Assalammualaikum and hi!

I'm back!!!

First of all I would like to sincerely apologize for not posting anything for the past few months...

There were so many things happened and I just needed time to organize my feelings and moreover my mental health. 

To be honest, things have been really hard for me. I mean not all the time but then again, life is unexpected as it is. There are times like unexpected events happening in our everyday life, and we got so caught up in the moment. Sometimes it's easy to just let it go but there are times where you question everything and that makes it more harder to understand... Don't you think the so?

By the way, while typing this.. I'm actually typing it down after hassling myself with last minute... urgent matter....? relating to my studies.... oh... yeah... my studies...

Masters...

is

not

what

I

expected

it

to

be

like seriously... I thought I'd be able to pull it off on the second semester... but nasib tak menyebelahi diri ini.... and on the 7th August, I received an email saying it is possible for re-admission. That is just for re-admission approval and it took another whole month to get my offer letter. Like... just why? But ugh.. sorry for the saltiness! 

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about that for now.

Back to the main thing that I want to share with you guys.

So when I was away... I mean when I announced to you guys that I will be away until further notice... it was because I got selected to represent my faculty to go to Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan Indonesia for Youth Leadership Global Discovery Programme. The programme was 8 days programme and it was really tight.. OH! The best part is that.... I didn't go alone! Like Yaaaayyyyy!

 I was with my fellow friend and we share the same name too! Like HI TWINSIE!!! <3 <3 <3 <3

I guess some of you guys are wondering. How did I get that? Why am I nominated? To be honest.... I was surprised that the other participants were waaaaay younger than me like oh wow.... guys, I can feel the age gap! OMG~

Anyway, a good friend texted me on Instagram and asked if I'm interested to apply for a short programme commence on the 24th June - 30th June 2019 under Borneo Studies Network for Youth Leadership Global Discovery Programme. He said he won't be able to go for the programme so I applied for it. Not long after that on Thursday 20th June 2019, I got a text from admin that I need to meet them and get some documents done. I was dazed for a while cause I couldn't believe that I got selected to go to Palangka Raya! When I got to uni, I went to admin building and met the officers for the programme. I was soooo curious who will be going with me to Kalimantan. There were so many things in my head....

Meeting time..

The room was so bright because of the lights coming through the glass window. I felt awkward.. Because everyone else were staring at me as I sat down.... I sat there awkwardly with my smile until this lady came to me. She sat next to me and I asked:

 "Are you here for the briefing?"

"Yes" she replied.

Not long after that, we were approached by two officers and they introduced themselves. They gave us a short briefing on the programme and what are the Do's and Don'ts.  I asked about how are we gonna go there and what are the things that we should prepare prior to the programme. It wasn't clear cause the programme was tentative even before we flew to Kalimantan. Before meeting my twinsie, I was assigned to go with Aniza (not her real name). She even made a passport for the first trip of her life outside Brunei. I was excited and scared at the same time because the officers expected me to "jaga" her. I mean I don't mind but I haven't been to Jakarta and Kalimantan before this soooo you know~~ I'm just scared that I can't be a good companion (cause of the age gap as well). During the meeting with the officers, we were told that we will be flying off on Sunday 23rd June 2019 and we thought we have time to buy travel insurance on Saturday and meet friends over lunch but things weren't on our side. In the evening on the same day, I received text from the group with the officers and the person I'm going with to Kalimantan that we will be leaving Brunei ON SATURDAY MORNING (22nd June 2019).  

We... have to go on.. Saturday.... like, SATURDAY? I had plans on that day... I mean, go buy travel insurance in the morning and then uni for Raya celebration with my favorite person, Ms Y. Actually Ms Y wanted me to help her out with the booth for Raya celebration and after that, meet my friends over dinner but since I received a very last minute update regarding the flight, I have to cancel everything and do some of the things on Friday. I had packed schedule on that Friday cause I have to buy travel insurance in the morning and Friday prayer break from 12PM-2PM, then I have to change some money to US and Rupiah and it took the whole afternoon to look for Rupiah cause the money changers that I usually go ran out Indonesian Rupiah. While looking for other money changer in Bandar area, I saw this money changer was about to close and asked if they still have Rupiah and luckily they still have some Rupiah! Then souvenir shopping! Ya Ampun~~ the only thing that I can think of that time was postcards and I don't know how many people participating the programme and how many buddies will be with us. So, I decided to buy just postcards (Tips: if you go any programme abroad, I recommend you to buy postcard cause you can write something on it too! This gives sentimental value to it. At least, to me!)... AND OH! Aniza backed out from the programme  and she got replaced by another student from her faculty. I was told that she shares the same name as me and for this blog I will be naming her Mak Cik II (cause both me and her have similar personalities and preferences on things and that nick name was given by the participants from Indonesia) and if you are asking who is Mak Cik I, that would be me.

After getting souvenirs and my other necessities I went home and start packing my stuff from the checklists.

✅ Clothes, Pants, Headscarves (Casual, sport wear, Baju Kurung)
✅ Undergarments
✅ Toiletries and Sanitaries
✅ Contact lens, solution, glasses
✅ Make-up kit
✅ Perfume
✅ Medicines, first aid kit
✅ Power bank
✅ Laptop
✅ Chargers (Phone, Laptop, Watch)
✅ Travel documents, passport
✅ Stationary, note book, novel
✅ Money!

I finished packing my stuff around 2AM and slept after that.... I slept pretty late that day and ughhh why can't I just sleep early? Have my beauty sleep before my long flight with multiple transits :((( My flight was at 9.15AM to Singapore then 10.05PM flight to Jakarta and 5.40AM to Palangkaraya. Yes I arrived in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan on Sunday, 7.35AM (8.35PM Brunei time). I didn't sleep the whole time so I was really exhausted when I arrived in Palangkaraya. My friend and I crashed pretty early the first night we were there. We stayed at Dandang Tingang Hotel for the entire programme. We officially started our programme on Monday, 24th June 2019 at Universitas Palangkaraya.

Welcome to Borneo Studies Network Youth Leadership Global Discovery Programme, Cohort II