About Diana
About Diana
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I lived in Meppel , it's not a big city, it has approximately 25.000 inhabitans. I got perfect hostfamilies there, and this is how the story begins. ( It's been more than a year now, but I can still remember all the details as if it was yesterday )
I came accross half of the earth for this exchange. If there was a song that kept playing on my brain, then it was 'Go West' from Pet Shop Boys. Together with my friend Alla ( who I didn't know well that day, but then became one of my best friend ), we left Soekarno-Hatta airport, with our heads full of dreams. We waved our family and friends who deliver us to the airport goodbye. We had all the years and all the suitcases ( which were much too overweight actually ) in our hand.We were going to the west, where our dreams are lay. In the airport, we coincidently met Peter Cetera ( singer of 'Glory of Love' from Karate Kid ), and than we sit in the same plane as him.
We didn't flight straight Jakarta-Amsterdam though. We had to stop in Taiwan which is in the (north)east of Indonesia, that was rare, actually. Anyway, we stopped there for 26 hours before we go for Holland the next evening. We got a good hotelroom that night, it's a special airport hotel. It was a stormy evening in Taiwan. We shared room, and there we learned to like each other. We just like two soldiers who were sent to a battle, who realized that later in the year we would have each other's shoulder to cry on. Waited for our flight the next morning, we were bored out of our mind. We were not allowed to take a city tour, because we had no visum for Taiwan, we could only do Airport-Hotel or the opposite with a shuttle bus.We spent most of that day practicing a dance that we performanced a couple of times on that year. I then decided to go to the airport and looked at the duty free shops, searching for some interesting books or something else but Alla refused to join me. I didn't stay too long in the airport knowing that the clock is ticking. I went back to the hotel and kept telling myself, " I can do this program."
When the pilot told us we were above Holland, we looked down and realized how flat Holland is. We landed in Sciphol ( Dutch national airport ). We didn't even know how the people who'd pick us up like. But we knew that they'll recognize us, because we wore the Rotary Ezchange Student's jacket, and they've already have our pfotographed from the application form we sent. There I said goodbye to Alla, but not for long, because one week from that day we got a language course that were organized by the Rotary Club Meppel.
The family Gerretsen picked me up that day, this family are my first Dutch friends. When they took me to the car, it was about 15 *C, it was very cold for a tropical girl like me. I was glad I had my thick Rotary jacket on. Onthe way from Amsterdam to Meppel, they showed me lots of things, like the 'arena' ( Ajax Amsterdam's soccer field ), the windmills, plenty of cows, etc. They took me to their house, where I really felt wellcome. Those people are so warmhearted, and I felt comfortable with that. They told me to call my family right away, and I did that. I can hardly hung up the phone, it felt like if I hung up that phone, it would be for eternity. The first night I spent in Holland, it took a while before I could sleep. I tought. " My God, I'm sleeping in a strange bed, in a strange house of strange family in a strange country. What am I doing here ?" That was a stupid thought actually, because I knew exactly what I was doing there. It felt strange to me that the day was so long, it wasn't dark untill 11 P.M, in my country, it has already dark at seven, everyday of the year. In that week, I met some people whose then playing big roles in my exchange year, like the Rotary Club member, especially C.Van Dijk whom I had earlier contact with ( through letter ). And also Lucila, another exchange student from Brazil who came a half year earlier, whose then became good friend of mine.
A week later, the language course begun. This language course was held on my school ( it was on the summer vacation ) for all the Rotary exchange student arrived in Summer. I was so happy to meet Alla again, she told me about things that happen during the week we were apart ( luckily, in Indonesian ). There I also met most of the other exchange student for the first time, including Kate. I remembered that Kate and I became closer after we played minigolf together. I made also other good friends during that two weeks language course, they were Yuri and Kazu ( Japan ), Jed, Pete, Carrie, Sara, Maegan and Seth ( USA ), Cliff, Tara, and Sean ( Canada ). Later in the year I also got closer to the rest of the group. There were about sixty of us. And we really had a blast in that course.
After those first three weeks in Holland, I entered a new beginning, while all the other Exchangees spreaded all over Holland, I had to stay in Meppel starting the real Exchange. I moved to my first Host family, The Hollenbeek Brouwer family. It was difficult for me to left the Gerretsen, eventhough we didn;t live that far, their and the Hollenbeek Brouwer's family were only about 10 minutes biking. ( Both of the family had moved to other houses now). After spending few days with the Hollenbeek Brouwer family, I really enjoy staying with them, they are also very nice. Their youngest daughter, Tineke was only a month older than me.
The school ( calls Stad en Esch ) wasn't really pleased me. And it was really difficult on the first day, when I entered the school, and looked at the spot where usually my Excangee pals will greet me with their smile. I saw a bunch of strangers instead of my pals. I was with Tineke, who took me to my class. We were late for school that day. I was expected to go in the class of Tineke, but somehow, the school director called Mvr. Vis wanted to put me in a lower class. I became the oldest in the class, while I usually the younger in Indonesia. She said that I would have problem with the language. I've known that already, but I tought that she could make an exeption because this programme's priority is in culture exchange, not in education. But I was wrong, she still placed me in that class, and nothing can change her mind, not even the Rotary who'd already tried to help me with this problem. It was tough, but I could manage it at last.
On the autumn break, this family took me to the Euro Disney in Paris. That was amazing. It's a pity that soon after the vacationI had to move to my second host family. But then again, I got a great hostfamily, who lives only one block away from my first host, I've already know them. They are the Bruins Slot fam. with 3 childrens whom are younger than me. Iwas really new for me, because I have no little sister nor brother. They introduced me to a life I never knew before. The children's sport is horse back riding. I learned to love horses then. With this family I spent almost the whole winter. I celebrated X-mas, New Year, and my birthday there. This family took me to Austria for winter sport. I hardly believe that I really skied. If you live in a tropical country, then you dare not even to think about it.
After the vacation, I moved again to family Rijkmans. I've already know them well, since they live next to my first host family, and their children also ride horse back. They also tought me to love the sea. They love sailing, and after trying it, I also love it, eventough I got those seasick at first. I really enjoy my stayed there, but the time flew to fast. There it was, the Europe tour was waiting for me, I knew that it would be a great and big party. But I also knew that when the tour's over, then the dream's over too. I had to say goodbye to all the people I learned to know and to like during the year, without knowing whether we can see each other again.
That was it, the story about my exchange year. It was already a long story, but that's not even 1 % of everything that happened those days. If I write about it, then it would be thicker than the Bible.
I dedicate this page to God and everybody who gave me all the support that year. Thanks a lot guys. Amigos para siempre.
The flags displayed are Indonesia's flag and Meppel's flag. (Donderdag Meppeldag!!! :)
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