TR-Pass for Students

Negara Taiwan adalah negara kepulauan yang letaknya di timurnya Tiongkok dan barat daya Jepang dan Korea. Lokasinya yang terletak di Asia Timur ini memiliki zona yang unik. Kenapa unik? Uniknya terletak pada lokasi negaranya yang membagi dirinya menjadi tropis dan sub-tropis. Zona Tropis Taiwan ada di wilayah tengah hingga ke selatan, sedangkan zona sub-tropis ada di kebalikannya, yaitu wilayah tengah ke utara. Oleh karena itu, jika ada yang ingin kuliah ke Taiwan dan sering bertanya-tanya wilayah mana yang paling bagus, jawabannya adalah Taiwan Tengah. Saya pribadi kuliah di Taichung dan di sini selain memiliki musim yang bagus, saya juga bisa mengatakan bahwa area Taichung sini adalah lokasi yang sangat aman jika Typhoon menyerang, karena Taichung yang letaknya di tengah Taiwan namun melintang secara vertikal ini dibatasi oleh pegunungan di tengah-tengahnya Taiwan antara Barat dan Timur.

Setelah sekian lama saya tidak meng-update blog saya ini, kali ini saya ingin berbagi pengalaman terkait gimana sih supaya jalan-jalan ke kota yang letaknya jauh tapi tetap bisa menghemat. Weekend lalu tepatnya tgl 29-31 Juli 2016, saya bareng teman2 kampus yang asalnya juga dari Indonesia untuk mencoba mengeksplorasi ke wilayah Timur Taiwan (Taitung - 台東). Ini cukup seru bagi kami, tetapi pada awalnya kita merasa kurang yakin bakal bisa pergi atau nggak karena pertimbangan biaya dan lokasi tersebut cukup jauh dan kami juga belum pernah ke sana sama sekali. Tapi justru itu yang membuat perjalanan ini lebih mengasyikkan. Serasa backpacking kali ya... =D

Semua kebimbangan akhirnya menjadi kenyataan untuk bisa pergi dengan biaya minim. Kami menemukan satu paket tour yang dibuat khusus oleh pemerintah Taiwan (mungkin kalo di Indonesia disebut Kementeriaan Perhubungan) bagi mahasiswa (student), namanya "TR-Pass for Student" (fotonya terlampir di atas). 

TR-Pass ini didesain sedemikian rupa sebenarnya dengan tujuan untuk menarik para wisatawan baik lokal maupun mancanegara untuk keliling Taiwan dengan hanya membayar NT$599 (+/- Rp240.000) untuk trip 5 hari menggunakan kereta yang bernama Fu Hsing Semi-Express or local train dan Chu Kuang Express (kecuali Tipe Formosa Expresses 1, 2, 51, dan 52; chartered trains 71, 74, 73, and 72; kereta special; kereta kantor pos; dan kereta lain yang sudah ditentukan). Dengan menggunakan TR-Pass ini kita bisa bebas naik berapa kali kereta api semau kita dari utara ke selatan atau timur ke barat, namun itinerary kita mesti dirancang dengan baik supaya tidak keliru untuk naik ke kereta yang tidak diizinkan bagi pemegang TR-Pass ini. (waktu itu kami sempat salah mengatur jadwal dikarenakan salah melihat keterangan yang menyatakan "Tour Train.No TR-PASS(Students) permitted.", karena waktu itu melihat sekilas mirip "Tour Train.No" dan "TR-PASS(Students) permitted"). Akhirnya, molor deh semua jadwal yang udah direncanakan. =D

Ok deh, mari kita lupakan masalah itu, di bawah ini rincian biaya yang kami keluarkan untuk trip 3 hari 2 malam ini untuk teman2:

Pengeluaran 3D/2N ke Taitung (biaya dalam NT$)

Keberangkatan	Destinasi	Keterangan	Biaya
Day 1
Taichung Station	Chiayi Station	TR-Pass	599
		Penginapan Chiayi (NT$1100/3 org)	367
Day 2
Chiayi Station	Taitung Station	TR-Pass	-
Taitung	Luye Station	TR-Pass	-
Luye Station	Hot Air Balloon Area	Taxi (NT$300/6 org)	50
Hot Air Balloon Area	7-11 Luye Station	Taxi (NT$300/6 org)	50
Day 3
Luye Station	Taitung Station	TR-Pass	-
Taitung Station	Taitung Forest Park	Taxi (NT$120/3 org)	40
Taitung Forest Park	Taitung Station	Shuttle Bus	25
Taitung Station	Kaohsiung Station	TR-Pass	-
Kaohsiung Station	Taichung Station	TR-Pass	-
Total			1131

---

Pengeluaran 3D/2N ke Taitung (biaya dalam NT$), jika tidak menggunakan TR-Pass dan menggunakan kereta termurah

Keberangkatan	Destinasi	Keterangan	Biaya
Day 1
Taichung Station	Chiayi Station	Local Train	144
		Penginapan Chiayi (NT$1100/3 org)	367
Day 2
Chiayi Station	Taitung Station	Chu-Kuang Express	468
Taitung	Luye Station	Local Train	Tidak Diketahui
Luye Station	Hot Air Balloon Area	Taxi (NT$300/6 org)	50
Hot Air Balloon Area	7-11 Luye Station	Taxi (NT$300/6 org)	50
Day 3
Luye Station	Taitung Station	Local Train	Tidak Diketahui
Taitung Station	Taitung Forest Park	Taxi (NT$120/3 org)	40
Taitung Forest Park	Taitung Station	Shuttle Bus	25
Taitung Station	Kaohsiung Station	Chu-Kuang Express	279
Kaohsiung Station	Taichung Station	Fast Local Train	301
Total			1724

Dari hasil perbandingan di atas,
Selisih Biaya = Biaya dg tanpa TR-Pass - Biaya dg TR-Pass
Selisih Biaya = NT$1724 - NT$1131
Selisih Biaya = NT$593

NT$593 x Rp400 = Rp237.200

Kesimpulannya,
Dengan menggunakan TR-Pass akan lebih murah sekitar NT$593 (Rp237.200) dibandingkan jika tanpa menggunakan TR-Pass.

Hello, guys!

This time, I'm going to tell you about Taiwan...

After coming here for about 3 months now, I must have known about Taiwan Background. So, I wanna share with you all what I've got till this moment. 

Last time, I shared to you about the Taboos of Taiwan. Here you'll see something different but the basic one we should know when we're staying here or touring to Taiwan. 

Taiwan is also called as "Zhong Hua Min Guo" or Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan

For someone who has never been in Taiwan before and is going to visit Taiwan one day, when you're making your VISA, it will be shown as "ROC (Taiwan)" 

 I'm not really sure about when the election will be started again. 

But, now, the President of Taiwan is Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou

 Taiwan is also well-known with its numerous of religious temples, especially Taoism and Buddhism Temple. We're not be hard to find any of it anywhere. 

Undoubtedly, there are some other religions that Taiwanese believe in, Christian, Catholics, and Islam.

 All of us must agree that if we're able to speak in English, we can explore around the world, because of the worldwide language. Somehow we're also questioning and worrying of the language we will use before vacation to the country with non-English as their first language. Like Asia, the countries where the people will speak in their mother tongue, urges us to learn the language for secure before visiting. 

What about Taiwan? 

Taiwan is a Chinese Country. All of the populations are mostly covered by Chinese and has some Aboriginal Taiwanese. By here we can see that there're 4 languages they're commonly using. An official language of Taiwan is Chinese/Taiwanese Mandarin. Mandarin nowadays is also mentioned as a 2nd popular language used in the world. So, don't be hesitate to learn Mandarin as you are the most welcome. 

 My hometown (Indonesia), we only have 2 seasons. 

Lying in tropical region makes us only have Hot and Raining season for the whole year. 

Taiwan has 4 seasons in total, same like western countries. 

In here, we can experience different weather of the season changes. Once I heard that Taiwan has winter but no snow we can find in the city. The only way to see the snow is going to the peak of the mountain. And, I really would like to feel the snowy places. Hopefully, in this winter, I will be able to touch the snow by myself... 

*The special thing for me who is from tropical country

I do hope you all can enjoy my blog.

This is the first part of my articles about Taiwan. 

If you have any comments, feel free to fill it in the comment field. ^_^
Like and Share this blog is also preferably.

Have a nice day!!!

On 17 March 2015 - M Building Asia University, Taiwan (#latepost)

In Asia University, it has event organized by International College here. International College or we called it "IC" is a college that manages the international students coming from many countries, include full-time and exchange students. It can be Indonesia, Thailand, France, Japan, Korea, India, Mongolia, Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and many more.

Every year, they hold the events, like International Food Festival. It's always held in the day of Campus Birthday. In this event, we get chance to taste the food from the other countries. The participants are all the students from the different countries. Everyone is welcome to visit and to taste. Beside that, there were the performances from the students. Singing, dancing, and costumes introduction were being the side event in it.

At that time, we were wearing Batik (one of the Indonesian traditional costumes we proud of) to introduce it to all of the audiences. For the food, Indonesian students served the soup cuisine with vermicelli noodles (Bahasa: Bihun) to the visitors, it's what we called "Soto". And we also provided the Indonesian style home-made milk mixing with ginger, eggs, and honey in it. You can call it "STMJ (Susu Telur Madu Jahe)".

Presentation from Indonesian

In the introduction section, I was pointed to be the presenter about our fashion we're wearing with the others. We presented in both English and Chinese, which in Chinese language was presented by Vivian, the 4th year student who is studying for her bachelor degree here. It's my pleasure as one of the persons to be in front of the whole participants and visitors. It would be my new experience here. Really really not been prepared as well... So, the natural speaking did at that moment. I was wondering if some speaking mistakes and missing ideas were made or not. Hahaa... So funny, though.
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And absolutely we made some preparations before the food fair. It's mostly done by the girls for sure in the cooking section. Haha... The girls will always be used to do it. No doubt for that... =D

So, HERE WE ARE... Indonesian Students in Asia University in 2015. *Still has some other indonesian here, but they were just in case of having other activity, so they were not shown up in this pict.

This is one of my Chinese homework I did. It's all about the taboos we should prevent to do in Taiwan. So, it's a good time to share with u all.

Kuliah di luar negeri merupakan impian semua orang. Dan tidak sedikit juga dari kita mahasiwa yang merasa minder sebelum melangkah. Hanya dengan cita-cita dan khayalan waktu kecil bisa membawa kita menuju ke cita-cita yang kita impikan. Ini FAKTA!!!

Hal ini telah dirasakan oleh saya pribadi. Saat ini, saya telah menjalani perkuliahan +/- 1 bulan di Asia University, Taiwan. Suasana perkuliahan memang berbeda dengan suasana di Indonesia. Tapi, tidak juga memberikan suasana yang mengerikan bagi kita yang sebagai orang asing di negeri orang. Perasaan GALAU pasti akan dialami semua orang ketika ke suatu tempat yang belum pernah dikunjungi sebelumnya. Dan rasa persiapan yang belum matang juga menjadi faktor penyebab MINDER bagi kita. Kenyataannya, jika kita friendly terhadap nature, nature akan baik juga dengan kita. Yang paling penting adalah STAY "RAMAH".

Taiwan berbeda dengan western country, masih dalam benua Asia. Oleh karena itu, beberapa budaya masih hampir sama. Jika kita sebagai orang Indonesia, kita masih bisa lumayan cepat adaptasi. Kesopanan dan tata krama masih menjadi prioritas di sini.

Pada saat pertama kali saya kuliah, hal pertama yang saya tanyakan adalah bahasa apa yang digunakan dalam sistem pengajaran. Di Taiwan, bahasa nasional mereka adalah bahasa Mandarin. Untuk tulisan mandarin yang digunakan adalah Traditional Chinese, sedangkan Simplified Chinese malah digunakan di negara utama Chinese yaitu di China (Tiongkok). Perbedaannya sangat signifikan dan sangat rumit untuk traditional chinese character. Contohnya: Hall, untuk Traditional (廳) dan untuk simplified hanya seperti ini (厅), kedua-duanya bacanya "Ting". Sangat jauh berbeda, bukan? Nah, pertanyaan saya akhirnya dijawab oleh dosen. Untuk semester 1 ini, saya mengambil 4 kelas teori-praktik dan 2 kelas lagi kelas mandarin. Untuk perkuliahannya, menggunakan Bahasa Inggris dan Mandarin (Bilingual). Karena kita bergabung dengan mahasiswa Taiwan (yang pada umumnya lebih jago mandarin), sehingga dilakukan 2 kali pengulangan.

Ini adalah salah satu kelas di sini. Pada saat itu, saya iseng ikut mendengarkan perkuliahan untuk mahasiswa S1 di mata kuliah Behavior Finance. Kelas ini kebanyakan mahasiswa dari Mongolia dan beberapa dari Thailand dan Finlandia. Untuk kelas S1, jumlah mahasiswanya sekitar 40an. Sempat merasa WOW, karena di kelas saya (S2) paling banyak hanya 7 mahasiwa. Dan pernah juga saya kuliah hanya face-to-face dengan dosen. Hehee... Tapi, untungnya ga masalah. =)

Untuk perkuliahan di sini, suasananya sangat santai dan tidak ada beban. Walaupun sebenarnya untuk materinya juga ada beberapa yang cukup mumetin, tapi overall masih OK. Dan keuntungan kita kuliah di Taiwan adalah karena Taiwan negara bagian dari Asia, Bahasa Inggris bukan mother tongue mereka. Oleh karena itu, bahasa inggris tidak menjadi prioritas bagi mereka dan orang Taiwan di sini bisa sama-sama memaklumi.

Mungkin bagi saya, salah satu mata kuliah yang cukup sulit adalah Seminar. Seminar di sini, kita harus mempersiapkan materi-materi untuk dipresentasikan. Materi-materinya adalah jurnal ilmiah. Mengapa sulit? Karena kita menghadapi jurnal-jurnal dengan topik yang belum kita tau sama sekali. Di dalam sebuah jurnal, juga mencakup beberapa topik yang digabungkan untuk menghasilkan sebuah result. Jadi, kita mesti mencari tahu asal-muasal dari setiap topik-topik yang tercakup di dalamnya.

Oke deh, saatnya tidur. Lanjut lagi di kemudian waktu. Sampai jumpa lagi!!! =D

Taiwan Lantern Festival 2015

Well, after about a month here in Taiwan, I got the time to update my blog to u again. Time always goes so fast, like a flashlight. And unconsciously we're getting older and older day by day. It's not the problem, actually. Still we can keep our spirit like the past.

So, now, I'm gonna share with u about my lifetime in Taiwan for about a month here. At the first time arriving in Taiwan is very astonished. Being so amused, as that going abroad especially the country far away from Southeast Asia is my target since a long time ago. So, I felt that something came to me as I wished. It's such a lucky thing I had. In my college time, I was used to living in one of the coziest places in Indonesia I have ever stayed, that is Yogyakarta, a city with full of culture and culinary and also tourist's sight-seeing. Jogja has caught my heart ever. Such a lovely place u must visit. And Taiwan also gives me the sense like it.

The peoples around are always ready to help you when you need. The weather is also comfortably (for me, Indonesian). But, in the sunny day, the sun will kill you. Overall is very cozy to stay. And the food is also spreading along the street when we're going to Night Market. The price is reasonable. Comparing with Indonesia's, I think it's costly/higher than Yogyakarta's but cheaper than Jakarta's.

Many places of interest can be reached by bus easily. And taking bus also the best way for u who want to live economically, because it's costless with the bus within 8 km in Taichung (I'm living here). As I don't want to pay any for sometimes, I usually make a transit before at the end of 8 km point. And then, take another bus to get to our destination. It's a good idea, isn't it?

In Taiwan, I have been in some places/events that are free of charge, like Lantern Festival and Mt. Ba Gua Big Buddha. Yet, some certain places are also needed to pay. It won't cost much, anyway.

Mt. Ba Gua Big Buddha - 八卦山大佛

Sun Moon Lake - 日月潭

It has been a long time I put it away to write a blog.
So, today I have a story about a dinner... Just in case we didn't know what we're going to eat, so suddenly the ideas came up from my buddy, Ti (Thailand). Actually, we would like to cook "SUNNY SIDE UP", but we FAILED... Hahaa... At the beginning, we've prepared all the tools and equipment to fry. Then, we went out to buy the eggs. When we're arriving in the kitchen, we realized that the stove is not working properly. So, we got an alternative way to cook it on the rice cooker. And, it works. Unluckily, we've messed the eggs up. No Sunny Side Up made. Finally, we just decided to make it scrambled. At the end, Scrumble egg was served.

Scrumble Egg Ala Chef Ti from Thailand and the helper me

Today is my second day in Taiwan. So sorry that I have been late to make a posting.
Yesterday, I had my flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. I took me about 4,5 hours. It's so boring at first. But, I met my chair-mate in flight who is a Taiwanese. So, I was asking him for information about Taiwan. Then, he gave me so much good information for me, from the situation to the food and the place of interest. My boring was just like the trash to be thrown away. Taiwanese is very friendly. I have proved it by myself after one of my senior told me before.

I arrived at Asia University (亚大 - My campus) was at about 7.30 pm and the departure using bus was at 4.30 pm. It supposed to be at 3.00 pm to start moving to AU. So, it's also a great to be. I found international students who will also take the Spring semester courses like me. But, most of them are going to take the exchange study. And I was shocked at the airport in case of I was the only one Indonesian to be there. After we have met each other and gathered together, so we moved to AU by bus (provided by campus). I made friends with Thai (5 ppls), Indian (3 ppls), and 1 Korean. Arriving in my campus, we're introduced by the International College staff to the dorm and directly got into our room. I dunno whether it's lucky or not, I have the room with 3 Taiwanese. All is very friendly, too. I guessed I will get the room with international students. After all of the administrations done, I gotta meet with my senior that has been helping me for so long. This was my first time to meet them, too. We have been contacted each other just by using the facebook and Line. Hehee.... But, it's okay.

The meeting ended, I got back to my dorm. I was feeling likes a dream when I was there. Because the weather and the situation in environment is not the same with Indonesia. It's just like what we have seen in the television mostly. The building and even the apartment are covered by the stone (something like that) for their wall. Then, coming to the dorm, I arranged all my stuffs well and going to sleep.

At the morning today (26 Feb 2015), I was shocked again of the schedule given by the campus. I remembered that I'll have the orientation in my campus at 1 pm today. Obviously, I was mistaken to keep the schedule in mind. When I got up in the morning, I was suddenly recalled by something that I'll have another schedule to make. I was in hurry to see the appointment and directly going to the International College for the schedule of 9.00 am (I got up at 9.04 am). And so sorry, unfortunately, I got my wrong schedule that there is a newest schedule given to me before in the airport. Sigh... After that, I just walked back to my dorm. On the way home, I met my friend who are from Thailand. And I asked them about that and the answer was we have no schedule today. In my mind, "Are you kidding me?". This bad experiences brought me to meet another new friend from France.

Ti (Thailand), Victor (France), Me, Ton (Thailand)

I was asking to join them to Taichung City (We can say it is the capital city for Taichung District). It would be very nice things to get there. So, I joined with them. In Taichung City, I was looking for some needed items to my dorm. Then, This is the photo we were taken on the bus.

Below: Jenny (Taiwan), U (Thai), E'(Thai), Phim (Thai)
Above: Ton (Thai), Ti (Thai), Victor (French), Me (Indonesian)

So sorry, I'm going to sleep now. Gotta post another then. Bye...

Saya langsung contact senior yang di Asia University, mengabari tentang masalah ini. Dan disarankan untuk mengambil tes lagi. Waktu itu karena uda juni, dan tes TOEFL ITP di Jogja cuma 2 kali sebulan. Jadi saya harus mengikuti tahap berikutnya di tempat lain (UGM) bulan Agustus awal, karena tes di bulan Juli sudah habis kuota. Memang agak sedikit mahal sih Rp375.000,  mau ga mau harus tes lagi. Sebelum tes TOEFL ITP di UGM, saya juga coba tes di P2EB UGM. TOEFL Like test tapi. Nilainya malah lebih bagus 507. =D

Wisuda saya akan diadakan di akhir Agustus, jadi saya harus sudah selesai menyiapkan semua berkas sebelum wisuda, karena setelah wisuda harus mengantar ortu balik ke Kep. Riau lagi. Jadi, I just had only one chance to bet for the score. I had been praying all the time before and after the test. Dan juga belajar mati-matian (TOEFL di ELTI kemarin sih ga belajar). Pada saat pengambilan nilai, saya minta bantu ke teman saya (Arifin) untuk ambilin. Dan kekecewaan yang kedua kali muncul lagi... Tes TOEFL ITP kedua ini malah cuma dapat 490. What the %@&($... Pasrah sudah deh.. Dan konsultasi lagi dengan senior.

Dan akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk melampirkan nilai TOEFL ITP yang 497 dan semua hasil TOEFL Like test ke dalamnya. Untuk surat rekomendasi sudah disipakan sebelum tes TOEFL ITP yang kedua, jadi saya sudah mendapatkan surat rekom dari Ketua STMIK AMIKOM (Rekor) dan dosen yang pernah mengajar saya sebelumnya. Carilah dosen yang dekat dengan Anda yaa... Biar gampang mintanya... Heheheee....

Setelah TOEFL Score, Surat Rekom, Study Plan, Scan Ijazah dan Transkrip nilai, dan Financial Statement fixed, saatnya siapkan CV (klo bisa didesain secantik mungkin) dan scan sertifikat prestasi baik akademik maupun non-akademik, lampirkan beberapa yang sekiranya bisa mendukung. Kalo ada sertifikat juara lebih bagus. Lalu, setelah semuanya selesai, saatnya di-compress ke dalam 1 file pdf. (*Oh ya, teman-teman juga harus siapkan paspor sebelum mau daftar. Karena kita harus lampirkan fc paspor). Semuanya sudah selesai, dan uda di dlm 1 pdf, saatnya filenya dikirim ke Center for International Academic Exchange (CIAE) *kalo di Asia Univ.

Setelah file application berformat pdf dikirim melalui email, lalu kita harus mengirimkan hardcopy semua document ke alamat kampus tujuan. Karena saya daftar untuk Spring Semester, jadi saya harus mengirimkan sebelum deadline. Saat itu, saya mengirimkan sekitar pertengahan bulan September 2014 (Deadline October 31 annually).

Deadline of Submission

Saya mengirimkan dokumen saya melalui pos Indonesia yang khusus ke Luar Negeri (EMS kalo ga salah), harganya cukup mahal. Hanya dokumen saja, saya menghabiskan biaya sekitar Rp160.000. Tapi, lama perjalanan ke alamat tujuan hanya sekitar 3 hari kerja. Cepat sihh....

Ok deh...This is the end of my processes to apply scholarship to Taiwan.
Mudah2an menginspirasi dan dapat dijadikan sebagai referensi bagi teman-teman yang ingin melanjutkan studi ke luar negeri.

Don't think about FAILURE. Just think about how you make your job done well... All is Well... =)

I'm sure everyone will have the same feeling whenever we want to take action for any scholarships. Scholarship has been a scary things. Tapi, hal ini bukan sesuatu yang tidak mungkin sama sekali untuk didapat. Sebenarnya ada banyak sekali beasiswa yang disediakan oleh negara kita Indonesia dan juga dari luar negeri. Sekarang pemerintah juga telah menyediakan beasiswa yang namanya LPDP diselenggarakan dari Kementerian Keuangan. Dan LPDP ini malah memberikan fasilitas kepada calon penerima mahasiswa untuk kuliah ke universitas-universitas favorit yang ada di seluruh dunia. Nah, saya ingin berbagi pengalaman saya, kenapa saya bisa mendapatkan beasiswa S2 ke luar negeri khususnya di Taiwan. Dari mana saya mendapatkan beasiswa ini? Apakah dari Pemerintah Indonesia? Atau dari mana?

Pada awalnya, bagi saya, untuk mendapatkan beasiswa apalagi beasiswa luar negeri merupakan suatu hal yang sulit sekali. Bahkan saya tidak pernah berpikiran untuk melanjutkan S2 pada saat saya melanjutkan studi S1 di Jogja. Seperti yang sudah saya ceritakan di artikel sebelumnya (Baca), saya bisa muncul ide tsb hingga saya berani untuk mencoba mendaftarkan diri ke salah satu universitas yang ada di Taiwan (Asia University of Taiwan) adalah seperti itu. Pada awalnya saya hanya sekedar iseng untuk mendaftar setelah terinspirasi oleh salah satu dosen saya, Pak Nurhayanto. Kebetulan kampus S1 saya STMIK AMIKOM Yogyakarta ada menjalin kerjasama dengan Asia University... Jadi, pada saat saya daftar, saya hanya berharap aja mana tau bisa lolos karena ada kerjasama kan ya... Bagi yang mau coba daftar, bisa nii cari tau dulu kampus Anda ada kerjasama dengan kampus mana aja...

Pertama sekali, kita tentunya harus mencari tau tentang calon kampus yang ingin kita daftar yaa. Tidak boleh asal daftar aja. Walaupun kita iseng, kita tetap harus serius dalam menjalani semua prosesnya. Iseng tidak berarti tidak pake usaha LHO... 

Jadi, step saya yang pertama setelah mendapatkan info beasiswa dari dosen dan seniorku, saya langsung buka website internasional yang disediakan oleh kampus. Yaa, walaupun aku keturunan Chinese, saya juga sama seperti orang Indonesia lainnya, tidak mahir membaca tulisan mandarin (中文).  Taunya dikit-dikit aja. Website yg saya buka adalah ciae.asia.edu.tw. Di sana, saya mengumpulkan informasi syarat-syarat  pendaftaran baik pendaftaran sebagai mahasiswa maupun beasiswa. Saya mulai mencari tahu info ini dimulai dari akhir 2013. Dan sudah mulai download form admission. Tapi, sempat pasif juga sih karena faktor ingin mengerjakan skripsi. Target saya lulus S1 sebenarnya 3,5 tahun loo.. Cuma, dari atas berkata lain. Akhirnya saya lulusnya juga 4 tahun kurang sedikit di bulan Agustus 2014 lalu. 

Untuk bisa kuliah ke luar negeri tidak seperti flashlight yang ketika kita buka, langsung bisa dituju ke objek yang kita tuju dan langsung diterima dan memberikan feedback bahwa sudah diterima. Kita butuh persiapan juga jauh-jauh hari. Jadi, saya bener-bener siapin dokumen saya mulai sekitar bulan Juni 2014 setelah lulus pendadaran/sidang skripsi. Ketika itu, ternyata form pendaftaran yang sudah saya download sebelumnya sudah hilang ga tau kemana. Padahal formnya itu sudah saya isi sebagian, iseng tapi niat banget kannn....

Jadi akhirnya saya harus download kembali formnya. Sejak itu, saya langsung bikin folder khusus di laptop saya supaya bener-bener bisa saya daftarkan.

Folder Management walaupun kelihatan kacau sekali

Inilah folder yang saya bikin supaya semangat. Dan awalnya tidak ada subfolder sebanyak itu, cuma ada form "ApplicationformsAU" aja. Langsung saya isi walaupun ada beberapa bagian yang saya harus siapin dulu, seperti essay for scholarship dan essay for study plan. 

Lalu, sambil berpikir essay yang harus saya tulis seperti apa, saya juga harus googling untuk mencari tau essay for applying scholarship abroad bentuknya seperti apa dan sistematika penulisannya harus seperti apa. Dan saya mumet juga bacanya punya mahasiwa lain yang telah diterima di Taiwan. Kita butuh mencari banyak banget referensi yang ada di Google. Bahkan kadang saya bolak-balik hanya mendapatkan link yang sama. Capek dehh... Hehee... 

Dan pada saat saya persiapan dokumen (syaratnya harus dilihat di website kampus tujuan yaa), saya langsung add Facebook Fan Page "PPI Taiwan", padahal statusku juga belum jelas yoo... Mau dibilang mahasiswa sana juga bukan. Tapi, saya hanya ingin tau aktivitas mereka yang kuliah di Taiwan gimana. Sempat saya add sembarang orang-orang yang ada di Fan Page tersebut. Hahahaa....

After downloaded the application form, langsung saya persiapkan toefl segala macem. Kebetulan TOEFL Score juga merupakan syarat yudisium supaya bisa wisuda. Cuma kampus saya hanya mensyaratkan 350 untuk score TOEFL sebagai syarat lulus. Sangat jauh dengan syarat masuk kampus luar negeri 500, Broo... XD Gilekk... Dan saya juga belum pernah ikut TOEFL test kan ya, taunya uda sejak SMA sih. Tapi, dalam bayangan saya, untuk mendapatkan nilai tinggi di TOEFL sangat sulit, ga seperti Ujian Nasional... Hahaa....

Dan saya ikut TOEFL Test bersama teman2 seperjuangan saya yg juga mau ngurus yudisium. Waktu itu tesnya di Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) bayarnya sekitar Rp60.000 kalo ga salah. Besoknya saya ambil sertifikatnya, wahh... Saya pas banget dapet 500 nilai TOEFL. Ga tau kenapa, Reading sulit bangettt.... Walaupun sebenarnya Listening saya nilainya selalu lebih rendah daripada Reading Section. 

Uda bersyukur bisa dapat 500 sesuai syarat minimal pendaftaran. Tapi, sayangnya, syarat daftar adalah menggunakan TOEFL ITP (Institutional) yang asli. Sekali tes menghabiskan kantong sekitar Rp360.000. Woww... Jadi, setelah tes di UII, saya mencoba untuk tes yang asli di ELTI Gramedia dekat belakang Gramedia Sudirman Jogja. TOEFL ITP ini setelah tes harus menunggu sekitar 10-14 hari untuk mendapatkan hasil. Makanya, kita harus persiapan jauh-jauh hari. Karena klo mepet harinya dan nilai toefl yang keluar tidak memenuhi syarat, kita harus tes lagi.

Lalu, saat saya mendapatkan hasil Tes TOEFL ITP, mmm... Sangat kecewa banget.... Score TOEFL cuma 497... Whatt!!! Kurang 3 nilainya uda 500. Langsung down melihatnya...

Next: Baca berikutnya

Hey, I'm coming again...
It would be a very nice day to all of you today....
I'm just counting down for the Chinese New Year to come. 3 days to go. Look forward to see my family gathering on that day. Hahaa...

This morning, I spent some of my time to get my documents prepared. And I caught one of my favorite foods when I was in High School, so I stopped at the shop to buy it some. It's called "Roti Goreng" (Bread Fries?? Or Fried Bread?? I hv no idea with the name). I have never found it at any places in Indonesia, believe it. But, I dunno whether you can find it in your town or country.

Roti Goreng @ V Shop Tanjungbatu

It tastes so good... It's served with the chili sauce mixed with mayonnaise. It's very crisp... Minced chicken meat inside the Roti Goreng makes it taste well...

Well, forget the snacks. Today, I want to continue my blog I left last night.
I have shared about the beginning process to prepare for university admission, right. All you need to prepare is TOEFL ITP Score with min. score 500 at first. I've taken TOEFL ITP twice. And before I got my TOEFL ITP, I'd tried to take some TOEFL Like. If u are already familiar with the questions provided in TOEFL, just go for your TOEFL ITP Test. For my first TOEFL Like test, I got 500, no more and less, just 500. Second one, I got 520 taken at my college. And the last TOEFL Like, I got 507 taken at Gadjah Mada University. But, when I took TOEFL ITP, fortunately, I just achieved 497. >_< 3 points more to make it 500. Really really makes me fainted.

But, it didn't make me down. I still kept my spirit to go on. Then, I prepared my another documents. Every university has their own requirements. I was going to enroll to Asia University of Taiwan (the same university with my lecturer Mr. Nurhayanto and seniors David and Fitri), so the requirements would be like that (see above pict):

Got it completed as well... After all is done, it's time to send it to the campus international student center by email. Don't forget to make at least one copy for urself. Then, send the hard-copies one to the address listed at your candidate campus website. For the email sending, I was helped by Mas David as well. I have to thank him very much for the kindness on helping me and promoting me to the Professors, too. =D And should I also thank to Mba Pipit that has also spared so much time on me, explained everything she knows to someone has so much questions like me. Feeling so sorry about that, had been disturbing you all so much. XD

After submitted, just wait to see the result on the dates listed. It would be your very excited and hopeful moments ever. I have felt before. Your first fast heart-beating will be at when you gonna submit the application and wait to their respond. After that, it'll be normal again till the moment you got the email from Asia University.

For anyone who also would like to join the class at Asia University, too, don't be hesitate to ask me. I would likely help you as I was helped by the others.
Jia you!!! Just turn your "Nothing is impossible" to "I'm possible"...

Sometimes I will write in Indonesian and sometimes it will be in English.

For this one, I prefer write it in English. Just wanna practice English writing. I have a poor English, actually, so need to make some improvements by this way. 

Why I set this title as "Where there is a will, there is a way"?

That's because I've just experienced an awesome thing I've never had before. Sharing would be the way to inspire people, too. So, what I'm gonna tell you here. That's about STUDYING ABROAD...

Never thought that I will have the chance to further my study outside Indonesia where to study abroad is one of my dreams since I was young. I was planning to get a promising job after school. But, I had ruined all of my plans. I have been admitted in one of Taiwanese Universities now. Hopefully, my decision isn't mistaken. Here, I'd share my processes how to get into the trap to be admitted in a University in Taiwan.

At the beginning (It must be in 2013), I was in my class to have the course "Operation Research" by Mr. Nurhayanto, MBA. He was a student in one of the university in Taiwan. So, while teaching, he often gave us some short course about Mandarin. I thought that he really likes Chinese Culture. I was the only one Indonesian Chinese Student in that class. So, I was always asked about some Chinese character to make sure. It's my pleasure to be in. Although I couldn't recognize all of the characters, it had been fun for me. So, I enjoyed the class all the time.

Sometimes Mr. Nurhayanto would also share his experiences while he's studying in Taiwan. It had inspired me and motivated me to think about broadening my knowledge to the higher education. Since then, my head was surrounded by a lot of thought. My former planning was begun to messed up at that time.

Day by day, I was looking for the information about the enrollment. And it had once that my planning was not running well. So, It's passive for a while. Then, I focused on my thesis totally. I didn't even think about that again. After my thesis done and gonna be graduated, I started to plan it again. At that time, because I had finished my course with Mr. Nurhayanto, I got lost contact with Mr. Nurhayanto. I found hard to communicate with him for information, so I had to find another way to make my application well. Then, I got contact from someone to Brother (Mas) David Agustriawan who is staying in Taiwan and Miss (Mba) Pipit that has already been in Jogja. I made a facebook message with them, then telling them what I was planning to do. Was so pleased that they're very welcome...

So, my processes were running since then. My first task was to prepare for TOEFL ITP Test as their suggestion. And the rest would do later.

So sorry, I haven't finished it yet. It has been a late night, I'm going to sleep. I'd finish it tomorrow. See you... =)

Written at 00.37 WIB (16 Feb '15)