Alhamdulillah, been to 5 continents at the age of 22

This blog post is not intended for showing off, just that I am trying to be more grateful of things in my life, trying to cultivate potentials rather than fixing mistakes, and so I think this is one of the biggest blessing from Allah that not so many people get 🙂 I hope this inspires me and us all.

1. Asia

Of course, its obvious, I was born, raised and today this post is written in Indonesia, which is Asia. But I have not been to any other countries than Indonesia inside Asia 😀 Well, maybe just for transit in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Oh here is the picture anyway for HK airports LOL.

HKIA 2010

2. Australia

Is the first foreign country I have been to 😀 My dad did his master in Brisbane and his doctoral in Adelaide. Our family lived in Brisbane on 1992-1993, I was only 3-4 years back then 😀 It was a good childhood memory :3

Brisbane 1993-1994

Then we lived in Adelaide during 2001-2002 and 2004-2005. This was a major transition phase in my life as a teenager, I have to adapt to new society when my age is reaching the stage of transition too.

Adelaide 2001-2002
Adelaide 2004-2005

Ok the pics aren’t that representative of my whole experience in Australia maybe; it does look like taken from one event only 😛 Well, coz its quite hard to find my pics with hijab xD

So I would say, my coming to Australia was just “lucky” that I have my special awesome Dad who brought me and my family there. But this is the stepping stone of my journey around the world! Yeah, since then I have been dreaming of studying abroad one day 😀

3. America

On February 2010 I went to Boston, US to attend Harvard National Model United Nations. It was quite a struggle to get chosen into the 10 people team of UGM’s delegation and it was much more hardwork to get us flown to the US. I remembered at some point I walked on the streets of NYC not believing that I was actually there! It was a good memory of teamwork and a whole lot of new experiences.

Boston-NYC Feb 2010

4. Europe

I had been applying for scholarship for exchange study abroad a lot during my second and third year. I failed a lot until on March 2010 I got news that I have been granted an Erasmus Mundus EuroAsia scholarship for one year study in Hogskolan i Boras, Sweden. I would say that this scholarship was the best one for me, the study program suited my interest and … I travelled around Europe!

University of Boras, 2010-2011

So in Europe, I had a chance to visit 14 cities 🙂 It was during the winter we travelled around Europe by train. It was not only a good vacation, we learned a lot about European culture or just learning how to “survive” the journey (with limited budget, limited time, and limited luggage space!) 😀 Here is the highlight of that journey.

Germany, Winter 2010
Italy, 2010
France, 2010
Andalusia, Spain, 2010
Barcelona & Madrid, Spain 2010

Europe is rich of culture, differs from one country or region to another. The best thing is that with one visa you can travel to all the Schengen countries! Thanks EU, you made me able to travel a lot 😛
Aaand the blessing did not stop there, on spring I traveled again to London!

London, UK, 2011

5. Africa

On Spring 2011, me and my two friends decided to take a trip to Morocco. So this is Africa! My fifth continent 🙂 It was very nice to be in a muslim country after a long while staying in Europe as minorities. Morocco is very pretty 🙂 A great country to complete my journey around 5 continents 🙂

Morocco, Spring 2011

Alhamdulillah, at the age of 22, I have been to 5 continents 🙂
Alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah.. no matter how much I said it, I know it would never be enough.

Ok, one little disclaimer, I hope you don’t get the idea that my life is really really wonderful and smooth. Well, it quite is, for the sake of being grateful, but there are big and long struggles behind those happy pictures either afterwards or in advance.

Now we just have to reflect, have we been grateful enough? 🙁
Are my glory days going to stop here? :S
Where are we planning to go next? 😉

Let’s dream big and work hard!


Comments

6 responses to “Alhamdulillah, been to 5 continents at the age of 22”

  1. hueeeeeeee pengen mb apiiiw

  2. hueeeeeeee pengen mb apiiiw

  3. ayo monaaa aku juga pengen jalan2 lagiiiii

  4. wah,,, fotone mupengggiiii,,, sumpaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh…

    1. hehe.. semoga ikut memacu semangat teman-teman 😛

  5. luar biasa mbak, saya suka baca blog nya. Menginspirasi (y)

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