ACHIEVING HOPE IN DAENG CITY

We (Dewi Nabilah Anwar & Tsanya El Karima) are both new students studying Accounting at Universitas Airlangga. It started when we attended faculty orientation, we were very impressed with the achievements that our seniors had achieved both regionally, nationally, and internationally. So we tried to be a team to participate in the student essay competition held by Muhammadiyah University of Makassar, because we also wanted to make our beloved alma mater proud. Despite our strong determination to carry out the sacred duty of making our beloved alma mater proud, in fact, we did not work optimally to participate in this competition. Until, on October 2, 2018, a miracle happened. We were declared finalists in this competition along with 14 other leading universities in Indonesia. Shock was our first reaction because we had only worked on the essay 6 hours before the submission deadline and our lack of experience considering this competition was the first national-scale essay competition we had participated in.

Not wanting to miss out on the joy, we quickly realized we still had a lot of preparation to do before presenting our essay in the final round. So, we immediately prepared ourselves as best we could to ensure our trip to Makassar wasn't wasted, as the journey was long and the competition was quite long, from October 17th to 21st, 2018.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

October 17, 2018, was our first time setting foot in Daeng City, Makassar. The heat was felt as soon as we left Hasanuddin Airport. Our first encounter was with participants from IPB and UNS, who greeted us warmly and shared their experiences while we were still waiting for the pick-up vehicle. The first day in Makassar was filled with an opening (opened by the dean of Unismuh, an alumnus universitas airlangga) and a technical meeting, and closed with hopes for a smoother tomorrow.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

The second day was the execution day. On this day, we had to present our work in front of our fellow finalists and the judges. In addition, we were also required to create a poster that would later be displayed in front of the Unismuh building. The essay we presented was inspired by the community affected by Gang Dolly, who are still struggling after the closure of the largest red-light district in Southeast Asia. According to the results of yesterday's Technical Meeting, we were given the first number to present our work. Happiness was mixed with fear. Happiness because we got the first number so we didn't have to think hard anymore, and fear because our presentation would be witnessed by outstanding students throughout Indonesia, which made us afraid of giving a bad impression during the presentation. However, thank God, with the strength of prayer and determination, we managed to complete the presentation smoothly without any obstacles and surrendered whatever the result was to Allah SWT.

As per the agenda, in addition to presentations, the day also included a gala dinner at the Makassar Mayor's Official Residence. At this gala dinner, we were required to wear traditional attire from each region. Some wore traditional Lampung attire, Ambon attire, and the most dominant was Javanese traditional attire. The approximately 30-minute journey to the gala dinner location was interspersed with laughter from the other finalists, who seemed relieved to have put the burden of presentations behind them and were now enjoying themselves waiting for the announcement in three days. The gala dinner was filled with storytelling, sharing impressions and messages, eating together, and of course, taking photos to immortalize this once-in-a-lifetime moment. Below is our documentation with the other finalists and a group photo of the rest of the Airlangga contingent.

Friday, October 19, 2018

    On the third day of PIKIR 2018, we had the opportunity to sleep longer because there was only one activity: an idea coaching session discussing hoaxes. We were divided into several small groups, each group must not be from the same university. We then had to separate and join our respective groups to discuss the appropriate solutions to address hoaxes in Indonesia. The discussion lasted 30 minutes and was quite intense. This was because each person in each group had different backgrounds and therefore had diverse opinions. Unfortunately, the committee only instructed each group to provide one or two solutions, no more. This led to increasingly heated debates. From this coaching clinic, we gained a lot of new knowledge and insights. Below is documentation from one of our groups, which came from Brawijaya University, UNS, Pattimura University, and IPB.

Saturday, October 20, 2018

    The fourth day was the day all the participants had been waiting for. How could it not be? Going all the way to Makassar without exploring Makassar would be a waste of time, so Kun fa ya kun, Fieldtrip!!! After wandering around for two days, we finally had some fun. We, along with Irma and Ria from Pattimura University, always walked together because they were the only two who brought cameras to take pictures, so we followed them wherever they went with the aim of documenting it hehe. From Bantimurung to Losari Beach, there were so many beautiful and pristine views.

Toward the end of the day, we took the time to stop by a Makassar souvenir shop to buy souvenirs for our classmates who had helped us during the pre-competition process. The fourth day ended happily, still praying for a miracle the next day.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

    The last day was also the most anticipated day. It started with an entrepreneurship seminar and was followed and closed with the announcement of the winners of the 2018 PIKIR competition. At that time, we along with PENS, UNS and IAIN Salatiga were unable to attend the announcement of the competition winners due to the schedule being close to boarding time, so we could only listen to the announcement through the PIKIR 2018 Instagram live report and information from fellow finalists who were still faithfully waiting for the announcement at the location. With anxious hopes, it turned out that we were finally able to bring home the best poster and 1st runner-up (0.5 points difference with 3rd place). We were happy and immediately contacted the committee to entrust the trophy and other prizes to the Airlangga contingent who would follow us to the airport after the announcement. Even though we couldn't be present at the location, thank God there was still Mas Wahyu from the Faculty of Science and Technology who was willing to represent us who couldn't be present at that time. From this competition, we learned many things that are not taught through regular lecture activities. So we are grateful for getting this extraordinary opportunity to represent our beloved alma mater, Universitas Airlangga.