2022 reviewed

some pictures maybe in order but others might not

January (Annoying yet Motherly Land Lady)

Ibu Kost is really sweet because we keep texting each other since I’m in Ternate until I arrive in Tempe. I got picked up at the airport by my host family aka landlord and landlady aka bapak kos and ibu kos. I remember she offered to cook dinner for me (which is not free of course) and I said yes but it’s only for a week. Not because I have to pay but because I keep not finishing the food since my tongue is too Indo so the food tastes weird considering ibu kos has been living for quite some time in the U.S so that’s basically why. Then I learn to cook and use the kitchen a lot. I’m not a great cook but I only cook for myself so that’s pretty okay. However, sometimes I offer my food to my housemates, aka the other anak-anak kost and they say it’s fine even though I’m not pretty sure they are being real or just being nice lol. I bring food to campus all the time. I can count how many times I buy food on campus (which is not a lot of time).

February (Super nice Bapak Kost Bule)

Bapak kos is such a nice old man. He reminds me of my dad because he talks a lot and when he does start talking he just won’t stop as if he can talk forever. My dad used to do the same, and I remember one time I walked home from my dad’s friend just because my dad didn’t stop talking so I got super bored. My dad was both furious and surprised to find I walked home alone that day. Anyways, bapak kost is a white man. A pretty old man for Indonesian standard, but still a pretty active man in the U.S standard. Actually, both ibu kost and bapak kost are both still working. Even though I remember bapak kost mentioned one time that he already retired from his job. However, he still keeps finding something to do in his garage or fixing anything in the house or in other people’s houses. And eventually bapak kost got back to work after a couple of job interviews. This is actually something that I would have never encountered for bapak-bapak in Indonesia especially within the range of such old age other than that, bapak kost loves asking “how are you” questions to everyone. In fact, I specifically remember one day I got tired of the question and I was pretty stressed with assignments from campus so I almost screamed. Thankfully, I realize and stop myself. That would have turned out really bad if I did that.

March (Badminton Buddies and Weekly Adventures)

I played badminton during spring a lot. But I don’t play badminton at all in summer and fall. It’s funny how I met an Indo friend randomly in one class in spring semester and I introduced that friend to another friend but they ended up getting along more and I was just a bridge to connect them. I met another Indo friend, a super rich but super kind and smart and busy and all that. This friend got me and my old housemate to have weekly adventures together where we will visit a lot of new cool and exciting places like museums with dinosaurs, farmers market with a lot of expensive vegetables, and also an all you can eat restaurant and many more. Sadly it was only during spring because that friend went to seattle for internship and taking the fall semester online and then finally graduating in december. It was a short and yet really meaningful experience. I don’t really explore new places around Arizona every week anymore in fall. I wish I can probably do that again but I’m just too lazy and I have no friends to go around with lol.

April (Ramadan and First Semester)

I experienced my first Ramadan during the last month of spring semester here but because I was really busy so it doesn’t really feel that bad. I didn’t have regular suhoor though because I was the minority in the old house so I was the only one who woke up in the middle of the night to cook and eat. Well, technically there is one other muslim in the house and he’s an Arabian boy but he only eats fast food and never cooks because he’s crazy rich. So, oftentimes I don’t even eat suhoor at all. Then, I break my fast with water. Other times I can only eat oreo or a banana or food that I cooked and looked not so tempting anymore when it was the time for a fasting break. There’s a weekly free food in masjid though which is nice and I sometimes volunteer to distribute the food. I completed the first semester with good grades after being anxious the whole semester. The classes and professors are amazing and super great. I can really tell the difference from being the only non white in the classroom, I felt like an alien lol. Also, I got the chance to attend a conference, not as a presenter but only to give support for my Indonesian friend who was presenting at that time. It was such a great experience for real.

May (Indonesian Muslim Community in AZ and Summer Vacation)

And then I got to meet another Indonesian muslim in Arizona in idul fitri and then getting along with some of them during fall semester and having a couple of road tripping together and it was so much fun. So, they are students with fulbright scholarships and most of them are doing a doctoral degree yet they are so nice and humble and everything. I also met my current roommate at that time. We met and clicked and looked for the apartment in summer and moved in fall. It was crazy to think. Also, I spent ten days of summer vacation in Boston and New York and the dmv area. It was my first and best summer ever. Even though I’m writing this in december and I’m not going anywhere just chilling in the house binge watching netflix and whatever. Now it's my roommate’s turn to go to New york. And my old roommate is going to minnesota. One of the movies I’m watching is Home Alone and I finally can somehow relate to what Kevin feels being left behind while everyone is having so much fun doing all that fun stuff.

June (Apartment Hunting in the middle of Arizona Summer)

So, me and my new friend at that time, who is now my current roommate, decided that summer, Arizona summer is the perfect time to do apartment hunting, which is a crazy thing to do now that I think about it lol. It was not only during June but also July and then we were moving in around the end of july. Funny thing is we visited a lot of places in tempe but ended up in mesa. Another funny thing, or probably bad luck, we can’t move in with our third roommate because a lot of drama is happening but we ended up finding another third roommate. We went through so many things. I think I remember telling my friend that I bring bad luck to everything and everyone around me unless he’s having super amazing luck on him. And the fact that we had to go through all that many things before actually getting the place really says something about that. I know it’s bad to call myself bringing bad luck but I’m somehow convinced that I really am. 

July (Roadtrip and Gym and Moving Day)

I did my first road trip right before the moving day so we moved in right after we got back from California. I should say I love Cali so much it’s just somehow having and giving different vibes. Also, during July I believe I regularly went to the gym with two of my old housemates even if I’m having problems with consistency and my body hurts everytime or maybe it was just part of the reasons coming from me being basically lazy. I should say I felt good for quite a while about it. It feels like you’re doing something good for yourself and my arms getting slightly bigger and whatever or probably it was just part of my imagination lol. I also spent one night sleeping over at my new friend (current roommate) at that time the day before idul adha. That is the day when I finally started to get to know those fulbright friends and plan for the road tripping. And to be totally honest I feel useless throughout the trip because I can’t drive and I can’t read maps. However, I still very much enjoyed the whole trip and feel grateful and happy about that.

August (Fall Welcoming Week ang MG Malut)

I got the chance to take over the instagram account of Mata Garuda Maluku Utara to share a glimpse of what I’m studying about in grad school. It’s an amazing experience indeed. I always think of it as something cringe if I do it with my own main account but then it doesn’t really feel that way when I'm doing it with other accounts. I always feel like I wanna share a lot of things but also kinda feeling shy to be looked at because I hate being the center of the attention. I also notice that because the academic calendar usually starts off in fall semester so the welcoming week feels so much better in the fall. The campus literally invited over a band in which the vocalist os the actor playing in thirteen reasons why. There are also a lot of things going on during the welcoming week like a lot of clubs promoting their clubs to all those new students.

September (Study Buddies and First Soju)

I always ended up alone in the library but I spent some of the days during fall with Indonesian friends from Fulbright because we finally feel close enough to each other (I think) so we schedule a place and time as study buddies. Well, I can never do anything when that happens though because we just talk and laugh and everything. However, it feels good to have friends in the library for a little while. All of them are in PhD programs so they don’t have classes anymore because they already took the classes but they keep going to campus to deal with their research. I know it’s too early to think about it but being friends with PhD students makes you want to be one of them. I don’t know, I'm not sure I’m barely surviving grad school though lol. I was also experiencing some of my first times, like drinking soju (and other different types of alcohols as well) yet I don’t like it because it’s bitter. I mean nobody told me it’s going to be bitter. I always thought it tasted sweet like in the movies. Well, it looks like it’s sweet somehow. My other first time is when I finally get to watch football in the campus stadium even if I have zero knowledge about it. I just went there to take selfies and pictures and experience football lol. I also went to one and the only gsea meeting. I guess well it’s fun but it’s also super awkward. The invitation literally saying all grad school masters and phds but I’m the only masters student who came on that day and not so many people actually came because everyone is busy I think.

October (Roommates, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and San Diego Beach) 

I can’t really remember when our third roommate arrived but I remember we all went to an all you can eat restaurant wearing basically the same colors of campus sweaters so we were basically twinning and taking pictures.I went to san diego for the fall break with my indo fulbright friends. And that was the first time for me to actually see a beach again and let my bare foot touch the water. We also went for a visit in one of the old ships that used to be part of the war with the plans all over it. I also experienced my first halloween and my first thanksgiving. I became a spiderman this year and went to one of the halloween parties on campus and took pictures with a lot of other people who are basically strangers. I bought the spiderman costume last minute from walmart, obviously the cheapest one because I’m a broke college student. Speaking of broke, I have tried applying to get a job but I keep getting rejections but I will try again next year I think. As for thanksgiving, I eat turkey in islamic community center but it tastes like chicken and I only get to try a tiny little bit of it because a lot of people came. So, I got myself a turkey from Walmart and it tastes really different from chicken, it’s hard to chew. I also had a chance to be part of a club called call club and became one of the organizers for the call conference taking place on campus which is insane (I mean in a good amazing way). I like helping so I enjoyed it so much. I heard they were looking for volunteers and I thought a lot of people were signing up but  it was only me and the other one was my other Indonesian friend who just started this fall semester.

November (USINDO Webinar, Blackpink Concert and Second Semester)

I finally got the chance to be a speaker in one of the webinars about study abroad. It was so weird that I got approached on instagram and then hesitating to take it or not and then decided to take it. Two things are my concerns, I’m not confident but the webinar is in English so I feel better. Second of all, it starts super early so I need to make sure I wake up early for it. I usually get up around 8 am or 9 am with or without enough sleep. I don't know why. November is also my birthday month but nobody knows as usual (I wrote a whole post about it on this blog) and then I give myself the best gift for my birthday which is buying a blackpink concert ticket. I went to LA by myself without any luggage or backpack and spent a night in one of my friends’ places. I flew to LA on Saturday morning and then came back to AZ on Sunday night because I got a class on monday. I know it’s a crazy experience but at least I get to do it once in a while. The class is also ending in november and I ask to have class pictures again this semester just like what I did last semester. I feel so much better in the second semester because it’s more diverse.

December (Graduation season and Fall Vibes)

I went to my friend’s graduation. The one that is super rich but also super smart and super productive I told you guys about. I cherish the kindness and warmth during the spring semester even if it was short. I came to the graduation and bought a graduation doll as a gift even though I don’t have to and I have limited money lol. Then some friends came along and we took pictures around campus and had dinner in the evening. Her dream is getting a green card and now she found someone and we all pray for her lol. Also, my sister is actually also graduating from college with a 3,99 GPA and 3,5 years duration just like me but I didn’t get 3,99 but that’s not the point. The most important thing is that it makes mama super happy. I’m proud of my sister for actually reaching such a milestone. I’m a proud brother. RRI wrote an article about it. And I also got the chance to take pictures with yellowish fall vibes trees lol it looks good.