Initially written as the second newsletter as an exchange student, February 2018.
Also published on https://medium.com/@Bina.Antarbudaya/the-washington-state-capitol-tour-a-realization-of-similarity-a7535d6fdc82 I never expected that the fifty-thousand rupiah money I spent on 2016 is a start of everything I would never think I would ever experience before. First of all, I’m living in the United States currently, and become part of exchange students in Washington states through Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study. Being an exchange student in the US bring me to a new level as a global citizen. A lot of barriers that was around me before suddenly wrecked as I start walking and exploring the world. I look around and find that the world here in Washington and back to my home Indonesia has all the similarities that open my eyes: we are related to each other. One of the incredible opportunities that I got in my sixth month living here is the Washington State Capitol Tour in early February. Located in Olympia, the capital of Washington States, the Capitol building is built with neo-classical architecture style, with its pretty big rotunda, pillars, and details in the walls. The Capitol areas itself contain couple governments offices including the Legislative Building, Temple of Justice, Governor’s Mansion, and smaller buildings around. What makes it interesting is that I found lots of arts inside and outside of the building. The chandeliers, statues and sculptures, curtains, and marbles coated almost the whole structure; all have their symbolism meaning and the seal of Washington states too. The tour itself is an event for the exchange students living in Washington, in which we learned more about the government of the United States and Washington State in particular. The guide introduced us first to the legislative system of United States that similar but different in each state. For Washington, we have one parliamentary that is divided as the House of Representatives and the Senates. Each member represents their districts and county (in Indonesia is similar with Kota/Kabupaten) and becomes the representative of the citizens. Besides, we had a court trial simulation! We discussed a case and had different tasks as attorneys, judges, the audiences, and some others. During the tour, we also had lunch with two representatives from Washington states, Rep. Muri from Republicans and Rep. Kilduff from Democrats. The tour gave us so many new things about the United States that some of them I never knew before. While I mesmerized with the US government system, I came to the point where I realized that Indonesia and United States shared similarities of the nations. Both of us have a democratic country, from the citizens, by the citizens, and for the citizens. Both of us value citizens’ opinion in order to improve citizens’ life. Both of us respect the law and rights, especially about the autonomy of Indonesia’s provinces that similar with the US States’ rights. So does YES program goal: to build a bridge of understanding. Here, I shared about Indonesia, and they shared about the United States to me. The moment where Americans and I feel “click!” because no matter how different we are, we are related to each other with our similarities. From this particular moment, I hope that the whole exchange students in this world and I start to build the bridge together. That we may know, any difference won’t separate us, because we are similar. At the end of this newsletter, I wish that we will be aware that we are united, we are one, and it is possible for this world to reach an understanding towards each other.
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