Long time no see, blog!

Well, hello. It has been  a good two months since I last posted on this here blog. I know, I'm such an inconsistent and lazy person, not to mention a procrastinator too, but I since I really hate that side of me, I'm trying my best to penetrate it.

Anyway, here are some important things that happened while I was gone:

The 2014 AEO

Okay, so, I joined this huge competition called "Asian English Olympics" (which was held by Bina Nusantara on February 18-22), where high school and college students from all around Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Hong Kong compete in five different competitions of their choice (and I participated at speech). Apart from all the awesome guys that I saw through it (what? There aren't many boys that I can see at school), it really was an eye-opening experience.

The sense of growing up was really there as I went through every single thing (the whole flying outside town thing, the fact that we stayed on the "dorms" for 5 days 4 nights, the new and unfamiliar kinds of people that we meet), and even though it looked like an adventure and some fun through the brochure, I can't help but feel pressured and filled with nerve as I had to perform well for the judge (and as a representative of my school).

Even though I didn't win, or got through the preliminary rounds, even (and that got me down in the dumps for a good 28 hours or so), I know that I definitely grew from the experience, and I know that if I give my all next time (yes, I'll have to admit that I didn't on that competition), I can nail something.

Argh, sorry for the picture that's too lazy to stand up. But anyways, it's me and Ina at Binus.

AFS

AFS is not something unfamiliar in my ears. I've heard of this program from lots of sources before; and all I knew is that you'll get to go abroad through it and experience the culture there, and at the same time, youu'll also get the people there to know about your culture. 

The only thing that sucks about this program is the fact that we'd have to do another year of school if we leave. We leave at the second year of high school, and come back when our friends are graduating. So the next thing you know when you get back to your country, is that your friends are going to college and you'll be doing the last year of high school with your juniors. Well, at least that's how it goes in my country.

Despite of the sucky part of this program, I decided to join. The only reason why I participated is, because there's only one chance to it. You can only apply when you're in your first year of high school, after that, you can't. If you don't pass the test, you can't try it again. No retries.

But the thing that really motivated me to join is seeing the real exchange students from aboard when they got the chance to visit my school for the AFS promotion a while ago. One was a girl from France, and the other one is a guy from Thailand. It was really cool, and I when Miss Cindy expressed her regrets when she didn't participate when she was our age because she didn't know that there is such a thing (as AFS), I was moved.

Thus, I decide to give a shot at it. If I don't get through, well, it's OK, I can look for other experiences. But if I do pass, I won't let the golden opportunity flee. Of course I'd take it.

But, I don't know. I have just finished the application today. There were lots of stuff that I needed to fill and there are a couple of people that had to be involved for it to finish, but thank God I did finish it.

I still don't know what I will exactly face, yet, but I'll be ready... just you wait and see.

***

So, there you go. There are some stuff that I didn't include here, though, but I think that it's best not to write them up here.

Oh yeah, I also got through the mid-semesters test this March, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really happy with the results. I realize, that I have been messing around lately at school. And, just to be blunt with whoever is reading this right now, I didn't put school into priority for a few months, and I always fantasize of doing other things while I should be paying attention.

But this mid-semesters really moved me. Seeing the results, I was really tired of getting the same grades... over, and over again. It's high time for some improvement. And I, I'm trying to improve right now.

I want to make my parents proud, I want to represent my kind well. And above all, I want to be closer and know my God more, and through learning about his creations (at school), I feel closer already.