Fahmi Noor Syafaat

November 2008 Update

Finally, as all the assignments are done by the end of October, I had a chance to face the “real thing” of my study. Exams. Hopefully, the results are just like what I expected. It’s been a really great experience with all the mates both in the campus where I live and the campus where I study. I met so many wonderful people with their unique characteristic. I feel so happy that one of my expectations, to broaden my network, was finally achieved.

Now, I am waiting for the final day when all the exams are finished as the students from my campus will participate in an Olympic-kind-of-competition again Royal Military College of Canberra. It is a historical event of 85 years in row. I will play soccer and basketball.

I visited Elizabeth in Newcastle and it was an unreal time to know that the city is full of fine cafes and quite hilly. The fact is that the size is bigger than what I thought.

As the classes are finally finished, I, Diego and another exchange student from Switzerland will start our road trip around East Coast of Australia to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

October 2008 Update

October means spring has come. Flowers around the uni start to bloom and the grass turns green. It is a special month for me, started with end of my mid-semester break in Canberra. I was heading there with hardly known Tiger airways from Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport at early morning. I was hosted by Claudia who at that moment was celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday. Australian National University, where she lives, was such a conducive place for student, modern and located not far from Canberra’s CBD with a well-preserved nature and active campus life.

I had chance to see what Canberra offer from Floriade (Spring Festival), Japanese kite festival and of course its attraction such as Parliament House, National Museum of Australia, Yarralumla (where all embassies are located) and Lake Burley Griffin which cut the city into two parts.

Then Ramadhan (Muslim’s fasting month) reached its end. I and some friends from my uni celebrated it in simple way. We had dinner and the next day head to Auburn for praying in the morning. Unfortunately, the GPS was not a perfect system so we decided to look at old-fashioned way on the map which delayed our trip for an hour more to the destination. The mosque we were heading to was very unanimated since everyone was already heads home. But at least we were not alone, there were at least three other families who missed it. An old guy who live next to the mosque greet us with great hospitality and the sweet Baklava (Lebanese desert, very good one). So it made our experience not only bitter but sweet in other hand. A bitter sweet Eid.

Our Sydney group had a meeting in a Malaysian restaurant in Darling Harbor. It was a great chance to meet other scholars again and Eleanor. Sweet lunch which very diverse menu which some of them remind me of Mamma’s cooking back home. The lunch was continued with discussion of our fundraising program which will be executed in Macquarie University where some of scholars do their study.

It was also the hottest day I had experienced in Sydney when the temperature reached 35 degrees and of course it was not because of chilli exaggeration on the restaurant. So, I, Diego and David decided to chill a little bit while getting a new experience in Australian Maritime Museum while waiting for “Fiesta Latina”. It was a very great day where I met a lot of my friends at the same time. Angie, came all the way from Tasmania to meet us there.

But end of October doesn’t seem as sweet as its beginning (that’s why the Keanu’s movie is called ‘Sweet November’) because I had so many assignments due at almost the same time, lost at the final game of the soccer competition and had my bike stolen. At least there is always some few times to get away from the routine by visiting Royal National Park (with Diego’s family) and get the skin burned at Coogee Beach. My university residential also had a ball, a prom-like party which is the last chance for third year student to get together with other residents. The good side is that all classes will be finished by the end of October. I and some students also organized a fundraising event in the uni at Penrith.

September 2008 Update

September is revealed with many different activities, from the snow trip in the end of August until the trip to Victoria in the end of Ramadhan, a month when Muslims are fasting for the whole month.

I had finally done all the assignments, due before the mid semester break and been through the mid semester exams. I also had chance to visit some different cultures in celebrating Ramadhan, from Lebanese’s until the Saudi’s. So many varieties of tempting foods that I haven’t found back home. Fasting here has been a different experience and I didn’t find it hard.

I and some other students from my residential college organized some leisure activities such basketball, soccer competition which also involves lecturers and staffs, as well as international food day that demand me to hit the catwalk presenting Indonesian traditional clothes, Batik.

We finally figure out that around Richmond, or well-known as Hawkesbury area, have wide range area for camping and fishing. I and some friends finally have time to realize it after my mid semester exams. Unluckily the fishes were fasting too, so we did just ´not catch the fish´ but more sadly ´not even a bite´ indeed, even though we have a lot of fun.

I and Diego, from Mexico, were trying to figure out what to do during the semester break and we came up with the conclusion to head south to Melbourne to experience the difference and get away from our academic activities for a week, since a break is break. Like enough is enough.

I stay at Suzanna’s place with a friend, Thomas, from Netherlands, while Diego stay with James, whom he met in Mexico. Melbourne is so diverse and every corner of the city always gives us a big surprise. I find it very alternative compare to Sydney that is so cosmopolitan. Rustic pubs, book stores, Victorian style building, the trams until the new state-of-the-art design of new landmark such as Federation Square, Victoria National Gallery and Melbourne Museum.

Great Ocean Road, a something-about-200kms track along the Victorian south coast is definitely a place to visit before you die. The vista is absolutely awesome. You will realize how there’s no more land across the ocean except of Antarctica. It was the first time as well for me, Diego and Thomas ever seen koala in the wild which aren’t fasting since their metabolism is not similar to human being. But we found out that they are really expert in adopting the ´no worries´ philosophy from the way they are sleeping.

Finally, the fasting month is almost end and hopefully I and some friends are going to celebrate it in different way than it is at home. The battle is still on since 2 Sydney gang intelligent members found out that the ´Melbourne mafia´ had raised $816 for UNIFEM from secret resources (with respective secret code called "Artemio" and "Suzanna").

(Pictures are to be loaded later on 29th)

July 2008 Update

July has been a wonderful month for me. Besides knowing that finally my application for Peace Scholarship Program was successfully being realized by my arrival at Sydney airport on July 7th, I also get to know more new people and made a good friendship. My birthday took place at the end of orientation day in Sydney and I had this wonderful surprise from the other Peace Scholarship Program participants in the beautiful Bondi Beach in Sydney. The orientation itself was a three-great-day full of fun and we got a chance to know our mission here in Australia.

My preparation for Australia was not that spectacular since my last week before the departure was quite hectic. I had this opportunity to participate in International Youth Forum back home in Bandung during a week before my departure where I met young people from different countries and cultures. So, I came to Australia with just positive attitude (and few clothes of course) toward the semester incoming and so far I enjoyed it so much and no homesick at all.

I arrived here in the UWS (University of Western Sydney) Hawkesbury campus which is located in Richmond, NSW, a chilled small town. I planned to stay here for a week while looking for an accommodation in Penrith, where UWS also has a campus and it is where I am going to do all my units during the semester. UWS has 6 campuses spread along Western Sydney region. Since I couldn’t find any accommodation in Penrith, I decided to sign a contract with the UWS Residential Office here in Hawkesbury campus to stay for the semester. They also have free shuttle buses that bring the students to Penrith campus which will be a good deal for the students. Hawkesbury campus is mainly for Agriculture studies. The area of the campus is quite big with a big space for plant, cattle, and field. It has football field, soccer field, basketball hall, library, canteen, bar, chapel, motel, conference hall and many other facilities that are very complete. The student residence itself is divided into several types and blocks. I live in a block called Potts, a Harry Potter’s Hogwart style building, where majority of the residents are international students. It has the biggest and nicest kitchen and common room. The wildlife around campus is still well preserved. You can see many kinds of bird from cockatoos to crows, even possums and squirrels. The view is also dramatically astonished, especially in the morning and before sunset, since the background of the campus is a wide open space and the infamous Blue Mountain.

It is still on holiday time when I arrived here until the classes are started on July 28th . The campus is very quite since all the students are still on their vacation. But it’s very nice since I heard the rumor that when the classes start, there is going to be full of activities around. My course here is Tourism Management. I am going to take 4 subjects for the whole semester which are English for Academic Purpose, Managing Tourism Trends, Environment and Tourism Management, and Festival and Events.

Even though there are not many people around, I tried to always looking for interesting activities to do. Walking around the town, picnicking in the parks, and not forget to always trying to contact some people for our fund raising program for UNIFEM. Indonesian Consulate General in Sydney, Rotary Club of Richmond, Canadian director who made a documentary film about Afghanistan, even the campus activities organizer is some of the example. We tried to look for as many opportunities to get more fund raised due to the deadline at the end of October. So far the director has given permission to use his film for our “Movie Day”.

First week after arrival was quite challenging for settling down since I haven’t had a fixed place to stay. I was in so much worry that I had to pay the rent for the whole semester in advance, but after I talked to the residential manager, Frankie, a super cool man, everything was finally solved. I also thought that people from my building is a little bit “anti-social” since they don’t really go out of their room, but they’re actually really nice if you try to start conversation. Some of them are doing their post-graduate research or working in Australia but they’re still staying at student residence. They are coming from different nationalities such Srilanka, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Kenya, and Japan but mostly are from China.  It is good to hear English for many kinds of accent beside the Australian itself which sometimes still a little bit hard for me to understand 100%, from the people who work for the university or people from the town to whom I spoke with. I made some really good friend here so far who mostly are international or exchange students too.

After few days, finally I had this chance to come to the International Student Orientation Day which was so interesting and a lot of fun in the Parramatta campus. We had a chance to get to know the student union, trips organized by the university, how the university life in Australia is, and of course the other international students from other campuses. During the presentation about the university life, there was an aboriginal dance show. The performers invited the students to join the dance on the stage and of course I didn’t miss this chance by doing the Kangaroo boogie style on the stage in front of thousands people.

Since July is also the moment for the World Youth Day, I didn’t miss the chance to see the Pope in Sydney. I and some other fellow students from China, USA, Japan, Australia, and Kuwait took a train to Sydney to go for sightseeing and see the madness of the World Youth Day. It was so much fun to be back to Sydney and get to know more places that I missed from the Orientation Day. Thousands of people flocked the roads in Sydney for the WYD, but it was not as crowded as I thought since it was so well organized. We were all very excited to see some Sydney’s attraction from Darling Harbor, The Rocks, and The Opera House. In the end we forgot our aim to see the Pope, but it didn’t matter at all since the seagulls on the Darling Harbor gave us an awesome attraction.

I also had a chance to explore Parramatta, one of the first settlements in Australia after Sydney. Parramatta is so multiracial. You can find people of every race around the city or inside its well-known big shopping mall. It has some historical point that marked the rise of Australia such Old Governor House, St. Johns Cemetery (also known as the oldest cemetery in Australia), Town Hall, and many more sites. The city itself is cut by the Parramatta River. We can take a scenic walk through the river to kill time. A day walk in Parramatta is an unforgettable experience.