Memories

I knew I am going to miss this campus.

the buildings

the distractions

the amenities

the 6th floor of Yoyokan building

Administration Office and Student Room

on the way to class

food, drinks, and laughs

Graduate School of Policy Science

Aaahhh... Natsukashii...

M2

I attended the classes.

I submitted all assignments on time.

I presented my research progress. 

Just been there, done that.

Everything was going well for me. I went solo traveling to many places. I didn't push hard my life to study, I didn't intend to have a part time job. I didn't calculate my expenses.

I might be able to do this whole of my life. Taking class just for knowledge transfer, but not RESEARCH. The research project class was so challenging. Although it's not my turn to present, I still got nerveous. In my department, there were 6 professors attending the class and all of them were keen to comment and ask.

Speaking of student life...
Master students in the second year is coded M2, the student ID was very crucial. It's access to all facilities in the building, libraries, tourism spots, and highway bus ticket. Actually, in my view, all professors teaching us were nice, generous and negotiable. They just did what they had to do, never overcharged us with 2 or 3 assignments, and very appreciative. We may freely use printer with limited number of papers per semester and copy card for photocopy machine. Everything was just do-it-yourself, though.

Yet, it's such difficult to make friend and hang out with the Japanese, even the Chinese. You may mingle and laugh with them today, then consider they never exist in the following days. So awkward.

Fit and Proper Test

Interestingly, for about 2 weeks you may register all offered lectures, and then, you can withdraw what you do not need. Just notice the schedule!

During 2 weeks, is time to do kind of "fit and proper test" to the professors or the subjects. 

The previous students said that you have to take class where your professor in charged, but I think it doesn't matter. I did it, though, just because I was adore my sensei, and lucky me I got A+ at the end.

first day

syllabus and some course materials

my first class

I don't know for nowadays, but at the time there were only few students taking a class. For example, there were only the Thai and I attending the class taught by our academic adviser, then there were only 4 Indonesians for another class.

I then realized that there were not so many the Japanese of master degree students. They were dominated by the Chinese.

Departure - Arrival

We left at 11.15 pm from Soekarno Hatta. When the previous batch landed in Kansai Airport, we landed in Narita Airport. Lucky us, had first experience with the Shinkansen, and it was FREE. Yeay!

Day 1, 12 September 2013

Mr. SHIMIZU and the first allowance nicely welcomed us. We got residence card from Immigration, then we headed to Kyoto by express train and shinkansen. From Kyoto Station, my friends and I studying in same majoring and living at the same place used taxi off to our apartment (apato) in Kinagusa.

just before landing

first allowance from AsiaSEED

Kyoto Station

neighborhood

Day 2, 13 September 2013 

We went to Kita Ward Office to have Health Insurance and ID Number. I thought it's like Kantor Kecamatan in Indonesia. After that, you are free until the orientation time at university.

on the way to KITA ward

KITA Ward Office

Preparation

During no classes and waiting for departure, I conducted survey and collected data, as well as DP3. I didn't plan to go back, so I prepared everything, for example, my questionnaire consisted of various questions related to topic of my thesis.

Also, I had  many emails regarding the university and accommodation in Japan from AsiaSEED. Actually, there will be a day for predeparture briefing from AsiaSEED in each campus. The representative, Mr. SHIMIZU explained about what we should prepare before leaving, and what we are going to do after arriving.

Actually, the tricky thing is packing. As you want to bring everything-you-think-you-will-need-it-because-you-think-it's-gonna-be-expensive, but you don't want to get trouble as well. My suggestion is just bring whatever you want. I am not really sure whether it's because of the service passport or just no suspected thing inside our luggage, in fact, all of us could get through all procedures.

It also better to have contact of your colleagues going to same university in Japan, so you guys can share information.

Second Semester

Since the concentration of subjects were different, the class was split "The Japanese" moved to smaller classroom.

Finishing 1st semester meant we should focus on application for Japanese universities. We had an extra class to prepare (I called this) an informal research proposal and inception documents.

During January and February were intense time to send application and interview with Japanese professors coming to ITB. Even though your research interest are still in the middle of nowhere, just show convincing performance. That's what I did, I hated it, though!

Anyway, it's time to show your personality. Are you selfish, risk taker, or tolerance? Personally, I was a risk taker and little bit selfish ;). I didn't mind to be expelled by my friends as long as I was not haunted by my curiosity. Besides, I wanted to prove the system was not as strict as their thought. I was RIGHT, eventually. All their worries of regulation were rubbish. All of us were accepted. I did what I needed to do and got what I wished for. I was happy, didn't know them.

This semester was quite fun because we had two trips outside Bandung, Jakarta and Pangandaran. Yet, still many and full of papers and presentations.

Etty Sensei

Ending up the days at ITB, we had Japanese class for about 1.5 months before leaving. Actually, it should be carried out at the classroom of UPT Bahasa, but we asked to move it into our classroom at SAPPK because it's more comfortable.

During Japanese class, we also had to deal with legal documents such as passport and visa. Especially for local government workers, we had to prepare a document signed by Secretary of Province in order to have a recommendation from Ministry of Home Affairs. The person in charge of this stuff in the ministry, named Anto. he handled the rest of documents process. For ladies, don't be spoiled by his not bad looking, once you directly come to his office, you still have to remind him about your document on and on.