Exchange!

hai om dan tante sekalian. as promised (lupa kapan) I will share the story of me getting accepted as an intern in Thailand. I know some of you wonder why a kid who can barely speak English like me can suddenly get this big chance. Merendah dikit biar keren. But yes I myself gemeteran because I'm not really sure if I really deserve this. But I know I can do this, seharusnya sih. Btw I'll write in english so if I make mistakes ya nyuwun ngapura. Maklum pemula.

So this all started when my friend, Putri, plurked something about her internship in India. At first I did not give much interest but she kept plurking and saying stuff about how she met people from various countries, how she answered when she was asked why she didnt drink, etc. Trs mulai tertarik. I asked her about the program and she explained to me about this one organization that gives youth the chance to go exchange for about 2 months, AIESEC. And I became more interested when she said the exchange can be taken on holiday so it wont disturb our study. Ok so pas banget, not so long after I asked Putri about the exchange, AIESEC tiba-tiba open recruitment. Turns out my other friend on plurk, Ainun, also wanted to apply for the exchange. So yaudah.

Singkat cerita, we went thru three-stage selections. The 1st one was, you know lah, we had to fill the form, make cv in standardized format, and stuff. Me and Ainun passed. the 2nd was FGD. Nightmare to me. I hate talking in english (gimana sih) you know I applied for this exchange tuh iseng. I got bad grades for presentation in english class. I'm fine with grammar, reading, etc but not speaking...... I didnt even remember what made me apply for this exchange. So the night before the FGD I freaked out wkwk. But it went well, I was in the same grouph with Ainun and we both passed. The 3rd, was interview. This also made me uneasy. I made a script of the possibility questions that may be asked on interview session. I even wrote down my answers....... ok norak. But guess what, it worked! Almost all the questions I predicted beneran ditanyain, although of course there were some questions that were different and confusing but I managed to answer it biasa aja. So yaudah. SEE I'm not sure if I deserve this because actually I hate to use english in real life. But dont worry I wont menyianyiakan kesempatan ini wkakak. Btw in this stage I met another old friend, Shinta. Me shinta and ainun finally passed all three stages and officially became exchange participants.

Perjuangan gak segitu doang ternyata :"") We then got manager. My manager's name is Algi. He asked me where I wanted to go, I told him I wanted to go to Thailand, The Philippines, or Vietnam. Then Algi helped me find some projects in those three countries. I then got interviewed online via skype by Thailand, from AIESEC AU in Thailand. The project was to teach children in rural areas and stuff and stuff. I was interested and the interview went just fine. Then I did another interview with Vietnam, with AIESEC FTU in Ho Chi Minh. This one was about making workshop about HIV/AIDS, visiting children living with the virus, etc. I was.... not really sure at first but after learning about the misunderstanding of HIV/AIDS I felt so sorry and guilty and I wanted to help them, so... okay, this interview went well too, although it was a bit difficult to deal with the interviewer's accent hahaha.

Couple of days later, Ive got the news that I got accepted in Vietnam. hurrayyyy. But fortunately, gue ga buru-buru dan belom signed contract because beberapa hari kemudian I got another news that I got accepted in Thailand too. And because from the 1st time Thailand has been my priority so I chose Thailand. Shinta got accepted in China and Ainun got accepted in Vietnam (She's in Vietnam already loh dari tadi pagi)

And you may wonder why the project is called Smile Project. So according to the booklet, most of the students in Thailand are very shy so whatever we say to them, whether they understand or not, they will only answer us with their smile. Sounds cute? Eng........... I dont know, I can imagine myself talk and sing endlessly in front of 30 smiling children, staring right at me. Huhu oh God please. So I will try to push them to be proactive!!! I will........okay I wont tell you. Lets see how I can rock on Smile Project!!! See you! Sorry lagi for the bad english.




Btw, tiket ke thailand mahal.