Sudah Seratus Hari di Indonesia

So basically I was supposed to post this at the beginning of the month...minta maaf!

It's official. I have now spent over 100 days in Indonesia. I guess it's fair to say that I've done quite a bit in those 100 days. I wish I could say that this post was an original idea, but I'm actually borrowing an idea used by two YES Abroad alumnae, Hannah (Malaysia) and Carly (Indonesia).

10 Differences Between Indonesia and the United States

1. Weather, of course! Even when Indonesians think it's cold, I still think the weather is nice.
2. So. Many. Motorcycles.
3. There seem to be cats everywhere in Indonesia!
4. Rice all day every day (Sometimes instead of asking if I have eaten yet, my host family asks if I have eaten rice yet.)
5. Light switches go down when the light is on and up when the light is off
6. There isn't usually any toilet paper 
7. Squat toilets are pretty common in public places
8. Instead of a cafeteria at school, there is a kantin that serves food that actually tastes good
9. Almost all the cars here are white, silver, or black
10. Language (I feel almost like I'm cheating with this one, but it's amazing how many different languages are spoken in Indonesia!)

10 Things I've Learned So Far

1. Understanding Indonesian and understanding school are two totally different things
2. The words exchange student and tired go hand in hand
3. It's not possible to eat too many mangos
4. Learning a language through immersion is somehow both harder and easier than I thought
5. I actually like bread and pizza 
6. It's not weird to have someone ask where you live like two seconds after you meet (there will be a blog post about this and other very un-American questions at some point)
7. Try (almost) everything when it comes to food. Some of the stuff I was a little afraid to try in the beginning has ended up as some of my favorite food!
8. Talking to another exchange student can make any day brighter
9. Never underestimate the traffic (or the rain..) in Indonesia 
10. Finding ways to amuse yourself is important on exchange

10 Things I Want to Do Before I Leave

1. Become fluent in Indonesian
2. Have a few conversations using only Sundanese
3. Learn the Minangkabau language 
4. Visit Bali
5. See a few volcanoes (Since this post is so late, I can now say that I've officially done this. However, I am definitely up for seeing more!)
6. Visit an island other than Jawa or Bali (I know, very specific)
7. Visit my host dad's village (He showed me pictures, and it's in the middle of the forest. Pretty cool!)
8. Learn how to cook some of my favorite Indonesian foods
9. Prepare an entire American meal for my host family (I have made a few things, but not a whole meal yet)
10. Learn some traditional dance

10 Favorite Foods/Drinks (There are actually way too many good ones to name...)

1. Martabak manis
2. Ayam bakar
3. Salak (snake fruit)
4. Rendang - I don't even eat beef in the US, but rendang is actually really good!
5. Mpek-mpek
6. Es teh manis
7. Nasi goreng
8. Ayam penyet
9. Mangga (I'm forever eating one of these)
10. Keju aroma

10 Things I Miss (For some reason I had the hardest time coming up with ten things)

1. Soft pretzels from my favorite place
2. Lox and bagels
3. Sophie, the cat, even though she's mean and scratched up my entire leg a day or two before I left
4. Cold weather and snow
5. Feeling challenged at school (Okay, okay I still don't understand everything, but still)
6. Being able to have a conversation about pretty much anything (I'm definitely still somewhat lacking in the area of vocabulary)
7. Not having to convert measurements in my head (This hardly happens now, but this is sometimes when my American really shows)
8. Thinking in English (right now my brain is stuck somewhere between Indonesian and English, which gets somewhat confusing)
9. Waking up for school later than 5 
10. Family and friends

10 Things I've Thought Were Weird But Am Now Used To

1. Eating with hand (Now I usually feel weird using a sendok and garpu for things that I usually eat with my hands. Let's not even get started on what will be like to regularly use a knife again in the US...)
2. My host family has servants and a driver
3. The amount of free time we have at school
4. A lot of tings on tv are in English with Indonesian subtitles 
5. Corn bread has a totally different meaning here. (Think of a danish with corn in the middle...kinda)
6. Seeing an entire family (4 or 5 people) on one motorcycle
7. Oven heated by an actual fire
8. Hearing Christmas music and seeing Christmas decorations at stores
9. Pretty much everything except for rice just sits out on the table and is eaten at room temperature
10. Indonesian money (This probably sounds weird, so I'll explain. In the beginning it took me forever to pay for stuff because I didn't remember which color meant which amount yet, but now I only occasionally mess up by doing stuff like trying to use a 100 rupiah coin when I mean to use a 1000 rupiah coin...)

10 Embarrassing/Funny Things That Have Happened to Me

1. It took me what seemed like forever to learn how to open the front gate because it opens the opposite way I thought it did
2. For some reason, I am terrible at unlocking the doors at my host family's house...I better not get locked out anytime soon!
3. When people want to have full in person conversations in Indonesian with me after seeing that I kinda know what I'm saying via SMS
4. Whenever people try to guess where I'm from (Papua is the most popular)
5. On like my second day in Bandung, someone I had never met asked "dari mana?" and I thought they were asking where I was from instead of where I just came from because it can be used for both things
6. One day I forgot to turn my alarm on, so the next morning one of the helpers came to ask me if I was going to school. I said yes (I think...). However, when I got ready and went downstairs, my host brother and driver were already gone. My host dad said the helper though I said I wasn't going to school, which may very well have happened because my Indonesian is especially bad when I'm groggy. Anyway, my host mom took me to school on the way to work instead, but I was almost late...oops! Moral of the story: always set your alarm for school.
7. My host family thought I couldn't speak Indonesian for quite a while, but actually aku bisa tapi masih sedikit malu
8. When I tried to use the oven for the first time and my croissants got too dark
9. One day I was on the treadmill and all the helpers ended up watching me...
10. One time I translated and almost completed an entire chemistry midterm because the teacher thought I was from Papua and totally understood Indonesian

10 Things I Hope to Never Forget

1. The excitement I felt about coming here
2. The Indonesian language
3. The amazing feeling that is hujan in Indonesia
4. Walking out of the airport in Jakarta and immediately feeling the heat...even though it was well after midnight
5. The things that I continue to learn throughout my exchange
6. My host family
7. The amazingness that is martabak manis (oops had to say it)
8. This quote from a friend: "But all you can do is hold on tight and count on the fact that if you don't let the hard times break you, this experience will only build you up and make you stronger than ever before"
9. Those occasional times when I think "oh my goodness I'm over 10,000 miles away from 'home' but it doesn't even feel like it"
10. The fact that dreams do come true (I know that sounds super cliche, but I'm actually living what was only a dream earlier this year)

10 Things I'm Thankful For 

1. Other exchange students
2. Parents for letting me come here
3. My host family for willingly opening up their home to let this crazy American girl live with them for almost a year
4. The KL-YES Abroad scholarship. Because so few people come here on exchange, I think it's pretty safe to say that there is absolutely no way that I would be in Indonesia right now without it.
5. Skype. From college interviews to talking with other exchange students, Skype has pretty much been a lifesaver.
6. My Indonesian friends for being patient when I don't understand something
7. Classical music
8. Pizza and ice cream, which may as well be the official foods of exchange students
9. The fact that I can pretty much be on a gap year without it actually being a gap year
10. Successfully living in Indonesia for over 100 days!

10 Reasons Everyone Should Come to Indonesia

1. Good food
2. It really is unlike any other country
3. So many different cultures
4. In general, Indonesian people are very welcoming
5. There are tons of islands to visit
6. It's so different yet somehow so similar to what you're probably used to
7. You're missing out on visiting a pretty awesome country 
8. The mix of modern and traditional is actually pretty cool to see
9. You can stop taking my word for it and see things for yourself
10. Good food (yes, I am aware that this is on the list twice)

Thanksgiving in Indonesia

Well first off I'd like to acknowledge the fact that I have been in Indonesia for over 3 months! (I actually wrote a tiga bulan post in Indonesian, tapi saya sedikit malu...aka I didn't post it.) However, this (super short) post is going to be about my Thanksgiving in Indonesia. I guess the title of this post is actually a little bit misleading though. I didn't really do anything traditional for Thanksgiving. Instead, I spent my last day in the class I was visiting and decided to Skype a couple of the other YES Abroad students. In order to get our minds off of Thanksgiving, what did we do? We listened to Christmas music, of course! Well that we obviously talked too. It's always great to talk to the other Americans (and all the other exchange students) because even though each of our experiences is unique, there are so many commonalities! Plus sometimes it's just nice to talk to some of the few people who are also getting a little homesick on a holiday that none of the other exchange students celebrate.

Anyway after that, I had a very traditional dinner of chicken and rice (okay so not traditional but delicious). Then I actually decided to talk to my family in the US. It's always so weird to think about the fact that we have a 12 hour time difference. While I was sitting in bed half asleep, they were watching the Thanksgiving parade and cooking some of the dishes for the day. As bad as it probably sounds, I think I realized that the food was really the thing that I was missing the most that day. It's not that I don't miss my family. I just feel like Indonesia is the place where I belong until July!

And that's my very interesting post about what I did on Thanksgiving. I'm sorry that this post is very, very short, but I plan on posting again in the very near future karena saya sudah tinggal seratus hari di Indonesia!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Bilang - To say

Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

Realizations

I may or may not have written this when I didn't understand what was going on in physics...

So today has been an interesting day so far. I mean, it's not even 10 o'clock (I obviously wrote this earlier..), and I've already done what feels like enough thinking and soul searching for a lifetime. Exchange is just funny that way though. One second you're wondering why you're here and what you're actually doing with the limited time that you have been blessed enough to be given in your host country and the next you are hit with realization after realization. I'm writing this because I had had one of those realization moments.

You see, lately I have been trying to figure out what it is that I have actually been doing with my time here. As much as I don't want to admit it, the answer is not very much. The second thing that I have been asking myself is this: how much am I really enjoying my exchange? And the answer is this: not as much as I would like. The third and final question that I have asked myself is about how I can change the answers to the two preceding questions. The answer is actually pretty simple. I just need to try new things. That's a large part of the reason I came here, right? New language(s), new people, new food, new everything! Obviously getting used to all of that at once is not quite as easy as it sounds, but it is completely doable and enjoyable once the ball gets rolling.

So the reason that I'm writing this post is that I want this to serve as a reminder to myself and to other exchange students. There are many things that we have no control over when it comes to exchange (and in life in general), but the things I talked about are not usually on that "no control" list. We do have the ability to control (most of) what we do with our free time, and we will ultimately regret it if we don't put real effort into communicating (yes, there goes mention of language again) and doing the things that we really want to do. Even though this might end up sounding like a Nike ad, I just have one thing to say to myself and to my fellow exchange students: just do it! (Within reason of course..don't drive yourself crazy)

Here's a short list of some of the things that I plan on doing to get myself out of the rut that I feel like I'm stuck in:

Satu - Bahasa, bahasa, bahasa: By the end of 2014, I plan on pretty much forgetting about English (unless it's for teaching or learning in a class) until July ( I think it's already working because I almost typed sampai Juli...). For now though, I'll admit this: I still rely on good ol' bahasa Ingriss too much. In order to avoid the continuation of that, I will be removing as much unnecessary English from my life as possible and trying my best to add a minimum of 5 new Indonesian words to my vocabulary each day. 

Dua - Tari: One thing that I have been planning on doing for a while is traditional dance. Although I have not taken a dance class in years, I would love to start again while I'm here. Who knows..maybe I'll take some classes in college too. Dancing is definitely something that I enjoy, so I think it has the ability to make my exchange more enjoyable. Plus it will be a great way for me to bring back a little bit of Indonesian culture to the US!

Tiga - Relawan: Something that I have been really missing is volunteering. It is one of my favorite things to do, and I'm excited to start it up again on this side of the world. Although I will probably end up helping out at organization or two, I am also thinking about starting up a little something of my own. And before you say anything..I know, I know I already have an organization in the US. However my idea isn't really for an actual organization, so it's all good!

Oh and one more thing. Remember that this is your exchange, so please try to make the best of every moment!

Thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Semangat - spirit (Used as encouragement)

Miley Cyrus - The Climb

This one's for you, Birta!

Two Months??

I wrote this last week when it was actually two months, so sorry that I'm not posting it until now!

How has it already been two months since it was my first day here? I honestly can't believe it. As I said to one of my fellow exchange students the other day, it seems like we were talking about it being one month just yesterday. Time really does fly...it's kinda crazy! That same friend of mine and I also talked about the fact that we can't imagine how it will feel to leave. Even though our exchange is nowhere near being over, we can only imagine how hard it would be to leave right this minute. Add on another few months, and I'm sure that feeling will increase tenfold.

In other news, I found out that I got accepted to a college today (aka last week Thursday..)! It's probably not the school that I will end up attending, but it's great to know that someone was crazy enough to accept me. Plus it's the first notification that I have received..good or bad! It honestly does feel like finding out about studying abroad all over again. I still have a few more applications to finish, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere. Yay for progress! It is weird to be thinking about the next chapter of my life when this one is really just getting started though. I will admit that it is a little hard to balance enjoying the present and worrying about the ever nearing future, but I'm figuring it out!

Sorry for the rather randomly written post, but here's a little story that shows one of the biggest differences that I have found between Indonesia and the United States. So today (aka last week Thursday again) I was at school and only had about two hours of class. There are seven hours of school! Just in case you didn't know, substitute teachers don't exactly exist in Indonesia. That means that if a teacher is not there or has something else school related to do, then the class is given more free time. That's so unlike American school! In the US, students aren't usually left in classrooms without a teacher, and we would NEVER have five hours of free time during the school day.

I think my next post will be one about another difference between the US and Indonesia!

Until next time,

Victoria

Indonesian Word of the Day: Semoga - Hopefully

Ryan Keen - Reflections in the Water

Christmas Songs (and a flood) in October and Determination

Okay, okay. I know this is the second "late" post, but life happens, right? Maybe sporadic posting is the new thing! Anyway, as you can tell from the title, this post is going to be about a few rather random events. The first is pretty much self explanatory. I made the huge mistake (okay that's an exaggeration) of listening to Christmas music already. Surprisingly it hasn't made me homesick though. When I say "huge mistake" you might be thinking that I'm simply referring to the fact that I started listening to it so early, but that isn't really the problem (I mean, I guess it is a slight issue...). The main "problem" is that I'm currently living in the country with the largest Muslim-majority population in the world, so Christmas isn't exactly the biggest thing here, meaning that it will be almost nothing like what I'm used to. PLUS, it's also worth noting that I am currently residing just below the equator, so it never gets cold like I'm used to. (A huge thank you to whoever decided to place me in Bandung though. I think I would have melted anywhere else!)

And now for the part you've been waiting for...okay maybe not really, but here's the flood explanation. This actually just happened a few days ago. It was gloomy for the two days or so preceding the whole "flood" thing, and so I obviously knew that it was going to rain sooner or later. Well let me tell you something...boy did it rain. (Sorry for the bad grammar. Other than college applications, I haven't really used formal English in a while.) In fact, it rained so hard that at least half of my classroom's floor was covered in water and part of the ceiling fell down. Once that part of the ceiling came down, everyone started excitedly saying "Besok libur?!" So yeah that was interesting. (And no, I didn't have the next day off.)

As for the determination, it all has to do with the language. At this point, I really want to know so much more than I do, but that's nothing some hard work can't fix!The main problem is that I'm not speaking Indonesian enough right now, but I'm determined to fix that. I even talked to some of the other exchange students about using as much Indonesian as possible and telling each other all of the funny stories that result from it. And trust me, there WILL be a lot of entertaining stories! That's just part of the learning process though. I'll keep you updated on how that's turning out! In addition, on Wednesday I decided to try something new while I was at school. The first class I had is one that I don't really ever understand anything in, so I decided to translate a book. After my reading practice, I decided to use sport and history to work on improving my listening skills. From there I had English class, which is pretty much a brain break. I'm hoping that dividing the day up like that will be helpful, but I guess only time will tell!

In other news, I've recently decided that I really miss some of the foods that I'm used to eating, so I made pizza and croissants with my host sister. For anyone who knows me well enough, that probably sounds weird considering the fact that I always complain about pizza, and I'm not a big fan of bread. Nonetheless, it's true. I have pictures to prove it! The oven I used has an actual fire in it, so it was a little different to figure out at first. All I had to do was watch the food and tell one of the helpers when it was done, but somehow I still managed to slightly burn my first batch of croissants...oops!

Here are some random pictures:

Salak...enak!

Garpu dan pisau...di mana?
(I've been here for almost two months,
but I haven't completely mastered eating with my hand yet...)

Yummy food from Bali

Croissants!

Perfectly round pizza

And becuase all of my other pictures of are of food...
Here's a random library selfie!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Bingung - Confused (I wouldn't be surprised if this became one of my most used words...)

Jessie Ware - Say You Love Me

It's Been Quite a Week

I wrote this post on Sunday and forgot to post it. Sorry! I'm also super tired, so please forgive me if it doesn't all make sense.

This week has been an interesting one, and I'm honestly not even sure where to begin. I usually have an idea of what I'm going to write about (and a title) before I start writing, but today I have no clue. I guess the easiest way to is pick up where I left off.

If you read last week's post, you'll see that I went to an Indonesian church service for the first time. It was slightly more traditional than I have become accustomed to, but I definitely plan on going as often possible. This is probably going to sound strange, but I had the weirdest feeling that something bad happened while I was there. Nonetheless, I came back home and ate dinner without really thinking anything of that feeling. It wasn't until a little bit later that I was made aware of what had actually happened. My dad called me, but once again I didn't really think too much of it. I knew something was wrong the second I heard him speak though. It all made sense when he told me that there had been a death in the family. To make a long story short, my parents and I decided that it would probably be best for me to do my best to attend the funeral. Within a few days we had (almost) everything ready for me to go. We had approval from AFS USA and Bina Antarbudaya, and we had plane tickets booked. The only thing left to do was get exit and re-entry permits. That's where our planning stopped though. We wouldn't have been able to get a permit until the day after the funeral, so don't worry. I'm still sitting in my room in Indonesia!

If our plans would have gone through, I would be in the United States right now, which would have been so weird. I honestly can't even imagine what it would feel like (aka how odd it would feel) to be back so soon. As I said to one of my friends, I was more reluctant to leave Indonesia for a week than I was to leave the US for 11 months. That probably sounds like an exaggeration, but it's completely true.  I guess that just goes to show how easy it can be for some people (aka me) to adapt to a new place!

Until next time!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Pinjam - to borrow

Sundanese Word of the Day: Hiji - One (I feel like I'm cheating with such easy words, but I really don't know that many...)

OneRepublic - I Lived

I seriously love this song so much. I remember sitting at OneRepublic's concert the day after PDO and immediately thinking of my upcoming exchange when they played this song. Needless to say, this song will forever be one my exchange songs. Also, huge shout out to whoever came up with the video idea!

What People Don't Realize

I have heard countless people say that the United States and Southeast Asia are pretty much opposites. To be completely honest, I have no idea if this is true or not. As weird as it probably sounds, I had never been out of the country until I hopped on that plane to Japan last month. (Does that make me extra crazy for wanting to go on exchange??) Because of that, I really have nothing with which I can compare the United States to other than Indonesia. I mean, if we're getting technical here, I was in Japan too, but I was just in the airport for like 2 hours.

Anyway, the point of this post isn't actually my lack of experience in international travel. However, it is quite interesting that my first time abroad happens to include being over 10,000 miles away from my home in the US for almost 11 months, right? Okay so now that that's established, I'll start the actual post...

One of the questions I have been asked the most is this: What are the differences between the United States and Indonesia? I get this question from people in Indonesia and from people in the US. It seems simple enough, but sometimes I honestly don't know how to answer it. When I think about it, there are two ways to answer the question. The first way is the simpler of the two and the way that I usually choose. It typically involves me saying something about motorcycles, school, food, and the weather. However, there is a second way to answer the question. It's an answer that most people probably would not expect and almost certainly would not be satisfied to hear. You see, the truth is that Indonesia really is not as different as most people seem to think. The streets may look different and often lack sidewalks. There really are far too many motorcycles to count. The languages that roll off of people's tongues sometimes do still sound foreign. Despite all of that though, there is an almost indescribable sense that so many things are the same. (I literally sat at my desk for 15 minutes trying to come up with a better way to explain that). What many people seem to fail to realize is that people are people. I am not joking when I say that sometimes I wake up and completely forget that I'm not in the US. (That could also be because of the fact that I'm so tired...) It's actually really funny because my classmates remind me so much of some of my American friends, and my host family is like my family in so many ways. I guess what I'm trying to say is something that we have all heard before. We're not so different after all.

After what seems like the longest paragraph ever, I guess I should also give a mini update. This is going to be super short because I didn't do very much this week. I ended up getting sick and staying in bed for what felt like forever (it was only like 2 days though). I probably should have stayed home for three days, but I tried to be super Tori and went to school on Wednesday. (Note to future self: remember the 6th grade pneumonia incident? That never works out well...). I'm also (finally) going to church today, so that should be interesting!

Until next time!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Batuk - Cough

Ben Howard - The Fear

I think this will always be one of my favorite songs. Please give it a listen!

P.S. I know that my past few posts have been lacking pictures. I think I'll make up for it by making a post with a lot of pictures soon! 

ONE MONTH (and a vlog!)

That's right. I've been in Indonesia for a month. I can't believe it! Time seems to be flying by. I'm going to bed, so I'm not going to make this very long. I just want to say that I finally made another vlog! This one is kinda like a Skype call haha I'll have a more structured one next time!

Attractive thumbnail, right? (YouTube has something against me...)

Sorry for the bad quality. I also don't know why I left that cough in the video...

Terima kasih!

The One About Language

I actually wrote this post a few days ago...I'm sorry that I didn't post it sooner! 

I'm sorry that I didn't post last week, but I kinda intentionally held off on releasing this post. As you can tell from the title, this one is about language. It has been a little hard to learn the language because my host family wants me to help them improve their English, and my English teachers seem to always want me to do a lot of speaking in English. However, I asked one of my friends at school to make sure I speak as much Indonesian as possible while I'm at school, so hopefully that will make others speak to me in Indonesian instead of trying to practice their English. In addition, I have been trying to translate things, and the one thing that really seems to help is translating the Bible. I don't know if it's the fact that I am already familiar with it or what, but (I think) it's really helping me learn vocab and grammar. Translating news articles is proving to be interesting as well. I'm hoping to get a book or two in Indonesian!

Despite what some people may think, learning a language (or languages in my case) through immersion is not quite a walk in the park. I definitely agree that it is the best way to learn a language though. The idea of not being able to fully communicate with those around me is forcing me to try to soak up as much Indonesian as I possibly can. Right now, I am at the point where I can understand more than I can speak. Even still, I can only understand parts of what is being said. An example from school is when one of the teachers will say something in class. Sometimes I understand nothing, and sometimes I can understand everything. It's usually somewhere between the two though.

In addition, apparently I don't look too foreign because quite a few people have met have tried to speak to me in Indonesian or Sundanese.  Also, this is a bit random, but telling people I'm from America is interesting. Just as one of  my friends and I predicted, a lot of people don't think I'm  from the United States. It's actually pretty funny because I've had people think I'm from Latin America, Africa, and even Papua New Guinea. I guess that's part of the whole "teaching people about my country" thing though. Contrary to what seems to be a somewhat popular belief here, the United States is a very diverse country.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Ada - There is/there are

Sundanese Word of the Day: Nuhun - Thank You

Pachelbel's Canon

This is my absolute favorite song! 

First Impressions Can Be Tough

Just so you're not confused, I wrote this post yesterday. Also, I'm sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll post some later! 

As I write this, I am sitting at school on my fourth day. My class is currently taking a math exam, and I may or may not be wearing the wrong uniform...oops! That's just one example of what I have come to call bule fails. Just in case you're wondering, this is not the first bule fail regarding sekolah dan seragam (school and uniform). Hari rabu (aka my second day of school) we are supposed to wear a kebaya instead of our regular uniform shirt, and my class also happens to have sport (gym class), which means another uniform. When I came to school on Wednesday, I did not have either one, but it was fine because the teachers knew that I was (am..) new. The same goes for today. I should be wearing my school batik, which is mostly blue, but I am wearing the only type of uniform shirt that I have...the regular white one. As annoying as these small mistakes can be, I am fine with them because they are easy to fix. However, the language thing is another story...I know I said that I would make this post about language, but I have decided to do that next week instead.

Okay so getting back to what the post is supposed to be about.. As the title suggests, I am going to write about some of my first impressions of different places, so probably Indonesia as a whole (aka when I first landed in Jakarta), Bandung, and school.

Arrival: When we finally landed in Jakarta and went through customs, I got my first taste of Indonesia. It was somewhere around midnight, and I was extremely tired from traveling for so long. However, I wanted to take everything in. When we met up with the AFS (I guess technically Bina Antarbudaya) volunteers, we went outside, and I immediately felt the Jakarta heat. As we waited to pile into a few different cars, an adorable kitten appeared on my right. There were a few people nearby, and they were speaking rapidly in Indonesian. I didn't understand a word, but I'm sure that I could at least get a general idea of what was being said by now!) From what I saw, Indonesia was a pretty awesome place, and now I can definitely say that I was right!

Bandung: Now that I think about it, I honestly don't remember too much of what I thought when I first arrived in Bandung. I do remember being slightly confused though. Orientation was one thing because most of it was in English, and arriving in my host city was a whole other thing. The first time that I actually stepped food on Bandung's soil was when I was switching cars to go home with my host family's driver. I remember looking over at the road nearby and thinking how busy it was. I used to always hear about Jakarta's traffic, but Bandung has a lot of traffic too! As I neared my new home, I also remember thinking how narrow the roads were. I still think the same thing now!

School: When I entered my host school for the first time, I definitely remember thinking how different it looked from my high school in the US. Walking to my class was also very different from what I am used to. Students excitedly ran up to me and wanted to try out their English with an American. Even though I expected it, it was still a little overwhelming. Arriving in my class was no different. The students were SO loud and excited when they found out that someone from the US would be joining them for the next year. I remember thinking that they were all really nice, and that still holds true. So far, the girl I share a desk with is the one I have talked to the most, but I'm definitely up for making lots of new friends in the coming weeks and months. By the way, I came in the middle of the school day, and my class was doing chemistry. The teacher expected me to do work right away, and I'm actually glad she did. Even though I couldn't really understand what was being said, I was glad that I could actually do the work! By the end of my few hours there, it was way too hot for a skirt that reaches the ankles and a long sleeved shirt, but I survived! As I hoped, I enjoyed my first day and first week of school. I still find it really funny that people from other classes (aka people I don't know) will scream my name in the halls and ask for pictures though.

Fun fact: I've officially been in Indonesia for two weeks! How crazy is that?!

Thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Sarapan - Breakfast

Tulus - Jangan Cintai Aku Apa Adanya

I hear this song ALL the time on the radio, and I really like it!

I was actually listening to it as I wrote this post :) 

I'm Here!

Okay so remember how I said that I wasn't going to blog for my first few weeks here? Well let's just say that idea has kinda been thrown out of the window. I've only been here for about six days, and I'm already writing...

I'm really tired (I actually fell asleep while writing this), so I'm going to keep this post relatively short. I arrived in Jakarta very late on Friday night. The six of us Americans were the last of the students to arrive (think 2 am) at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, which is where we stayed for the three days of orientation. By the way, Taman Mini is a really cool place. It's a miniature version of Indonesia and a great way to see some of Indonesia's diversity.

I believe this is part of the Bali section

Orientation was over on Monday night, and we all left for our host communities on Tuesday morning. I was picked up by Yuka's very nice host family, and I had my first taste of sate while in Indonesia while on the way to Bandung. It was very enak! When we got to Bandung, we stopped off so that I could go home the rest of the way with my family's driver. I wouldn't say that the car ride was awkward, but I felt bad not being able to communicate with him. Once I arrived here, I met some members of my host family and went out to dinner with my host sisters.

View from my window

Yesterday, like today, I was really tired, so I slept a lot. I stayed home for most of the day, but I went out with my host brother and two cousins or something. Even though it was only my fifth day here, I tried street food. I know, I know that wasn't the best idea. However, I didn't get sick from it, and I really liked it! Speaking of food, I feel bad because my host family thinks that I don't like the food because I don't eat a ton. In reality, I really like all of the food. My stomach just can't hold it! Saya kenyang might just have to become one of my favorite phrases.

Even though I have been here for almost a week, it is still weird to think that I am actually in Indonesia. It is a very beautiful country, and I cannot imagine going anywhere else for exchange. For everyone that has yet to come to Indonesia, I guess I should describe what it is like right now. The call to prayer is going off as I write this. The rain just ended, and the sun is beginning to appear from behind the clouds. There is a rooster crowing in the background, and my little host niece is downstairs screaming about whatever it is that one year olds scream about.

I don't know when I'll blog again, but I think I'll write the next post about trying to learn three languages at once. Yes, it is as hard as it sounds.

Sampai jumpa lagi!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Malu - Shy (This is often said about my host niece and nephew)

Coldplay - A Sky Full of Stars 

I think this song will forever remind me of Indonesia!

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

(I wrote this part yesterday.)Despite the fact that I have been packing and getting ready to leave for a little while, it doesn't seem possible that I could be leaving home tomorrow. I was out doing some last minute shopping with my mom yesterday, and I found Indomie! I HAD to get some to try before I leave.

I'm sitting in the airport right now waiting for my flight to New York. It's a really short flight, so I'll be there in no time! I'm excited to see my fellow Indonesia-goers again, and of course I'm extremely excited to go to Indonesia! I don't want to make this too long, and my flight will be boarding soon. I guess this is it. Ready or not, Indonesia here I come!

Also, Sunday was Indonesia's independence day. Selamat hari kemerdekaan Indonesia!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Nasi goreng - Fried rice

Snow Patrol - New York

Six, Five, Four

I'm sorry that this is a little late, but I have a lot to do before I leave. I'm still planning on blogging for the next few days, but I don't want to make any promises. If this is the last post that I make in the US, then I guess I'll see you on the other side! 

Six Days to Go...

It's almost midnight, and I'm sitting out front of Lincoln Financial Field. Today has definitely been an interesting and long day. I spent most of the day cleaning and packing, but then I had to leave for my One Direction (go ahead and judge me) concert. The traffic on the way to the concert was crazy, but we made it! We also ran into the same storm three times and ended up getting rained on (there's no covering on the field...everyone on the floor got soaked) right after 5 Seconds of Summer's set. I guess wearing denim isn't always the best idea... Despite the fact that I was wet for the rest of the concert, I had an amazing time, and I think it was the perfect concert to end my summer in the US! In fact, I think it was BETTER THAN WORDS MORE THAN A FEELING and I DON'T HOW ELSE TO SUM IT UP...'CAUSE WORDS AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH (If you're confused, see this post's song :P)

The background is just the beginning of my very messy room.
It seems as if trying to clean, pack, and take things out of
 my room is pretty hard to do at the same time...

Going back to earlier, I guess I should mention this. While I was in the car on the way to the concert, I decided to check my email and saw that AFS now has my visa! I'm so glad that everything worked out for it, and it's crazy to think that I'll be leaving the country in just one week. Other than my visa, there isn't too much exchange stuff to talk about, so I guess this is pretty much it!

Five Days to Go...

Okay, okay. I know I'm supposed to be blogging every day, but there's really not that much to talk about. I can probably sum up today in one sentence. However, I'll make it a little longer than that.

I spent a bunch of my time cleaning today, and I packed a little more. I didn't mention this before, but I weighed my checked suitcase yesterday. It only weighs 25.5 pounds so far! Anyway, my family and I also went to pick up my host brother earlier. Meeting him really made me wonder what it will be like when I meet my host family. I'm just days away from finding out! I'll actually be arriving in Indonesia in exactly one week, and I'll be meeting my family a few days later!

In terms of leaving behind everything I know, I thought I would be nervous, but I'm not. It's actually really weird. No matter how many times I remind myself that I'm leaving in a few days, I still feel like I have all the time in the world to be at home.

Four Days to Go...

My family threw a little surprise going away part for me! Thinking back on it, I should have figured out what was going on way before it happened, but I've had way too many other things to think about. Surprises like that are always fun though. It was great to see some of my friends and family who I didn't think I would be seeing until I get back!

I'm sorry this part of the post is so short. I'm a day behind with writing and super tired!

Selamat tinggal!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Makanan - Food

One Direction - Better Than Words

My sister and I may or may not have screamed this entire song at the concert....

The Countdown Begins

I have one week left at home and 8 days left in the United States. How crazy is that?! I remember counting down until the YES Abroad application came out last year, and now I am just days away from beginning my exchange! Unfortunately, most of the things from last post's to-do list still need to be done, but I'll find a way to get it all done before I leave! In other news, one of my friends, Brandon, left for Thailand yesterday. It was so weird to see him go because I know that I'll be doing the same exact thing next week! (Shoutout to Lili, Faber, and everyone else leaving for Bosnia and Macedonia tomorrow as well!)

Also, I'm not sure if this will end up happening or not, but I want to make a short blog post for every day leading up to the day that I depart for New York. I probably won't blog for my first few weeks in Indonesia because I think it will be a little bit easier to adjust if I stay away from the internet for a little while, so hopefully this can make up for it. I guess I'll just have to see what happens though!

Here's a short rundown of the next week or so:

Thursday - Concert
Friday - My host brother arrives
Saturday and Sunday - Enjoy my last weekend in the US
Monday - Finalize packing
Tuesday - Any super last minute stuff
Wednesday - Fly to New York/Gateway orientation
Thursday - Fly to Tokyo
Friday -  Arrive in Jakarta

That's pretty much it for the main part of this post, so thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Minggu - Week

Passenger - Riding to New York

Thanks to my sister, I went to Passenger's concert last week!

 (Just in case you're wondering, it was really good!) 

While he was telling the story behind this song and singing it, he was able to get the crowd of a couple thousand to be almost completely silent. There's actually no real reason for me to tell you that (sorry if you thought there was a story behind that...), but I absolutely love it when artists are able to do that! Anyway, enjoy the song! My sister also bought me One Direction tickets for tomorrow, so don't judge me if the next post's song is a One Direction song :P (Fun fact: My sister and I both said that we wouldn't go to another 1D concert after last year, but I guess we just can't break tradition yet!)

Where Has the Time Gone?

Remember my "No Worries" post from a few weeks ago? Well I think it's safe to say that things have definitely changed. I only have two weeks left at home, and I have a lot of things to do in that short time. Here's a short list of some of the things I have to accomplish before I leave:

• PACK
• Finish my history class (last American high school class ever!)
• Work on college applications
• Pack up most of my room 
• Hang out with friends/say goodbye
• Learn more Indonesian (or at least attempt to...)
• Finish English and math  (Wait a second...I already did that!)

Not too bad for not being able to see because of the sun, right?

I got the cutest little dictionary last week. It's smaller than I thought it was when I ordered it, but I actually think it's the perfect size to take with me! I was planning on taking a picture of it, but it seems as if it has disappeared... I do have a picture of it from my phone though. The picture was originally taken in a rather dark room for a friend, so I'm sorry for the annoying glare from the flash. 

If you know how small my hands are,
 then you'll see just how tiny this is! 

It still doesn't feel like I'm leaving in just two weeks. I honestly feel like I have so much time left at home and yet no time at all. My year in Indonesia hasn't even started, but I can already tell you that exchange is simultaneously the scariest and most exciting thing that I have experienced thus far. This probably sounds crazy, but I haven't even applied for my visa yet. I have to send all my documents to AFS this week though! It's definitely crunch time. It also just so happened that no one at my local police understood what I needed from them, and the chief wasn't in until yesterday. Other than that, everything is going as smoothly as one could expect. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I'M LEAVING SO SOON. 

I volunteered at my local hospital for the last time on Monday. It felt really weird to leave and know that I am not going back. It was a pretty quiet night, so I spent most of my time reading The Hot Zone again. By the way, if you are at all interested in infectious disease/viruses, I totally recommend reading that book. My sister had to read it for a microbiology class, so I read it for the first time last year. It's honestly one of my favorite books, and it's pretty relevant right now because of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. If I were a doctor now, I would be there in a heartbeat! (Although I'm sure my parents wouldn't be very happy about that...) Anyway, I ended my night at the hospital by talking to the volunteer at the front desk. I promised to send updates, so hopefully I will remember! 

Selamat tinggal dan sampai jumpa lagi! 


Indonesian Word of the Day: Tupai - Squirrel  (Anna, this one's for you!) 

Come So Far (Got So Far to Go) 

In honor of the fact that I recently watched Hairspray two days in a row...

(Almost) Free and Three Weeks To Go

It's finally finals week, and that means that I'm almost free from school for the summer! Unfortunately, this week has not gone as smoothly as I would have liked. I've been having tons of problems with my internet connection, and it was completely down for about 24 hours. None of that is too helpful when all of my classes are online, so I had to end up using my phone as a hotspot. I still lost some time though. It's a good thing that I work pretty well under pressure!

Once again, time really seems to be flying by. I'll be in New York for my gateway orientation in exactly three weeks. I can't believe that it's almost time for me to leave! I'm still really excited, but I'm realizing just how much I have to do before I leave. I still have to finish my history class, pack my bags, pack up my room (see below), and do a ton of other little stuff in the few weeks that I have left.

In other news, my family is hosting an exchange student from Thailand while I'm gone. (I don't know if he'll ever read this but...Hi, Boeing!) He's actually coming a few days before I leave for Indonesia, so I'll still get to meet him! Since he's going to have my room, I have to put a bunch of my stuff away before I leave. I'm actually just thinking of this as a head start for college preparation. I'm sure I don't need half of the stuff in my room anyway.

Also, I finally vlogged! It's definitely not one of the best videos that I have made. The camera quality isn't the best, and I didn't do too much to edit it because I really need to focus on finishing up my last few days of classes. I don't think it's too bad though!

Sorry for the TERRIBLE thumbnail...YouTube isn't exactly cooperating with me. 

(I filmed this in the morning, so my voice is weird too...)

I still can't believe that I only have three weeks left in the United States. I can't wait to get to Indonesia though! 

Selamat tinggal! 

Indonesian Word of the Day: Kamus - Dictionary 

Rudimental - Free feat. Emeli Sandé
A great song sung by one of my favorite artists! 

A Host Family, Less Than One Month, and I Still Haven't Vlogged!

Less than one month. That's how long I have left at home. In about one month I will be on a plane to New York for my gateway orientation. I get on another plane the very next day, but this time I'll be headed for Tokyo. After that, I finally get on my flight to Jakarta! Even though I still have a month to go, I'm beyond excited to get this next year started. Until then, I'll be finishing up my last few days of school, starting (and hopefully finishing) some college applications, and deciding what to pack for the next year.

Now for the first thing that the title says this post is about. I am so excited right now. AFS emailed me about my host family yesterday, and it looks like I'll be living in Bandung! My host family is made up of a mom, a dad, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters. My youngest host brother is actually the same age as my little brother, so that's pretty cool. Knowing who my host family is and where I will be living makes everything seem so much more real, but this whole thing still seems somewhat surreal. I sent an email to my host mom, so I'm pretty excited to hear back from her!

Here are a couple pictures of Bandung:

Mount Tangkuban Perahu (north of Bandung)

Pretty cool looking city, right?

(Shouout to Wikipedia for some pretty awesome Creative Commons pictures!)

Indonesian Word of the Day: Bahagia - Happy

I like to refer to this as the "CSI music video." With that said, if you're grossed out by the idea of (fake) blood and the deceased, then you may not want to watch the first video below. It's a great song though!

Bastille - Of the Night

I can't even tell you how much I love this mashup!



And because I'm indecisive, I'm going to post the live version too. It's sooooo good!

P.S. I just realized that the Indonesian word of the day and the video for this post's song don't really seem go together...

Dates!

Two posts in one day! Crazy, right? This will just be a quick (and very short) update because I actually have a bit more information. Just in case you're wondering, it's not a host family...yet. I did just get my flight information though, so now I know when I'm leaving! I have to be in NYC for my gateway orientation on August 20th. That's exactly six weeks from today! I leave for Jakarta on the 21st and get there on the 22nd. For the sake of routine, I almost want to still volunteer at the hospital on the my last Monday here, but I don't think that would do anyone any good. I'm sure that I'll be freaking out, so pushing people in wheelchairs and carrying specimens probably isn't the best idea...Who am I kidding. I'll probably still be packing anyway! As much as I like the idea of having everything packed early, I know that it never happens. For instance, I'm leaving in the morning to go visit some colleges for the weekend, but I haven't packed anything yet. I think that's my cue to go pack and to make a mental reminder that I should have my bags packed way ahead of time for Indonesia. 

Until next time,

Victoria

P.S. I hope you don't think this post is over yet. I still have to tell you the Indonesian word of the day and give you a song to listen to! Here they are:

Indonesian word of the day: Samudra - Ocean

5 Seconds of Summer - Voodoo Doll

This song has randomly been stuck in my head for the past 2 days...

(Just in case you can't tell, I really like acoustic and live music!)

No Worries

Warning: I jump around to different topics a lot in this blog post. I'm sorry if it's a little confusing, but that's just how my brain works sometimes. I'm also sorry for any grammatical errors in any of my posts. I don't usually look over writing before posting it (that would make me want to rewrite the whole thing...), so the mistakes are pretty much inevitable.

Even though I am leaving for Indonesia next month and have a ton of things to do before then, I honestly am not too worried about anything (yet). I finally have all of my SAT subject test, ACT, and AP scores back, so at least I don't have those hanging over my head. I somehow did better than, worse than, and the same as I was expecting. With that being said, I definitely wish that I would have been able to focus on each test a lot more. I guess there is nothing I can do now though. I'm just happy to be done! Once I finish up my classes at the end of this month, I'm going to try my best to get my college applications done. I've only started one so far, so it's probably going to be really hard to get all of them done before I leave. I'll just have to wait and see what happens! 

As for exchange, some of the exchange students from other countries have started to find out their host schools in Indonesia. Hopefully I'll find out about mine soon! I finally got all of my shots a few weeks ago, so that's one less thing to do! I also got malaria pills and pills for diarrhea (how lovely). On a far less disgusting note, I know I promised to do vlogs once school finished, so I should probably get on that. I actually filmed a video in April, but I never posted it because YouTube was being weird. I shouldn't be making excuses though. In the words of my little brother: Excuses, excuses, excuses...they all stink! Anyway, I'll try to have a video up within the next two weeks. 

Also, congratulations to the girls in the Philippines and India for making it to their homes for the year. I hope that you are all having an amazing time so far! Shout-out to the  Malaysia group as well because they are leaving next week. Safe travels! Before I know it, I'll be heading off to New York for my gateway orientation!

As I said before, I'm really looking forward to finding out about my host family. I think that will make this whole thing seem a little bit more real. PLUS, I'll actually be able to tell people where I'm going when they ask. Considering the fact that the only thing many people know about Indonesia is Bali (if they even realize that it's part of Indonesia...), telling them that I'll be living on Java doesn't really mean much. Maybe I'll know where I will be living by the time I post again! 

I should probably go do some calculus now...

Selamat tinggal! 

McFly - No Worries

How could you not love them?!

P.S. Indonesia's presidential election was today. The quick count says that Jokowi won, but nothing will be official until the KPU announces the official count later this month! I'll probably make an actual post once the winner is officially announced.

PDO

I'm sorry if this post is a bit boring. It's just a little rundown of PDO. Hopefully future YES Abroad applicants will find it helpful/interesting!

I just came home from the YES Abroad PDO (pre-departure orientation) in Washington DC, and all I can say is that I'm really tired. Oh and I didn't really take any pictures...oops. Sometimes I just feel like it's better to live in the moment than to bring a camera into the picture. With that said, any pictures I use will be taken from other people, so thank you to anyone whose pictures I put in this post.

Tuesday, June 24th (My Birthday!)

I was supposed to leave at about 1 PM, but I ended up leaving a little later because my train kept being delayed. I was with Helene (a fellow Indonesia YESer) though, so we got a chance to get to know each other! When I finally got to DC, I met up with Union Station was super busy. The cab line was kinda annoyingly long, but it went much faster than we thought it would. Once we arrived at the 4-H Center, we put our bags in our rooms and went to dinner. The welcome session was after that, and we got to sit our country tables for the first time. It was great to meet all my fellow Indonesia goers. I'm so excited for August!

First Indonesia group picture! 

(L-R; Top row: Sara - our awesome group leader, Aiden, Baillie, Helene, Madison

 Bottom row: Victoria (me!) and Lindsay)  

Wednesday, June 25th

Wednesday was FULL of workshops. Starting right after breakfast and ending quite a while after dinner, the workshops seriously did last all day. There was a lot of information given to us at once, but we all survived and will hopefully remember the things that we need! 

Thursday, June 26th

Thursday was the day that some country groups went to their embassies (not including Indonesia),and we all went to the U.S. Department of State. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get the chance to visit the Indonesian embassy, but we went to see some Asian art at a museum instead. Even though there wasn't really any Indonesian art at the museum, there were some pretty interesting pieces of art. Once we left the museum, we took a few pictures with our country groups and headed over to the State Department. Since we were early, we sat down and talked for a little while. At the State Department, we heard a few people and got to ask some country or region specific questions. I wasn't feeling very well while we were there, so it honestly wasn't the the most fun experience. I was really out of it. I think I was just really tired and a bit dehydrated though. After the State Department, we went to the Lincoln Memorial and took some picture. Once we were done there, we went back to the 4-H Center for dinner and another session. 

YES Abroad 2014-2015

Friday, June 27th

Today went by pretty fast. We ate breakfast, had a closing session, and said goodbye to friends. I'm sad to know that I may not ever see some of them again, but I'm very excited for each and every one of my fellow YES Abroad participants. I think it's pretty cool that we'll be on three different continents for a year, and I cannot wait to hear about everyone's experience! 

That's all for now. As I said before, I'm super tired. I have some school stuff to do and a concert to go to tomorrow, so I better get some sleep! 

Selamat tinggal! 

Bahasa Indonesia word of the day: hari Jumat - Friday 

P.S. Now that PDO is over, I have a new countdown on the side of the blog. I only have about 51 days left out home! As weird as it probably sounds, this whole thing somehow still doesn't feel real!

Also, shout out to Sarah (IPSE roomie!), Katie, and Kennedy who are leaving for the Philippines on Sunday. Have a safe trip! I wish you all the best, and I hope (and know) that you will have an AMAZING year!

This post's song is Afire Love by Ed Sheeran

(I've decided to make the songs an official thing because I can't seem to stay away from posting them!)

A Triple Life

Sometimes I feel like I live a triple life. For most of the day, I am a student, but even that's weird now. Even though I just finished up my junior year, I am stuck somewhere between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college. The college courses I'm taking now probably won't end up counting for credit at my actual college, but I'm still taking more college classes than high school classes at the moment. I'm sorry if that got slightly confusing (it probably did...), and that's only the student side of me!

The second "life" that I live is the one in which I am the co-founder of a nonprofit. By the way, we just got our papers saying that Think Before You Type is officially a 501(c)(3) organization! Anyway, I know that receiving requests to speak at events, writing blog posts for other websites, and interviewing people on other continents may not be what the average 16 year old does. However, it's what I do, and I've grown to love it.

The third and final life that I live is the one that is typically shown on this blog. I'm preparing to live the life of an exchange student. I haven't left the United States yet, but I feel like I'm already learning a lot, especially when it comes to how American culture affects my life. It's not something that I usually think about, but YES Abroad has gotten me to think about it since day one.

I know that this isn't my typical type of post, and I may have written this at 5am (I'm not even joking..I woke up at 4, so I'm clearly an insomniac). I just wanted to write some thing a little bit different, but I promise that my next post will be about studying abroad.

Please give this song a listen. It's one of my favorites! I'm going to see them (American Authors), OneRepublic, and the Script the day after PDO ends. I'm pretty excited! 

P.S. I just realized that it's been exactly 2 months since I found out that I got the YES Abroad scholarship to study in Indonesia. Time seriously flies, doesn't it?

Who's Next?

I would like to preface this post by saying that I am not even close to being an expert in Indonesian politics. All of the information that is in this post has come from research that I have done on the internet. If anything that I have written is incorrect, please kindly notify me, and I will change it.

I've been reading up on all things Indonesia, and I've learned that my first few months there are sure to be interesting when it comes to politics. This year is a presidential election year, and the legislative elections took place in April. Due to the fact that the current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (also known as SBY), has served for two terms, he cannot constitutionally run for office again. Since Indonesian presidential terms last for five years, this will be the first time that Indonesia will have had a new president since 2004. As far as I know, voters will be choosing between two candidates, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto.

(I had a picture of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here, but it seems as if it has disappeared! As long as I remember, I will replace it.)

Joko Widodo

Prabowo Subianto

After doing some research, I found out that election day is July 9th, but there may be another round of elections in September if it's necessary. The voting age in Indonesia is actually 17, one year younger than that of the United States, but one can also have the right to vote by marriage.

The next president's inauguration will be held on October 20th, so I'll be able to see what that's like while I'm in the country. I'm pretty excited to see how the election turns out, and I'll probably end up making a post about the winner.

PDO is getting pretty close, so my next post may not be until after that. 

Selamat tinggal!

P.S. This is completely off topic, but my application was just accepted by AFS-Indonesia yesterday. That means that they can start looking for my host family!