of Late Nights, Bitter Teas, and Chiobus

The President's words rang true: Amherst College is one of the few institutions which forces us to work hard. Although I take pride in myself as a 'bloody mugger', Singlish for a student who tend to over study, I must admit that here I frequently find other people being way more hardworking than I am.

I go by five and a half or six hours of sleep on weekdays (plus occasional naps) and up to seven or eight hours in the weekends; and I count myself fortunate. I have friends who constantly have three hours or less, and who always seem to be sleeping at the common room's sofas instead of their room, the former which they claim to be more comfortable.

I haven't pulled an all-nighter throughout my career at Amherst College, and I hope I can stay that way. Nonetheless, I find an interesting pattern: There is a chance that I end up with less sleep in the weekends than in the weekdays. Why, you ask? To stay up and party, of course! (not).

I would sit down in the common room, brew a cup of bitter tea, and sip it slowly as a pretext to stay awake. I would then partake in conversations to get to know my dorm-mates, a chiobu in particular, better.

Not anymore though,  the chiobu was taken.

Well, I was sad, and then I talked to a Singaporean senior about it. His words made the quote of my day: "you dei, keep your hormones in check la!"

I heeded his advice, felt so much better, and lost the incentive to stay up late. Now I enjoy better quality sleep;)

And I made a pledge to myself: "Untuk menjadi seorang manusia yang sempurna jiwa dan raganya"

Sorry, it's kinda hard to translate as I made it in Bahasa. Go ahead and google translate it, though I doubt the original meaning will be captured..

A random thought worth noting passed by: I wasn't that close, on a personal level, with my Indonesian friends in Raffles Institution Boarding. (Among the nine, I am best friends with two to three of them) Nonetheless, their collective presence, the community they manifest, is very amazing, is something I long for. I hope it dies hard.

Yours Truly,

The Indonesia's Finest