Sastra Inggris Semester 6 - I’M SICK OF SIX SEMESTER

Hi there, it’s been a long time I didn’t write any article. May be the explanation below will give you an enlightenment why I didn’t write a lot. Well, as usual I like writing or I’d rather call it as sharing my experience in the previous semester.

And this is my story of Semester six. And I’m sick of semester six. – I’m not serious, tho. ;)

Very well then, as you know that I take American Studies as the major that I’ve learned since semester 5, I will write about the Life of being an American studies scholar. Let me start from the subjects that my friends and I took in semester 6. Here we go:

1.     Gender (2 credits)

2.     Introduction to cultural studies (2 credits)

3.     American Miscellany (4 credits)

4.     Popular culture (2 credits)

5.     American Studies Research Methodology (4 credits)

6.     Film and Literature (2 credits)

7.     Media and Cultural studies (2 credits)

GENDER CLASS

There were two lecturers in this class, Miss Nia and Miss Sari. For the first eight meeting, the class was under Miss Nia’s hand. The rest of the meetings was handled by Miss Sari. Well, I will be honest in this blog. I liked the way Miss Nia taught us with group presentation and very thoughtful question related to gender in our daily life. One thing that I don’t really accept is the way she always gives her personal opinion that Woman is always right. Well, it is indeed she is a feminist. And some of my male friends and I kind of irritated with her words. Not in an offensive way, but we as a male kind of hard to accept that woman is always right. We need to think more carefully to decide who is wrong and wright. Well, other than that, joining her class is such as worth time to spend for me. I can understand a simple thing that I didn’t give a shit before such as gender bias. From this class I can be more tolerant with woman and I think I can be more aware on gender issues. As a male who live in patriarchal society, I think it is necessary to think that everything cannot be judged based on sex. For them who are interested in gender or sexuality issues I believe will find themselves fit in this class.

INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES CLASS

This class was also handled by two lecturers, Miss Nia and Miss Sari. For the first eight meeting was handled by Miss Sari and the rest was Miss Nia. Miss Nia always made a group discussion as her method of teaching. However, Miss Sari was more focus on individual participation in a class discussion. And there was always a review every meeting related to certain theory. However, I believe you will thank to her when you have a talk with sociology students. The materials that my friends and I have got so far are about social and cultural theories such as hegemony, Subject and power, postmodern etc.

AMERICAN MISCELLANY CLASS

Thanks God in this semester my friends and I got a one semester class with American lecturer. Well, as an American studies scholar, I personally have a dream to learn more about America in America or at least being taught by American lecturer. And that dream came true in this semester. Well, we had two lecturer actually in this class, Mr. Brian and Miss Rini. In this class we learned things about America. There are lots of things that we learned, that’s why there were 2 meetings every week for this subject. The materials that we learned were American exceptionalism, borders, woman and domesticity, religion, environment, diaspora, whiteness, etc.

POPULAR CULTURE CLASS

Alright, in this class I learned theories related to popular culture such as the theory from Strinaty, John Fiske, Rob Kroes and Sausurre also. From this class you will at least get a clue on how certain phenomenon becomes popular. The object that being discuss also various such as painting, film, ads, etc. You may be can take or apply one or two theories to make you popular, lol. Just kidding. Well, it was an interesting class even tough in some meetings the materials are so though.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF AMERICAN STUDIES CLASS

Oh my goodness. Miss Hapsari handled this class in my year. Well, it’s kind of scary because my friends and I got a kind of nightmare in the last semester in her Introduction to Media class.

Every mainstream/major in English Department gets this class. This class is actually a warming up for our final research for Sarjana degree. In this class, my friends and I always made a review for every single meeting from journals that given to us since in the second or third meeting. Just enjoy the show tho.

FILM AND LITERATURE CLASS

This class is the meeting point where American Studies scholars meet Literature scholars. Yeay… At last my class was more -let say- had more people in the classroom. Fyi, there are only six students taking American studies major, so the appearance of Literature students that are four is kind of good news for us, or personally for me. However, thanks for non-regular students who also joined us so the class was more crowded than my other classes.

You may learn the history of film, language of film and also literature in this class as long as the lecturer is still Mr. Taufiq. There will be a group discussion in this class related to literature and film theory and issue.

MEDIA AND CULTURAL IDENTITY CLASS

Media and cultural identity was one of the most interesting class in this semester. There are many thing to discuss here. It is just the matter how you can find an interesting object to discuss. The form of media is so many. You may elaborate the topic from the lecturer, Mr. Taufiq, with media you like such as newspaper, journalistic thing, TV series, music video, advertisement, and of course film. The idea of this class is actually you can reveal or at least show how certain media can bring its own identity that I might say can influence the way how people think on certain thing or idea.

NOTE:

For you who wants to take American Studies as your major, just be ready for a new culture of study. There will be reviews at least 3 written reviews every week from miss Sari. The other thing you need to prepare are 1 chapter from Miss Nia, 3 chapter from Mr. Taufiq, and also 1 chapter from Miss Rini. However, if there is a different arrangement related to lecturer, you won’t face all of those readings.

Tbh, being a university student is a challenge whether you can be a real student or not. Personally, I think that being a student means read a lot. I mean it!

KUCING - Sleepo The Cat

Sleepo: My Cat and Family

Sebagai salah satu penggila kucing atau kalau istilah yang sering aku pakai, CatHolic, terasa kurang kalau aku belum mengulas tentang kisah pribadiku dengan kucing-kucingku. Tulisan kali ini pun karena aku barusan melihat foto-foto kucingku yang sekarang aku tinggal mengelana mencari ilmu di kota seberang.

Jika dilihat dari historical approach, aku mengenal kucing sejak TK. Awalnya dikasih sama kakaknya simbahku. Kucing pertamaku kalau tidak salah namanya Si Manis. Dan panggilannya Nis, selayaknya banyak orang memanggil kucing dengan sebutan nis/pus. Dan sejak itu juga aku selalu memelihara kucing sampai sekarang menjadi mahasiswa semester hampir akhir.

"He is the member of my family....."

Seperti memang ditakdirkan untuk memelihara kucing, setiap kucingku sudah tua dan mati, biasanya ada aja kucing kecil yang datang ke rumah. Langsung aja aku rawat dan aku kasih makan kucing itu ngga peduli ada yang punya apa ngga. Hohoho

Tulisan ini akan banyak mengulas tentang Sleepo and his family. Jadi Sleepo merupakan anak entah keberapa dari tiga bersaudara, dan merupakan hasil perkawinan antara Pushkav (Kucingku-betina) dengan kucing jantan yang tidak diketahui bebet bibit dan bobotnya. Meskipun bibitnya tidak terlacak, dia memberikan keturunan yang bisa aku bilang nice. Jadi, Pushkav memiliki 3 anak, 2 cewek dan 1 cowok. Bitty sebagai anak pertama berjenis kelamin betina. Sleepo anak kedua, merupakan kucing cowok yang hobby tidur dan terakhir Puddle satu-satunya yang memiliki ekor pendek dan satu warna. (Bitty dan Sleepo berwarna Kembang asem a.k.a orange dan Putih)

Anggap saja ini silsilah keluarga Sleepo

For the record, meskipun kucingku namanya beda-beda, tapi tetep aja panggilan mereka Pus.

Nah, dari ke empat kucingku tersebut diatas, yang sampai sekarang masih betah di rumah tinggal Sleepo. Pushkav sudah ngga tau dimana, Bitty dan Puddle sudah diminta sama orang deket rumah. Tinggalah Sleepo sendiri sampai akhirnya adik dari almarhum simbah kakungku ngasih anak kucing yang aku kasih nama Niki, karena aku kasih kalung dengan logo nike. Hohoho. Tapi minggu kemarin ketika aku pulang ke rumah, Niki sudah ngga ada. Kata orang tuaku, Niki ada di rumah salah satu teman SDku dan Ibuku mau mengambil Niki namun ngga enak, karena Niki dimainin sama adiknya temenku. (Semoga paham dengan bahasaku yang agak ribet). Pada intinya Sleepo di rumah sendiri untuk saat ini.

Pertumbuhan Sleepo sejak Desember 2013

Sleepo sekarang sudah berumur sekitar 2 tahun 2 bulan. Sepertinya sudah berkeluarga, namun sayangnya orang rumah tidak pernah dikenalkan dengan istri atau anaknya. Setauku dia masih Single. Namun mengingat umurnya yang bisa dibalang sudah matang, aku yakin dia sudah memproduksi keturunan.

Hal yang membuat aku selalu suka dengan kucingku adalah setiap pulang dari Solo dan baru turun dari motor, pasti Sleepo langsung keluar rumah dan nyamperin sambil bilang meong-meong. Ngga tau juga itu maksudnya kangen sama aku atau bilang ke aku kalau orang tuaku ngga ngasih makan dia selama aku pergi.

Selain itu, setiap kali aku duduk bersila, dia pasti langsung nyusul duduk dipangkuanku dan tanpa basa-basi langsung tidur. Terlebih kalau malam hari pasti langsung menyusul kedalam selimutku, karena pintu kamar pasti aku buka biar Sleepo bisa masuk, hohoho. Indeed, setiap aku pulang ke rumah pasti aku tidak tidur sendirian karena ada Sleepo. :D

Mungkin cukup sekian cerita tentang Sleepo. Aku yakin setiap pemilik kucing pasti memiliki cerita masing-masing dengan kucingnya. Dan inilah ceritaku. Last but not least, many people say:

Cowok pecinta kucing itu biasanya penyayang sama pendamping hidaupnya kelak!!!

Mau bukti??? Try me! Lol just kidding….

See you on the next post…

A Short Visit to Semarang

Meeting and Travelling

Well, from the tittle seems to be a very pleasing journey by mentioning the word travelling. In fact, it wasn't a travel actually. It was just a short visit. I visited Semarang on Sunday, 8 March 2015. I spent Rp 40k for the public transportation I used from Ampel-Semarang-Ampel. Here is the story.

First of all, the main reason for me to visit Semarang is just for attending a meeting with friends from KOPHI Jateng.  We discussed about the recruitment process for new Punggawa (member of kophi Jateng).   The meeting was attended by 18 punggawa including me.  The meeting was held in the second floor of KFC Pandanaran. We spent about more than four hours to discuss about the announcement and interview process. 

Finally, the final outcome from our meeting related Open Recruitment of New Punggawa are: 1. the announcement was informed by website admin and also via sms. 2. There are three main locations for the interview selection process. They are Semarang, Surakarata (UMS), and Purwokarata. 3. The interview will be held on Saturday-Sunday, 14-15 March 2015. 4. The announcement for the second selection is in 14 March 2015. 5. There will be held first gathering and also super camp for further follow up. 

There were more agendas beside Open Recruitment. Those  were KOPHI Pusat, Earth Hours Semarang, and KOPHI class. There was also kind of sharing some problems related to intern KOPHI Jateng.  That was a nice meeting for me, they were so friendly and warm to everybody and it made me feel good joining this organization.  Second of all, what I like during in Semarang is the city. I met many good people and also good environment for walkers like me. I like enjoying some  bulidings along  Pandanaran street and I took pictures there until I finally found KFC


USING BRT FOR THE FIRST TIME
My friend ever said that you haven’t visited Semarang before buying Lumpia, that’s true because Semarang is very famous with its production of Lumpia, but for me, experiencing city’s public transportation is my only goal.

After finishing my meeting (actually the meeting hadn’t finished yet when I left) at 3:00 pm, I decided to have a visit in Simpang Lima. Unfortunately, I had to go home early if I wanted to go to Solo at that day. Then, thanks to My friend, Nofal, who gave a ride and dropped me in Simpang lima. I started to walk around and then I found a bus stop. It is quite different with the bus stop in Solo. There are some people who sell the tickets behind the bus stop. So I didn’t need to pay the ticket on the bus. One more thing, there is a “transit system” here that leads people only pay once for changing the bus route. For the example, I took the bus (BRT) from simpang lima (near SMKN 7 Smg) and my destination was bus stop in Sukun. From simpang lima, I had to transit in Elizabeth then took another bus which go to Sukun.

The things that I like from the service are they were polite and friendly to people who don’t know about BRT (just like me, that was my first experience using BRT), it only cost 3.500 rupiahs, and also I don’t need to wait longer to get another bus. When I got a bus which go to Sukun, I couldn’t enter it because there were too many passengers. After waiting no more than 5 minutes, another bus which go to Sukun arrived. It means that there is no delay or late problem here. Meanwhile, sometimes when I use Batik Solo Trans, I still need to wait more than 10 minutes to get the bus who has the same route as the previous one.

One thing that I still remembered well during my journey using BRT is that It was hard for passengers who stand up and get comfort position because the geography in Semarang is not as flat as in Solo. You everyone should hold at the handle so tight.

Bapak-bapak yang ramah

Tbh, this was my first time going to the central city of Semarang by myself. Even though I’ve ever visited Tembalang alone.However, Tembalang and Simpang Lima is not a same place so I don’t know how to get there. I brace myself to ask bapak-bapak tukang parker yang langsung melemparkan senyum ketika saya sapa dengan kata “permisi pak, saya mau bertanya…..” Dengan direksi yang jelas, saya “dituntun” dari Java Mall menuju ke perempatan yang terdapat angkot C5 which goes to Pandanaran street. I like visiting Semarang, moreover by using public transportation and alone. It gives me different experience. However, the disadvantage of travelling alone is that no one can take a picture of me. I’m to shy to make a slfie using back camera, unless I have front camera. Lol

Hopefully I can enjoy more places in Semarang.

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Some random pictures

Salah satu bangunan di sepanjang jalan Pandanaran Semarang

Oper angkot dari Sukun turun di Java Mall kemudian naik C5 ke Simpang lima

I took this picture from Angkot tbh.

and I just arrived at Simpang Lima