I just want to share to you all my (not so simple) daily activities. I’m just an ordinary girl living in a big all-girl Islamic boarding school. You can find some guys in my school, though. They are securities, kitchen employees, drivers, or my male teachers (we call them Ustadz). Living in boarding school seems a little bit complicated for some people. You must be wondering about the complex discipline we have to deal with everyday. Yeah, I`ll admit that right. Like you have to wake up at four a.m. in the midst of freezing air of Padang Panjang, then you have to take a shower after that, no excuse, or you have to keep your stinky body till afternoon. After that you have to pray even if you have severe sleepiness, else you have to clean all of Masjid space.

When you have to do your duty even you have bad mood, you can’t run away. If you want to call your Mommy, a long line waits for you. Patience is your guidance now, what saves your life. When you have to take a shower, even you have to reach the water up to crust of water, the better one than you have to keep smell and hot out of your body. You also have to keep your emotion in balance when you have different opinion with people who live 24/7 with you. Even when you feel confused, or so-called galau, you don’t know what to do because there is no man in sight.

Wew! So much for living in a dorm, right? I feel satisfied after writing all of these. But I`m realized that all of my complicated activities are not simple but challenging, parts of a big adventure. All kinds of advices are given to me, and I just realized now that we have to enjoy the story and let ourselves be the main actress. (Safira Widastika/MA KMI Diniyyah Puteri)

One day, I went to DCC (counseling centre in my school) and I took Farah with me because I needed a company. I was really interested in one of the pamphlets in front of DCC that said ‘Oxford’. I was really surprised because all pamphlets looked new and Bu Yaya (DCC’s counselor) said that they were new which Bu Zizi (The Leader Of Diniyyah Puteri) brought from her trip to Europe last month.

All pamphlets about Oxford made me go mad! OMG! My head was getting dizzy and I believed it almost exploded if I didn’t have a good control. Probably it’s because of my confusion about my next study. All kinds of questions are running back and forth in my brain. Will I be qualified to study overseas right after high school? Or even, can I get the scholarship? I turned the page one by one. Every page I turned, I felt the excitement. Like a pride and the feeling of being there at Oxford. I imagined that I stood there, in the midst crowd of Oxford students. “I`m one of them!”

Bu Yaya said, “From one novel that I read about a struggle one man did to enter a university in Germany. Based on his experiences, I believe you could have the similar achievement. Nothing’s impossible if you work hard enough.” We listened to her, just nodded our head and shape our mouths like “O”. “I do hope you can study in a university in Europe next year.” My heart whispered aamiin, that must be me.

As I also got few tips, I want to share to all of you if you’re interested in going abroad for study. First, find sites of Indonesian students studying abroad since they will be a huge help to find necessary information. You can use famous platforms like Facebook. Second, start looking for your desired university, what country, what major and what challenges you might face in the different culture. Third, enhance your basic knowledge by doing entrance tests. They’re easily found online. Some of them are TOEFL or TOEIC, and subjects like Math, Pysics, Economy, etc all in English. Fourth, start investing your money and tell your parents your plan, since they will be your financial source if you don’t get any scholarship. Fifth, never stop believing that you can do it, you will succeed. Prepare yourself physically and mentally. Finally the last one, do not stop praying. If you find it hard to think it’s possible to achieve, keep in mind that God can make anything happen.

If you dare to dream high, do your best effort! (Safira Widastika/MA KMI Diniyyah Puteri)

            Many people think “ancient” is something left behind in updating of the world. Hei! Never think like that! Boarding student can be cool and absolutely syar’i. Different from other school, in boarding school update about characteristics of judgment more detail. Also knowledge about the world and how it was created. Update about Islam better then update about outside worldismisguided. Well I thinksome statements say Islam is ancient is a verybigmistake. Maybe they say Islam is ancient cause see we seldom open social media. Are they know poison about social media in our future? Or ancient cause our music is nasyid. Eitss dont think like that. Nasyid have a big influence in our live. Wether pop music, love to love.

            So guys, if the negative opinions about boarding, its that think about world and hereafter. Then, if you school in boarding, you get plus Islamic knowledge. About hadist and Al Qur’an.  What there in deepenpublic schoolscienceasit? Other than that character is maintained. If we are in a public schools bad influence will come although we insist on keeping. You know Syaitan? He will not give up to get us. We can see teen at public school, many of them are already courting although strictly forbidden in Islam, speeding though the streets without a license or maybe not a few who've tried drugs.  

            So guys, in boarding school you not ancient, less update but you get plus knowledge about Islam. Awake from madness outside world and become muslimah tough, intelligent, updates about the world and the hereafter. I think only that can I tell to you. Please don’t bored with this section. Nice day. (Annisa Un Rasyiqah/MTs DMP Diniyyah Puteri)

Class? What do you think about that thing? May be it’s like small room fill by 30 students with boring lesson. It’s like jail, right? Some student not feel comfortable when study in class and it’s make students don’t focus when study. Why?

You have know, study is taste, same with eat. If we eat delicious food but the place is not comfortable like it’s dirty, full of rubbish, or anything else, may be you don’t like it. Your place support your taste. Study like it too. You can’t focus when you study because your study place. Look around your class. Full of people, plain, nothing decoration, and other.

If you satisfied your brain before, you can feel comfortable and focus when study. So, how we satisfied our brain before? We need class display. Let’s make some decoration for our plain wall. Before that, make a title first, example like go green, hero, and other. But, what decoration should we make? Do you have picket schedule? Just make picket schedule display. Make your own creation and put it in your class wall. It’s beautiful if you look it, right? Try to see your picket schedule in a list. You feel bored and lazy to look it.

What else? In your class, the important thing is rule. You can make rule display. Like make picket schedule, make your own creation and put it in your class wall. It’s so cool, you know? If your friend break the rule, ask your friend to see in your class wall.

Not only that, fill your class wall with other display. Give your idea to do that. Now, you have a beautiful and cool class. Look around your class. Feel something different? Yes, of course. You feel comfortable in your ‘new’ class. Your brain feel fresh and ready to study. So, class display is important because it need to satisfied the brain and make we focus when study. Don’t think it’s only for kindergarden or elementary school, we need it too.(Zikra/MTs DMP Diniyyah Puteri)

Experience is the best teacher. Everyone know how to speak, to survive, even anything related with our life. Everything we have done always save at our brain. It is called experience. We know how to open can because we ever do it. We know and understand the way how to get market because we ever undergo that condition.

We will know pancake receipt by reading cooking book. As long as we never cook it, we will also never know what the feel and reality when we was implemented that receipt. We might know which the right step to cook pancake, but we might not know what the crucial thing that might possible happen while cook. It is the surplus if we gain knowledge by experience.

Many books contain any motivation and spirit developer. For example, there are book that explain about step to reach success serve many point of view to be success people. There are discipline, work hard, loyalism, and truth. For truth people who seldom to work hard, work hard is one of valuable lesson that they got from the book. Different with diligent person who often lie, truth is one way that assumed by them will brought many benefit. Actually, it is depend on our self. Someone who have much knowledge will reflect on their behavior. So, the implementation of knowledge is by our habit because we do it, it called by experience.

In this life, we need both way of get knowledge. Book contain theory to operate experience better. Experience also useful to prove the theory’s available. Experience is important, but not worth if not accompanied by knowledge because it will made our experience be something ordinary and not impressive. Knowledge at book can be useless if just memorize and never implemented at any deed at life site. Life is about act not just a spoken. So, we need experience to prove the reliable of life depend on our glasses. Because, different person will birth a different experience. (Nadhira Asiyah Arrin/MAS KMI Diniyyah Puteri)