Right after Utrecht (March 2018), I set up this English School in my hometown, Harau Valley English School. People know it as Kampung Inggris Sumatra, Kampung Inggris Harau or Kampung Inggris Sumatra Barat. It's been 1,8 years then. It's an English course with accommodation that is not only to teach English but also to spread awareness and information about Environmental and Global Issues as well as Sustainable Development.
Perjalanan ke Budapest adalah salah satu perjalanan penting dan krusial buat gue sendiri. Perjalanan yang menyenangkan tapi juga menegangkan, yang hampir separuh perjalanannya gue stress, khawatir dan cemas. Tapi tanpa perjalanan ke ibu kota Hungaria ini, mungkin gue nggak akan pernah kepikiran buat nginjakin kaki ke negara-negara lain di Eropa. Kenapa? Sabar!
Waktu itu gue bener-bener nggak tau sih pengen ke Budapest apa nggak. Cuma waktu itu, dua teman baik gue (Pedro dan Romano) yang lagi pertukaran pelajar di Utrecht, berencana pengen nge-trip bareng, well, karena kapan lagi? Karena kita cuma bakal tinggal bareng selama 6 bulan aja di negara dingin berangin ini. Sehabis itu ya si Pedro balik ke Portugal dan Romano balik ke Swiss. Dan gue tinggal di Utrecht.
Lagi jauh-jauhan soalnya lagi buang angin
Akhirnya mereka mutusin ke Budapest, dan gue ngikut aja. Karena waktu itu gue lagi hectic banget ngurusin kuliah. Sampai-sampai gue harus bawa take home exam gue ke Budapest dan ngerjain ujian di Hostel dong! hahha
Rencana awal ya kita bertiga doang yang pengen ikutan, eh tau-taunya Ilari sama Artur juga pengen ikutan disaat kita semua udah booking-booking. Walaupun ujung-ujungnya liburan kita berasa bertiga aja. Si Ilari kalong banget, malem begadang, siang molor. Artur juga waktu itu nyusul kita. Jadi beberapa hari doang yang full bareng kita.
Budapest itu kota nya unik banget. Sisa communism ketara kental dari penataan kota dan arsitekturnya. Tapi kedua bagian kota Buda dan Pest yang di pisah oleh Sungai Danube, sangat cukup memberi kenangan indah sih buat gue bareng sahabat-sahabat gue ini.
Pernah suatu hari kita mutusin buat ikutan walking-trip tentang sejarah komunis di negara itu. Kita udah lari-larian biar nggak telat ikutan trip itu, yang akhirnya emang kita telat. Tapi untungnya ketemu sama rombongannya. Pas ketemu, agak zonk sih, karena si instrukturnya ternyata agak aneh gitu. Maksudnya memberikan penjelasannya monoton banget dan ngebosenin. Jadinya malah kita ngacir dengan kecepatan 1000 km/jam di tengah-tengah penjelasan si instruktur haha. Udah telat, nggak tau diri lagi.
Ini waktu lari mengejar tour yang nggak berfaedah
Tapi yaudah lah ya, yang penting kami have fun!
Nih sampe ada dibikin video nya. Tonton gih!
Mumpung kota ini banyak terdapat bath termal nya, atau tempat pemandian air panas. Jadilah kami juga nyempatin dong main kesana dan ke tempat yang paling gede dan mewah! cieelah! Namanya Széchenyi Thermal Bath. Bisa bacanya ga? gua juga nggak!
Ini termal bath terbesar yang pernah gue datangin. Semuanya air panas. Walaupun saat itu Ilari dari Finlandia nggak puas dan nggak menemukan "proper sauna" yang sesuai standar orang Finlandia.
Cuma sebelum ke si termal bath, gue ngalamain sesuatu, nggak tau musti ketawa atau sedih. Persis di dekat stasiun si termal bath, ada bangunan yang secara fisik kaya mesjid. Gue suruh teman-teman gue duluan karena pas banget waktu asar udah masuk. Gue udah cari pintu masuk nggak ketemu-ketemu, dan yang ketemu malah pintu masuk ke kebun binatang. Ya! bangunan yang gue liat ada di dalam komplek kebun binatang Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert (salah satu kebun binatang tertua di dunia) dan yang berbentuk mesjid itu malah rumah gajah. hmmmm.
Apa gue yang salah? Cuma gue udah crosscheck history nya juga ga ada yang bilang ini bekas mesjid.
But anyway, sini gue ceritain kenapa ini trip yang penting buat gue.
Waktu kita lagi ngopi, si Artur nanyain: “jadi rencana lo summer break ngapain ndri?” dan sontak gue bilang kalau gue bakal kuliah dan ada kelas dong. Tetiba semua teman gue ngeliatin gue dan mulai ngakak.
………..
Itu ceritanya waktu 3 bulan setelah gue mulai kuliah ya. Setelah 2 tahun nggak berkecimpung dengan dunia akademik, di luar negeri pula (justifikasi euy). Gue waktu itu beneran nggak tau dengan summer break. Well, karena di Indonesia kita nggak ada konsep itu kan, secara kira summer terus dan break terus (eh).
Pas gue nanya teman gue balik, mereka semua udah ada rencana sendiri-sendiri dong. Entah itu ke festival bareng teman, nge-camp, summer school dsb. Nah gue? Nggak tau. Akhirnya gue malah stress karena nggak tau bakal ngapain disaat yang lain udah tau mau ngapain. Gue juga nggak bisa nimbrung-nimbrung aja bareng mereka, karena mereka udah rencanain bareng group pertemanan mereka yang lainnya atau bareng keluarga mereka.
Untung aja si Artur nanyanya di akhir-akhir trip, kalau nggak bakal bisa ngerusak perjalanan selama di Budapest.
Pemandangan Pest dan Sungai Danube dari Buda
Hingga akhirnya, pertanyaan Artur itulah yang membuat gue bisa mendapatkan pengalaman seru menjelajah banyak banget desa dan kota di Eropa yang bakal gue ulas satu-satu. Tagihin dong, biar gue juga semangat nulisinnya haha.
Ingat nggak dulu tahun 2016 ada kasus bom bunuh diri yang terjadi di ibu kota Uni Eropa, Brussel, Belgia? Tepatnya sih tanggal 22 Maret. Kejadiannya tragis sih, karena terjadi di dua tempat umum, di Bandara sama Stasiun pusat dengan ratusan korban.
Tapi jauh-jauh hari sebelum kejadian itu, sebenarnya gue sama beberapa teman dari Portugal dan Singapura udah rencanain untuk berangkat ke Belgia dan udah beli tiket bus dari Utrecht ke Antwerp buat tanggal 24 Maret. Persis 2 hari setelah kejadian itu.
Kenalin nih Pedro sama Isabel
Bagi yang belum tau, Belgia itu negara tetangganya Belanda yang mereka itu punya tiga bahasa nasional, bahasa Jerman, Perancis dan Belanda. Jadi beberapa daerah ada yang cuma bisa ngomong bahasa londo aja (Flemish Community), yang Perancis aja (French Community), Jerman (German-Speaking Community) dan campuran (Bilingual). Agak ribet sih, karena semuanya bahasa nasional, bukan bahasa daerah. Ya terserah mereka lah ya haha.
Antwerp itu kota penting dan terbesar kedua di Belgia yang berada di area Flemish. Jadi ya orang-orangnya ngomong belanda. Impresi pertama sih ya kaya pergi ke kota Belanda lain, tapi ngeh ada bedanya setelah melihat arsitekturnya sih.
Nah awalnya kita rada was-was sih, bingung antara mau pergi ke sana apa nggak. Secara waktu itu eropa emang agak genting karena ada isu teroris disini dan disana. Bisa jadi Antwerp juga jadi target berikutnya kan?
Kotanya indah sih, beberapa sudut kaya di fairy tale gitu
Selain itu ada faktor lain sih, salah satu temen gue habis kemalingan sebuah harta yang penting banget buat mahasiswa: laptop. Jadi gue mikir rencana ini bakal di tunda atau malah nggak jadi.
Kalau nggak jadi mungkin gue bakal fine-fine aja sih, karena dulu tahun 2012 gue udah pernah kesana, Cuma beberapa jam sih tapi ya udah ke explore lah sebagian kecil dari kotanya.
foto jadul tahun 2012 waktu pertama kali ke Antwerp
Tapi setelah diskusi dan akhirnya kita gas cabut kesana sih. Karena ya mungkin emang itu visi teroris kan? Bikin kita insecure, takut dan merasa keteror kalau mau kemana-mana. Jadi kita nggak mau dibego-begoin teroris. Kita juga mikir, kalau habis ada insiden, pastinya keadaan justru makin aman dong? Karena semua aparat pasti pada langsung kerja dan tiba-tiba ningkatin keamanannya.
Aren't we?
Bener dong! Polisi dan militer ada dimana-mana berkeliaran jagain kota itu biar aman. Gue pribadi pas ngeliat itu nggak tau sih harus merasa aman atau nggak. Karena mereka pada bawa-bawa dan buai senjata. Malah serem sih kesannya. But yeah.
Antwerp yang di jaga sama militernya yang terbuat dari besi *garing
Tapi orang-orang, mau masyarakat dan turis juga pada santai sih, pada bantu support korban malah. Kita juga nyantai aja main-main ke stasiun kotanya yang rame itu, karena kita pengen banget liat interior dalamnya yang katanya wah itu! Dan emang wah sih!
Nih daleman stasiun kotanya Antwerp
Anyway, Antwerp ini juga terkenal dengan kota pelabuhan di Belgia yang ngebuat kota ini sebagai kota perdagangan yang penting udah sejak zaman londo. Tapi kita nggak main ke pelabuhan sih. Main-mainnya ke pusat kota aja dan ke tepian sungai.
Ini juga nemu di tepi sungai, bentukannya kaya aula-aula semi outdoor di Jawa ga sih?
Jadi pusat kota nya emang penuh dengan pusat perbelanjaan. Yang paling menarik sih, Diamond Districtnya, dimana satu block isinya ruko-ruko orang yang jualan berlian. Tapi bagi yang udah nonton film Black Diamond malah mikir yang aneh-aneh sih tentang permata-permata itu.
Nih, foto batu, bukan foto diamond ya. Tapi mendekati lah sama topik, ya kan?
Oya, kalau ada kesempatan ke Antwerp, jangan lupa liat-liat juga daleman gerajanya ya. Kan tau sendiri kalau gereja emang udah jadi bangunan bersejarah banget bagi kemajuan di Eropa, wong dulu mereka nggak bawa misi golddan gloryaja kan pas jajah kemana-mana, misi gospel juga. Jadi di kebanyakan kota dan negara di eropa sih emang bangunan gerejanya wah wah sih.
Jangan lupa juga buat nyicipin waffle mereka yang terkenal banget seantero raya ini ya, karena emang endes sih.
hmmmmmm
Udah segitu dulu series ABC Ada berapanya untuk A. Kira-kira untuk B kemana ya? Coba tebak di kolom komentar ya!
Waktu kecil, gue suka main permainan receh “ABC ada berapa” bareng teman dan sepupu. Tau kan? Beberapa orang yang main, bakal teriakin yang tadi di tanda kutipin sambil menyodorkan beberapa jari kesemua orang. Lalu jumlah jari akan dihitung dengan alfabet A-Z secara berulang, hingga jatuh ke satu huruf saja. Lalu semua orang akan menyebutkan sebuah kata benda dan atau nama yang awal katanya huruf itu.
Kita jadiin semua subjek sebagai bahan permainan: nama buah, kota, jalan, binatang, bahkan orang yang kita kenal. Saking recehnya, tak elak kita sering bertengkar juga karena sering ada yang curang. Apalagi kalau udah ada satu-dua orang yang sudah males main karena nggak tau mau nyebutin benda apa. Karena nggak mau “mencongkong” ketika bermain. haha
Meski receh, permainan itu juga salah satu permainan kecil favorit gue sih. Kita mikir, ngakak cekikikan dan kadang tersiksa hanya karena kesusahan mengeluarkan satu kata yang sebenarnya udah di ujung lidah.
Tema favorit gue sih tentang geografi, nyebutin nama-nama daerah, tempat wisata dan atau negara. Apalagi di dinding tempat bermain kami bermain waktu itu terpampang peta dunia gede nan buluk dilengkapi dengan gambar bendera-bendera beserta nama negaranya. Jadi bisa curang juga mainnya haha. Namun dengan lugasnya gue bisa ngejawab Belgia ketika huruf B keluar, atau Jerman ketika J, Italia ketika I, dst. Yang paling asik-ngeselin ketika Q, yang pertama nyebutin Qatar, doi bakal jadi pemenang tunggal, dan yang lain fix harus main sambil “nyongkong” kaya orang lagi boker.
Orang-orang pun suka bosen main ini, karena setiap ketemu, pasti gue ngajakin main ini dan lagi lagi nebak nama negara lagi. Kalo gue ngajakin main, alesannya macem-macem pokoknya nggak main nebak nama negara! Akhirnya gue cari orang lain dong, buat main permainan ini. Kenalan sama anak komplek tetangga bahkan anak komplek tetangganya tetangga yang tetanggaan sama tetangganya tetangga. Ribet kan? Ya gitu lah. Cuma demi main ABC ada berapa dan tebak nama negara doang. Haha agak lebay sih, emang agak hiperbola sih bagian ini.
Tapi intinya, ini tu kaya berimpact gitu ke hidup gue. Akhirnya gue suka banget ketemu dengan orang-orang baru. Yang awalnya dari main ABC ada berapa malah jadi temen haha. Akhirnya pencarian ABC ada berapa nggak cuma sekitaran kompleks dan kota Duri aja, dimana gue gede. Gue ekspansi dong ke Sumatra Barat, sampe Jabodetabek juga.
Cuma orang-orang pada nggak asik, nggak ada yang mau main ABC ada berapa bareng gue di Sumatra dan Jawa. Pada cupu semua! Yaudahlah kan, gue ga mau nyerah kesana. Gue samperin lah negara-negara yang pernah gue mainin itu. Alfabetnya belum lengkap sih dari A-Z, baru beberapa negara doang. Belum ada apa-apanya banget dibandingin traveller lainnya. Dan lagi-lagi, cuma buat cari lawan main ABC ada berapa aja! HAHA
Yang udah berhasil baca sampai disini, selamat ya! Karena berarti kisana nggak males baca. Atau ngana kepo. Atau emang enjoy baca tulisan gue.
Jadi emang gitu sih gaes, gue udah lama banget ga nulis nih. Pengen produktif nulis lagi sih. Rencananya gue pengen pindahin travel notes gue ke caption ig dan blog gue sih. Well, ini nggak rencana doang sih, karena udah ada beberapa yang di draft. Jadi ini Travel notes setelah nyamperin beberapa tempat keren di Indonesia dan negara-negara itu sih. Karena ada banyak banget cerita disana, banyak banget orang yang gue temuin, dan kayanya semua ini worth to share banget lah. Daripada kesimpan di catatan gue yang udah mulai kumal kan?
Jadi sori mayori aja lah ya kalau misalnya ketemu postingan gue, tapi captionnya panjang. Isinya pasti cerita. Cerita cerita dan cerita. Daripada caption nanggung muluk kan.
It started when a few of my friends asked me to join them for a trip around Europe. I said no! Instead, I wanted to explore the continent by myself. I wanted to find out whether it’s true that (solo) travelling could change my perspective of the world by meeting new people, getting in touch with the local culture, tasting the local cuisine and leaving no corner unexplored. I wanted to see how travelling would make me understand more about the world and especially myself. I wanted to be surprised by spontaneous moments that I would encounter from what Europe had to offer. Even though I come from a part of the world which is extremely different – Indonesia, I wanted to experience something new. To my great delight, it turned out to be more breathtaking than I ever imagined it would be.
I intentionally didn’t plan my trip. Instead, I wandered around Europe aimlessly, like a fish in the stream of a mighty river. I purchased a train pass allowing me to travel the whole continent anytime I wanted. That way, Europe was mine to explore. This gave me an empowering feeling and an unparalleled sense of freedom. I then began to feel incredibly excited for the upcoming journey.
The story about meeting people started from the first time I stepped foot on train. In the train I met other passengers who were mostly solo travelers like me. I was pleasantly surprised that I could meet so many interesting people from different parts of the world within a blink of an eye. It gave me a chance to start conversations about various topics, from what to eat and visit, to exchanging personal and deep experiences.
I remember one day I missed my stop in Hanover and instead continued on to Hamburg. This was due to a beautiful and profound conversation I was having with a Ukrainian father, who told me a story about how he survived the war and moved to Germany. The other day I had a conversation with a lovely Italian Grandma on the way to Roma from Firenze, where we talked about how different our families, cultures, religions and lives are, even though she didn’t speak English. Yes, we spoke in different languages, but thanks to my electronic dictionary we could still manage to communicate in that six-hour trip. It made me fully aware that a smile is universal and I’ll always be able to talk to nice people even if we don’t share a common tongue. It ended with her giving me a box of Tupperware full of cookies for my ‘travel company’ she said. It was really sweet of her.
Another time in the train I met a professional Swedish photographer on the way to Zagreb from Split. He inspired me with his thirty-year experience of travelling around the world for his photography projects. That overnight train was not enough to share the laughs and entertaining stories of our different cultures and continued by having a cup of Coffee in Zagreb Glavni Kolodvor station. I also met a cool scout group from Antwerp on the way to Prague from Zakopane. We didn’t sleep at all as we were having so much fun.
These are the kinds of moments that I will never forget for the rest of my life. All of those are just small examples of the pleasure of meeting new people. I haven’t yet included the various times that I met individuals in hostels and places I visited. It’s true that I travelled solo but surprisingly I never felt alone, which was my greatest fear before I left.
From the people that I met on the train, I knew that almost every city in Europe has a free walking tour. It quickly became the first thing I would do as an introduction to the place that my feet came to stand on. The local tour guide told me everything about the city and anything I wanted to know about the city and country, such as the history, culture, must-do activities and must-visit places. I came to appreciate the long way in which Germany became as big as it is now, I also learnt how Warsaw became as pretty as it was when I saw it. Not to mention the interesting story behind the art and buildings that I had snapped with my mirror-less camera, how pleasant Easter is for Slovakian guys, how happy Slovenian shepherds after summer and so on. I even got information about where to have the tasty all-you-can-eat traditional Italian seafood, pasta and bread with a glass of fresh orange juice for just three euro in the most touristic place like Venice.
It’s true that the journey was about how nice it was sunbathing in Cinque-Terre, Nice, and Lagos; or how refreshing it was swimming in Bled lake, Aare river and Peneda Geres waterfall; or how fun it was hiking in Zakopane and Kandersteg; or how enjoyable it was walking on the Berlin, Granada, and Paris pavements; or how chilled it was being in Seara Velha, Nassington, Utrecht and Hradec Kralove; or how delicious it was eating pasta, pizza and gelato in Italy as well as Kibbeling and Patat in the Netherlands; or how unnecessary it is to travel with friends to enjoy all of those activities.. But actually it wasn’t only about exploring and finding the world, but mostly about finding myself. Maybe this journey would end differently if I chose to travel with friends.
I felt like the beautiful places and the rich cultures anywhere on earth will always stay there living with the people surrounded, waiting for me to explore them one by one. Even though I’m from a small village called Sarilamak, I know that the world is mine. As long as I have the opportunity, I have to check every inch of it. If I don’t have one, I must create one. What about you?
Basically, this article is about how my first semester was in the chilled and not-so-crowded-city named Utrecht. I still remember how happy I was, although just a little bit worried and nervous, when my family and friends dropped me at the Airport. Happy because, you know, it's the thing that I had been fighting for with thousands of failures, worried and nervous because it's a 14 hour-long flight. No. I am joking. I have experienced that several times before. Of course it's due to the thing that I would face later in Europe. But apparently, the good friend of mine Khalista told me that, "one day, you will regret that you had been nervous about it.. because you will realize that there is nothing that you need to worry about". Hmm.. Leh uga.
There isn’t much that I remember about my 14-hour-flight but I thought about who I was going to meet later and what I was going to face. I tried to remember my 2011 trip to the Netherlands to give me some clue but I remained clueless. It was going to be a different moment than the last one. The last one was an amazing experience for sure, living with a kind and lovely Indonesian-Dutch family. While this one was gonna be me and everything that the Netherlands has to offer. I would have to make all the decisions, and also live with all of the consequences, as always. But remember, it was going to be a different community and a different environment.
I came two weeks earlier to the Netherlands before class started to get a better feel of the country. I explored the city little bit and wandered around just to get to know how the battlefield was gonna be. I also travelled to the Indonesian-Dutch families' house to say hello in Ridderkerk. Before the first of February, the day that I should move my 40kg luggage to my new room in Kanaalstraat, Lombok. Lombok? Sounds familiar to me.
Lombok during King's Day
The gateway of Lombok area from the city center of Utrecht is a big mosque with a fancy kebab store at the bottom called Kebab Factory. It could be a sign that, a large Turkish and Moroccan community dominated this area, even though the area itself has a familiar Indonesian flavor (not to mention the name of streets in this area that are mostly Indonesian such as Borneostraat, Padangstraat, Sumaterastraat, Javastraat, Balistraat, and many other straats). Indonesian community? I know there are just three or four families living in this area, plus me. This area is also full of local groceries, halal-meat butchers, halal-restaurants and even a cheap bike shop (I remember the second day in Kanaalstraat I bought a 15 Euro bike from or with - which is still debatable - Pedro, but now the bike has since been stolen).
I successfully brought all of my luggage to Kanaalstraat. I went to de Uithof (the science park where most of the university classes and student accommodation buildings are). I snapped a picture when I picked up the key; at this time I did not now anyone yet. Well, Reece and Martina that I met in a hostel.
After that, the housing company dropped the residents off at the house. Then when I arrived there I met many beautiful people from all around Europe, also a few from Asia, America and Australia. Let me try to remember. They was one Polish, two Singaporeans, two Czechs, a guy from Hong Kong, three Italians, a Brit, two Turks, three Spaniards, two Australians, a Greek, a Ukrainian, a Portuguese, an American, a Swiss, three Swedish, a Norwegian, a Finish. For sure, I know what their names are.
Why was it so multicultural? Apparently almost 100% of them are Erasmus or Exchange students coming to Utrecht just for a semester. Well, some of them had extended for another semester but still they were not originally Utrecht University students. It was so nice, wasn't it? Meeting a wide selection of students from all around Europe right in your own home, next to your room. Romano, Artur, Josephine and KK were next to my room. It was really; really nice to do so many cultural exchange things, we learned from each other and certainly had so many fun moments. All of them were so sweet to forget. Even sweeter than Baklava, Isabel's favorite.
Tahu and Tempeh among Portuguese and Swiss foods
The bitter part of course was about the studying. Doing a master after not going to university for almost two years and being back to having to deal with journals and scientific stuff definitely needed much more effort to deal with. Furthermore, the standard and quality of this highly ranked university as well as the colleges and partners I worked with, compared to the one in Ciputat must be different. It required so much effort to adapt and to deal with. More, I started in the middle of the year (February), which also made me not learn my program from the basic level, but the advance instead. I experienced so many setbacks during this time. Not to mention the broken sleeping pattern (my record was 28+ hours awake), losing an 8000 word assignment, leaving my assignments until I was on holiday, etc etc etc etc.
But when I could deal with all of these issues, I was satisfied for sure. Khalista was right. I began to enjoy the bitter stuff. I think everyone does enjoy it as well, even though sometimes it drove me crazy, even more so if it's too much and uncontrolled. The picture of the beautiful Sustainable Development (SD) students bellow explains how we enjoyed the bitter parts of being SD master students.
Saint Patrick 2016
Appeltaart and Chocomel. (Ayu interpretation is chocomel (me) in the middle of Appeltaarts. KZL)
When the bitter stuff that drives me crazy meets the sweet things, it makes me even more insane. Well, what? I don’t think that this article is going anywhere now and I need to end it soon. Yeps, really soon. At least you got a tiny bit about the bittersweet lifestyle of Kanaalstraat. I can tell more later. I have endless stories about Kanaalstraat. For sure. Period.
Motivate the students here!
