First thing first, I’d like to say that I
couldn’t be grateful enough for what Allah has given to me. This is more like a
dreams come true to me. This journey was the unexpected one to me. I always
wanted to go back to the USA, since the last time I went there, it just gave me
a lifetime experience that I couldn’t and wouldn’t forget. My last visit to US
left me with so many things to be thankful of.
I met so many kind, friendly, warmhearted people with their warm welcome
they gave to me and my family.
I once heard a beautiful words from my
lecture: the best thing of traveling is
not about what place you go, but it’s about how you interact with the people
there. Well it would define my journey. I met so many kind people, as I said
before. Those people I met are whether they’re my family’s friends, or even we
just met, literally. It has been made me think, how great Allah arrange things
up. It started at Narita Airport, my mom went to a restroom, and when she came
back, she told me that she met Ruth, a warm hearted American who lives in
Virginia. They talked about how Ruth loves Indonesia, especially Jakarta (this
is a wow to me), and how my mom misses America. Then my mom introduced me to
her after we had boarded to the plane. That time, Ruth gave us her number and
kindly said “Call me”. My mom was shocked by that, a foreigner who just met us
could easily gave us her number. Well that was something to us. (to be
continue)
I stayed in Columbia for a week, we were
waiting for my father to finish his training. We had already made a plan to
visit our friends in Ithaca and Syracuse. So the route was Columbia-New
York-Ithaca-Niagara-Syracuse, and other cities. So then we went straight to New
York afterwards. New york has a spot in my heart since the last time I went
there on 2008. I know that the people there isn’t as friendly as in Columbia
yet I still love New York. Who doesn’t love New York? Unfortunately, I only
stayed there for 3 days. Well I tried to cheer my self up by thought “Someday
you’ll stay here for a long time, hopefully”. I went to NYU, Manhattan,
Brooklyn Bridge, Ground zero, etc. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to go to
Central Park, my favorite place in NYC. So the second day in NY, my dad called
his friend, Patrick. When he was in
Jakarta, he went to our house. At first he said that he was so busy that he
couldn’t make it. Alhamdulillah he made it. He came up with a smiling face.
Then he took us to the 9/11 memorial. He was so nice to us. He’s that kind of
funny man. I felt like a friend to him even we just hung out. He even remembered
the food we served him when he was visited our house. He told us that he was
running a project with New York Times, and I was like “WOW”. I told him that I
wanted to be a journo, he gave me several advices. He’s a truly kind person.
The journey was continued to our “hometown”,
Syracuse. My dad had arranged a meet up with his professor there. The first day
at Syracuse, we strolled down the Syracuse University. We were remembering the
old days when we still lived there. So then we met Phil Doughty, a professor of
my dad when he was in university. At first I thought, how come a professor want
to spend his time to meet his student? But then, when we came up, he welcomed
us with his big smile. Phil Doughty was a modest and warm hearted person. He
was keep saying he’s a farmer when actually he’s retired, lol. The best part
was, when my dad told him that we’re hoping I could continue to study there in
the USA, he said that if I come back next time, I should stay in his house for
a couple days and he would take me to survey those universities. And he said it
to me seriously. Again, that was something to me.
Until the last day before I got back, we
stayed in Manassas, Virginia. So my mom decided to text Ruth. She said to her
that we stayed in Manassas and tomorrow we’ll be going back and wishing to see
Ruth if she come to Jakarta. It turns out that Ruth’s house was close from our
hotel. We arranged a meet up afterwards. She picked us up to our hotel, took us
to applebee’s to have a dinner. In the middle of conversation, Ruth told us
that his husband is a delegate, some kind of caleg dprd in Indonesia, hehe. We
talked about how Ruth loves Indonesia. She has been come to Indonesia for 12
times. Surprise huh? Most of the time Ruth told us about Virginia.
So, that was it. I tremendously happy about
this. I knew that Allah is my travel guide and travel arranger. He made it
possible. It was such an unexpected amazing journey. What I love about
traveling is that I could learn how the people from another side of the world
communicate. How they accept diversity, and how the diversity could be a
beautiful thing. I’ve learned a lot from my last visit. It’s like I had that
goal, “after this journey I have to become a blablabla person”. Really, I had.
All I can say is, Alhamdulillah.
