The First Snow

20 November 2013 night. One of my fiends posted some status in facebook. He said that it is snowing. I immediately looked out the window and noticed those tiny white flakes falling from the sky.Yes, it's snowing for the first time in Nancy, which means that the autumn has gone and winter has officially come. The time has come to put on your fluffy slippers, your big warm blanket, and curl up in your bed with some hot chocolate mug in one hand and bed-time story in other hand.

Well, you know, I grew up in a tropical country so I didn't casually view this kind of scene. And while I was so mesmerized by this miracle, I was honestly thinking that there are only few other things more magical then looking out the window from your room and discovering those first flurries gently falling to the ground and slowly covering up the whole landscape.

On the next morning, I leaved my apartment in a rush and there I saw something has changed and I hardly recognized the semblance in front of me. The ground was so bright and white like a giant bucket of rice was spilled on the ground! I was running in a hurry because I was late for the class and more importantly I haven't finished my slides for the presentation. But sadly, no matter how hard I tried to walk fast, it was still kind of hard to walk on the top of the glace without wearing proper shoes. I almost fell few times because I was half running and the pathway was total slippery.

Frankly speaking, during the class that day I could not turn my eyes from the window. I kept looking on these incredibly beautiful snowfalls. Even though I always hate a cold weather, after that day, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, winter would not be that bad, in fact winter would be pretty nice after all!

The snow falls during the night

With teachers and classmates in front of AIPL building  

Pépinière

Parc de la Pépinière (Park of the Nursery) is one of my favorite park that I like to visit in weekend. If you come to Nancy by any chance, make sure that you stop by this beautiful park. The exact adress is Boulevard du 26e RI 54000 Nancy. It is located just behind the Place Stanislas, so I assume if you are in the road and get lost, just ask someone to direct you to the Place Stanislas and from there you'll find the   Parc de la Pépinière. Hint: if the people that you ask the direction  does not speak English, you can ask in French by saying "où le parc de la Pépinière?" Easy, peasy, right?

This park is large and it has many trees and colorful flowers, and it has some birds too. When I was there for my French class, it was still summer so the tree were still green and the flowers were blooming. If you came by now, the view might have been different since it is autumn already and the trees must have turned into yellow and orange color. But I guess it doesn't matter anyway since it is always beautiful no matter what the season is. What I like about this park is its huge open space, it's like you can run around the grass field or maybe if you are lazy just sit on the bench under the tree and simply feel the mild ambiance that you might not find in city center. It's just so refreshing and calm your mind. So next time if you need some peace of mind, just think of going to Parc de la Pépinière. I'm sure you'll get what you want.

With our French teacher

Me and my friends

I Smell Food

What is the most interesting thing that you want to know about other culture? Some people may say the language, the building and architecture, the tradition, the traditional clothes, and of course don't forget the food. Food is not just a mean of satisfying our hunger but also way to strengthen our friendship. For that reason, my fiends and I arrange some thing which we called "An International Lunch Party" where every one of us have to cook something from our own country and bring it to the party so that others can taste it. 

The party was held at Alex's apartment near Exelmans station (3 or 4 stops from Velodrome station). He agreed to lend his apartment to host the party and we started at about 2 pm because we aimed to eat the food for lunch time. So everyone showed up and brought their own food and drinks. There were food from Mexico, Vietnam, India, German, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, France, Ukraine, and Cyprus.  It was quite a rare occasion where you could find bunch of meals from many different countries served on one table and that's what I love from this genuine idea. Surely they had diverse flavor which characterize their culture, some are sweet, some are salty, others are spicy or sour. But you know, I must say that it is always fascinating to get to know a new culture! And that's exactly the point of this food party.

Ready to eat

Say cheese :)

Food from everywhere

PERCCOM class of 2013

Hello everyone! Today I would like to told you about my school activities here in France. So early of this year I was admitted to join an Erasmus Mundus Master Program called PERCCOM (Pervasive Computing and Communication for Sustainable Development). The scheme of the program required us to attend classes in 4 of its partner universities which are University of Lorraine in France, University of Lappeenranta in Finland, University of St. Petersburg in Russia, and Lulea University of Technology in Sweden. So basically during 2 years of studies I will stay at one university for a semester and then move to another university for the next semester and so on.

In the first week of the semester one, the committee arranged some sort of official welcome meeting to gather all the staff representatives from all partner universities and all PERCCOM students. In this session, the  each representatives  delivered a short presentation about overview of the program, what kind of subject that will be taught, the grading system, the research areas and projects, also some practical tips about living in their country like residence permit, housing, cafeteria, library and other campus facilities. In addition to four main partner universities above, there were also representatives from other partners like Herz University from German and Leeds University from UK.

After the presentation session was over, we went outside to have a group picture because it was not possible to do so inside the meeting room due to capacity limit of the room. Finally we decided to take the photo in front of the AIPL building with background of green trees which symbolized our green IT program. We took two or three photo shoot then we went back inside and the event was continued with a small buffet for lunch break. They served many kinds of cocktail cakes, desserts, and cold drinks such as wine and soda. In my opinion, the lunch break was such a nice experience because it was the time for me to mingle with the other students and also professors, getting to know each other, and plus had chance to have direct discussion with the professors to ask about many thing. 

Presentation Session

Break Session

The Big Family of PERCCOM

PERCCOM Students 2013

Where to find fresh products in Nancy?

If you love to eat fresh veggies and fruits then you definitely love to shop at marché couvert de Nancy (the market hall of Nancy) or also known as marché central de Nancy (the central market of Nancy). While traveling in Nancy area, be certain to stop by a local market and discover its hidden charms. The market is located at Place Henri Mengin between Saint-Dizier and Rue des Quatre-churches, 54000 Nancy. It is on the Downtown area, you can easily reach there by the tram and stop at the Nancy Gare station.

This market is one of the largest markets in the Lorraine gastronomy. There are lots of variants of products sold by hundreds of merchants. Here you can find meat, veggies, fruits, flower and books, almost anything. Plus, you can find organic vegetables and fruits and also local products from Lorraine like brimbelle and bergamotte. There are also some cafes and restaurants inside the market hall, so if you get tired you can take a rest and enjoy a cup of coffee in nearby cafe.

Me in front of flower shop

One of the fruit kiosk

In front of the Frederique's shop

Outside the market building

Pizza Frenzy

This evening, my friends and I decided to eat out because we don't feel like cooking. So we thought about the Pizza Domino which was just across the Match supermarket, quite near from our dormitory. From a distance of 10 meters, the Pizza Domino restaurant seemed to be open because the light is on but when we got closer we found that the room was empty and we could not open the door. But we weren't give up, so we looked around and we found a halal sign not too far away from the Pizza Domino. It turned out that it was a halal Pizza restaurant. We saw at the menu and we decided to give it a shot. We ordered a promotion menu: one medium pizza for normal price of 12.5 euro and the second medium pizza for only 3 euros. After a minute of arguing, we came up with chicken and tuna flavor. The restaurant is not so big but cozy. You can see the baking process of the pizza because it has an open kitchen. The wall is painted green with a giant mirror and some Arabic writing frame hanging on the wall. The chef is an Arabic man, I guessed he is a Morocco because he speaks Arabic with his son. After less than 10 minutes of waiting, the pizzas were served. I believed it took only 15 minutes for us to finish the plate since we were hungry and the pizza were so creamy and yummy. Next time, we definitely come back again to try another flavor. Yup, certainly we will.

Dinner is ready

 

 

The open kitchen

The microwave to bake pizza

Happy Halloween

31 Oktober 2013. It's the end of October and it's Halloween Day. In this special day, we decided to play some costume party and wear it to the class to give a creepy surprise to our teachers. That was Thursday and it was the last day before the quiet week for the exam. 

The first class is in the morning was Practical Teaching of Quality of Service. And we showed up to the class wearing some scary wardrobe and make-up. Some of us acted as witch, zombie, devil, but there were also some of us who were the hero like superman, and wonder woman.For me, I did the black swan. Well it was not that easy to paint the very dark eyeshadow on my whole eyelid up into my brow, but I tried my best using a blue eyeliner since I have no black color one. At first, I wore very thick white powder all around my face to make it looked pale and then I started to draw the pattern of my eyeshadow and then made it bold using the eyeliner. Then for the a final touch, I added a dark maroon lipstick in my lips to accentuate the gothic look.  My friend Dorine, who is really good at drawing, brought some crayon to help paint the faces of some of my friend. She drew spider, mustache, red nose and other weird things in my friends face.Overall it was so much fun and I could not wait until the next Halloween is coming.

Me and my classmates in halloween costumes

Eid al-Adha

This year the 10 Dzulhijjah 1434 Hijriyah falls on 15 October 2013. It is the Eid al-Adha Day or Eid e Qurban or also known as the Feast of the Sacriface. It is the one of the religious holiday celebrated each year by moslem all over the world. 

The Eid al-Adha is a festival to honour the willingness of prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail to comply with God's command and Ismail acceptance to be sacrificed. Then Allah change the Ismail with a lamb to sacrifice. That is why during the Eid al-Adha, moslem people will slaughter animal that meet certain age and quality standards to be a qurban. The animal can be lamb, goat, cow, or camel.The qurban will be divided into three parts. One third for the family, another one third for relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining one third is given for charity to the poor and needy.

Another tradition that is done in Eid al-Adha is the Eid prayer. The Eid prayer is done in the morning before we start the qurban activities. It is a sunnah prayer consist of two rekaat followed by a khutbah. According to Fiqh, men is compulsory to attend the Eid prayer. Women are also encouraged to attend although it is not compulsory. Residents (not traveller or musafir) and those who are in good health have to attend the Eid prayer. 

This year is not my first time to celebrate the Eid al-Adha outside my hometown. I used to celebrate it in Korea in 2009 and now in 2013 I celebrate it in France. But what make this day so special here in France is because I get new moslem friends thanks to the Eid. It began accidentally one day before the Eid day, when my friend Nahin and I were looking for a mosque to attend the Eid prayer. Then we saw a girl wearing a hijab and we gather our confidence to speak in French with this girl simply to ask if she knew any mosque near Nancy. After some awkward minutes, we started to know each other, exchanged our phone numbers and made an appointment for going to the mosque together for the Eid prayer the next day. Her name is Rim and she is Maroccain. She is so kind and warm to us, the only problem is that she did not speak English therefore our communication is a bit stammered. Rim introduced us to her friend whose name is Ouleya. She is also Maroccain and studies Master of Civil Engineering in my university. And that's pretty much how my friendship with these two Marrocain girls started and I am so grateful to have more and more moslem friends here in Nancy.

Me, Ouleya, and Rim

Inside the Prayer Hall

The women shaff

Nahin, me, and Chandra

Me and Ouleya

European Parliament

Last month I got a new subject in my class about EU Environmental Law. The class is only 5 days long and taught by a German lawyer from University of Münster. On that class we had some introduction material about European Union (EU). The history of how the Union was created, the Treaties of EU, the organs of EU, the decision making process, etc.  What is more interesting is that we also get a chance to visit the European Parliament Building here in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is a city located in the boundary between France and Germany. They said that it was build purposely on Strasbourg as a symbol of peace between France and Germany who used to war.

The European Parliament is one of the EU organs which act as a representation of Union citizens. There are currently 766 Members who represent the EU's 500 million citizens. They are elected once every five years by voters from across the 28 Member States. The number of representatives are based on the number of the citizens of the corresponding state. For example, German the country with the highest population in Europe has the most representative, while Malta, the smallest one only have 6 representatives.

As a representative of all European citizens, the assembly's multilingualism has become one of its most important aspects. Therefore Parliamentary documents are published in all the official languages of the EU member states and every member of European Parliament can speak in their own official language and the listener will listen to the real-time translation from the translator who sit on the back side of the assembly hall.

The seating arrangement on European Parliament is divided based on the parties, each with different color. For example, The European People's Party are in blue, Progressive Alliance of Socialist and Democrats are in red, Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe are in yellow, European Free Alliance are in green. As a legislative body of EU, the European Parliament has some powers including (1) legislative power: law making procedure, (2) budgetary power:  adoption of EU budget, (3) supervisory power: oversight over other institutions, monitor and control the proper use of EU budget, ensure the correct implementation of EU law, (4) relation with other national parliaments: The European Parliament keeps the Member States’ national parliaments regularly informed of its activities. 

Outer look of European Parliament Building

The Spiral Staircase

The Assembly Hall

Flags of European Countries

The Hall

Paris, je t'aime

After living for about 2 months in France this was my first official chance to visit Paris (well the very first time was of course when I got off of the plane at Charles De Gaulle airport, but it didn't count right?). As everyone said that "new is always better" so in this particular day I tried to experience new thing and thus I decided to take a car all the way from Nancy to Paris. Well as you can guessed that it took almost 4 hours of driving. At that time I chose navette-eco car but you can also try other sharing car service such as bla bla car. Well, if you asked me why I took the car instead of TGV,  I certainly have some reasonable reasons to explain to you: (1) to save money because for TGV, you have to spend about 50 euros per trip, but with the sharing car you just need to pay 25 euros or less, (2) to enjoy the view, I know that it doesn't make sense but if you have plenty of time and you are not in hurry it is good to enjoy the country side scenery while you drive, (3) to save the planet earth, you know that we are trying to help mother earth and be more green and I think sharing a car is a smart way to reduce the fuel consumption and pollution caused by the car. So based on the three statement above, I finally give it a try. 

So my friends and I gather at 8.15 near the Cathedral at Nancy Gare St. Leon. The navette-eco car is easy to recognize because it is painted white with the green navette-eco logo on each side of the car. When we got there, all other passengers had been waiting for us. And as soon as we got inside the car, the driver runned the machine and we departed. Frankly speaking, I have no chance to enjoy the scenery that I was planning before because I was just too sleepy and I couldn't open my eyes. So I just slept all the way until we came into a gas station to take a short break of 15 minutes.  We reached Gare de l'est Paris at 12.30 and we went straight to the rue 2 Fabert for our appointment at Finnish Embassy. 

The appointment at Embassy finished at around 4 PM and we were starving because we skipped the lunch and we have nothing but some biscuits and milk for breakfast. So we decided to walk and search for a place to eat. We stopped at a Chinese restaurant just on the corner of the street near the road junction. Well the food is so-so, but it cost expensive around 10-15 euros per plate. And the worse is that one of my friend had a stomachache just a couple hours after eating the food. I was not sure about the cause of her stomachache but she told me that it must have been a food poisoning from the Chinese food that she ate before.

There were still some hours left before the train departure to Nancy, therefore we walked again to reach the famous Eiffel Tower. When we arrived there it was still bright and the lamps were not turned on. But then when it got dark, they started to light the lamps and the Eiffel glowed. The ambiance suddenly changed to a very warm, cozy, and romantic at the same time.That moment was just so magical! Not for so long they turned on another white lamps and the Eiffel tower started to blink and twinkle like a glitter. It was as if there were thousands of blinking stars attached on it.

Next destination is the Museum du Louvre. You know, the museum that was in pyramid shaped and made of see-through glass. When we arrived there it was already night and the museum was already closed. But luckily we could enter the outer side of the museum. The museum is magnificent and it was so shining thanks to the yellow light that illuminated the  whole building. Outside the main pyramid, you could find another two smaller pyramid in the right and left side on the main pyramid that were separated by a pond.

Eiffel Tower at Evening

Eiffel Tower at Night

A shimmery Eiffel Tower

The Inverse Pyramid

The Museum de Louvre

Outside the Museum de Louvre

A Lovely Evening at Nancy

Today is Armistace Day and it is a national holiday in France. I stayed in my room the whole day since I had nothing to do. After 3 exams last week, I still did not feel to open any book. I just wanted to rest and relax my mind. Suddenly one of my friend had this brilliant idea that he posted on the faccebook, he suggested to take a walk to the park near by the dormitory. It was a large park with green grass, some benches. Plus, there were also some ducks and swans swimming on the pond with the pink bridge lied across the top.

We met at 4 PM and started to walk. It was not that far, I guessed it only took 10 minutes to reach there. And yes, it was amazing. I mean, yes the weather is cold outside (about 2 degrees) but it was all worthed all the way to see this beautiful view. The scenery was refreshing and my favorite part was of course the pond. I saw many swan both black and white swimming with their long neck and fluffy fur. The ducks were so cute, they are grey and black with the green head. I definitely could spent hours there just to stare at this very lovely scene.

Finished with the pond, we decided to walk to the kids playground. I knew that it was written there "for kids 4-12 years old only", but it was just so tempting that we couldn't help but to play with the swings and some spinning plate shaped like UFO. Tired of playing, we then hiked to the hill to enjoy the scenery from above. Since I didn't wear sport shoes, it was quiet slippery but after all I managed to reach the top. The weather didn't seem so friendly and it kept getting colder and colder and so we decided to went back home.

Ducks are everywhere

White swan and black swan

Duck pond

Kids playing ground

Let's play a swing

Me standing in the bridge

Colorful Trees

We play the spinning plate

A visit to Finnish Embassy

According to the PERCCOM Program scheme, the student will spend the Spring semester at Lappeenranta University starting at January 3, 2014. Therefore if you are a non-European citizen, you need to get your student residence permit to stay in Finland at least two months before your departure. You could submit an online residence permit application at Finnish Immigration Service website. The online application required you to upload some documents such as: Copy of Passport, Certificate of acceptance at Finnish Educational Institution, Clarification of income or a scholarship letter, Health insurance, Previous degree qualification, and Employment certificate (if any). After completing all required information and uploading all the documents, you can submit your application. After clicking the submit button, there will be an option whether to pay fee of 300 euros with credit card right now or to pay later when you visit the Embassy. And then there is also an option to choose a Service Point that located nearest to your location, for example if you live in Nancy then you should choose the Finnish Embassy at Paris which located at 2 Rue Fabert, 75007 Paris. 

After online application is completed, the next step is to make an appointment to visit the Embassy. You can write an email to Konsulaatti.PAR@formin.fi to schedule your visit. The working hours for Finnish Embassy in Paris are from Monday to Friday between 14.00 – 17.00 and they allow you to book for a group. For example, if you go in a group of 5 people you can book the same schedule for all of your friends, thus you can go together and take turn for the interview. If you go in a group, they will ask you to come earlier because they only have one person to serve and they are afraid the interview will not finish on time. If it is possible, send an email one day before your appointment day to re-confirm upon your availability and notice them regarding the appointment you have made. Last time, we booked for 5 people but they missed 1 people and only note for 4 people, then we show them the email that we sent earlier and fortunately they let us to have interview for 5 people.  

There are two important things to be prepared for the appointment: (1) bring all of your original documents that you have uploaded in the online application, (2) if you have not paid the fee before, bring cash money of 300 euros. Regarding the second point, it is important to bring cash money because they did not accept card payment. Last time, one of my friend forgot to bring cash money and he have to find an ATM machine to withdraw some money. During the interview, they will verify your address and original documents, record your finger prints, and ask you to sign some papers about statement of your residence permit application. After that, they will ask you if you want them to send the residence permit to your postal address with a fee of 3 euros or if you will take them yourself at the Embassy. Last but not least, you can monitor the progress of your residence permit application through the Finnish Immigration Service website. 

Finnish Embassy at Paris

Candy Crush

If you play with your Android phone or tablets, you may familiar with this game called Candy Crush Saga. The game was developed by King and can be downloaded from the Play Store. Plus it has also many relatives like Pet Rescue Saga and Bubble Witch Saga.

Candy Crush Maskot

The task of this game is quite simple, you just have to match at least three candies of the same color to crush them and score points. If you match four or five candies in different formations, you will generate special type of candies like horizontal/ vertical striped line candy, wrapped candy, or a colorful candy. If you aim to get a high score, you need to combine special candies that I mentioned before and switching them with each other to get an extraordinary effect and boost your score. Easy, huh?

I played this game for the first time at beginning of this year as recommended by my friend, he said it was good, the challenges was difficult so I wouldn't be boring, and whenever you got stuck, you could ask your friend for help via facebook. And so I started this game and I began to be addicted to solve each level and I would not stop playing unless I was out of lives (but then soon I discovered how to get infinite lives and it got worse).

After played for couples of month, I get bored merely because the level became more and more difficult and I was incapable of solving it. And finally after trying dozen of times, I finally gave up at level 208 and never played again since then. But ever since I stop playing, my sister and my mother who usually saw me playing this game in my tab slowly became addicted to this game. And there is even more, my boyfriend who likes war and football games, now is playing this game all of sudden. I have no idea what had happened to them but I think whoever created this game deserved a medal for his idea of making people hooked into this game.

And so it was the story how this game became more and more popular for many people closed to me and I can guarantee that every day (yes, every single day) I received 3 to 5 Candy Crush request in my facebook page because my friends or my families play a lot and seems that they stuck to get a live or simply a ticket to move to the next level. 

One of the level in Candy Crush Saga

Pet Rescue Saga

Bubble Witch Saga

Bienvenue à Paris

Bienvenue à Paris (Welcome to Paris). That was the first word that I read when I got off the plane at Charles-de Gaulle Airport, Paris. Frankly speaking, it was the longest trip I have ever taken in my life. It was about 15 hours flight from Jakarta - Doha - Paris. And yeah I was soooo tired but excited! I used Qatar Airways as recommended by my friend (to get 30 kg of luggage), and overall I was satisfied with the service. The food was halal and tasted good, the TV was not bad, they provided many movies and dramas, and the flight attendants were nice.

The arrival station for international flight is at Terminal 1. Since I had no more energy to walk, I took the escalator to move to the luggage belt and waited for 30 minutes to find my luggage.It was quite long and there were a lot of people on the queue. Next, I went to the CDG train station to transit to Terminal 2 where the SNCF station is located. SNCF station is the TGV station, the very famous high-speed inter-city train in France. I took the TGV train from Paris to Lorraine. You can buy the TGV ticket online from their website or you can also buy it in the locket at SNCF airport. The trip from Paris to Lorraine station was about 2 hours length, but the TGV was so comfy and definitely you could sleep  inside the train (and it was recommended to do so), except if there were some loud noise coming from bunch of people who sat just across your seat.  Well if that was the case, you could turn on your tablet and browsed with the free Wifi. Have a safe journey!

The sliding escalator

At Terminal 1, CDG Airport

Waiting for CDG train

Finally it came

From Terminal 1 go to Terminal 2

SNCF station

Waiting room at SNCF station

Inside the TGV train