I have a friend named Anis, he's as old as my sister, about 16yo. He lives in Semarang. He's a freelance designer, if you want to see his portofolio just visit his
website or his
tumblr. He and his lil sister are homeschooling, just like me and my brother. His family and my family are good friends. We often discuss about education and our future.
Knowing that Singapore has a good education and my sister also study there, then he wanna study in Singapore too. That's why in 5 days, my sister and I become such a study tour guide for him to survey some design schools in Singapore.
Day H-1 : Wednesday, 21 November, 2012
19.00 ► Om Ilik and Tante Ririn (Kak Anis' parents) drove Kak Anis to my house in Salatiga,
so we can go to the Adisutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta together tomorrow morning. He have to stay one night in my house cos our flight will be depart at 07.25. It means that the gate will be close at 06.55 (30 minutes before the departure), at least we have to arrive at the airport at 6 o'clock, so we should leave home at 3 o'clock (a journey from Salatiga to Yogyakarta will take 'bout 3 hours), can you imagine if Kak Anis go to the Adisutjipto Airport from his house (Semarang)? It will take more hours cos from Yogya, Semarang is farther than Salatiga.
If you confuse why we choose Yogyakarta Airport even there's an airport in Semarang, the answer is simple: Cos it's an international airport where there is a direct flight to Singapore using A**A**A with low cost. Ahahaha
Day 1 : Thursday, 22 November, 2012
Today is a great day! We will go to Singapore by plane. Yeeaay!
02.00 ► we wake up early in the morning, it's sooooo cold here. It seems like the blanket is the most comfortable thing now, but I should fold it and take a bath (⌣_⌣..)
03.00 ► We've put all bags in the car. Everybody's already take a bath and drink hot chocolate :9 Yeay, we're ready to go to the airport! Bismillah.... We bring some bread so we can have a breakfast inside the car. My lil brother also bring some pillows so he can continue his sleep during the journey to Yogyakarta.
06.00 ► Alhamdulillah, we arrive on time. After we drop our baggage in the A**A**A counter, we pray Subuh in airport mosque and take a rest at D***** Doughnut. Oh ya, we didn't forget to check the number of bags that we carried and check all the important document. Usually children under 16 yo (like me -.-) will get YPTA letter that should be signed by his/her parent. YPTA is stands for Young Person Travel Alone. There will be 3 copy of this letter, one for the company data, one for stewardess inside the flight, and the last is for me.
06.30 ► It's time to me and Kak Anis to say goodbye to my parents and my lil brother. We should get in before the gate closed. "Assalamu'alaikum.. I'll miss ya all! " I see my parents and my lil brother waved goodbye from the outside. Kak Anis will be at Singapore for 5 days and I will be there for 1 month. I think the 'waved goodbye' doesn't mean sayonara, but it means "see you next month! I'm waiting for your amazing story 'bout your amazing experience in Singapore"
07.25 (GMT + 7) ► The flight arrived in time. We walk into the plane and find our seats number.
Not long after that, our meals which is ordered on the internet is coming! I'm so glad that my mom ordered a kids meal for me cos I'll get a 3D puzzle plane. Finally, my stomach bell is stopping now. That was a delicious meal, thanks mom! I also share some of my meal to Kak Anis, and so did he.
10.45 (GMT + 8) ► Finally, we arrived at Changi Airport, Singapore! It's my second time go to Singapore without my parents. I bought 2 handphones, one for my Indonesian number and one for my Singaporean number. Kak Anis wanna have a Singaporean number too for his i-phone, then we decided to go to the cellular counter inside the airport to buy a phone number.
12.30 ► we arrive at the apartment where Mbak Enes lives to drop our bags and take a rest for a while, just for a w h i l e . . . cos after this, a long journey will begin, eng ing eng! It starts with 2 pcs of bread for lunch, and then go in a hurry to meet Mbak Enes in Tanjong Pagar station, it's about 1 hour from the apartment which is located in Tampines (if we go by public transportation like mrt/train and bus).
14.00 ► bla bla bla we meet Mbak Enes in Tanjong Pagar station, we talk many things. Then we see the map inside the mrt station. We are going to go to FZD School of Design. After see and capture the map, we walk out of the station through exit B. We walk 'bout 500 m from the station to reach the school.
We had an appointment with an Indonesian people who works in FZD. She's from Surabaya. She told us everything about the school which is include the requirement, the cost, the education system, etc. We also look at the classes and the learning activities there.
15.00 ► I think 2 pcs of bread wasn't enough for us╰(￣^￣)╯, then we take a rest at a garden near the MRT station. Sitting, talking, stretching, straighten our legs, and eating some snacks.
Next destination is EXPO! There are electronic expo and clothes, hat, shoes, books, toys expo in this week. We are going to window shopping there! [kali-kali ada yg bagus + murah :-P]
16.30 ► We arrive at Expo. We feel like a car that runs out of fuel.. we need to refuel first before continuing the journey. So we decided to have a REAL lunch first before walking around in the huge and wide expo building.
18.30 ► For about 2 hours we walked around, looking for a good stuff with a good price. And the result is..... the three of us exit the expo building with a stack of brochures and 1 small plastic bag containing stylus pen. Ha-ha-ha-ha (/ ¯ ▽¯)/ we walked for 2 hours sampe kakinya gempor and just got 1 small stylus pen and a stack of brochures. Oh yeaah, that's what the real window shopping is.. Actually there are so many great stuffs there, but I think the price isn't great enough, maybe it because of the increase of currency exchange rate between Singapore Dollar and Rupiah..
19.15 ► Finally, we got home. We are very tired, especially in the legs, but that was an amazing experience!
We cook a corn soup and fried chicken for the dinner. After eat the dinner, we accompany Kak Anis to his apartment (he rented 1 room in that apartment for 5 days) in Pasir Ris. After that Mbak Enes and I go back home. At our apartment, we are massaging our tired feet and then go to bed to have a great dream. (• ˆ⌣ˆ •)
Good night everybody! Don't forget to read the second part of this story to see what we are doing in the second day in Singapore! :D Get ready for the next journey! Yipeee!
