Wasabi

What do you think wasabi is ? a spicy seasoning ? no it’s not.

Here,wasabi stands for Warga Sembilan A SBI (Sekolah Berstandar International). In my year there was only one class and my friend gave it the name. So it was my class when I was in junior high school and I was the leader at that moment. I spent my junior high with the same class nearly 3 years with the same students. I love that class a lot. We just like one family. When in the junior high we liked to spent our time to have a holiday and study together. Moreover we still spent our time when we were in senior high school, usually in the holiday or ramadhan we just went around our hometown,bukber,visited friend’s home etc. Wherever we go, we still be friends. They are one of the wonderful friends that I’ve ever had in my entire life. Few of my friends have ever been to taste their dream. They went to a country in Asean, Australia, Turkey. It was because they joined competition or exchange student. And now, they are studying in a qualified university in Indonesia with majors that they wanted to such as international relation, informatics, science, engineering, medical, army and etc. Till now , I sometimes still contact with them though it’s not as frequent as I lived in Indonesia. They are my friend that always be there to support me and cheer me up. Now, we are separated and stayed in different cities to pursue our dreams. Surprisingly, most of them are in their track to the success like what they’ve dreamt in the high school. At last, i wanna say “Thank you Wasabi !! I’m so proud of you guys!!!”

Engineering ,yeaahh !!

What do you think about women in engineering? Is that sounds common, cool, not match?!

Yeah, people might have different views about it. I am one of the woman in engineering. I take industrial engineering as my major. So far I’m studying in the US, I had some experience that I got in my first semester in the Benjamin and Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resource, WVU. In my engineering class, I’ve done group projects such as estimated the weight of bridge, height of water tower and capacity of water tank, built straw tower, cardboard bridge, and the final project is catapult. It was challenging since you have to cooperate with other students in every project that you have in that class and it was my first time.Well i know that i'll gonna have other challenging things to do in the following years. In the introduction of engineering class, I learnt about engineering ethics, information about major options from department visitation etc. Some activities for engineer that I enjoy are study labs and out of class experience,may be not all students like it but I think it’s a good activities to make academic improvement. So basically, in study labs I have to spend minimum 2 hours for it. I have to study any courses that related to engineering in the engineering learning center or math learning center. Usually I even take more than 2 hours in a week to study labs because i like it, there are some tutors who are available to help.

And Out of Class Experience (OCE) , in the last semester I have to complete maximum 8 OCEs. It’s like visiting seminar, workshop, department visitation etc. that related with outside activities for engineer. It’s interesting because I can get new knowledge and make friends. Some OCEs that I’ve ever visited such as department visitation for industrial engineering, computer science and biometrics, my students success lab, talks about white crime, leadership in globalization era from General Electric CEO and other OCEs. For me being a woman in engineering is challenging and interesting.In my campus, I join organization,Society of Women Engineer (SWE).And It might be only in engineering class you will see a few girls seats among other engineer guys, and even my professor ever say only in engineering you will see a girl keep her pliers in her pocket , when my friend did. However I love being an engineer and It’s my choice. My professor always motivate and remind us that being an engineer is tough and need a lot of hard works. So if you want the world to look at you and you want to change the world, do something that can differentiate you from others.

Starting Winter Break Holiday

The time goes so fast. My first semester in WVU had finished, now just waiting for the result. Thanks for all the blessing God. I feel thank as a mountaineer. I learn a lot this semester, definitely learn the courses and learn to adapt. It was such a good time for the beginning of my life in the United States. Living in the different places as I grow up is a big deal for me. I spent my childhood in Mojokerto then I spent my high school in Malang and now I’m living in the US. Far away from people I love such as my family and friends is not a startle for me. Instead, when you are away from them you’ll understand how precious they are in your life. Now in the beginning of my holiday, I decided to go to my auntie’s house in New York City. I had to move out from my dorm since it was closed during holiday. So I went to NYC by bus, it takes 9 hours. I didn’t feel too tired because the bus was quite comfort and I met my friends and made new friends with other WVU students. I met some engineering students and a good girl who is my senior. She is in Honor College. She is so kind and I got a lot of information from her. Travelling to another city alone for the first time was really interesting. When I was stopped in the station, I met an old man. He seemed not okay, all I can say that he might try a bit to violate person’s belief. Well, that happen sometimes when you go to different places you will meet various kinds of people. But try to keep focus on your way, and be good to people because whenever and wherever good people go, they will always meet good people, that’s what my teacher said to me 4 years ago.

Participating in Exhibition

In the first semester, I’ve participated in exhibitions such as International Festival and Women and Gender Studies Exhibition. It was a fabulous experience, because I could work with many people and met new people also learned to organize.

In international Festival, My Indonesian friends and I prepared all the things that we would show in the Information table. I love Indonesian here, they are lovely and support each other. Usually we just have fun by singing and playing music together, eating Indonesian foods etc. There are only a few Indonesian in Morgantown and for that event; we got an email from office of international students to be the ambassador of Indonesia. It was such an attractive exhibition, moreover it’s our first time participating in it. In exhibition, I met new people so that I could learn from them. I met an old lady from the ministry who gave me a small handbook, and she is really nice and interested with Indonesia. I also made friends with other International students from Saudi Arabia, China, Filipina etc. I enjoyed my time to share and have fun with them.

The second exhibition was women and gender studies, it was also interesting. My group made a poster about women in the workplace. I could learn from the exhibition itself and also from the visitor. In the exhibition, there was an old man that makes a little conversation with my group. He was talked about the men and women relationship. A good message that I got from him was “don’t let the one side perspective conquer you! Not every man is screw up. Actually every man has brain and heart that want to protect you as women.” His words were inspiring. Overall, something that always interesting from participating exhibition is when you can learn from the visitors. When you give something worthy then you will get the worth thing as well 

World Music Concert

(11/30/12)

It was my first time to saw a music concert, actually I planed to watch any concerts since long time ago but hadn’t found a right time before, so today is the perfect time to go since my friend ask me to go with her and offer me a free ticket  I love music and I enjoy it very much. I can’t play any instruments well but I ever learned gamelan in elementary school, keyboard and violin in junior high school. I didn’t spend much time to learn those. But anyway, I love listening to music as well, even when I’m studying. The concert that I saw was amazing. An opening performance was a Javanese gamelan. Could you imagine how I feel? hmm, I was really proud especially because I can say to people “this is from my country” and it’s unusual that you can see your culture is being performed by foreign people in other country. The following performances are from Africa and steel band that was really cool. I like it , hopefully someday I can take the class for exploring my hobby 

Fall Term 2012

It is my first semester in WVU. I take 16 credit hours for 6 classes which are calculus, engineering problem solving, intro to engineering, humanity, women & gender studies and philosophy. When I registered for classes many classes were full so that I had a few choices. I was really excited on my first day school as a new college student. Studying in the United States helps me broaden my mind. There are a lot of courses that I can choose. I am in industrial engineering major, there are some prerequisites courses that I have to take so that I can get into my major, but there also other courses that optional to accomplish certain objectives as General Education Curriculum ( GEC ).So I can choose and study whatever i want and make time schedule by myself. I also have a student advisor that will help me on my academics. I can take courses in class or online. I get quizzes, test, score etc online and always get connected to the university email .You can get any information like event, meeting, job opportunity etc. I can also take online classes even from another university like for summer classes. Everything seems so easy if you are connected with technology.

This semester in my calculus class, I learn exactly about math stuff for engineering. It’s my favorite subject. So far what I learn is really about applying mathematical equation into the real application like for estimating the weight of bridge and capacity of water tower, building straw tower, cardboard bridge and the last is catapult. That’s definitely some kinds of group projects for my engineering class. And in math class, I also learn not to use directly the mathematical formula but how the way you think in order to find those formulas. It is good since you can comprehend the concept deeper and might come up with other new ideas. In humanity class, I learn about art and culture of western and eastern. It’s interesting to be acquainted with other cultures, understand the historical story and at least what I’ve learned in this class was useful when I went to Washington dc and visited some museums there, I could get the ideas of what I saw. In philosophy class, mostly I learn from a lecture. I think this class really helps me to improve my thinking skill so that I can think critically and logically. I learn about the thought of philosophers such as Aristotle, Tycho Brahe, Coppernicus et al. The point is analyzing critical reasoning. And in women and gender studies, definitely I learn about gender role, criticize any issues with group discussion and social life. For this class I’ve ever attended an event with a gay guess speaker and it was interesting. Learning different thing you never learn before is good to open your mind to this diverse world and gives new perspectives. And all i would like to say Thank God , by the end of this semester i get cumlaude GPA :) So..Literally, I’m saying that it’s better to take courses that can support your major but also never limit yourself to learn something that you curious about. Love what you learn and try to pick something good from your learning process. You can learn from anything, anytime and anywhere, so never stops learning! 

Childhood

I spent my childhood in a small city called Mojokerto,it's an hour drive from Surabaya.Mojokerto is popular with the heritage of Mojopahit kingdom and the delicious onde-onde. I had a childhood name so that people back home just know me with name 'Rina'. it's from my last name. I had a good neighborhood and playmates as well. In 1999, i got into TK Dharma Wanita (kindergarten)then continued my elementary school in SDN Wates 1. When i was child, i like to join drawing competition,well i think everybody in that age is really common with this,but i felt blessing because my teachers always encourage me to do so. In the elementary school, i start to love science especially math.I can say that i love it accidentally since i got 0 on my test when i was in the third grade. but then i can feel that math is a challenging subject to learn and it makes me interesting. That's the starting point that i got into math world. I took 'sempoa' course and win the local competition,joined math Olympiad and i got a good luck on that. Besides, I got support from my parents ,they helped me to learn and also from my teachers who taught me math Olympiad's subject privately though sometimes a kid just tried to find reasons not to go to her house to study.:) But then,now, i realize that it was worthwhile.