Episode 1: Hi, I am Sinta. Welcome to my Stories
First thing first, I want to say that this is my first time writing on Medium. Welcome to my page and super glad to know you all. Anyone who visits this page and reads it, a warmest welcome to you and thank you.
Who am I?
My name is Sinta. Now, I am 22 years old. I was born and raised in the eastern part of Indonesia in East Nusa Tenggara, specifically in West Manggarai. I lived in a remote area, far from the city and the crowds. A little story about my childhood, I received my primary school education at a school near my house in Gurung Village, Welak Sub-District, West Manggarai Regency, called Lempa Catholic Primary School (Sekolah Dasar Katolik Lempa). I spent my elementary school years playing with friends and having fun. I didn’t think much about studying hard. However, my parents motivated me to study hard and they introduced me to books, especially my father. Then, as time went by, I slowly grew to love reading books and studying.
A long story short, when I was in the 6th grade I already stayed in the Catholic boarding school, Santu Klaus Werang and I was very happy because I felt that I would have more friends and get to know new people from various schools. I was not sad at all when I was going to be away from my parents. Spending the last year of elementary school in a dormitory was a lot of fun. Sometimes at certain moments I missed home, my parents and my younger brother. At that time, even though I missed home, I managed to get through it and stayed in the dormitory until I finished 6th grade. The great experience during my time in the dormitory made me decided to continue my junior and senior high school education at Santu Klaus Werang. I spent 7 years of my education at Santu Klaus Werang. Looking back, I remember how enjoyable those years were. I grew and developed there. One day I hope to have the opportunity to visit my beloved alma mater while recalling the school days. The corridors that I often walked through with my friends and the classrooms that were sometimes noisy and sometimes quiet during independent study hours. I miss it so much.
After seven years living in a dormitory, I moved and lived further away from my parents, even in a different province. Yes, in 2020 I moved to Jakarta to follow my brother and this was my first year as a student at President University. After living in Jakarta until the end of 2020, I finally moved to Cikarang, West Java in 2021 and lived in my own rented house not too far from campus. I lived college life with its many ups and downs. Living in a new city, new people and new habits. What is even more important is the different learning systems and methods. I was studying during the Covid-19 pandemic where lectures were conducted remotely and my campus implemented a full English learning method. It’s a far cry from the system and methods I learned from elementary to high school. In the midst of the new situation, I pushed myself to adapt and I was able to do well. I adapted to everything and lived life independently. For your information, I took International Relations (IR) as my major and Diplomacy as my major concentration. I took IR as my major simply because I wanted to learn about economy and social-politics. I truly have a big interest in this field of study.
What I do now?
Here I am now, still living in Cikarang, West Java, and currently living life as a fresh graduate student from President University. I earned my degree in Social Science in December 2023 with a Very Satisfactory predicate. As a recent graduate, I am currently in the process of securing a full-time job, with a high interest in the External Relations Department. However, I am also open to exploring opportunities in Marketing, Human Resources, and Administration. While actively applying to various companies and institutions, I have taken on two part-time roles. The first one is with UPH Learning Hub Cikarang (UPH LHC) in the Admission and Marketing Department, where I am specifically responsible for Corporate Partnership. The second role is as a Marketing Project Assistant in a Korean Restaurant. Technically, I am not 100% unemployed.
Talking about my two part-time roles, the first one is in UPH LHC. I started working here last April 2023 and I worked Monday-Friday from 07.00 a.m — 04.00 p.m. The second one is in a Korean Restaurant. I have been working for a specific duration, and I just started a week ago. The only definite schedule is on Saturdays, where I work from eight to five. Occasionally, I continue working after completing my job at UPH Learning Hub Cikarang, either from five to seven in the evening or five to eight. Honestly, it can be exhausting, but it brings me joy. I am happy to see myself doing so many things even if I have a little time to relax. At least I know that I am doing my best during the process to get my full time job. So, I labeled myself as a “semi-pengangguran woman”. No, I am joking.
What about Medium?
For me, Medium is a great platform to share stories and dive into interesting narratives and writings from diverse individuals. I began writing on Medium to make use of my free time, as writing is one of my hobbies. Since I haven’t got my full-time job yet and I still have so much free time, I figured it out and started to think that maybe this is the right time for me to do my hobby which is writing. Documenting my life, especially my journey and some of my opinions, feels like a meaningful undertaking. Reflecting briefly on the past, after I graduated from university what came to my mind is the words like “ yes, finally no assignments and classes anymore”. I was elated at that moment. However, a week later, that elation faded, replaced by the pressing question of “what am I going to do next?”. Even part-time jobs failed to fill the void. I miss the feeling that I felt when I worked on my assignments, discussed with my friends in groups and stayed up late at night to work on my essays and many more. That’s why I started my writing on Medium to make my life after university become more interesting and fun. Sharing my experience and stories. I am pretty sure that my life after graduating from university will be no less interesting than my life during university, even more interesting and fun with many good things to come. Amen.
For the closure of this first episode, I say “welcome to my Medium page, and I sincerely hope everyone enjoys the reading experience”.
