hey!

I have a little time to spare, thought I might blog a little bit.

It's June already. This means I have about 2 months left in Batam before I move to Jakarta for my uni. Not ready to leave yet :(

At the time of the entrance exam announcement, I was on a Bible Camp trip to Mersing, Malaysia. Mersing is in the deeper part of Johor. It's a small town. The resort had no wifi and we were encouraged to not buy the internet data from the local store, so we didn't, but my mom did because she needed it to communicate with the people in Batam, it's business stuff. So during the, I think it was the 3rd day, the staff from my university e-mailed my acceptance letter and they said that I had to clear the school fees within the next 2 days, if I didn't I'd have to wait for the next month, and the fees later on would be more expensive. So my mom asked someone in Batam to help deposit the money to the university's bank account immediately and after receiving a confirmation from the university, I was (somewhat) an official student of my future university. It was only December. 

Thinking back, I always thought, if I had more time to think about stuff, maybe I wouldn't go to Jakarta. It's so far away, well, kind of. If I were to study to Singapore and for example I had a day off, I could just take an early ferry back to Batam and come back to Singapore by night. It doesn't sound like a tiring and money wasting trip, after all the cost for me to travel back and forth is only around $26. Meanwhile, a round trip from Jakarta to Batam would take around 5 hours, excluding the delayed schedule, and a fee of around Rp. 1.200.000. That is almost 6 times the fee to Singapore. But we made the decision, I agreed on moving to Jakarta, so let's just stick the the plan.

Since my acceptance to the university, people had been asking, "Where are you going for your uni?" I would reply, "Jakarta". "So, when are you leaving?" Hah, I wish I could answer with "Oh! I'm not leaving anytime soon *sigh*. Now I reply them with "I have two months left before moving" with a sad tone and somewhat a sad face. It feels like it was just yesterday I got accepted to the university. 

I didn't realize how close I was to leaving until this week. I had to make the list of the things I had to bring to Jakarta, make another list of the things I should buy in Jakarta, gather all the stuff that I have  prepared and buy the stuffs that I can't find in Jakarta, scan all the important documents, make an ID (or citizenship card), re-register to the university, start planning about how my life would be in Jakarta. It's becoming real. It's happening. (NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *muffled scream*)

Do I feel excited? Heck yeah! No, just partially. A part of me doesn't want to leave Batam, most of it doesn't want to. I just suddenly realize how lovely Batam is. All the food, the places I go to, my bedroom, my dad's office, and my group of friends. I'm gonna miss the huge desk I have in my dad's office, I'm so gonna miss my bed, my pillow (I'll bring along my bolster hehe :3), my big steel cabinet where I can put lots of magnets on, and the peaceful times when I have the whole house to myself (I find peace in being alone). A peaceful time, hm, now that's something I won't get in a dormitory, especially when I'm sharing a room with another person (dear future roommate, HI!).

Speaking of roommate, I wonder what will my roommate be. Is she going to be a loud person? Or mostly quiet but talkative with certain people, like me? Or is she gonna be cold like Kimmy Jin, Beca's roommate from Pitch Perfect? What will the dorm be like? Is it chaotic? Is it filled with a bunch of holy girls (since my university is a christian university, I mean, duh)? Is the matron gonna be scary (or probably crazy), like most cases? Or is she gonna be motherly and kind-hearted? Are the seniors gonna bully the juniors? GOSH I HAVE SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. Can someone please send me an e-mail and tell me what dormitory life looks like?! Guess I'll just have to wait for another two months and find it out myself :/

I am scared of a few stuff. I'm scared of leaving. Mostly, I'm scared that when I leave, I get too comfortable and I won't come back to Batam. I'm scared that I won't have good friends like I do in Batam. I'm not scared of being alone, I'm scared of being lonely. What if I don't fit in? What if university life is like high school? Like there are certain social groups that I can only fit in? What if the kids there are not nice. A few people told me that the people in my university are not nice, meaning, arrogant, and whatever the synonym of the word arrogant says. Now that are some of the negative worries. One thing I'm worried most of, what if I lose contact with my friends in Batam? :/ I am scared I won't find Pokka Green Tea in Jakarta X(

Batam is so close to Singapore that most of our foods and snacks are imported from Singapore and Malaysia. And other parts of Asia. It's easy to find imported foods here. But what if I can't find them in Jakarta? For all I know, my favorite chocolate Meiji Baby Choco is available in Jakarta's Carrefour, and my favorite Tao Kae Noi Fried Seaweed is available there too! I remember my trip to Medan. I went to a local supermarket and they actually had one special cabinet for imported goods. and Pocky is part of it. Pocky in Batam is like, how would I say it, is like the Pringles to chips. There's Pringles everwhere, in any store. That's how I would describe Pocky here in Batam. It's not like that in Medan, though I didn't pay attention to how the situation was in Jakarta. Another example, Vanish Stain Remover (yep, detergent stuff). Vanish is produced in Indonesia, exported to Singapore. But guess what? It's not available in Jakarta :) Same goes to Redondo Wafer Stick, it's produced in Indonesia, exported to Singapore, not available in Jakarta. But it's available in Batam, in a few, big, local supermarkets only though. See my point? I'll miss all this important goods :( I guess I'll just have to ask mom send them over to Jakarta. 

There are some pros of moving to Jakarta as well, obviously. If I were to order stuff from online store, the shipping fee is most likely to be less expensive, cause, duh, I'm in Jakarta. Lemme set an example. I used to run an online shop, the shipping fee for 1kg from Jakarta to Batam is Rp. 20.000 then. And from Jakarta to Jakarta is only around Rp. 6.000. YASH! ONLINE SHOPPING WOOHOO! Okay I'm so excited for that :3 And the ice skating rink is a few hours away, excluding traffic jam lah of course. And then there's IKEA. I've never been inside an Ikea because it's so far away in Singapore. And the things are cheaper in Jakarta, not the original stuff. 

To sum it up, 40% of me IS excited, 60% not. We'll see what happens in 2 months :)