By Bintang Ben Taulany

I.                   Getting to know about GSN Plus

            Global School Network is an international student exchange program provided by Global Islamic School as part of their effort to send students abroad to study, it brought over 50 students from both Junior High and Primary students I was one of them! Tag along as I will retale you the adventure story of GSN Plus.

            GSN Plus was once mentioned during one of the briefings of my routine Thursday, many scoffed it especially most of my friends but I looked into it again. I rarely get the chance to travel outside of the country and seeing this opportunity I wasn't letting it slide easily, as such the day it was announced the day next I signed in and participated in. To my shock, there were some of my friends that I know joined, though I would rarely interact with them due to different classes but now we're united we've been allowed to flourish the relationship with one another.

            Before our eventual trip to Malaysia for the student exchange program, our teachers and mentors briefed us on the agendas. We were told that we would be staying in Malaysia for an entire week! There were lots of activities we did during our stay in Malaysia, such as trips to the prestigious university of "Universitas Sains Islam Malaysia" shortened to USIM. We will be performing in front of them, in front of college students! I was both excited and nervous at the thought of it but here we must prepare our steps to ensure it runs smoothly.

            We spent a lot of time doing the preparation. A normal person would've been home earlier, but us? We went home way late. Just to show our utter dedication to the student exchange program as we lay the foundation that will take our experience to the next level, our performance must be flawless we thought as such we used the week before we departed for our preparation.

II.                 Our time during GSN

            After two weeks of preparation comes the day for our departure. We were expected to be at the airport early at 5 AM as we so did, marking the first day of our experience in GSN! We look back at our families our goodbyes and our siblings, as we depart for Malaysia, and arrive there we are greeted by a different atmosphere, both language and the welcoming airport of KL, and finally arriving at our hotel we are briefed of the agenda for the day and the day after, it was loads of it.

            The next day comes, Day 2 of GSN! We woke up early and had breakfast by 6 before we departed by 7. We were heading to Universiti Islam Sains Malaysia shortened by the USIM abbreviation, they provided us a bus and took us there. Arriving at the University was my first time getting to know what a University would look like, I see it as a massive school and a mix of apartments of sorts, foldable tables, and so on! USIM has a lot of faculties as well which caught my interest in what I will major in later future, eventually, we went back to the hotel in the afternoon but before we did we went to USIM's Mosque, it was quite the size and it has a large fan for air conditioning which I have never seen in GIS.

            Day 3 arrives, and we go on with our usual morning routine, am still not used to it yet and I think me and my roommate wake up late but we manage to get things together and continue our agenda, we go back to USIM this time we presented our group's presentation regarding ASEAN nations and their issues. It was like we were having a debate as politicians, a lot of fun and interesting experience I've had! I am also very surprised at how developed the 5th graders were, they're very dedicated to their work and their presentation was appropriate and some I would say surpassed us, very proud of the GIS students, returning to our hotel and we were informed that we'll be having a trip around Kuala Lumpur for tomorrow!

            Oh, my is day 4, how fast it felt but here it wasn't, I was already starting to miss my family but I stayed strong as we prepared for one of our longer trips yet, Kuala Lumpur. My first impression was that it was a little bit more I would say in comparison to Jakarta but the traffic here is much less than that in Jakarta, they also abide by the rules far better and have a stronger morale compass and attitude, contrary to my beliefs that Malaysian would use a lot of Malaysian-made cars, most of them from what I've seen was Japanese-model automobiles, like Honda and Toyota, I bought chocolates for my little brother and some pins that I found to be amusing, a wow on my face when I see the food courts, supermarket and so on, eventually our agenda ended as we return to our hotel, one of our longest trip and the most anticipated trip has yet to come.

            This is it, our big day of exploration and an absolute ride of adrenaline, On Day 5 we woke up in a state of readiness and excitement, we were going to Legoland but before we got to the excitement part we had a 3-hour journey to Johor where Legoland is located, Johor is also close to Singapore when looked on google maps, everyone was asleep except for me as I was just watching the view outside, and reminiscing moments I've experienced. At last, we arrived at Legoland, some of us were so excited they went ahead before the group did, and they got scolded afterward hehe.. It was a lot of fun, we were screaming in all of the roller coasters and so on and I think we scared one of the freshmen so much he didn't want to go with us anymore, whoopsie! But regardless we ended the day with gifts such as legos and key chains, before hopping on our bus for a 3-hour trip back to our hotel.

            Day 6, our final day of meeting our familiars from USIM and our biggest performance yet, followed by the award ceremony and speech. I was also allowed to give a speech as well, to be fair I was so nervous I turned my speech into a stoic, and serious one when I was trying to make it rejoiceful and happy but experience is experience and that's what all matters in GSN, as this was ironically one of my first speech ever! Wow, talking about public speaking itself is my first time doing that and in front of some of the most influential people. I was rewarded with medals and appreciation, certificates were given to me along with one of my prideful medals yet, the "Best Male Participants" as it was my first ever what is considered as ranking number 1 which I never had in my set of achievements, this was big for me and this was also my first international achievement, what a monumental step for me as we said our goodbyes to our mentors from USIM and professors, it was sad to leave them but shall not I say to my friends as we have been blessed with this opportunity to meet such wondrous and beautiful people.

            Day 7.. the final day of GSN, we've packed our bags, we've eaten our final breakfast here, and then it's time for the airport. The bus ride can be considered as a little empty, maybe because we're going home and leaving these people we just know behind but we have someone else waiting, a family that waited for us in Jakarta, our final true goodbye was by the airport's entrance as we get through the security checks and baggage, we were a little problematic, to say the least having to delay the plane from take off due to us bogging down during inspections but with all of that aside we fly back home before I know it GSN has ended, it was truly one of the most unforgettable experiences I would ever had.

III.             Aftermath of GSN

            And that is folks, my tale of GSN. A long vast journey that we GIS student take that most of us wouldn't, ventured into other countries, learning their culture, history, wealth and people all of the beautiful parts. And coming back home with open arms and happiness embrace us all throughout the Journey, I would personally mention my gratitude to my teachers, the organiser Dr Agnes and missed mentors from USIM, I hope we get to meet again sometime near future. Thank you to Allah SWT for granting us health, safety and happiness throughout our journey, truly is a blessing to experience such a journey.