Friendship at college, building networks

What can you see from such fresh students at college? This is always common when the fresh students at college are always talking about their friends at high schools. The question is that are those high school friends with you after the graduation? This might be lucky when you are having your college together with them. What if not?

Basically, as the fresh students, you should look deeper in understanding and adapting with the college life. There is something different when you are talking about friendships at college. Because it’s true, most high school friendships do not last that long. Occasionally you have a small group of friends that you stay close with as life goes on but I think that those life-long friends are made in college. Don’t get me wrong that friendship at high school is not important; it is important. But, be realistic that you should start your new network as you are at college.

Right after you attended the college, you will discover the wider place to build your networks and also the friendships through social communities, athletics, researches, and any other organizations. College is a place where those friends and you go through hardships of studying all night; understand each other’s situations—as you will live far with your family, and work side by side to achieve your career goals.

Yes, the network is very important to build during your time at college. They say networking is the key in landing a good job. Well what better place to start networking than in college? Amongst your peers are the future doctors, engineers, business leaders, lawyers and so much more.

So, don’t waste your time to keep talking about your highs school and forget the value of networking at college. This is true that the friendships at college will stick together for your future; you are not talking about the game and gangs, but you are talking about the upcoming life, the future where you live. A close friend is someone that you trust and talk to when you are at your lowest.

Speak Up for the jobs and scholarships

Getting a job or such scholarships is not that easy as you send your application. This is a challenging effort to send the application with the great hope the employment managers will read and take the resume. The fact what we are going to talk is not about how to send the resume to your dreamed job or scholarships, but on how to you get to be active for the jobs and also scholarships. There are some important aspects that you have learned in sending and applying for jobs, internship programs, and also scholarships. But, have you ever tried to talk to the people in charge in order to get the proper information, and also the link?

Active in such community college is indeed very important. However, there are lots of students out there with similar qualifications. Or, the lucky is that you are the only one in certain field, but still you don’t have the access in getting the jobs, internship, or the scholarships. This is the matter. It is much recommended that you start being active in contacting people in charge related to your dream in jobs or scholarships. They will provide you with the right information. And, even if you are lucky, they will help and recommend you for the jobs and also the scholarships, as long again, you have great record on your resume.

It is not a kind of nepotism where your network will determine your bigger opportunity, but this is the way how to gain the right path to get the peak. Being active for jobs and also scholarships is something okay as long you are not breaking the law by doing such corruption and any bad idea. As long you have good qualification and you are active in contacting the people in charge, you will get bigger opportunity. And, this is reasonable!

Stress relief technique for college students

This is common when the college students feel stressed with the huge and pressing timetable during the final week. After that, try to take some moment to relief the stressful days with some simple techniques. This is to ensure you still have the positive spirit of yourself to start the other activities both summer schools or holiday. There are some stress relief techniques for college students. These are simple, and you can do it at any time.

Deep breath is very simple and effective. This will help you calm yourself and your state of mind. You can do this anytime and anywhere, which makes it quite easy. Try it when sitting in traffic, waiting to be called up for an appointment, or if your class has grown too boring to follow. You can combine with your abdomen breathe. The second technique is for those imaginative persons, you can visualize yourself on such beautiful and quiet place. The next is thought-stopping, where you just need to close your eyes and say “stop” in middle of your hectic situation. This might need some processes and time, until you feel you are ready again for the situation. The most common is that you should take a break. This might be the combination of the three above. Take a time is precisely effective, but the consequence you might start from “zero” after the break.

Everything is started from yourself. Just start by turning off your iPod and laptop, and start by doing these simple techniques. You need not to go vacation or relaxation through spa or any massage clubs. This is expensive and also takes time; you may consider this if you have spare time. Above all, those simple stress relief techniques in releasing the stressful thought can be done at any time effectively, especially the college students with the pressing schedules.

Safe tips in using public Wi-Fi

Do you like discovering public Wi-Fi to enjoy free internet access in public places? This is common facility that you can find at most public places like cafe, mall, college, and other places around you. However, with the vast cases of cyber crime and any other crimes through virtual world, you should mind the safety tips in using public Wi-Fi. If you are connected, you should remember some instructions in order to get rid of the cyber crime through public Wi-Fi and any other bad potential crimes happening to you. Here are the instructions in using public Wi-Fi.

The most important thing you should do first before getting online in public Wi-Fi is to turn on your computer’s firewall. This will allow you to protect your data on the computer from any attacks from viruses, hack, and any other thread from the internet. Encrypting your personal data on the computer is also the similar idea to protect your personal data of getting lost due to the internet intervene coming at anytime in public Wi-Fi. The next tip in using public Wi-Fi is by not typing, entering, or any transactions requiring you with credit card account. This is very risky as you write the passwords and personal account; you are big potentially being hacked by other users. And, if you set your computer as auto connected to the public Wi-Fi, make sure you are turning off the Wi-Fi card when you are not connecting. This is declining the harms of the internet to your computer.

The last thing is that your ability in detecting the public Wi-Fi with the local network with their (personal) purpose like we call as Ad-Hoc Network. They may “spread” the connection in public, but connecting to this network allows them to get into your computer. Surfing in public Wi-Fi is should be nice. However, by considering some tips above, you can make your surfing even nicer. Have a nice day!

Benefits of Volunteering

Have you ever joined any community services or any volunteerism during your high schools and college? It is not all students want to join to the community services. The fact is that the more educated people, the more they are affiliated with such social community services. This is reasonable as they feel lots of benefits from what they are doing. There are many sectors that you can affiliate for the volunteering. This volunteerism will give you lots of benefits. The benefits of volunteering are varied from your resume until your financial aid. Here are some benefits of joining volunteering at college.

The first benefit of volunteering at college is to boost your resume and experience background. The resume will be very useful when you are about to enroll at college admissions or employment at company. Employers like seeing someone joining volunteering. Someone who volunteers means she/he has good time management, good work as a team, even without any payment. It is not only for your employment, but volunteering will boost your opportunity to get financial package. There are a great deal of scholarships and grants out there that list community service as a prerequisite, so if you dedicate some time each week to volunteer work, you could be giving your financial aid profile a boost as well. The next is that you will have wider network from volunteering which is very useful for your career in the future.

There are some minor benefits of volunteering; the essential value of volunteering is that you grow people. You are not selfish concerning your own self instead of helping the community to build their people. This is very great as you will contribute to the community services. The better, this is also beneficial for your skill as well in terms of personality, communication skills, and also social awareness.

Ours is the most delicious, isn’t it?

Just a few days ago, I stood in one of the booths of an international education fair in my city, Malang. Some of the favorite graduate school programs that people always asked for were fashion and cooking. Just in recent months, I realized that cuisine shows on TV were peaking in popularity. The culinary frenzy might be part of the euphoria of the TV shows.

Let’s say I consider this good news for our life style; the people, at least, have an alternative entertainment other than the political turmoil in Indonesia. Yet, I also consider this as a big question: Then, why do people prefer to study overseas just to learn culinary?

I am not saying that studying overseas is not good, but I am so surprised that almost all aspects of our life are always referred to those abroad, including the culinary and chef profession.

Take a look at the recent news that CNN released the readers’ choice that rendang, one of Indonesia’s traditional foods from Padang, was dubbed the most delicious food on Earth, while nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) was ranked second.

When the world has acknowledged that Indonesian food is the best on Earth, why do people continue to be proud of seeking education overseas just to learn cuisine?

The food business and chef professions in Indonesia are still dominated by foreigners, who do not know the real Indonesian traditional food ingredients. Let’s say they have competence in cooking, but they do not know the taste of local recipes. Let’s say they have assets and investments, but the fact is that the “pirating” of some traditional recipes is imminent and inevitable.

As a result, it is not surprising if the taste of Indonesian traditional food in “high class” or modern restaurants is not better than those at the traditional vendors or food stalls. That might be the reason why our notable culinary expert Bondan Winarno prefers to visit traditional vendors to taste the “original” recipes of our best culinary.

I do not want to blame the expats; but they should bring their Italian, American, Oriental and other recipes to Indonesia instead — and develop them here to make the culinary a lucrative business in this world’s fourth-biggest country by population.

But in this case, I just want to question why we don’t establish our own culinary schools to preserve our cultural heritage? Due to the high demand and the culinary show frenzy, this is the opportunity for the government and also local investors to build our own local culinary schools or invest in such schools. It is true that we have a limited number of culinary schools. In Indonesia, based on SWA magazine research, there are only 17 culinary schools and 12 universities that provide culinary majors.

Worse, those culinary schools do not focus on Indonesian traditional food recipes. The number of culinary schools in Indonesia is far lower than the number of Indonesian traditional recipes from Aceh to Papua.

Vocational schools, as a government program, should be prioritized to produce more chefs with local tastes. There should be a pride of learning cooking, especially Indonesian traditional food, in our own country.

Let’s become the barometer of international culinary while at the same time acknowledges the quality of international education in other fields like economics, science and also engineering. If only in food, we can be leaders. After all, ours is the most delicious, isn’t it?

*Published on The Jakarta Post

Tips to make your first class less stressful

This is the first day at college! What are you thinking of it? There will be hard and stressful class. There are many expectations from the freshmen as they are attending the first day of college class. Don’t get stressed with your imagination; think logically and you should do some instructions in dealing with the first day at college. Here are some tips for the freshmen who are attending first class with less stressful. These tips will make you feel comfortable attending the next classes for your rest four year college time.

First thing is your appearance. You don’t have to wear brand new clothes; just wear comfortable clothes as you feel okay with these ones. Wearing tight clothes is just going to show the stain of your sweat. Despite you are wearing the comfortable clothes, be mind of the standard outlook from yourself. Come prepared on the first day is the best option. Even though usually the first day is required to bring the textbook, but at least notebook and pen are very important to write what your professors essential words, especially dealing with the syllabus. Don’t forget to give friendly smile. Set your mobile phone in silent and vibrate option. The ringing phone in the class may jeopardize you in the class; some professors really hate the phone ringing in the class.

Be mind that the other students are the same stressful like what you are, so feel comfort and just relax. For some reason it is comforting to know that other students are too busy freaking out about their own flaws to really notice yours. It is easy to apply the tips above to experience the first class at college with less stressful; and you just need only one week for the adaptation. Relax, take it easy, and have a great first day of class!