79 Days in Java

79 Days in Java

After I had graduated in my university by June 2016, I had no idea what thing that I had to do. A few days later I looked for a job, and most companies had a lot of requirements and one of them was that we must have good skill in English to be accepted in their company. So, I thought my English skill was not good yet.  So then I started looking for some information about a good place to learn English in Indonesia with low price but good quality. As a result, I found one small  city which had so many good places to learn English there. That city is Pare but it is usually called “Kampung Inggris” by people. By that, I directly made a plan to go to Java land particularly in Pare, Kediri to learn English language. I preferred to go to there and to gain any other new knowledge instead of just staying in my home without nothing to do. 

Several days later, I finally went to Pare on August 8^th 2016 with two friends called Alam and Ulfa, they are really good persons. I came to Pare with bad skill in English. But, I had spirit and two purposes to come there, firstly, I wanted to improve my all English skill such as grammar/structure, speaking, pronunciation and absolutely writing. And the second was I wanted to get 500 scores even more in TOEFL. And, I hope I can reach it.

In first month, I directly took three classes, the first was in Oxford International Language Academy. I took Basic and Intermediate one for TOEFL structure there. I met two good and smart tutors there, they were Miss Hesty and Miss Ifa, and of course I met many good friends there, several of them were Faqih, Alfian, Fahri, Akbar, Rizki, Samsu, Yuan, Irma, Firda and Hanna. Learning in Oxford really makes my knowledge in English better than before. Oxford had taught me so many good structure lessons from basic to advance, and those are really useful for my speaking and especially for my writing. I grateful for being there! 

This picture shows when I was in Basic TOEFL class in OXFORD with Miss Hesty as my tutor.

Here is when I was in Intermediate 1 TOEFL in OXFORD with Miss Ifa as my tutor.

Because I just took structure class in Oxford, so that I took reading class in another course, Global English. I took that class with my friend from Oxford, Alfian. In this class I did not have many memories, because I just studied here for ten meetings in two weeks. However, this class could make a little improvement in my reading skill. Thank you GE!

As my purposes came to Pare, I considerably spent my time there for studying as much and as good as I could. The society and the atmosphere were really fantastic to learn, moreover all students there made me to study hard. Beside of taking structure class, I also took speaking class in Daffodils for one month. I was taught by Miss Austin. She is good in speaking. Joining in speaking class in Daffodils, My friends and I always did public speaking in front of class one by one. I felt more confidence to speak with English language after joining in this class. Every day I always wait for this class, because this class was the most enjoyable than the others and this class was the last class in a day. I had many funny friends there who helped me to improve my speaking, they were Chandra, Vicky, Bang Teja, Rio, Jihad, Wahyu, Hadi, Latif, Galih, Sabiq, Fia, and Astrid. Nice to know you guys!

Here we are, members of SPEAKING STEP ONE CLASS in DAFFODILS

Even though my main purpose came to Java was to learn English, but I thought that I needed to have some holidays to refresh my brain while I studied. Because I knew that in month two I would get strict schedule, so that I spent all of my time for holiday in East Java in the first month and I decided to visit some good places before I entered my second month. 

The first destination was Mount Kelud, after that my friends and I directly went to Gumul – one of the icons of Kediri-. People say that we had yet to be in Kediri, did not we visit Gumul. So that was why, we made sure we had been there whatever the condition was.

This is when we were in Mount Kelud, Kediri, East Java

Just “being” happy in front of Gumul, Kediri, East Java

One week later, My friends and I with the different formation went to one of the best places in Indonesia, that was Mount Bromo. There are so many tourists from many countries coming here every year. This was my first time to be there. We were there by travel agent and we could visit three destinations such as Blok Savana, Pasir Berbisik, and absolutely Mount Bromo. I think this place is more astonishing than are two places before. You can see it on these photos below.

                                                                 

     When I was enjoying the view in Blok Savana

We can see many good views from top place here

This was such a beautiful Mount Bromo’s Sunrise

It took many times to get this picture in Pasir Berbisik :D

This picture was taken when we were hiking to the top of Mount Bromo

In my first month, one of the most important aspects was my boarding house, Oreon. I was really lucky for staying there. I met more than twenty new persons who had their own purposes to come to Pare. Most of them were from Sulawesi, particularly Palopo. Several of them were Ardy, Adit, Iqbal, Ray, Abrar, Rashya, Fabian, Habib, Richard, Arsel, Henrikh, Naftalis and Fahrir. We always help one another, sharing the knowledge one another, and laughing together. We were taught by Mr. Dedy and Mr. Rudy to improve our speaking skill every day, in the early morning and in the evening. They were really successful to help me to improve my speaking skill. Some other advantages that I got here were I was in the same room with Mr. Rudy, so I could ask him for everything that I wanted (about English exactly), and the free high speed connection of Wi-Fi really made me alive hahaha. If you come to Pare someday, you should stay in Oreon guys. Thanks OREON!

These persons who helped me to adapt quickly in Pare. Thank you dudes!

Month Two. Wohooo, finally I could pass my first month in Pare with many good memories and much knowledge. In that time, I confused to decide which course would I choose next, between Elfast and TEST English School. Both of them are good, especially for TOEFL CAMP. Each course has its own strength and that made me more difficult to decide it. However, After I got more information from my friends, then I decided to choose TEST English School as my next destination. But, we could not enter ESTABLISHED TOEFL CAMP in TEST as well as in another course. Because there were many student candidates who came from many cities and wanted to join in this program, so we must do Pre-Test before we were accepted as a student in TEST by official. 

How lucky I was. I could pass the Pre-Test, and it meant that I was a student of TEST officially after I finished the administration. Joining in Established TOEFL CAMP class in TEST was one of the happiness. I could meet a lot of smart, kind, good, ambitious and inspiring people. Most my friends there have many big dreams, those dream are get scholarship and go to study aboard, those are so prestigious and great dreams. I hope you guys can reach your dream. Aamiin!

The schedule of learning in TOEFL CAMP was so different from my schedule in first month. We got a strict schedule for one month. The class started at early morning, at 05.00 A.M o’clock exactly. So, This schedule forced me to wake up earlier, but it was so good to build my good habit. In first week, we had memorizing class, structure class, speaking and debate class, and writing class. Then, in second week until the last week we had six classes in a day, start from scoring class, structure and review structure class, listening class, reading class, and the last was study night. How strict and thick the schedule was, right?

Although the schedule was so strict and sometimes made us bored, but my friends never stopped studying and neither did i. Moreover, we had good and smart tutors here who taught us all about TOEFL especially for many tricks to answer TOEFL questions. They were Mizu Satria but people usually call him Jmbex as a Chief of TOEFL Department, Mizu Imam who had gotten Fullbright scholarship, you can imagine how smart he is, Mozel Shilvia –our writing tutor and the only beautiful tutor we had- was the person who just got her IELTS score more than 6.5, she is not only beautiful but also smart, so that was why there was one of my friends that interested in her hehehe, and the last was Mizu Didin. He just started doing his job as a Mizu for the first time in our class, He is a shy person but his knowledge about English is so good. I really thank for your knowledge that you gave to me Mizus and Mozel!

They were our mizu and mozel for one month.

From left side: Mizu Imam, Mozel Shilvia, unknown :D, Mizu Satria

 

In another side, we had some refreshing activities which made us happy such as Movie Class, Candle Light Night, TEST 5^th Anniversary, and Farewell Party. Learning in TEST will never be forgotten. I have new family here with many different and various characters and unforgettable memories with them . They were Senen, Ali (Arabian man who has dream to be a pilot, amiin bro), Sugeng, Rohman – my roommates who always support one another, wake me up in the early morning, and good partners for speaking­­­­­­­-. I also have some friends from the same land, Sulawesi (as you know, There are so many Sulawesi especially Makassar people in Pare and I think they are number two after the native people.) They were Miko, Tommy (our King of Listening), Radiah, Angelina, Jannah, Syukur, Arland and our chief Taslim . And absolutely, I have still many kind friends from other cities, From Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Java. They were Satria, Fauzi, Edwin, Aryo, Halim, Rofiq, Bang Bandrun, Bang Aulia, Tanjung, Didin (our Buncis), and Faidzin (our professor), Shyta, Gevia, Meitry (our Queen of Structure) Ardika (our Queen of Reading), Cherly (The Barbie), Rizda, Mbak Karin, Nanda, Enda (The funniest girl), Berliana (our Diamond), Mbak Shelvy, Thanty, Oky, and Dewi Nice to meet you Guys and I hope we can meet in another time soon!

This pict was taken in our last day before we were separated in front of our room with Senen, Sugeng, and Rohman

 Me with Ali and Syukur when we were looking for something to eat.

These Pictures were taken when we attended TEST 5^th ANNIVERSARY

And then, we got The Second Winner by our Flash Mob Performance. This was our class by the way :D

This time was when we celebrated our last day together with our Mizus and Mozel exactly – Farewell Party-

The day after farewell party I directly went to Yogjakarta with Shyta by train, we did not join in study group because I preferred to study by myself instead of joining in that class to prepare Real Test. In Yogjakarta I stayed in my cousin’s boarding house. I felt so comfortable there. I went to Yogjakarta to do Real Test with my friends from TEST in Gadjah Mada University and did some great holidays there because as we knew Yogjakarta has so many beautiful places to visit, has not it?

The first place that I visited was Prambanan Temple with my cousin, Rama. I entered that place without paid because Rama had a project there, so we were free to enter. Before I went to this place I had a plan to have some conversation with foreign people to implement my speaking. Then, I met one young lady from England there and accidently she is a Manchester United’s fans same with me. Prambanan Temple is such a beautiful place, every tourist must be visit this place before leave Yogjakarta. Have you been there guys?

 

Rama and I when we were taking a photo in front of Prambanan Temple

The second destination was Kebun Buah Mangunan, Bantul. This time I was accompanied by Rama and Hanan -my another cousin from my father family- and Shilvy –Hanan’s girlfriend-. This upland provides many good views with many angles. It will be a romantic moment if you guys come here with your couple.

 

Taking a photo here was so great!

Before we were in Kebun Buah, we also visited Hutan Pinus, that is such a good place too as well as Kebun Buah. The weather was so mild there and the atmosphere was so quiet. You should be there!

These are beautiful places, right?

Finally, the moment of truth was coming, the day which had been waited by us for two last months especially for me had come. Yup, on Wednesday, October 19^th 2016 we did Real Test. This was my first time to do Real Test of TOEFL. I felt confidence enough about my answers on Listening and Structure sessions but not on Reading session. Now, all results are depending on GOD (Now, till this article has been posted, our Real Test result has yet to be released). We had learned, tried our best, and prayed. Whatever the result will be, at least I have gotten so many knowledge about English and I will keep learning English.

These photos were taken after we did Real Test of TOEFL in UGM.

After the darkness ends the brightness appears, after having the hard situation which forced me to study hard, consequently the day after Real test I felt so free while felt worried about my TOEFL score hehehe. So much so that, I spent my last time in Java particularly in Yogjakarta by doing some holidays with Rama and several friends who still stayed in Yogjakarta for a few days, they were Miko, Cherly, Jannah, Gevia and Aryo.

Our first destination was Ratu Boko Temple. The views were so amazing. We could see Bantul City from upside.  This temple was also one of the places which was involved in “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta 2 Movie” Do you remember this place?

If you guys come to Jogja you should enjoy this Temple!

And then, my days in Java was almost over. But, before I went to my home we had still one day to do holiday. Along I was in Java I never visited the beach, so that, my friends and I made a plan to go to beach. The chosen beach was Wedi Ombo Beach. In this beach, We could not swim too far, because the wave of beach was so dangerous but we could still enjoy the beach from the coastal areas.

When we were in one of the world heavens

Our next destination in that day was Fort Vredeburg. This place will provide you a lot of information about the spirit of Yogjakarta people to defend Indonesia’s Independence with many good technologies inside. The fort is so cool!

Fort Vredeburg is Amazing Fort as well as Ford Rotterdam in Makassar I think

The last destination in that day was Gumuk Pasir – This was Cherlie’s request-. This place is far enough from Yogjakarta, in Bantul exactly. There were many people there when we arrived. This place is so famous, there are many couples who come here, even making Pre-wedding photos is so nice here!

We were shot by Gevia in Gumuk Pasir

That was my last day to do holidays, but I set my time to visit my father’s families before I went back to Makassar. I was so happy that I could meet them again after a long time. I Hope they are always healthy and happy there.

They are my beloved family who always support and pray for me.

Lastly, I was so grateful to God that I had these astonishing experiences. I had decided a right choice to come to Java. And what I got there were not only Knowledge about English but also got many new good friends who became a family and got many new good experiences about anything. I will keep these memories. Thank you and See you!

Note: Thanks for reading this article. I have no another purpose to write this article but just for sharing my time in Java for about more than two months and practicing my writing skill. Because I think the only way to keep my English skill when I am not in Pare anymore is just by writing an article.