Let's spread the love.

Bismillah...

Happy Ied Al-Adha to all Muslim brothers and sisters in the world. :)
The moment of Ied Al-Adha reminds me with the current situation which happened in some countries in the world where Islam is the minority. I myself who was born and raised in Indonesia, which is the biggest muslim population in the world, do not have any significant obstacle in doing my daily prayer and wearing my hijab. I'm totally sad hearing bad news from friend of mine who is currently studying in X country that there is still discrimination toward Muslim in that country. I do believe that each of religions in this world teaches people to love and respect each other. Islam doesn't teach me to be terrorist, meanwhile Islam urges to love and respect each other. The last prophet of Islam, Muhammad SAW, taught us to respect and love each other as well, even for the people who have different faith from us. Dear people who are still underestimate Islam, don't discrimate us because we're Muslim, please stop judging Islam is bad. It's not because of the religion, it's all because of some people who do not follow their God's rules. And stop discriminating women who wear hijab, we wear hijab because of God's rule. Because we love our God, Allah SWT. Don't judge what I wear on my head, but judge the content of my character. As an muslim agent, i wanna be a good agent for my religion. I wanna be good and true muslimah. I wanna spread the love and throw away the hatred.
I think the world would be more beautiful without any discrimination. :)

My IELTS Test Preparation

Bismillah...

September 6th 2014 was my first IELTS test, actually I had long preparation before the test. I was so worry if I couldn't make it. At that time, I've got the conditional offer from Monash University in Melbourne, so I needed to meet the requirement of the IELTS score from my major in Monash. The pressure was so big, i had no other choice to succeed in my first IELTS test. I started learning IELTS after getting the conditional offer in June 30th 2014. I started looking for IELTS books, IELTS websites, but I got nothing. I mean, I didn't get any successful formula or tips for IELTS test. Luckily, I had a chat with my Vietnam friend that I met in Tokyo last year, and I told her I would take IELTS test in September. She gave me suggestion to learn from Simone Braverman's book. He is the masterpiece of IELTS who wrote "IELTS Band 7" book. Unfortunately, it was so hard to find Simone Braverman's book (from Periplus and Kinokuniya bookstore) in my country. So, I ended up learning through his website and daily email from him. This is the link of his website www.ielts-blog.com , and you can subscribe your email there to get the daily email from Simone Braverman. The daily email is all about the tips for IELTS test and mostly about the questions of IELTS speaking test which have been done in many countries in the world. Anyway, because of this daily email, it helped me a lot in my IELTS speaking test as I got the same questions I learned from his daily email. Alhamdulillah hehe :`D
Anyway, I took IELTS course for 1 month only. I took the cheapest one in town, it's only around Rp, 300.000,-  for one month course. The teacher is not a certified IELTS teacher, but what I needed from the course was the IELTS simulation test. If you have enough money, you may take the IELTS course in town, the price might be different from Rp. 3.000.000 to Rp. 8.000.000 for one month. And if you wanna take private IELTS course, it takes around Rp. 12.000.000 for one month.
For the rest months after finishing my IELTS course, I studied IELTS by myself. I studied almost everyday from morning to night, even until midnight. There was no free day from studying IELTS. When i get bored, i studied speaking only in a day. :p
More often, I cried many times at midnight when I couldn't do the IELTS exercise well or even when I thought it was too difficult for me. To be honest, I pushed my self to the limit for my IELTS test preparation.
Eventually, I got the result of my IELTS test on September  19th 2014, it was precisely two weeks after the test. Alhamdulillah :)
A self - reminder : work hard in silence, let your success be your noise - Frank Ocean.

Finish what you've started...

Stumbled upon mba Atin's status on facebook yesterday morning, and it feels like DANG!! It really represents what I feel recently. Alhamdulillah, everyday is a learning process for me. Let's be a better muslimah day by day insyaAllah :)
Here's her status on FB, hope you will be inspired too :)

Menyelesaikan apa yang telah dimulai. Jangan terlalu khawatir dengan apa yang akan terjadi di masa depan, itu hanya akan menghalangimu melangkah. Rencanakan dan lakukan, mensyukuri setiap tahapnya, menjalaninya dengan ikhlas, lalu suatu saat kita pasti sampai disana, garis akhir. Tapi kalau kekhawatiran menggelayut dalam jiwa, setiap langkah akan terasa berat dan menyakitkan, garis finish pun akan terasa jauh, bisa jadi tak sampai ke sana dan tumbang di tengah jalan. Hidup ini hanya sebentar saja, menyakitkan sekali jika diisi dengan kesedihan yang kita ciptakan sendiri. Berbahagialah, bersemangatlah, lakukan semuanya lillah :)

I know that maraton is never that easy but touching the finish line is the greatest feeling ever after the difficult marathon we passed. Let's finish what we've started. Don't forget to involve Allah in every steps we take :)

Reigniting my spirit

Akhir-akhir ini sedang dag dig dug menunggu hasil ikhtiar. Mimpi yang aku punya sejak awal kuliah dulu, semoga sebentar lagi menjadi kenyataan aamiin... Minta doanya ya :)
Ketika kita punya orang-orang di sekitar kita yang hebat-hebat, pasti kita harus merasa iri. Tentunya iri yang positif. Rasanya kosong sekali jika kita tidak punya pencapaian apapun dalam kurun waktu 1 tahun. Paling tidak kita harus bisa punya pencapaian yang kita targetkan dalam 1 tahun itu. Siapa yang tidak mau sukses? Semua orang ingin sukses, tapi cara mencapainya yang berbeda-beda. Saya selalu berpikir bahwa di dunia ini hampir semua orang ingin sukses. Ketika saya malas, saya selalu ingat bahwa dalam kondisi saya yang sedang malas ini, pasti ada orang yang 100% sedang berusaha keras meraih mimpinya, terkadang it works for me for getting back my spirit. Saya ingin sukses yang bermanfaat untuk orang lain. Saya ingin sukses yang bisa menginspirasi orang lain juga untuk sukses, saya ingin sukses yang bisa membantu orang lain di negara sendiri atau bahkan di dunia seperti yang dilakukan Bill dan Melinda Gates :)

Oh Tokyo, how i miss thee!!

Tokyo must be so wonderful this month! The streets get brightly lit with beautiful winter illuminations. Oh Tokyo, how i miss thee!

That's what friends are for

 Assalamu'alaykum...
Lama banget rasanya ga nulis di blog *tiup-tiup debu di blog*
What is the newest? I already finished my undergraduate study yay! Sudah beberapa bulan yang lalu sebenarnya, i'm just too lazy to write it on blog. Sorry :)) and my graduation ceremony will be on March.
As a fresh graduate, semuanya pasti pernah merasakan "galau". Untuk studi lanjut atau kerja. Sebuah pilihan yang sulit (untuk saya). Mungkin untuk beberapa orang bukan pilihan yang sulit karena sudah mempunyai kemantapan pilihan jauh-jauh hari.
Bulan lalu saya dipanggil test salah satu multinational company besar di Indonesia, but i didn't make it. Test kerja  di multinational company itu yang pertama bagi saya. Well, i was killed by GMAT test LOL :) tapi mungkin belum rejeki untuk kerja disana.
Bukan kegagalan test itu yang ingin saya share disini. Saya ingin share kalo saya beruntung. Saya beruntung punya banyak teman yang care dan ada di saat saya ada di atas atau di bawah.
Akhir-akhir ini kegalauan mau studi lanjut atau kerja datang lagi, but i'm so happy to have Fika as one of my best friends. Kita pertama ketemu di Bangkok, Thailand tahun lalu sebagai delegasi Indonesia di Asean Student Forum. Setelah kita balik ke Indonesia, kita jadi temen deket. Kita punya kesamaan, sama-sama suka kopi dan buku, perbedaannya Fika suka pak Gita Wirjawan dan saya suka pak Marty Natalegawa :p
Semalam saya bbm Fika, "Fik, tell me one strong reason why you take that path", and her answer warmed my heart

"Life and Love. Life is too precious to be usual and too short to be ordinary. Will you stand on zero ground while enormous opportunities are waiting for you?. Love is the way you praise God for gracious life. The more you know the world the more you love you have, to God and His blessing life. Learning is about knowing and knowing is never ending process. The knowing is upper hand than the not, as God says. So, don't you want to be the knowing? God indeed encourages us to learn as much as possible no matter how far, how hard, and how long to know each other better for better future"

Seketika saya langsung buka dream book yang saya punya dan membaca lagi mimpi-mimpi yang saya ingin raih. Saya lupa jika saya pernah menulis mimpi besar itu dengan semangat. Saya senang ketika punya teman dengan visi yang sama, kita bisa saling mengingatkan tentang mimpi-mimpi yang kita punya. That's what friends are for, for good times and bad times. And there's so much more i see, and so by the way i thank you. Thanks Fika! :)

Saya semakin yakin setelah ini saya akan kemana. Tugas saya adalah terus bekerja keras supaya mimpi-mimpi itu menjadi nyata suatu hari nanti. Jika ketentuan Allah berbeda dari keputusan yang saya ambil, saya akan biarkan Allah bekerja, karena Dia yang punya kendali pada hidup saya. Saya bahagia karena saya berusaha "menghidupkan" mimpi-mimpi saya :)

Date a Girl Who Reads

Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find  a girl who reads. You'll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She's the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That's the reader. They can never resist smelling the page, especially when they are yellow.

She's the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a pick of her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she's kind of engrossed already. Lost in world of the author's making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interupted.

Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce's Ulysses she's just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It's easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday or for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Sexton, Cummings, Pound. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she's going to try to make her life a little like her favourite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand who understand all things will come to end. That you always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you're not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series. If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her of a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or a very casually next time she's sick  Over skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn't burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you're better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads

-Rosemary Urquico

Mommy Cammy

Hello dear readers...
Wish u all doing great there. I'm doing great here as well. Lil bit busy with my thesis since i have a date with thesis everyday till midnight. But i believe, hard work will be paid off. Wish me luck :)
Today, i want to write one of my room-mates in Tokyo. She is Camilla Itokszii Garuai (Cami). She comes from Papua New Guinea. Finally i have a friend from that country hihi. I really want to have many friends in another country and i wish from all over the world.

She is very nice room-mate, pretty, humble, and smart. I talked many things with her, had a public bathing together, had a gossiping till midnight about the boy in the forum-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken hihi, and many more. We worked in the same group, governance group. We shared many things, about the politic condition and the governance in our own country. I call her mommy since she is older than me and she is wise. When i shared my stories with her, she gave a very nice advice. That's one things that i love from Cami.
I really love to have many friends, so that's why i keep in touch with everyone, Cami as well.
I remember her nice advice "Shelia, do not ever give up on your dreams, if something is meant to be no matter how impossible it is, God will make a way"

Though we have many friends from many different countries, i think distance is not the matter. Trying to keep in touch despite the distance. Meeting many friends is such kind of blessing for me. Thanks God!

Cami and I

cross-cultural-(love)???

I don't want to be with you forever, you know. I just want to sit next to you on that bench for a little long while. Wait, i lied! I do want to be with you forever. I'm sick of being obsessed with you. I want to be obsessed with less complicated things, like books-or cooking. Maybe that's why I decided to stick with not telling the truth. It hurts less. So good bye and take care

Spring in Japan. This picture was taken around Asakusa ^^

morning break

I always start my day with reading a book, online, then blogging. I dont know, those things really make my day. Trying to be on time in every schedule or meeting, trying to smile to everyone we know, and trying to be nice girl. When you try to do that, i bet u will be happier. Is that only personal assumption? ah whatever it is, just try and feel it!
I'm not a perfect girl who can do this and that. Sometimes, i hate people who think that i can do everything. If i can do A, then they think i can do B as well. So, they put their high expectation on me! Oh come on, i'm still a human and i'm not that perfect.
To be honest, i dont feel i've achieved much. I never thought of being an overachiever. That's not me. I simply try to be the best that i can be. I certainly hope that whatever i do will inspire other people.
Around 3 years ago, i wrote on my dream book "i wanna be smart, talented, bright, beautiful, and everything a man can hope for in a girl" hahaha, even i amazed how could i wrote that sentence? hahaha, well then i'm trying hard to realize it nowwwww errrrr :p
Have a nice day! :)

I'll be back!

Me     : Mom, can I go back to Tokyo?

Mom    : Why not? Try to get scholarship for your master study there or you can work there as well

Me     : Really? *hugging my mom*

That was an unexpected conversation with my mom. At the first time, my mom didn't allow me to spend my future faraway from her, but i didn't know exactly what things happened with her, so she could change her mind haha, but i was soooo happy :))

i think my mom has already known my "strong love" with Japan. I've loved Japan since i was 5 years old. I really want to get the scholarship there for my master study, actually i plan to choose another country as well for my master study, let God does the rest to choose the best one for me.

Japan's working culture can be brutal. For the example, we get in the office at 09.00 in the morning and leave 03.00 the next morning. My heart left in Japan

I met Emir Qatar :)

Hellloooo :)

Yesterday i came to Management Carnival in my campus. There are many speakers there, like Muhammad Assad, Imam Subchan and the others. The seminar talked about Young entrepreneur. I love the topic so much!! Many speakers there really inspire me.

I wrote some important points from the speakers, here it is :)

"A business that makes nothing but profit is a poor business" - Muhammad Assad

"Do not limit your dream, keep dreaming on another step"

"You should lead the competition, not only join the competition"

"Do something in extraordinary way and do not skip problem and process"

"The best way to predict your future is to create it"

"Never doubt to yourself. Allah selalu kasih semua yang kita butuhkan"

In that seminar, Alhamdulillah finally i could meet Muhammad Assad. I've read his book and its really inspiring. He's a great man, no doubt if every girl amazes to him :)

oya, he is very very humble, he remembered my name, yay!! :)

wish i can meet him in another chance :)

whoever you are, thank you so much!!

Last Friday i had a fruitful chat on BBM with someone - whom - i - really - don't - know.. I don't know whether i have to call "mas or mbak", even i'm not sure who is he/she..

I always push my self to the limit when i do something or when i want to pursue something. I don't care with myself whether it will hurt me or not, whether it will make me happy or not. And, someone - whom - i - really - don't - know gave a nice advice, to be honest i cried after read that.. Oya, someone - whom - i - really - don't - know didn't complain when i called "mas", oh from that point maybe he's a boy *thinking*

"Shelia setiap manusia punya limit bukan untuk dilewati, semakin dekat dengan limit semakin lelah dan menyakitkan rasanya. Kalo kamu bisa mencapai sukses tanpa kamu push the limit itu lebih baik, usaha cerdas itu lebih baik dari usaha keras. Shelia bisa exchange tanpa harus kurang tidur dan banyak nangis, shelia bisa lakuin itu semua tanpa push the limit, just do ordinary things with extraordinary pray and for extraordinary result. Aku ga mau liat kamu banyak begadang. Kamu perempuan. Dan satu lagi, jangan meremehkan dirimu dengan berpikir kamu harus selalu menderita untuk dapat yang bagus, no pressure no diamond itu dihapus aja, ganti you get diamond with no over pressure, Allah tinggal kasi kok yang kita minta,  setuju? :)"

To be honest, i cried after i read that... That advice really in line with my condition recently.. I'm busy to prepare a big project for my dream in the last of this year and the beginning of 2013 :') 

Finally, i realize that WHAT'S THE POINT OF LOOKING GREAT ON THE OUTSIDE IF I'M NOT HAPPY INSIDE AND I'M HURT?. Now, i will not do something in order only to get achievement and spotlight from that but how it can inspire and useful for other people, emmm the important point is how it can make me happy inside and outside :')

For someone - whom - i - really - don't - know, thank you so much! :')

Amazing, you are!!

Inspired by Alanda Kariza to write this post :)
U can also write the same thing and try to feel the positivity after u write it. Writing this makes us special, reminds me that everybody is special. You're special.
This note is not about showing off, but this is about loving yourself.

I'm an amazing person because

1. I make new friends easily. I can't sitting next to/in front people of without any kind of conversation. It turns out to be a very good thing because i think networking is one of the main keys of success. 

2. I'm a good listener. I always welcome to listen to people's problems, and when they ask for my advice, i'm willing to share my experiences.

3. I'm curious. I love learning new things and i can absorb lesson easily. Maybe i'm not a smart girl but i'm a curious person on anything. I can learn any kind of lesson and memorize it. I love You, God!

4. I'm an optimistic person!!. A lot of people around me and many successful people inspire me. Even Disney also inspires me. All of them said that we can make our dreams come true. So why worry?

5. I rarely forget saying: maaf, tolong, terimakasih. Those are a magical words for me. It is really important to be said to other people.

6. I'm a loving person. I love my parents, i love my brother Rafi, i love my big family, i love my Genk Gonjrenk, i love my college friends.. They make me an amazing person.

7. I won't give up easily. When i fail, i wake up, i learn, and i move on.

8. I love my God, Allah SWT. I count everything on Him :)

9. I love doing social project and voluntary project. I don't know why i love to do it, but i feel meaningful to others and i get a happiness that cannot be replaced with words or anything.

cheerUP

Assalamu'alaykum...

i dedicated this post for whoever u are that underestimate my dreams, my life, and my family... You get my bow hohoho...

i've lived in this world for 21 years but to be honest i can't control myself when someone else underestimate my dreams, my life, moreover my family. What i can do just asking to God to gimme a power and i just keep silent for everything they talk to me until they close their mouths from useless words. I realize that everything we do cannot please everybody. So, if we do a good things, we have to battle it. Do not hear many negative sound and paradigm around us. No matter what u do and what u achieve, there will be many people who continuously underestimate u. It means we have to prepare it all the times :)

I always think that when haters were busy talking, i was busy making my dreams happen... Till they wondering why they left behind.

For u who has a problem like what i've said above, come on guys life is full surprises (bitter and sweet), so just face it and u're gonna know what a life is :)

Bitter-sweet life

Just because i didn't talk my problem, a lot of people thought that i never experienced time to struggle. People thought that all of paths i went through were easy. Thinking my life is so perfect for who i am right now. But, IT'S WRONG!!!

I'm who i am right now because i don't have a perfect life.

I'm who i am right now not because i never feel the bitterness of life.

I'm just a human being :)

Salam

Shelia

I'm a dreamer!!

I've never seen any successful people who isn't a dreamer. DREAM is the first key of my life. I absolutely agree with Agnes Monica's quote "DREAM, BELIEVE, AND MAKE IT HAPPEN". That quote really inspires my life and also make me use that quote in my life "DREAM, BELIEVE, MAKE IT COME TRUE" :))
I just wanna say, if u don't believe in your dream, how can u convince people to believe your dream?
Then, what is the dreamer do after that? they visualize it and they believe with their eyes of faith before making it happen.
I just talk like a children say " i wanna be a doctor", so if someone ask me "what is your dream?", i'm gonna answer "I wanna go international, i wanna go global for my study and career". Maybe some people say it's arrogance but for me it's called DREAM.
They call it arrogance, i call it a goal to keep me focus on my journey to keep me on track. I always believe that IF U FAIL TO PLAN, U PLAN TO FAIL.

siwi and me

Happy Ramadhan!!! :))

Salam

Shelia

100% or 300%?

my friend asked me how to keep my spirit in academic life... to be honest, i was confuse about that question.. hehe.. then i answered, "my academic life also up and down.. but i always try to maximize my effort.. if someone else do something 100%, so i have to do 300%"

even, i don't care if someone else thinking that i'm a perfectionist people, to be honest yes i'm that kind of person... :___)

well, i also have my own dream book!! yay i call it dream book bcoz i write all of my dreams there... and the contents are secret hihi :D

life is not complicated

i wanna be a princess

i've ever told u that i really love everything about disney, yay! besides mickey and minnie mouse, i also addict about disney princess.. hihi..  when i was kid, i imagined that i could be one of the princess character in disney.. well, my kindergarten teacher ever asked me,

kindergarten teacher : shelia, what is your ideal in the future?
me : being a princess! *with innocent face*

then, my friends and my teacher laughed at me because it's not a common answer. hihi.. but, actually it could be accepted becoz i was a kid, 5 years old kid!! :))
well, i'm 20 years old right now and i'm still addict about disney princess too hehe.. there's no change happens actually when someone asks me about my ideal, i'm going to answer like this...
"one of my ideal in the future is being a princess.. i've been being a lil princess for my parents actually, then in the future i'm going to be a princess for my prince charming (my future husband) and of course a princess for my future children"
that's gonna be my answer! yes, i wanna be a princess!  ♥