibly long. I spent around 30 minutes to eventually get my passport stamped. Maybe that's why to be able to enjoy this tour you need to have around 6 hours layover. Because you will spend a lot of time in waiting for the immigration (either check in or check out).

3. You have done all of the two previous steps? Then, you can just get to the bus and enjoy the free city tour. They will bring you to four spots like Old Harbor, Katara Cultural Village, Pearl of Qatar and Sauq Waqif. In Old Harbor you can see skyline of Doha and also Islamic Art Museum. Then in Katara Cultural Village, you will see a building which looks like pineapple. Unfortunately, at that time I didn't get out to see the details. But if you read Eric Weiner's book of 'Geography of Bliss', you will notice this is the place where he found out the proof that the culture of Qatar is actually imported off the shelf *cmiiiw*. The next destination you will reach is Pearl of Qatar, here you will see luxurious things (residence, shopping center, etc). Then the last thing you will enjoy is walking around the traditional market of Doha, Sauq Waqif.

To find out more about the details like the schedule you can see in this following link: http://www.qatarairways.com/global/en/offers/doha-city-tour.page

I will also provide a video and photos, so you can visually imagine how is the tour going to be like. Enjoy!

Old Harbor

Still in old harbor

Skyline of Doha

Pearl of Qatar, where the Kings of Oil live

Museum of Islamic Art

One of spots in Sauq Waqif

One of spots in Sauq Waqif (2)

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.

The gate of Johannes Kepler University

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.

Dear Readers!

Di sini saya akan berbagi pengalaman saya ketika mengajukan visa Amerika Serikat tanpa bantuan agen perjalanan. Kira-kira bulan Januari 2016 silam, saya mengajukan aplikasi visa tersebut untuk keperluan konferensi Harvard National Model United Nations 2016 di Boston, MA, Amerika Serikat. Prosesnya tidak terlalu lama tetapi cukup menegangkan. Saya sampai tidak bisa tidur karena takut pengajuan visa saya ditolak sebab konon visa Amerika Serikat adalah visa tersulit dan memiliki tingkat penolakan tertinggi. Akan tetapi berkat rahmat Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, pengajuan ini cukup lancar tanpa halangan yang mengganggu. Tidak perlu berlama-lama, saya akan langsung kembali pada topik utama yaitu cara apply visa Amerika Serikat yang akan saya ceritakan menjadi tiga bagian (langkah 1, langkah 2, dan langkah 3). Let's check it out!

LANGKAH 1 

• Niatkan keberangkatan Anda ke Amerika Serikat, entah itu untuk mengunjungi sanak saudara, diundang konferensi, atau apapun itu. Sebab jika Anda tidak terlalu berniat mengunjungi negara Adi Daya ini, Anda hanya akan membuang-buang waktu, pikiran, dan uang. Oiya, artikel ini saya buat khusus untuk visa non-imigran, jadi kalau Anda mengajukan visa imigran, mohon segera beralih mencari keyword lain di google.
• Tentukan jenis visa yang Anda butuhkan. Dalam kategori visa non-imigran umum, kira-kira ada lebih dari 20 jenis. Untuk lebih lengkapnya Anda bisa cek di link berikut [jenis-jenis visa non-imigran umum]. Jangan lupa untuk memilih jenis visa yang sesuai dengan keadaan Anda.
• Tidak seperti visa lainnya yang umumnya dibayarkan setelah wawancara, visa Amerika Serikat mewajibkan applicant untuk melakukan pembayaran sebelumnya. Bahkan, pembayaran biaya visa ini adalah syarat untuk Anda bisa menjadwalkan waktu wawancara. Sebelum Anda melakukan pembayaran, Anda diwajibkan untuk membuat profil di website ini. Pemohon visa akan diminta mengisi formulir sesuai yang diminta di dalamnya. Di sinilah Anda harus memasukkan keterangan jenis visa apa yang Anda ajukan. Penampakan websitenya kira-kira begini:

• Di akhir pengisian profil, Anda akan menemui pilihan metode pembayaran. Terdapat dua tipe pembayaran yakni EFT dan Cash Payment. Nanti Anda akan mendapatkan deposit slip yang di dalamnya ada virtual number yang akan digunakan untuk pembayaran. Berdasarkan pengalaman, saya menggunakan cash payment yang dilakukan di Bank CIMB Niaga. Melakukan cash payment di CIMB Niaga cukup mudah, kita hanya tinggal memberikan deposit slip dan otomatis akan langsung diproses dan kita akan mendapatkan semacam bukti pembayaran. Jangan lupa simpan bukti pembayaran karena ini sangatlah penting untuk mengakses laman pengaturan jadwal wawancara serta untuk dokumen pendukung saat wawancara di Kedutaan Amerika Serikat. 
• Jika kamu sudah sampai pada tahap ini, tunggu kurang lebih 24 jam untuk pemrosesan pembayaranmu. Setelah jangka waktu ini, nomor bukti pembayaranmu akan kamu bisa gunakan untuk mengakses laman pengaturan jadwal wawancara. Dengan cara masuk kembali ke website ini. Pilihlah jadwal sesuai dengan kondisimu, jangan sampai kamu tidak bisa hadir karena uangmu akan terbuang sia-sia (non-refundable). Jika sudah sampai tahap ini, langkah pertamamu sudah selesai.                                            

Chungnam National University ketika Spring berlangsung diambil dari http://www.uq.edu.au/uqabroad/images/_partners/chungnam-national-university.jpg

Setelah dua tahun berlalu akhirnya saya menyempatkan diri untuk menuliskan pengalaman mengenai pengalaman saya melakukan summer school di Chungnam National University yang berada di Kota Daejeon, Korea Selatan. Saya rasa ini perlu dilakukan untuk berbagi pengalaman kepada teman-teman yang barangkali tertarik untuk mengikuti summer school di Korea Selatan, bertemu oppa-oppa sarangheo.

Perjalanan summer school ke Korea Selatan ini berawal ketika saya menemukan sebuah pengumuman di website international office kampus saya (www.oia.ugm.ac.id).Ketika itu saya masih duduk di semester 2, dan iseng-iseng mencoba mendaftar salah satu kesempatan untuk summer school karena program yang ditawarkan kebetulan mem-provide scholarship  untuk akomodasi, jalan-jalan, makan, beserta biaya course sebesar 1200 USD. Lumayan kan?

Saat itu persyaratan terdiri dari:

• Application Form 
• Curriculum Vitae
• Motivation Letter
• Official Academic Transcript
• English proficiency certificate (Toefl ITP=550 , IBT 8.0 or IELTS 6.0)
• Student Enrollment from faculty
• Letter of recommendation from faculty and or supervisior
• Copy of passport

Dan deadlinenya hanya 1 minggu setelah diumumkannya kesempatan ini. Ketahuilah saudara-saudara, seperti ini sangat wajar. Ketika itu saya menjadi pendaftar terakhir yaitu urutan ke-20 dari seluruh pendaftar yang ada dengan kondisi kantor OIA hampir saja ditutup. Melihat pendaftar cukup banyak, saya pulang ke kos hanya dengan perasaan pasrah.

Satu minggu kemudian, saya mendapat sms dari akademik kampus bahwa saya mendapatkan surat dari OIA. Saya sempat mengabaikan surat itu selama seminggu, sampai akhirnya pihak akademik kampus kembali menghubungi. Karena penasaran, akhirnya saya ke ruangan akademik dan mengambil surat tersebut. Ketika membuka surat tersebut, rasanya perut mulas dan ada sesuatu menggelitik yang membahagiakan, "Aku lolos!" Dan ternyata hanya dua orang saja yang dinominasikan untuk bisa mengikuti summer school tersebut . Bahagiapun bertambah ketika mengetahui bahwa saya juga mendapatkan beasiswa sejumlah 1200 USD tersebut. 

Akan tetapi yang masih harus dipikirkan adalah tiket pesawat. Mencoba memutar otak, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk berburu sponsorship meskipun waktu hanya terbatas. Tidak lupa, saya menghubungi delegasi selain saya yang dinominasikan untuk mengikuti summer school, saya berdiskusi dengan kakak tersebut dan akhirnya disarankan untuk mencoba mengajukan permohonan bantuan dana ke direktorat kemahasiswaan dan keluarga alumni. Di samping dua instansi tersebut, saya juga mengajukan ke Garuda Indonesia. Alhamdulillah, ada respon positif dari ketiganya sehingga bisa meringankan beban tiket pesawat yang harus ditanggung. 

Sebulan sebelum keberangkatan kira-kira bulan Juni, setelah ujian akhir semester berlangsung mau tidak mau saya harus mengurus visa. Di sini visa saya awalnya akan mengurus di travel agent, tetapi karena cukup mahal akhirnya mengurus sendiri tetapi tidak ke Jakarta. Nahloh, gimana? Soal visa saya akan bahas secara rinci pada postingan blog berikutnya. Awalnya deg-deg an sekali karena konon membuat visa Korea Selatan cukup sulit karena ya..sulit. Syarat-syarat cukup banyak. Tetapi setelah dilalui ternyata hal tersebut bisa dikatakan tidak sepenuhnya benar. Asal syarat lengkap insyaAllah amaan. 

Setelah visa beres, akhirnya tanggal 17 Juli 2014 akhirnya menerbangkan diri menuju Incheon, Korea Selatan dan melanjutkan perjalanan ke Daejeon yang berjarak 300 km (kurang) dari Incheon. Di sana baru merasakan bahwa summer ternyata memang panas, dan yang lebih mengerikan lagi saya benar-benar tidak bisa berbahasa Korea. Sebelum berangkat hanya sedikit-sedikit belajar membaca hangeul. Setelah sampai di terminal Daejeon, saya langsung menuju ke salah satu taksi dan menunjukkan tulisan hangeul yang sudah disiapkan oleh pihak Chungnam National University, dan akhirnya saya diantar menuju asrama Chungnam National University.

Setelah sejenak istirahat di asrama, malam harinya saya dan delegasi satu kampus lainnya bertemu dengan teman-teman dari universitas lain dari berbagai negara, ada dari Jepang, Turki, Jerman, China, Cheko, Amerika Serikat, Hongkong, dan masih banyak lagi. 

Perpustakaan Chungnam National University

Welcoming Dinner

Hi readers! Pertama, yang saya ingin sampaikan adalah permohonan maaf karena tidak bisa menjawab satu per satu comment yang masuk. Nah yang pasti di sini saya akan mencoba merangkum semua pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang muncul mengenai program AIESEC Global Youth Ambassador Program. Berhubung saya waktu itu berangkat pada awal tahun 2014 dan sekarang sudah tahun 2016, ada baiknya saya juga akan menyesuaikan alur pendaftaran dan seleksi AIESEC Global Youth Ambassador Program yang paling update.

Nah sekarang, Global Youth Ambassador Program sudah tidak ada. Jangan khawatir! Tidak ada bukan berarti secara keberadaaannya, melainkan namanya sekarang sudah berubah menjadi Global Citizens. Program ini memberikan kesempatan kepada teman-teman untuk mengembangkan kepemimpinan dan entrepreneurial melalui kegiatan sosial atau volunteering di luar negeri dengan durasi waktu 6 - 12 minggu. Dalam program ini umumnya tidak digaji namun seringkali diberikan fasilitas tempat tinggal dan makanan sehari-hari.

Apa saja sih program volunteering yang bisa dilakukan oleh teman-teman? Di sini nanti teman-teman bisa memilih sesuai dengan apa yang menjadi minat teman-teman. Mulai dari pendidikan, kemiskinan, lingkungan, human right, dan masih banyak lagi bisa teman-teman pilih.

Dari pengalaman saya di tahun 2014 saya mengikuti project di bidang human rights dengan mengajar siswa-siswa di Pusat Rehabilitasi People with Disability di Eskisehir, Turki. Dulu ketika saya mengikuti kegiatan ini hanya ada dua opsi, mau winter atau summer. Nah kalau sekarang, setelah saya bernostalgia, ternyata AIESEC juga menyediakan program Global Citizens untuk periode spring dan juga fall.


APA YANG HARUS DISIAPKAN UNTUK BISA MENGIKUTI PROGRAM GLOBAL CITIZENS?

• Follow akun-akun social media dari AIESEC terdekatmu

Ga mau ketinggalan info-info kayak gini kan? Ayuk buruan follow! ;)

• Coba kepo-kepo di www.aiesec.or.id  tentang prosedur dari pendaftaran program Global Citizens

Ada info-info macem begini nih

• Dare to register

• Bersiap untuk keberangkatan 

• Go!