Leaving on the Jetplane

 30 August 2013. I still remember the day. It was the birthday of my father and sadly the day when I flied to France. I came to Jakarta a day before straight from my home town in Solo. I spent one day in Jakarta, to meet my auntie's family and my best-friends, who one of them graduated exactly at that day and she came right after the rehearsal ceremony in Depok was over. They came late at night to see me and brought a birthday cake for me. It was such a pleasant surprise.

The next day, My boyfriend took me to the airport with a cab because my cousin ,who supposed to drive me, had a sudden meeting with his thesis-supervisor. The trip from my auntie's house in Bekasi to the airport in Cengkareng took about 2 hours, during that time I felled nothing but tears come down to my face along the road. It was not my first time away from home, but still I cried and my boyfriend kept calmed me down and said that everything was gonna be all right.My flight was at 5 afternoon and we arrived at airport at about 2 PM.

When I was arrived there, I immediately called my friend who had came first and waited for me in front of the gate. After hours of crying, I knew that I was looked dreadful, but my boyfriend wanted some picture of us and I couldn't helped but to say yes. And so this was the background story behind these two pictures. Both were taken at Soekarno-Hatta Airport just before my departure.

My boyfriend took me to the airport

Me and my over weight luggages

Home Sweet Home

Today I would like to let you to take a peek to my room. The objective of this tour is to give some useful tips about Living in France. During this tour, I hope that you wear your name tag, stick on your group, follow my flag and try not to be lost. I will be your guide during this short tour and feel free to ask any question that wandering in your head.  So are you ready? One, two, three, go!

I lived in an university dormitory not so far (about 10 minutes walk) from my campus. The name is Résidence Universitaire Vélodrome.  The dormitory itself consists of 3 building and I lived on the building 2 where the rooms are numbered 2xxx. There are lots of room options are available here, but I choose a single furnished studio with 18 m2 large. The room is quite nice and tidy. And the best part of it is that I got an extra big window that keep my room light all the day. The studio is already furnished with a bed and sleeping utensils, an electric stove, a refrigerator, a mirror, a wardrobe, a broom, and book shelf. 

A good thing of living in a CROUS student apartment, apart from the fact that it is always closed to the campus and the cafeteria, is that you get a high quality in low price. If you live in other apartment managed by private, the rental cost will be as much as twice for the same kind of service. Some of my friends will have to pay about 500 euro per month for a 27 m2 studio. Well, sure it's larger, but it's too much to spend 500 euro just for the domicile, isn't it? Another thing that is important if you live here in France is to register for reduction fee called CAF that will deduct 50% of the rental fee. So for example, my rental fee is 300 euro monthly, but thanks to CAF, I only need to pay 150 euro per month. Isn't it amazing? So I can save the 150 euro for shopping!! Yey!

My desk

A zoom of my desk

My comfy bed

My mini kitchen

My toilet

Do you know cities in France other than Paris?

My first day at Nancy

Do you know cities in France other than Paris? Well, if you asked me that question not so long ago, I must have said: Nope! Just like every body else who might not know any other cities in Indonesia, except Jakarta and Bali (of course!). But, the story is about to change soon as I am moving 17000 away from my hometown to the most-destined travel spot in the world, a country that well-known for its beautiful Eiffel Tower. Yes, I am moving to France and now I can speak French too! Incredible, right?

So back to the question up there, if I asked you if you might, by any chance, have known or heard about Nancy, a beautiful yet small and quiet city on the north-eastern side of France. I guess the possibility is one out of hundred. But if you do know about Nancy, well I am very glad to tell you that you might want to skip the rest of the article and move to the next article that may catch your interest (just kidding!). 

Nancy is a former capital of Lorraine which is currently moved to Metz, a city just next to Nancy. Long time a go, the Lorraine was kingdom and is not part of France country. However after the death of the last Duke Stanislas in 1766, the daughter of the Duke married to the Prince of France and then Lorraine became a French province and Nancy remained as its capital. One must-visit place  in Nancy is Place Stanislas. There you can find a status of Duke Stanislas, the last Duke of Lorraine. Place Stanislas is an open place with a beautiful scenery, artistic buildings, and refreshing parks.  People would casually visit Place Stanislas in weekend because the fact it is located on the Centre Ville or downtown area where you could find rows of shops and cafes along the road. In short, it is a perfect place for couples who want to spend the romantic evening in park, for teenager who want to keep their body fit by jogging or playing ball or frisbee, for children who wants to play around with the swings or slides , or simply for any person who wants to relax and enjoy the view and breath some fresh air.

In front of the statue of Duke Stanislas

A green refreshing garden

The kid's playing area

A beautiful gate with a fountain at Place Stanislas