An Interesting Journey in Bali

Last year, I went to Bali for holiday. I stayed there for only three days. I went there by bus with my family. I left at 3 p.m. from Malang and I arrived there at 7 a.m. That was a longer journey. Usually, we could arrive at Bali in 11 hours, but our journey took in 16 hours. So, we got additional 4 hours. It happened because there was a falling tree on the way to Bali. Therefore, our bus could not move and a traffic jam could not be avoided. But finally we arrive there safely. The first day we did in Bali was we went to the hotel to take a rest. After we felt better, we went to Tanjung Benoa, the first beach that we visited. In Tanjung Benoa, we played water sports, such as paragliding and jets ski. Not only that, we felt so amazed with the beautiful beach and the heat of the sun. The following place was GWK or Garuda Wisnu Kencana. Over there, we looked at a big statue of Balinese God. In the second day, we went to a traditional village in Trunyan. In Trunyan, there were many corpses of Trunyan’s people that were not buried, but they were only put on the ground with the treasures. Thus, we found people’s craniums, bones, and many others scattered around there. Not only that, we found bad smells from the corpse, so scary moment. In the afternoon, we went to Dreamland, the beautiful beach around Bali. I felt comfortable with the situation over there. We saw a remarkable sunset. We did not forget to take pictures of the fantastic scenery. At third day, we went to a traditional foods art and shop centre in Bali. We bought some Bali’s traditional foods and handmade, for example, a statue, a painting, “dodol Bali” and many others. We also learned about traditional rituals that Balinese people do, such as making a ritual offering and making a special food for their family. In the evening, we watched traditional dances from Bali, for example, Kecak and Pendet dances. When we watched the dance, we felt so surprised with the moment, especially when one of the dancers was possessed. But, overall I like these dances very much. The next day, we went back to Malang. It was a sad moment because I thought that Bali is a beautiful island and I did not want to go from there. But, we must go back to Malang to continue our activities. I think it is true that Bali is a famous tourism destination and resembles a heaven in the world, because you can find everything over there, like beautiful places, beaches, delicious foods, friendly people and creative handmade. So, I think having three days experiences in Bali was an unforgettable journey.

TRYNING RAHAYU SETYA W.

Playing at the River

My mother had some activities which forbid me to do. One of them is playing at the river. But, I once did it whit my friend when I was an elementary school student. At first, I made sure that my mother was not at home. I remembered that she went to the market. She had asked me to follow her, but I refused it. When my mother was gone, I took my clothes and came to my friend’s house, Susi, soon. Then Susi and I went to the river near her house. When we arrived at the river, we took a banana’s tree. We cut and used it as a boat. Another thing we did was looking for fish and colecting them in a plastic. I though we had played for long time. I was afraid my mother at home already. So, we decided to go home. On the way home, we saw some mangos in our neighbor’s garden. We slote one and ate it. The mango was sour because it was not ripe. When I arrrrive at home, I was my clotshes and took bath. At 11.30 my mother went home. I fell safe at the moment. But she asked me why I changad my clothes and she found wet clothes hung behind the bathroom. Finally I say the turth and she was angry to me. At night, I got toothace. My father had to give something warm onmy cheeck. I though it because I ate a sour mango. After that time, I never do something without permission.

Uswatun Khasanah

LONELY NIGHT

It was Saturday night when my band  scheduled to show at Kanjuruan University. But, the weather was not good at all. It was raining all day long. And i was so scared, because i thought somethings went wrong but i still kept moving. So, at 5 p.m i went to venue , and once again i was worried that i could not be there. While i drove my motor , i saw raining storm in front of me/ so i stopped riding my motor and looked for shelter. And , i was so bored because i had been waiting for 15 minutes to do nothing. Besides , my band’s mates were still calling me. I just got stuck in the moment. But, how lucky i was, the show was cancelled. Then , i spent my lonely night all alone and i felt like really – really stuck in the moment. After i had waited for 1 hour, the rain stopped. I got home and straight  to take a bed. And what i got from this experience is not to go alone,because anything is possible to happen. Just stick together with your team.

Raymond Diaz

True Friend Came by Accidently Just To Say A "Hello"

Friend, for me was not just a kind of a person who could keep you being accompanied. I found it was difficult to find just a single friend. I had people who accompanied me, but they were all nothing. Friend, in my thought, was that who can reach where your soul lies. There was a slight difference between true friend or not. My experience was kind of funny. When I was in my 8th grade, one of my friends gave me a phone number of his friend. I was very happy because I got a new number just right after I got my cellphone. So, I contacted the number and I found out her name was Paskah, lived in Kediri. Paskah was in 11th grade, which it was way higher than me, but I didn't care. It was pretty funny actually, having a long distance friend whom I had never seen her before and much older than me. She understood me very well and did not even complain about me that always contacted her and for our big GAP in ages. Days go by and we got closer. She introduced me to her mother and I had no idea why she would do that and why I agreed to her. It was not like I wanted to be her boyfriend or anything like that, in fact, I felt comfortable as long as she replied my sms which she always did. We texted for reminding daily activities and some poems about friendaship. We were very close that I had the idea of calling her as my sister and she would call me as her brother. However, we had been friend for three years and nothing did changed, however, we got closer and that was just perfect. Three years at that time, we had been together in a long distance friendship. After she graduated from high school, she moved to Malang to enter a college. The same as me but in different year, I moved to Malang to continue my high school. For such a long time, we finally met at her place. Things were just getting better and much better. We hung out together to places and just had fun. After a six years friendship, we decided to go on our own lives. Something between us was missing, but it didn't matter. We still needed each other and we still texted each other. Friendship that I could never regret was the fact that we lost contact. She was jut the one I needed.

M. Afif Amirul Mukminin

The Hardest Thing in My Life

I have an unforgettable experience when I tried to enroll to the university. I felt that it was the hardest struggle in my life. Firstly, I got an information about PMDK at State University of Malang. My Parents asked me to join that chance. So I followed it and I decided to choose English education and Mathematics education. I did not have a test for the Mathematics education. But I had to follow the test for English education a week after I got the information. In the examination, I had to do 100 items in the form of reading comprehension. I just did well for the 50 items. I got some difficulties for the other 50 items. I did not understand every single word. I was extremely sure that I could not pass this test. I had to wait three hours for the announcement. What I predicted was true. I could not find my name in the announcement put in the large boards. I felt so sad but I tried to be sincere because I still had a chance in the second choice:  Mathematics education. Soon I got an announcement about it. I was admitted in the Mathematics education. I was so happy and my family were proud of me. But suddenly, I felt uncomfortable with this major. I still wanted to reach my dream as a doctor, English lecturer, or Mathematics lecturer from the pure one. But I was admitted in the education one. So it made me confused whether I would study in Mathematics education or pure one. Because of this confussion, I still tried another chance in SMPS 1 at State University of Malang. I chose English education and English literature. But I failed again. I felt so sad and disappointed. Finally, I had to chose either Mathematics education or the other test: SNMPTN. Because the date of SNMPTN test concided with the date of PMDK’s registration, I decided to cancel the Mathematics education. It meant that I had to study hard for the SNMPTN test. I also joined a course in Neutron for two months to get more excercise in SNMPTN test. I had three choices: Medical education and pure Mathematics at Brawijaya University and English education at State University of Malang. I had to do 200 items but I could answer only 80 items. That was why, I was not sure to pass it. A month later, I could not find my name printed on the newspaper or web. I felt depressed. I just wanted to cry and do nothing. Soon my parents said that there was SMPS II at State University of Malang. I tried to get up from my sadness and took the last chance, SMPS II. I studied harder, harder and harder. I also never forgot to perform tahajjud prayers. I tried to do my best in the test. A week later, surprisingly I found my name on web. I felt happy because I could study at State University of Malang in English literature. I thanked God for the gift. From this experience, I got an value. If you want to reach your dream, never give up until your last breathe.

Rara Zukhrufy

My Exciting Holiday

My unforgottable holiday was when I visited Jogjakarta. It was about a year ago we had a school holiday. Firstly, my best friends and I did not know where to spend our holiday. So, we tried to discuss to go some places that made us have some fun. Then, after a long discussion about the place, we all agreed to visit Jogjakarta. So, we prepared all the things that we needed for it, such as; checking our motorcycle and buying some snacks. The following day, in the sunny Sunday morning we started our trip to go to Jogjakarta. It just took about two hours from my hometown, Ngawi, by motorcycle. After two hours long driving, finally we arrived at the first destination, Borobudur temple. We were amazed with this tremendous temple. Also we wondered how come the ancient people could build this gigantic temple without any modern tools. Then we climbed this temple up to the top. It was really exhausting. But when we reached the top, the scenery was incredibly magnificent. We could see Prambanan temple near Borobudur and other beautiful sceneries. Beside that, we were amazed with its carvings on the wall. My friend said that it represented the wealth of Mataram kingdom, but we could not understand it. Then we took many lovely pictures there. Next, we went to our next destination, that was Parangtritis beach. But on the way, we were lost. We did not arrive at Parangtritis beach but at another beach. We all did not know the name of this beach. We did not know either how come we arrived at this beach. We thought we were in the right direction. After exploring this beach we knew the name was Depok beach, near Parangtritis beach. Then we decided to spend our holiday there. This beach was so quiet. There were only few tourists that we met. They were all from Australia. So, we agreed to practice our English ability with them. Although we stuttered and stumbled in the conversation, we could still understand the points. They said they loved this beach. This beach was still natural and less pollution. After that, we were playing on the seashore till we were tired. Then in the evening we went home. At 8.00 p.m. we arrived at home safely. I got so many beautiful experiences there.

Juan Sebastian

A Story of My Success for Being An English Literature Student

My best friend, Nofri and I graduated from senior high school in 2009, in Senior High School 1 Probolinggo We tried to follow some tests to be able to be accepted in a state university in 2010, one year after we graduated from senior high school. It was not easy for us as a graduate in 2009. We had to compete with thousands of students or even more, and  most of them were graduates in 2010. Their memories about questions of the tests certainly were better than us. One year without school activities had made us bored. We had to try hard to be able to be accepted in a state university. At that time, we had only about a month for preparation of the tests. First, we tried SMPS 1 at State University of Malang. I chose English Literature for the first choice and Accountancy Education for the second choice. Nofri chose English Education for the first and History Education for the second choice. We had studied hard for the test, but I was too nervous at that time. I was too afraid to make mistakes, so I just skipped the questions if I doubted with my answers. There were only about one-fourth of the test questions which I answered. But it was very different from Nofri. He tried to take a risk, answering all the test questions although he was still confused whether his answers were true or false. As a result, he was accepted in the second choice as a History Education student, but not me. Then about one month before SNMPTN test, I decided to try a test at State University of Jember. But again, my nervousness was not reduced. I was still too afraid to take a risk. So again and again I got a failure. Several days later, the real bad news came. My best friend, Nofri got an accident. An explosion of a gasometer in his house had made me lose him. My best friend, Nofri passed away about two weeks after the accident. before he passed away, he gave an useful advice to me. With a low voice, he said that I had to keep my spirit and I had to have courage to take a risk if I wanted to be successful. He said that the successful people were those who had courage to take a risk for expressing their opinion in their life. There was not unuseful thing if we had done the best. One week later, the time for SNMPTN test came. I tried to do the best for the test. I kept studying hard before, and I tried to take a risk, answering almost whole questions of the test. As a result, I was accepted on the first choice as one of English Literature students  at State University of Malang. I got the proof that successful people were those who had courage to take a risk for expressing their opinion.

Indra Yudianto

My Unforgetable Experience

My unforgettable experience in my life is my struggle to study in a state university. It was a year ago when I graduated from senior high school. I still remember about my dream to be a Dentist, and therefore I took test in a few Universities such as State University of Jember (UJ), State University of Malang (UM), and Brawijaya University (UB). At first I took PMDK (Penelusuran Minat dan Kemampuan) program at UJ. I took Dentist faculty as my first choice and FKM (Fakultas Kesehatan Masyarakat) as my second choice. Actually I did not really hope to study there because this university is too far from my house so I have not checked the announcement up until now. Then, I prepared my self to enroll UB and UM. Those universities were my main targets. I studied hard and practiced my skills to do the test exercises quickly and correctly. Not only that, I also took course for a month in AJAZ for SNMPTN (Seleksi Nasional Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri) program. I got a lot of knowledge especially about some smart tricks to solve the exercises. Three weeks later, I got a PMDK test to enter UM. I took English literature and Economics. The test was held in two days. The first day was reading test. I felt so nervous, I doubted that I could enter this university especially in English Department I felt so disappointed because I could not find my name printed on board announcement. But I kept on trying and never gave up. Then, I enrolled UB for SPKS UTUL ( Seleksi Program Kemitraan Sekolah Ujian Tulis) program. I took Dentist faculty and Midwife Department. Again I failed. I was so depressed and I had no spirit at all. But my parents, my teachers, and my friends always supported me. I opened the UM website, there was PMKB ( Penelusuran Minat Kemampuan Bakat) program and the rules were almost the same as PMDK. Then, I decided to enroll this program. I took English Department again, I did the test carefully and always prayed to God. A while after reading test, the result was announced. Oh God, I really did not believe that there was my name printed on board announcement. So, I could follow the next selection. It was interview. I did my best to answer all of the question well. A month later, I opened the website to look my name. I felt so happy because there was my name. My parents were proud of me. I really thank God. Although I was accepted at UM I still followed the SNMPTN for Dentist faculty. But I failed again. I realized that Dentist faculty has a high passing grade. Maybe God had given me his bless to study at State University of Malang in English Department.

Shinta Diah Wulandari