travel

#Dutakestheworld: Roma

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Since i've been in Rome, everyone has been so welcoming. I arrived around noon and my driver picked me up at 12:30pm. My hotel was only 20 minutes from Aeroporto Fiumicino, so once I arrived I took a nice long nap in my room before I did any exploring in the central part of the city. I met up with my mom and sister afterwards because they arrived a few days earlier than I did. We have family in Rome that live close to where we were so they picked us up and we took a little night tour around the center of everything. We saw the Colosseum and just drove around the city and had some really good Chinese food. I thought it was really funny because my first meal in Italy was Chinese, but it was still so delicious.After we said our goodbyes that night, the next day we went to Vatican City and went to the papal visit to see the pope and watch the service. It was really amazing being able to see the Pope and we actually got to meet him and he blessed us. It was beautiful.
We were there from about 7 am to 2:30 pm going all around after the service and visiting the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. After all of that exploring we had some time to visit the Fontana Di Trevi and make our wishes and Lizzie Mcguire dreams comes true (Just kidding only my dreams). We had some delicious Italian food afterwards and I ordered some ravioli cause it looked really good on the menu. It was a simple meal and I finally got to try an Aperol Spritz. One of my coworkers told me about them and how they're a specialty drink here in Italy. It was delicious. There was actually a lot of alcohol in it surprisingly. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for a formal dinner my mom had for her job and were wined and dined, danced the night away and I actually got to meet more people closer to my age and since they were going to Florence the same time we were we got to meet up with them again towards the end of our trip. 

#Dutakestheworld: Europe!

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So it's finally happening, i'm headed to Europe for the first time in my life and I couldn't be anymore excited than I already am, I think. A few months ago my doctors were planning for me to have surgery on my thyroid in April, but because of complications they postponed it and I had a few weeks off from work. Right then and there I looked up some flights around the same time and found a flight from LAX (Los Angeles) to FCO (Rome, Italy) for $400. I honestly couldn't believe it, so I booked it that minute. I decided to specifically visit, London, Italy, France and Switzerland. I honestly am counting the days until the day finally comes for my dream destination. I am so grateful to even have this opportunity and I can't wait to share it all with you!

#DutakesIndo Learning Gamelan

Today we learned how to play the Gamelan! Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia that are made up of mostly percussion instruments. It is an integral part of Indonesian culture. What I learned was that when you want to play a certain instrument in the orchestra you must hit the next key as you hold the key you hit before it. We had so much fun playing together and it was amazing learning about another beautiful part of Indonesian culture here in Yogyajakarta, Indonesia. 

#DutakesIndo Day 5 & 6

So for the last two days we (as in our USINDO 2016 group) have been busy either exploring Yogyakarta or learning Bahasa Indonesia and attending networking events for USINDO. Yesterday we had our first official day on campus at Sanata Dharma (USD) and got to meet everyone that was either teaching us or was a part of the group that was involved in putting the collaboration of USINDO and USD together for us. They gave us some Indonesian snacks to munch during break and throughout the day we went through tutorials of the cultural classes we get to choose from to do for the next five weeks.

There's gamelan (music), dancing, martial arts, cooking and batik (clothing). We had a lot of fun going through each one and learning about the Indonesian culture because of each tutorial. We didn't do gamelan yet because that's for Wednesday on the schedule. I had lunch at a "warang", which is a spot where a bunch of different food vendors are there outside. I actually got sick right after eating there and will definitely not be coming back. 

Today I went to the Hartono mall with some of my USINDO friends. I was told that this mall will be the biggest mall in Southeast Asia. After that, we went to a networking event for the possible internships that we will be working for. It was fun talking to all of the different non-profits and companies and discussing my experiences and their expectations. 

#DutakesIndo Day 4

I met my host family today! Ahhh! They're so amazing. So this morning we had our last breakfast together for orientation and we were all so anxious. Once we were all packed we met in our usual meeting room and they briefed us on what was going to happen when we met our families. The coordinators told us that we have to figure out who our families were based on a paper slip given to us with a few sentences about them. It was pretty nerve wracking and I had no idea what to expect. It said both the husband and wife are retired lecturers and one of the daughters is a professor at Sanata Dharma University, which is the university that I will be attending for my intensive language course for Bahasa Indonesia.

After a few minutes I saw an older couple sitting alone and I luckily found my host family right away! My Ibu (Mother) is named Rosa and she is a retired lecturer and so is my Bapak (father). They both have been married for over 30 years and their wedding anniversary is actually this week (So exciting I know). They come from a huge family similar to mine and they have two daughters, Anna and Mita. Mita is the daughter that teaches at my university and has a son named Alex who is four years old. He's pretty adorable. I honestly am so grateful for my new family and for the amazing program. I can't wait for what's to come i the next few months. 

My host family, Ibu Rosa Dan Bapak Joni

My host family, Ibu Rosa Dan Bapak Joni

USINDO 2016 friends

USINDO 2016 friends

My new home!  

My new home!  

The beautiful garden in front of my house.  

The beautiful garden in front of my house.  

#DutakesIndo Days 1- 3

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So its been three days so far (including an entire day of traveling) Jet lag is too real right now. I fell asleep in one of the presentations because we had another amazing buffet at the hotel. I knocked out hard at 7 pm, woke up at 3 am and could not sleep at all. I'm here with my new roommate Michelle and she's pretty awesome. These last few days have been pretty tiring, but awesome. The moment we arrived in Jakarta I could feel the heat wave and smell of smoke in the air. I thought I would be prepared for this kind of weather, but I know it will take a few weeks to acclimate. I'm still editing videos for my vlogs to start everything going so there's at least some visuals for my experience here. Here are some photos to give an idea of what i've been seeing these last few days. :D 

My very own hashtag

"Having the opportunity to travel and learn about an entirely new place is something I have always wanted to do. I'm really excited to explore and meet new people in a city i've never been to."

This was the first part of my journal entry right before I left for my adventure in Washington, D.C. Oh how time has flown by so fast. It was really was an unforgettable experience. I met so many people, learned how to cook foods I never thought I could and most importantly learned a lot about myself. I can't believe I even made my own hashtag to have all of my friends and family reference me to. I believe it was a smart choice though. Even though living in the district was only for five months, it was one of the most memorable times of my life.