Trondheim mulai terasa dingin..
brrrrr……mendung, ujan, angin..anginnya kenceng banget e..gak blaen2 iki…:(
Kalo lagi dingin gini, kayaknya enak kalo mlungker di kasur, selimutan tuebel, nonton TV seri tak bermutu, sambil nyeruput semangkok bakso pedhes bikinan bik Ijah..hehe..makk nyussss…
Hari ini, tepat sebulan lebih 8 hari saya berada di Norway. Alhamdulillah, sudah mulai betah dan terbiasa dengan dingin dan mahalnya negara yang bertetangga dekat dengan Kutub Utara iniĀ š
Singkat cerita, saya bisa nyampe dengan selamat di sini, adalah semata-mata atas prakarsa dan prakarya Tuhan Yang Maha Agung yang dilewatkan Nya melaluiĀ pemerintah Norway. Saya sekolah di NTNU (Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet) jurusan Chemical EngineeringĀ dengan beasiswa Quota Program. Beasiswa ini notabene adalah bantuan pendidikan dari pemerintah Norway untuk mahasiswa dari negara berkembang (mahasiswa kere tak berduit yang ngotot pengen sekolah gratisan-red) seperti saya. Bentuk bantuannya cukup unik, mencakup biaya hidup dan biaya kuliah (full scholarship)Ā dengan perbandinganĀ 60% loan dan sisanya berupa grant. Artinya, saya harus kembali ke Indonesia setelah tamat belajar, kalau mau pinjamannya digratiskan secara penuh. Kalau saya ndak mau pulang, saya harus kembalikan 60% itu. Tapi, selidik punya selidik, bisa dicicil selama 20 tahun lho! Wuih..sedeng sayaĀ udah nikahĀ dong..biar dibayar suami aja nanti..hihi..(ide gila tanpa dosa).
Sebelum saya apply beasiswa ini, saya udah pernah nyoba beberapa beasiswa lain, juga dari negara Eropa. Menurut pengalaman saya, Quota Program ini relatif lebih simpel dan nggak ribet. Seleksinya cuma dua tahap, pertama seleksi online dan kedua, seleksi dokumentasi. Udah, itu aja..ga pake interview.
Seleksi online, dilakukan lewat link berikut ini http://www.ntnu.no/international/master. Kalau ndak salah, aplikasi online untuk semester Autumn 2009 akan dibuka mulai 1 Oktober 2008. Seperti apa seleksinya? Gampang..tinggal isi biodata, jurusan yang diminati, skema funding yang Anda inginkan (mau self financed atau beasiswa) dan motivasi kenapa pengen sekolah di Norway. Kalau dapet ijin Tuhan untuk lolos, akan ada email dari International Office yang menyatakan bahwa Anda berhak lanjut ke putaran berikutnya (terakhir-red). Di seleksi kedua ini, Anda diwajibkan mengirimkan dokumen2 sebagai berikut ke International Office NTNU:
Yang membuat simpel, kita hanya mengirimkan satu set dokumen untuk apply universitas sekaligus beasiswa (prosesnya berjalan paralel).Ā Semua dokumen2 itu laluĀ Anda kirim ke Norway, bisa pake DHL, FedEx atau PT Pos. Kalo mau murah, ya jangan pake DHL dan FedEx (sekilo nyaris 600rb)..hehe. Sesudah itu, Anda tinggal duduk manis dan berdoa menunggu pengumuman (sekitar akhir April-awal Mei) š
Begitulah cerita singkat saya..semoga berguna..Ayo2, buat yg udah lulus tapi belom dapet kerja, daftarlah kesini..Buat yang sudah kerja, tapi frustasi karena gaji ga naek2 (menunjuk diri sendiri), ambillah unpaid leave dan bergabunglah dgn saya di sini :D..Oya, satu lagi, peluang bagi cewek untuk ketrima lebih besar dari cowok lho..(disampaikan oleh penulis tanpa mendiskreditkan para pria š tapi emang iya kok, cewek lebih diprioritaskan).Ā Hehehe….Omong2 ttg peluang kerja di Norway, saya denger bagus juga. Negara ini kekurangan tenaga kerja, terutama engineer.Ā Semoga saya nanti kecantol satu.. š So, tunggu apa lagi.. š
Selamat mencoba…
Ā
Sore ini, saya begitu bersemangat mematut-matut diri di depan kaca..Kebiasaan yg sebenernya nggak lazim saya lakukan. Mungkin sebabnya adalah produksi hormon kewanitaan (kegenitan-red)Ā saya yang sedang berlebih hari iniĀ š hehe..Saya juga kurang tau..Singkat kata, saya sedang ingin tampil cantik hari ini, titik š
Mulailah saya men-check listĀ ..Kulit oke..Bibir oke..Badan, menggendut sih…tapi masi okelah..Begitu saya memperhatikan rambut, keasyikanĀ itu tiba2 terhenti ..
Busett!!! Rambut putih alias uban bertebaran dimana-mana. Setiap kali rambut saya sibak, pasti ada saja beberapa uban yang menyeruak. Hhhhh..! Menyebalkan… Perasaan, dulu gak sebanyak ini deh?? Kenapa begitu nyampe Norway langsung jadi banyak??? (Emang ada hubungannya ya?)..
Jadi, apaĀ dong sebabnya? Apakah jumlah uban di kepala sebanding dengan rasa rindu pada “dia” dan keluarga..? Atau barangkali sebanding dengan temperatur di luar sana..?? Semakin dingin maka semakin banyak uban? Gimana dengan stress?? Argghh..makin banyak asumsi2 bodoh bermunculan di kepala..
Yang jelas, inilah salah satu penyakit manusia (menunjuk diri sendiri lebih tepatnya)Ā …takut pada yang namanya penuaan..Lihat saja, betapa larisnya produk krim pencegah keriput, betapa banyak wanita yg pergi ke salon untuk suntik Botox…dan betapa gusarnya saya mendapati lajuĀ pertambahan uban yg terus meningkat secara eksponensial di atas kepala…
Hmmm..sudahlah..raga suatu saat nanti juga menua sebelum akhirnya lenyap dari muka bumi untuk selamanya..it is just a matter of time..
Tak masalah, asal bukan jiwa dan kesehatan yang menua sebelum waktunya..hehehe…
Pagi ini selepas sholat Shubuh, saya berencana membaca barang selembar dua lembar handout Process Control; pelajaran yang bagi saya cukup mematikan š Tapi, kok ya males…hehe..Akhirnya,Ā saya memutuskan untukĀ duduk diam dan tidak melakukan apa-apa..Hanya menikmati kesunyian. Hmm…Kapan ya terakhir kali saya menikmati keheningan pagi seperti sekarang ini? Rasanya sudah lama sekali..
Biasanya, kalau ndak bangun kesiangan dan terbirit2 mengejar bus untuk pergi ke kampus/kantor, pasti bangun tidur langsung menghidupkan kotak ajaib bernama tivi dan mencari channel gosip paling mutakhir..Kalau lagi jalan sendirian atau nunggu temen, seringnya merasa nggak betah, dan mulai cari cara untuk men-sok sibukkan diri sendiri..mainin HP, baca-baca inbox (beneranĀ ga penting!),Ā maen games,Ā dengerin musik..Wahh..tak sedetikpun saya biarkan diri saya menikmati kesunyian. Apakah sunyi begitu menakutkan?
Entah…tapi yang jelas..ada pepatah mengatakan “You will find peace in silence..” š
A few days ago, in the class, my Process Control Professor asked a question which for me was a bit weird and unusual. Instead of asking about modelling the dynamics of process control, he asked,”What do you think will be the first question one should ask before buying a house?”. One of my friend answered, “The price..?”. The professor uttered, “No! It is something else Europian people never think of. Perhaps other people haveĀ better idea?Ā African? Malaysian? Indonesian?”. The time he said “Indonesian”, I knew he was expecting an answer from me, since I was the only Indonesian in the class :D. But, still, myĀ brain was locked in confusion..
The professor became impatient shortly afterward. He said, “Oh, come on..don’t you think of it these days? If I were you, I would ask how long the pipe connection fromĀ waterĀ heater to bathroom was”. Atmosphere full of confusion suddenly arouse among the students. What the hell is he thinking about?Ā I bet that was the question almost everybody had at that time. The Professor explained further by asking another question about what came first right after we opened hot tap in the bathroom. ” Cold water, of course! Of which amount will correspond to the length of pipe from waterĀ heater to the hot tap. You will throw it away until you get the warm temperature you want, won’t you? And, do you realize what kind of water that you waste? It is bloody drinking water!!!”. A bit shocked with his explanation, all of us remained in silence after he finished his sentences.
Hmm…Personally, I found what the Professor said was very self awakening. To be honest,Ā IĀ previously never think about how precious drinking water to human lifeĀ is. I never have water shortage in my life that I often use it unwisely š¦ Meanwhile, other people in other side of this globe, might really in need of this natural resource which starts toĀ be scarce these days.
AsĀ I stay in Norway, one of the country with four different seasons and extreme winter temperature,Ā I realize that sunshineĀ is also one of the biggest gift that God gives to mankind; something thatĀ people from tropical country like me often forget about. In Indonesia, we see sun during almost the whole year! But here, in Norway, we only haveĀ 3 months to feel the warmth of the sun. In summer time, I can easily find people go out enjoying the warm day, sitting in the park, sun bathing..The sun shines very brightly up in the cear blue sky! Nevertheless, people will depend solely to electric heater in winter time to keep their body warm. Otherwise, they (including myself) will freeze all day long.
I do not know what you think, but, it will be nice if we all start thinking every little good thing God has given us in our life..and be thankful for that! Remember that one will never realize how valuable something/somebody in his/her life, until he/she loses it.
Cheers!
Today, I found my self not really inĀ the mood of doing something useful. Not to mention the gloomy dark cloud that has hung up in the sky since this morning, which contributed mostly to my lazy day attitude. I knew I must do something to alter this mood. Sleeping all day long would not be good for a bunch of assignments waiting for me to work on š
Since I could do nothing with the weather outside, I decided to give myself a new atmosphere by changing my bedroom configuration.
So, I startedĀ re-locating the furnitures; putting on big carpet that Barbara gave meĀ yesterday to cover the floor (thanks Barbara :D), and cleaning up the dust that already piled 1 cm high on the floor. After 1 hour working, it was eventually finished! Hurray…Though it was quite energy consuming, because I was still fasting, but I was very satisfied to see different atmosphere in my room..
Hmm..time has come to enjoy blissful Sunday evening…
During my two years stay in Trondheim-Norway, I live in one of the flat inside Moholt Student Village which is not too far from NTNU, the university I am studying in currently. I do not live alone in the flat, since I share it with three girl mates from Germany, Ghana, and Ethiopia.
Rieke is the name of my Germany room mate. SheĀ arrived in Trondheim on May this year as an international student with Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to work on her thesis which is specialized in Material Engineering. She will only be in Trondheim for 6 months and will be back to Germany upon completion of her Master Thesis. My African room mates are both studying Master Program in Child Hood Study and they have just started their first semester as I have. The Ghana girl’s name is Barbara, while the girl from Ethiopia is Tizita.
These girls are all really nice and kindhearted. I am very fortunate to have them as my room mates. We often spend some time in the afternoon to have coffee or tea while talking about our activities or discussing about our different culture.
Although we are quite heterogen in term of cultural background, we treat each other respectfully. In fact, we get to know each other better every day. Rieke even offers me to stay in her house whenever I visit Germany, which is really nice since Germany is already in my listĀ of countryĀ to be visited during this winter holiday.
Bravo!!!
Barbara, Rieke, Tizita
Last week, I decided to use my laundry card for the very first time. I went to the nearest laundry room from my flat which was located at the basement of building No. 47.
Rieke, my kindhearted Germany room mate, was willing to accompany me to the laundry room andĀ explain me briefly about how I should operate the washing machine. “Okey, now I completely understand how this thing works”, I thought. So, I started loading detergent and all my clothes inside the machine with full of confidence. I put on my card, adjusted the temperature setting, pushed the button, and voillaa…! This old looking machine suddenly found its way to start working.
I left it doing its business and went back to my room. After approximately one hour, I made my way back to the laundry room, to pick up my clean clothes. Aha..the machine has stopped completely!Ā Then, I pushed a yellow button to open its cover.
And…….
I felt like I was freezing for a second. I saw my cute bright yellow jacket turned its colour into ugly green…!! Geez, I couldn’t believe that jacket was mine. The worst part hasn’t come yet, since a moment later, I also figured out that not only the jacket but also all of my other yellow clothes were all dissapeared. In return, I got many green clothes left inside the machine. The good thing was that the green colour was distributed evenly in all part of the clothes so I could still use them.
Well, there is always the bright side in every momentĀ š
I started thinking about the name my parents gave me…
TRIMAHARIKA WIDARENA
“Such a long and difficult name…”, my Germany room mate said.
“What..? Say it again..”, my Chinese new friendĀ said the first time I introduced my self.
Well, anyway..that is my name. A name without gender clarification, since I received several emails which were started with ” Dear Pak Tri” instead of “Dear Miss Tri”. But I do not mind at all with the way people think of it. I am just perfectly happy with the name. I believe that my parents gave it to me with pride, joy, and most importantly..hope to see their daughter would someday become a real woman. Well, let me tell you the meaning implies behind my name.
TRIĀ – is actually part of my beloved father’s name
MAHAR – is a javanese word which means gift
IKA – means one; the first
WIDA – part of my mother’s name
RENA – means joy, happiness
Therefore, literally, my beautiful long name will mean : I am the very first gift of my father to my mother which was joyfully and thankfully received by her. So, that is the history of my name..
“Hello..my name isĀ tri (pronounced as tree)…, nice to meeting you all”. š
i just close my eyes because i might see your face..
i just close my ears because i might hear your voice..
but i couldn’t close my heart because i love you..
Ā
i present this blog only for you because i don’t wanna pass any second in my life without hearing anything for you.. fulfil this thing with your happy life and i will just feel happy everytime i open this blog š
Ā
keep posting!
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