BAKTI DESA 2019

Hello everyone! A while ago, me and the whole 3'2020 did the Bakti Desa program. This is an annual program by the school's curriculum. Basically, the 11th graders will be going to a village and help citizens there to work. We also live in the villagers' home for 3 days and 2 nights. For our year, we went to Cibeureum village.

   In the first day, we went from school to the village by angkot. We were separated into groups in the village. I was in the same group with Faza, Shabrina, and Cynthia. The purpose of such groups is to live together in the villagers' home. After we went to our new home, we met the family and introduced ourselves. After that we were free to do anything we want as long as we were respectful to the villagers. In the evening, Mr. Ramdhani and Mrs. Dety gathered our class to discuss what shall we do to teach the children in TPA (for those of you who don't know, it's a religious 'club' for kids). After that, we played with the children and be happy in general. Then we went to our home and sleep.

   There are a lot of things that we can take from Bakti Desa. Mainly, it's to show that there are people around us who live in a poor condition and work really hard to make a living. We must be grateful, but also help them and treat them as equal. It's an important lesson.

 

TOUR BUDAYA 2019

Hello people! I just got back from Turbud 2019 to Bali and I had a really great time! It lasted for 5 days, from 17 March to 21 March. I have a lot of things to tell from this amazing experience, so here's my attempt to condense those memories in a simple blog post.

SUNDAY, MARCH 17 2019
The Departure
The day had finally arrived. We were finally going to Bali after so many tiring school days! We gathered together on Husein Sastranegara Airport. My class and two others were the last to go, unfortunately, at 13.15 if I remember correctly. On the other side, we didn't have to worry about luggage since we used AirAsia. To give some context, recently Lion Air announced a new policy that the free baggage are gone. So, we must pay some cash if our luggage is over 7 kg, or the limit of cabin luggage. The first two group used Lion Air, so we were very lucky to use an airline that still have free luggage up to 15 kg (at least domestically). However, our victory did not last well since our plane was delayed for 25 minutes. It wasn't really long, but it still sucks.

In the flight, I read The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (sorry for a bit of shilling here lol) and listening to various songs. Self promoting a bit, but here's a link to my playlist. Check it out if you're interested in my mediocre music taste!

After a 1 hour flight, we finally arrived at the long awaited destination. But first, we have to take our luggage in Ngurah Rai Airport. This took quite a while. Because our plane were delayed, we didn't get to go to Tanah Lot, sadly.

Jimbaran Bay Dinner
The first destination for us was Jimbaran since we didn't go to Tanah Lot. What makes this place unique is that we get to have dinner right in the beach. It's a beautiful experience to enjoy sunset, seafood, and the sound of waves crashing in the sea at the same time. Our dinner menu is fish (I don't know what kind of fish it was I'm sorry), shrimp, deep fried squid, and roasted clams. It was all very delicious, however we didn't get to enjoy the meal for long since suddenly rain pours really hard. It's only been the first day and the trip already took an unexpected turn... nevertheless, I'm still happy that I did get to see a beautiful sunset and great dinner.

Jimbaran Beach

Quest Hotel
Because it was raining, we went to the hotel 2 hours earlier. Thankfully, the hotel was very nice and comfortable. I shared the same room with my friend Amara and Mahyana.


MONDAY, MARCH 18 2019
Tanjung Benoa Watersports
The first place to visit in the second day of Turbud was Tanjung Benoa. Here we can play many variations of activities to do on the sea, such as parasailing, banana boat, and much more. These activities are quite pricey, sadly, so most of us only played once. Me and my friends decided to play Flying Fish. Basically, a speedboat will hold a rubber boat resembling a fish really fast so that the boat will fly around 2-3 meters above the sea. It was adrenaline-rushing in a great way. The ride lasted for 10-15 minutes. After that, we walked around the beach and enjoying the chilling sea water under the sun.

Green algae! 

Pandawa Beach
According to our tour guide, this beach is considered to be new in Bali. At first Pandawa Beach was only used for Hindu ceremonies, however the locals saw a tourism potential in the beach and decided to work together with the government to make this movie more accessible to tourists, since it was located near a cliff. The beach itself was very beautiful. There were five Pandawa Gods statues in front of the beach, hence the name. Those statues were really huge and impressive. But since we arrived there in the middle of the noon, it was very hot! Most of us, including myself, was sweating like crazy. But the sight of the beach made this visit worth it.

The beach was so hot that this picture looked very saturated

Garuda Wisnu Kencana
After a trip on the beach, we visited Garuda Wisnu Kencana. There was a very huge statue of Hindu God Vishnu and Garuda in that place. The Vishnu statue was so large that it was even visible back in Jimbaran. On GWK, we took pictures of each class and 3'2020 as a whole in the Lotus Pond, in front of Garuda statue. After that, we can do everything we wanted, like taking selfies or walk around the site. Some people even rented a bike. I would've rent it if  I'd known how to use one.

Vishnu statue in Garuda Wisnu Kencana

Devdan Theater

The last place that we visited was Devdan theater in Nusa Dua. Before watching, we were given a Hoka Hoka Bento for dinner, but our bus' meal was invaded with a bunch of ants somehow. I still don't understand where those ants came from, but we ate it anyway since we didn't have any other choice for dinner. After eating dinner, we finally went to Devdan theater. The show started around 19.00 and I was amazed by it. The show was about two tourists discovering the wonder of Indonesia by opening some magical treasure chest. However, that plot wasn't the main focus here, what makes this show so mesmerizing was the choreography, the properties, and dance. We also learned some cultural knowledge from this, since the show took us to various Indonesian islands along with their famous cultures. Props to all the crew for making this show an amazing experience. Too bad that we weren't allowed to take any pictures, so I didn't have any photos this time. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 19 2019

Pura Tirta Empul

Our first destination of the day was Pura Tirta Empul. This pura is famous for its natural water springs. According to our tour guide, there's also a myth that if you see a really huge fish on the spring, you will be a lucky person. Before entering this sacred place, you must wear a piece of cloth. It's a custom. Anyway, other than water springs, this place also have a pure bathing place. We weren't allowed to bath there though. There was also a fish pond that was filled with so many koi fish. The size varied, from small to really huge. Man, it's such a shame that I caught a bad flu this day so I didn't get to enjoy it to the fullest. 

Fish pond in Tirta Empul

Pura's sign in front of the place

Panglipuran Village

Next, we went to Panglipuran Village. This village is known for being one of the cleanest village in the world. The size of the village was around 45 Ha from what I remember, and it was split in half. The first half is for the residents to live, and the rest of it is untouched. Other things that makes this village stood out from the rest is that every house had the same gapura. It was a really unique village, so it's such a shame that around 15 minutes of sightseeing, the rain pours really hard. We had to take shelter to local residents (which was very nice by the way) and wait for the rain to be over for like half an hour. Thankfully, someone in my class brought us raincoats and umbrellas so that we could go back to the bus.

One of the house in Panglipuran Village

Makrab 3'2020
We went back to Quest Hotel around 17.00 to prepare for Makrab 3'20. Makrab itself is short for Malam Keakraban, or "Solidarity Night" in English. The main point of this event is to make 3'20 more solid and close to each other, and in general have fun together. We arrived at Nirmala Hotel on 19.00. Before the main event, we had dinner at the hotel. It's such a shame that the dinner tables were limited, so we had to wait in turn to eat. After dinner, Makrab started. There were various performances from extracurricular such as Musik Klasic, Tiloe's Theater, and Band 3. Other than performances,there were also games and award shows, which were costume contest and miscellaneous award with various categories. Makrab ended (well this wasn't really the end, just near the end I guess) with giveaways, from 32 GB flashdisk to Samsung phones. I didn't win, of course, and I really didn't expect to considering how bad my luck is on giveaways. Congrats for the winners though! The event ended at 01.00 in the morning. We were all tired and desperate to sleep, especially me since this horrible flu was killing me. After we arrived at the hotel, I immediately jumped to sleep. Well, after packing because tomorrow is the last day we traveled in Bali. Time flies so fast :/

The stage of Makrab 3'20

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 2019
Kuta Beach
After check out from the hotel, we went to Kuta Beach. Because the road couldn't be passed by bus since it was way too small, we had to use a smaller transportation to go there. It was similar to angkot, but instead of green or cream, the transport was colored blue. After 10 minutes, we arrived at Kuta. One thing that makes Kuta famous is the huge waves. It was still morning yet the waves was much bigger than other beaches that we visited. It was also full moon, but still. This is why many surfers love going to Kuta. There were even some surfers there in the morning. However, it's very disappointing that this beach had plastic waste problem. Thankfully, Bali has a new policy to stop using plastic bag in hope to reduce the waste.

Pollution is ruining Kuta!

Since we wouldn't want to just walk around the beach for like 2 hours, we went to the beachwalk. We bought some frosty from Circle K since the day was really hot. Around 11.00, we went back to our bus.

The ocean waves

Cute doggo really loved the beach

Bedugul
After buying some merchandise for the loved one in hometown, we went to Bedugul. Bedugul itself is a pura that is located in a lake. It's located in the higher part of Bali, so it was much cooler than the beach. Other than pura, there was also a vihara. I didn't see the vihara itself but I saw a lot of monks in the site. One thing that I didn't expect from Bedugul was the size. It was really huge! I thought the place only had pura, but there was even a huge park with some kids playground in it. I really enjoyed my time here since my flu was getting better. My friends thought I was really weird since yesterday I stayed quiet, but whatever. What matters is that I'm very happy to be here, despite that Bedugul was our last tourism destination... :/

Pura in the lake

Pura from a different perspective

After visiting Bedugul, we went to Gilimanuk port to go to Surabaya. Yes, Tur Budaya is over. Just like that. It's so... melancholic.

THURSDAY, MARCH 21 2019

Goodbye Bali!

It's really over. The long awaited holiday... gone. After arriving at Ketapang using ferry ship, we went to some restaurant that also provided bathrooms. I had a horrible experience here since when I showered I saw a gross cockroach. I consider myself to have severe Katsaridaphobia, so when seeing this horrible creature, I just can't help but pray to God so that it will leave me alone. Long story short, after surviving the cockroach tragedy, we went to Gubeng Station. The train left Surabaya at 16.30 and arrived around 05.00 in Bandung. And this is the official end of Tur Budaya 2019. 

I can't believe it's already over and I had to go back to reality and face the horror that is Research Based Learning (next post is probably about this), but as the wise Dr. Seuss said, "Don't sad because it's over, smile because it happened.". Overall, Turbud 2019 in my opinion is a positive experience that I will never forget. Thank you guys for reading this blog post!

Edu Pasion

Edu Pasion
Hello people! Today I will share my experience in Edu Passion 2019 on Thursday, January 23rd 2019. There was no schedule for study at that day, so the whole day was indeed reserved for Edu Passion event. If you don't know already, Edu Passion is an event where various colleges and other education-related company present their best qualities to educate high school students about their future.

Me and my friends

  As regular event goes, there were a lot of food stands. This time, you have to buy them with coupons. You can trade your money to coupons in a stand near the principal's office. I bought Taiwan chicken rice box and a cotton candy ice cream. While it was a bit expensive, I think it was worth it. Especially the ice cream!

   Me and my friends went to various colleges stands. Eight, to be exact, however I will only tell several of them. The first booth that we visited was Unjani. It stands for "Universitas Jendral Ahmad Yani". It's located in Cimahi, which is not far away from here. Their medical school is popular, and their acceptance quota is 178 for medical school and 60 for faculty of dentistry.

   After that, we visited UIN, which stands for "Universitas Islam Negeri". Because they are controlled under two ministries (Ministry of Religion and Ministry of Technology and Research), they offered 5 ways to enter the school, much more than other colleges in which usually only offer three at most. It was also based on Islam, so there are additional Islam-based study program, however, to enter this school, you don't have to be extremely religious. But if you are, you might have more advantages.

   Then, we visited Maranatha. It's located in three location: Surya Sumantri, Ciumbuleuit, and soon Kota Baru Parahyangan. They offer 9 faculties and 26 study programs. The new place in Kota Baru Parahyangan will have 3 new faculties, two of them are hotel management and food engineering.

   Last but not least, we visited UNPAD, which stands for Universitas Padjajaran. It's also located in three location, which are Dipatiukur, Jatinangor, and Pangandaran. However, from what I remember Dipatukur is only for S2. The favorite faculties are faculty of economy and medical school. Speaking of medical school, UNPAD also have veterinary school. They will build a vet hospital soon for the students to practice, which is exciting.

  This event is very interesting!

My dreams

My name is Alfina Fuji Dwi Lestari. you can call me alfina or fina. I am 17 years old. I live in Bandung. My father's name is Mahdi and my mather's name is Roheti. I have one sister. Her name's is Mara Khoerunnisa. My hobby are watching film and writting.
Because my hobby is writting, so it can be my strenght to reach my dreams. I like to take notes anything, especially in study. My dreams are go to FTI ITB in 2020.

Supermoon

Supermoon is an astronomical phenomenon in which Earth's moon is fool, on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and at its closest point to the planet. Supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee. the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit.
A supermoon happens when the full moon coincides with the moon's closest approach to Earth in its orbit. Supermoon make the moon appear a little brighter and closer than normal, although the difference is hard to spot with the naked eye. Supermoon can appearup to 14% largerand 30% brighter than a full moon.

A supermoon happens when the full moon coincides with the moon's closest approach to Earth in its orbit. Supermoons make the moon appear a little brighter and closer than normal, although the difference is hard to spot with the naked eye. The first supermoon of 2019 was the Super Blood Wolf Moon on Jan. 20-21. The second supermoon occurred on Feb. 19 and a third will follow on March 20.

The term "supermoon" has only been used in the past 40 years, but it received a slew of attention in late 2016 when three supermoons occurred in a row. The supermoon of November 2016 was also the closest supermoon in 69 years, although a closer supermoon will rise in the 2030s.

How a Supermoon Happens

The moon's orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. It has an average distance of 238,000 miles (382,900 km) from Earth, but its apogee and perigee — the closest and farthest approaches from Earth — change every lunar month.

"The main reason why the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle is that there are a lot of tidal, or gravitational, forces that are pulling on the moon," said NASA's Noah Petro, deputy scientist of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, in a 2016 Space.com interview.

He added that the different gravities of the Earth, sun and planets all have an effect on the moon's orbit. "You have all of these different gravitational forces pulling and pushing on the moon, which gives us opportunities to have these close passes."

A supermoon needs two key ingredients to occur. The moon needs to be at its closest approach, or perigee, to the Earth in its 27-day orbit. The moon also needs to be at the full phase, which happens every 29.5 days when the sun fully illuminates the moon. Supermoons only happen a few times a year (at most) because the moon's orbit changes orientation while the Earth orbits the sun — that's why you don't see a supermoon every month.

The moon will appear as much as 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than usual, but it's very hard to spot the difference with the naked eye. "That's not enough to notice unless you're a very careful moon-watcher," Sky & Telescope magazine senior editor Alan MacRobert said in a 2016 statement. 

The supermoon may look especially large to you, however, if it's very close to the horizon. But that has nothing to do with astronomy and everything to do with how the human brain works. This effect is called the "moon illusion" and may arise from at least a couple of different things. Scientists suggest that perhaps the brain is comparing the moon to nearby buildings or objects, or perhaps our brain is just wired to process things on the horizon as bigger than things in the sky.

Astrological origins

The term "supermoon" didn't originate in astronomy, but in astrology — a pseudoscientific tradition that studies the movements of celestial objects to make predictions about human behavior and events. The term was first mentioned in a 1979 article for Dell Horoscope magazine by Richard Nolle, according to Astronomy.com. Nolle defined a supermoon as "a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90 percent of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit", without explaining where he obtained the 90 percent figure.

But it wasn't until the last few years that the term received more attention. A search on Google Trends reveals that starting from 2004, the word "supermoon" was not used often until at least 2011. Interest in the supermoon hit a high in November 2016, when Earth experienced the largest supermoon in 69 years. Further, the term appears to be more popular in certain areas of the world — principally Southeast Asia and North America — with some lesser interest in places such as Europe or India.