Holaaa! Kali ini mau bagiin tulisan aku di newsletter akun Bina Antarbudaya. Jadi tiap siswa pertukaran yang dinaungi Bina Antarbudaya diwajibkan buat nulis pengalaman yang didapet setelah 3 bulan, 7 bulan, dan menjelang kembali ke Indonesia. Check it out!
STEPPING TO THE NEW WORLD
Ratih Dewi (INA YES to USA YP 18-19)
Hi there! It has been 3 months since I leave my country, Indonesia. I am an exchange student and now I’m enjoying my exchange year in Washington State, USA. I live in a small town, Buckley, and I love this town so much because it is pretty quiet and not a busy town. The families are really nice and almost everyone knows each other. I live with a great family and double placement from Philippine. We had a lot of fun together, and we easily get along with each other. I’m so thankful to God for put me in this family.
I know it might be hard to live in a new place with new people I’ve never met before, but who knows, people treat me like we know each other since we were child. I joined many clubs in my school and get more friends. I love my classes and I enjoyed to learn everything new. They teach me about the culture and what to do, and I tell them what is the difference about their culture with mine. I wasn’t supposed to compare between two countries which are exactly different, but I want them to know a little bit about my country, and they accepted it.
I already did lots of activities here, one of them is volunteering or community service. Sometimes people think that volunteering is unpleasant because they made effort to do something but they didn’t get any money or reimbursement. It is a big no for me, and I found out that many people like to do community service here. Even my school, they require the students to do 50 hours community service to graduate. Isn’t it cool? I agree with the policy because it will encourage the students to do positive things when they are in high school.
I see a lot of difference here. From how they talk, think, and act. They always compliment to other people and talk nicely. “Hi, I love your shoes!” or “The shirt looks good on you!”. It just a small talk but they didn’t realize if they make other people happy. Most of family members have a good communication. They talk about anything that happened in a day and sharing. And they have a really good time management. I should tell them about what am I gonna do for tomorrow or one week ahead, so they can manage the time to drive me there or pick me up. My school and my family teach me to be discipline from what I wear and what I do.
I need to be an independent girl to enjoy my year here. I have to do everything in a proper way and knowing more about myself. I might experience homesick later, but I should know how to put myself in a right way and treat myself to solve my problems. I hope I can experience lots of thing and learn the difference, then I bring the positive things when I go back to Indonesia. I will make my days count, and I hope I can join a lot of activities here. I still have 7 months to learn and live as an American high-schooler. Thank you and see you in the next newsletter!
https://medium.com/@Bina.Antarbudaya/stepping-to-the-new-world-47d4ace7dabd
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