CCC Final Retreat: Washington DC Day 1

Evening World,

mmm now I have a good mood to tell the story our last retreat few days ago.

But I am kindda confused where to start LOL.

Anyway, on the 6th of April. My group (18 of us) went for the final retreat that was arranged by the CCC consortium (our best consortium). We flew to Washington D.C. The flight was really tiring because it was almost 6 hours. But since my group is a fun group (in taking pictures LOL) I didn't feel tired because we always made jokes on our way.

Here are the picts we took when we travel to D.C

Indians, Pakistani and Indonesians

lovely Sanchay

see how crazy we are in taking pictures LOL

Lovely Mommy and Kigaa 

From Arizona we got transit to Chicago and then D.C. We arrived in D.C around 2 PM and when we arrived there, Keren, the Northern Virginia coordinator welcomed us at the airport. The transportation (a really huge bus) had been provided for us LOL. But at that time, we had to wait for another friends (16 students from San Francisco). We waited for them for about 30 or 40 minutes, not bad, right? LOL.

see how huge the bus is LOL

Once our friends from San Francisco arrived we all boarded to the hotel where we stayed for 3 days, the Mason Inn Conference and Hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 5 PM and met all the students of Community College Consortium (CCC) from 4 different colleges (Miami Dade College, City College of San Francisco, Northern Virginia and Scottsdale Community College) that we had met before in our Mid-Year retreat in Arizona. It was really good to see them again after 3 months. For those who haven't read my story of Arizona retreat, it is here.  

After dinner, we all were invited to have our first discussion with the Director of CCC, Dr. Syedur. He is such a wise, intelligent, and wonderful leader for us. In this discussion we shared whatever we wanted to discuss including our feeling about this CCI program, also things that we have achieved or things that we are proud of to share with other friends.

Most of us wanted to share everything but too bad we did not have enough time cause we supposed to go to bed earlier since we needed to wake up early morning for the first tour to Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Ford Theater, Newseum,  and the National Archives (where they keep the original Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights), isn't that cool? Everybody was so excited for the next day.

I was actually supposed to go to bed earlier at the first night because did not have chance to get rest but then I decided to meet some of friends that I had chatted with since last few months on Fb and Skype, unfortunately most of them went to bed earlier, so I ended up with some couple of folks that wanted to stay late because of Insomnia LOL.

I really had a good time that night because I could talk with friends from Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Brazil. Also I had chance to talk to Ken, San Francisco's students' coordinator. Alhamdulillah the time that I spent with those folks meant something for me because from the chit-chat, I learnt about them. I guess Allison is right, we will always learn in every minute that we spend we other people, especially with people from another country.

By the way busway,

I will continue the story InshAllah because now I need to get rest.

Have been so busy with Internship, final report for the internship and assignments.
So sibuk ya? LOL

I will share the story of the second day in D.C :)

As always, Sorry for my bad English because I haven't written any paper or essay for about 2 months 

Hope you guys understand what I am trying to say :D Lebay LOL

Ca cao,
have a good night


From Arizona with Love,
Nur

We Made It Happen

Hello World,

Aaawwww WOW WOW!! 

Finally, I think this is the good time for me to share what my group of CCC from 7 different countries had just done here. I know that you all guys knew if my group and I have done lots of volunteer here in Arizona because one of the part of this CCIP program is giving back to the community or helping them by volunteering. 

I also had posted some stories about my volunteer with the Welcome to America Project. If you guys haven't read or don't have any idea about this organization, may be you can visit my old post here. 

So guess what has my group done today???

 Today we had a FUNDRAISER for the refugees who come from all around the world because their origin countries have problems like war and politic problems. So they come here to the United States and get settle and most of them get help from the Welcome to America Project Organization. 

Well actually we had planned this fundraiser since the 3rd or 4th month we got here in the United States. This idea came when we did volunteer with the welcome to America Project by helping the refugees family feel comfort in their new house. Allison, our  wonderful coordinator, helped and encouraged us to do this fundraiser. We had been working on it since October.

Today, everything that we had been working on finally is done and people said it was one of the fantastic events that they have ever attended.

 I know all of you guys might ask me, what did my group and I did in the event and how was it?? Well, too bad that you could not come to the event because in our event which we called "Make It Happen" we had 9 performances from 9 different countries? Isn't that cool? 9 different countries!!! 

We had Costa Rica dance, Samba Dance, Indonesian Harvest Dance and Indonesian Poco-Poco Dance, Thailand Dance, Turkish Dance, India and Pakistani Wedding Ceremony (3 days before the exact wedding day, forgot the name LOL), and some of friends sang Arabic songs and Indian songs. 

Also we had booths of each countries and Tahira and her friends did Henna for the attendees. 

By the way, talking about attendees there were almost 200 attendees came to our event. Can you believe that? and from those 200 attendees plus donation from people who care about the refugees, we got $2.100,00 dollars for the refugees, do you understand my English in here? or want me to make it clear? We got $2,100.00 from this event!!! 

I am so glad and blessed that we finally Made It Happen!!! 

Because we had been working on this event like crazy. Getting food donation, getting all 18 of us to be in the meeting, practicing the dances, and selling the tickets, all the money that we got today is worth for our work for the refugees. 

And everyday I feel  so blessed to have this group as my family because they care about the community here. I never regret that I left everything in my country for this program because everyday, I always learn something, no matter where my feet bring me. 

Thank you to the U.S Department of State who has given my group and I this opportunity to be here in the US. 

And for my group, we MADE IT HAPPEN, Guys!!! 

We pulled our socks up, Guys!!! Yeay!!

I am so proud of you and glad to have you as my team!!!!

Love you all!!! 

Huhuy, since I have talked about what we did today, Now it is time for me to get rest because since last  week, I have been working to get the donation and the sponsorship like burning the candles at both ends just to get their support for our event and for the refugees. 

See ya on my next post and I hope you guys understand my English LOL. 

PS. Here are some of the picts I took from the event:

3 Indonesians (Too bad Agung was busy with the gate LOL)

Gamze (Turkish), Sany (Indonesian) and Jessica (Thailand)

My lovely marketing teacher, Janelle, and Gary Ward (Intro to tourism teacher) 

Tahira was doing Henna for Tiegan (Our teacher's daughter)

People start coming

Indian and Pakistani girls ( I love their dresses) Wish they could give that to me LOL

Ca cao

From Arizona with Love, 

Nur 

Being Green

Evening World, 

How are you doing? 

Haven't written anything since last couple of weeks. I have been very busy with assignments, test, internship, volunteer and of course FACEBOOK!!! LOL!! 

I wanna share what I have learnt this couple of weeks. 

This evening, I wanna talk about what I have learnt in my Hotel Facilities Management Class. Before taking this class, I had no idea how the class would be. One time, I was thinking to cancel the class because I saw the textbook was very complicated AKA it is written in scientific English (I don't really like to read scientific writing) LOL. But I am glad that I did not cancel the class because I learnt a lot from this class. From Sustainability, Greening, Recycling, Reuse, Safety and Security in the Hotel, and lot of terms or knowledge which I did not know before. Honestly, the first class, it seemed too complicated for my friend and I because we both don't have background in the hotel industry (well I just started my Internship in the hotel one week before the class started). So whenever the teacher talked, we just kept quite, listened and took notes, we did not talk until she asked us about our opinion in the class LOL. But since last few weeks, we have been improved (I guess). We tried to participate like normal students LOL and Anw, it is a 2 hours and 44 minutes class and it is on Friday. Gubraks!! Hahaha . . .  

So since the class has been interesting for the couple of weeks, I have started a new habit, I always buy Starbucks Coffee before going to the class because it keeps me awake. My friend, Yermi always likes to pull my legs that I am addicted to coffee these few weeks because he knew that I did not like coffee.

My new addiction every Friday morning

Anyway, that's not the point why I am writing this. Singkat kata, in my Hotel Facilities Management Class, I learn how to become GREEN. I just realized that being GREEN is very important for us and our society. I remembered when I was 10 or 12 years old, I used to see travelers or tourist from Europe traveling in Indonesia and whenever I saw them eating banana or any food, they never threw the peel or the packages of the food on the street or the ocean. For me it was weird because in Indonesia, we don't care with the environment, most of us just throw whatever and wherever we want. Lot of times I asked those travelers or tourists. I asked them the reason why they keep the peel of the banana on their bags instead of throwing it on the ocean or on the street. They told me that it was not good to throw everything in the street or the ocean. But that time, I was so young, I could not understand what they mean. I started to understand about it about 3 or 4 years ago and since the second week I take the Hotel Facilities Management class, I understand more about it. I have promised myself that from now on, InshAllah I will try to be GREEN just like most of the Americans here and I wish I could share about this to my friends and my community in my home country.  Untuk teman-teman di Indonesia, Let's start to do Recycling, Reuse and reduce :) I know we can do it. Being Green is not that difficult as long as we want to safe our environment, community and our future :)

Oh ya, the other thing that I learn from this class was about saving energy. Hahaha too much information to share. But I don't care, I just wanna share whatever I think is gonna be helpful for my friends and my community. 

Do you guys know the electronics or lamps which has icon or which written "ENERGY STAR" on it?

Energy Star Logo for those of you
 who have no idea what I am talking about

I am sure some of us use it, but I am also pretty sure that most of us do not know the meaning of that Energy Star icon . .  . Ssssttttt  . . .  Don't worry  because we are on the same boat LOL, I also did not know about the meaning of the ENERGY STAR until last 2 weeks, until my professor explained about it Hahaha, I know, people might think that it's kind of "Dumb'' not to know about "ENERGY STAR" in this Era.

I will cut to the chase, Energy Star is a Program of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S Department of Energy. They have this program so people can save and protect our environment, and save our money for the energy usage in our homes, hotels or even offices. This program has started since 90s and now it has been applied not only in the U.S but also all over the world. I used to see the logo of ENERGY STAR in some of the Electronics, Kitchen  appliances and the lamps when I was in Indonesia but when I saw the icon of Energy Star I just ignored it because I had no idea what it was (Plus I never wanted to find out, Ignorance LOL). Lanjut, If people will use the all devices or electronics or lamps which have "Energy Star Icon" it will save energy about 25% to 35%. Doncha guys think it really saves money and energy? You can save your money for the electricity just by using the product which has "Energy Star Logo".  Just imagine if you save 25% to 30% for each month.  .  .

BTW, there are 3 main tips of saving energy which I got from the class. Here they are :

Never ever let your lights on if you don't use it (in bathroom, living room, kitchen or even patio) 

Always turn off the stove when you are done with cooking even you will cook again in 15 or 20 mins. (It's better to turn the stove again after 15 minutes instead of letting the stove on) 

Always turn off your electronic devices (Computer, TV, etc when you don't use it) 

Those three are the main tips. You might think they are common tips, but most of us ignore them or even it never crossed your mind that by doing all these, you save lots of energy at home and your apartment. May be for some people (Especially for us, International Students which get funded by the U.S Dept of State, we just don't care about it because we think that we don't pay the electricity, the agency does, so it is not our problem and it will not effect our monthly stipends LOL . . . Seriously guys, this is the only and the perfect time when we can start to learn from small things because once we get old, it will be SUPER DUPER DIFFICULT for us to start saving energy or being GREEN, so let's start to be more aware about our environment and our society . . . . :)

Well, that's all what I wanted to share for today :) I hope this simple post will be useful for all of us :) 

So I will see you guys when I have time to write or have something to share because now I am super tired, I haven't got rest since this morning. Was too busy with the test, volunteer and walked 2 miles with Christy and now I am ready to see Matthew Gray Gubler. He has been waiting for me. 

Ca Cao, 

From Arizona with Love, 

Nur 

My 24 Birthday Surprised Party!

OMG!!!! 

I don't know how to describe my feeling right now. I feel so surprised, happy, and want to cry .  . . 

My Friends and also my family here gave me a BIG SUPRISE for My BIRTHDAY!!! 

OMG . . . 

First Day of Internship at the Embassy Suites Hotel

WOW!!!! 

Today I had a great experience. As what I have said on my previous post that I got an internship at the Embassy Suites Hotel, one of the Hilton branches. The Internship will be for minimal 80 hours. Every week,  my internship activities will be different because I will do the internship to all departments in the Hotel, from Housekeeping to Front Desk. So I will get lot of experience in Hotel industry itself, not only in one department.

In the morning, at 9, I went for my first internship. The hotel is not that far from my apartment. It just took about 25 mins to get there by bus. I was so excited to start my day especially when I met my supervisor, Joy Grant. She is a really friendly person. She works at the hotel for about 15 years. Now she works as an assistant manager of the Hotel. I spent about few minutes with her and decided that for today my internship will be in Housekeeping department. Joy introduced me to the Housekeeping Supervisor, Cierra. She is from Mexico. 

Since today is my first day, I decided that I want to see, observe and help the people from Housekeeping Department, Room Service. II spent my time from 10 to 2 by helping Alejandro, Cecile, and Lucia, the housekeepers. in Housekeeping there are two divisions. First division is for Over Night Stay and the second one is Check Out. So from 10:00 to 11.15, I helped Cecile  by making the bed, clean the room and do vacuum. Just like my daily activity at my apartments. The only differences was, there were lot of rooms that we had to clean LOL :D. But I had a good time there. Then at 11.15 we had break time from until 12.15 for lunch. 

CCC Mid-Year Retreat: Day 3 and Day 4 Grand Canyon

Evening World,

YAY!!! I got my internship at the Embassy Suites Hotel which is one of Hilton Hotel branches!!! Soooo EXCITED!! LOL

CCC Mid-Year Retreat: Day 1 and 2 Lake Powell

Evening World, 

How are you doing guys? 

Hopefully you all are doing well. 

I cannot wait to tell you my story what I have been doing this week. 

Guess what??? I had a retreat with all the students from Community College Consortium in 3 different sites!!! YAY!!!!