During CCIP

What I had done when I live and study abroad in CCI Program in Miami July 2013 - May 2014

• Lived in Kendall Miami, The Stratford Apartment with CCIP students in building 9021, #105 with my roommate Stephanie, Caroline, and Zenith. Neighbor at #304 Diana, Mimy, Sumera, and Shamama. Building 9001 #204 Mushfik, Rehmat, Kimo, Shahid (CCIP Kendall boys), and many brazilians from Science Without Borders Program from different parts of Brazil.
• Studied in the biggest campus in the biggest Community College in USA, Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus under the School of Business
• 1 week orientations and workshops
• 1 month ESL (English Intensive) Summer (July 2013-August 2013) at Wolfson (Downtown) Campus
• Fall Semester (August 2013-December 2013) enrolled in: Principle of Business, Introduction of Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, and Business Mathematics. I had these classes from Monday - Friday
• Spring Semester (January 2014-April 2014) enrolled in: Principle of Management (Online class), Introduction to E-commerce, Fundamental of Selling. I had class only on Friday from 8am - 1 pm. On Saturday, we had non-credit classes (for professional development) in MDC Kendall School of Continuing Education only for CCIP students: Project Management, Grant Writing, Negotiation / Conflict Resolution
• CSI (Culture, Society, Institution) Class from CCIP MDC generally once a week during Fall and Spring Semester. Learned about US history, US and other countries constitutions, culture, society, democracy, social issues and projects, education, pop culture, famous places, and many more
• 1 on 1 meeting with Margaret, Fun Night with Ma'am
• Achieved 2 college credit certificates from Miami Dade College: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management (total 7 subjects / 21 credits).
• Graduate in Miami Dade College commencement 2014 with GPA 4.00
• Joined CAB (Campus Activities Board) with Student Life Department
• Dr. Syedur Rahman and Ms. Larita Hagar visit
• Field Trip, Cultural Excursion: 
• Crandon Park, Key Biscayne
• FIU Football game 
• Miami Culinary Institute
• Little Havana
• Alligator Farm
• Miami History Museum
• Zoo Miami
• Miami Seaqurium
• Miami Heat basketball game
• Orlando (Magic Kingdom), NASA Headquarter at Cape Canaveral, St. Augustine Historical Old Town
• Mid Year Retreat CCC to Arizona (Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Montezuma Castle)
• TRAC Rope Course Team Building Activity at FIU

• Campus and CCIP Activities
• Kendall Got Talent (where Zenith participated as contestant, dancing Manipuri Traditional Dance)
• Business Etiquette Lunch
• Spooky Night (Halloween for Children)
• MDC International Education Week
• Thanksgiving Lunch with SGA (Student Government Association)
• SCFSGA Conference at Jacksonville with MDC Kendall SGA
• MDC Kendall Open House
• Spring Fling Carnival for Kids
• Tribute to Nelson Mandela
• Ole Espanol - Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
• Lunch and Presentation for Celebrate Black Heritage Month event
• MDC Shark Basketball game
• MDC Volley game
• Rally in Tally (Rally for education in Florida's capital city, Tallahassee)
• PBL Seminar by PWC Miami

•   CCIP Activities and Cultural Events Celebration
• Birthdays!
• Thanksgiving with CCIP
• Country Presentation and International Potluck (Independence Day of Countries Celebrations)
• Country Presentation at Highschool
• Christmas and Secret Snowflakes
• Eid Celebrations
• Diwali Celebration
• Santa Enchanted Forest
• Leadership in Diversity Seminar by Joshua Fredenburg

• Volunteering
• Miami Fruit and Spice Park
• Everglades
• Feeding South Florida
• TECHO Colecta
• Single Stop at Kendall Campus
• Miami Book Fair International
• Miami Winter Party
• Children's Holiday at North Campus
• Camillus House
• Relay for Life at FIU
• Vizcaya Museum and Garden
• National Day of Service at Olinda Park
• Rally 1 Billion Rising: stop women abuse and trafficking
• Gear Up Mentoring at Kendall Campus
• Fashion Show at Harvest Moon Festival at North Campus

• Internships
• Rodri Studio, floral arrangement company by Angel Rodriguez
• 7a Heritage by Matt Hayes
• Got a call for interview from Beacon Council for One Community One Goal (OCOG) Project

• Art, Music, Sports Performance
• Icona Pop Concert
• Macklemore Concert
• Miley Cyrus Concert
• Slava's Snowshow
• TEDx Youth Miami
• Broadway: War Horse
• Broadway: Once
• Miami City Ballet
• WTA Tennis Miami
• Nikki Beach Massive Party

• Traveling and Trip within US
• South Miami Beach, North Miami Beach (Haulover Beach)
• Indonesian Independence Day Celebration with Vida Florida at Tampa (Downtown, Old Town Ybor City, Clearwater Beach)
• Tampa (Busch Garden), Orlando (Sky Coaster, Universal Studio, Halloween Horror Night)
• Thanksgiving with Vida Florida at Oleta River Park, North Miami
• Orlando (Universal Studio Mardi Gras, Wet n Wild)
• West: San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas
• East: Boston, New York, North Virginia, Washington DC
• Key Largo Florida (Bahia Honda Park and Beach, Key West)

 Check this e-yearbook to read more details (proudly made by all CCIP MDC students)

Restaurants and Cafes
Subway, McD, KFC, Starbucks, Cold Stone, Pizza Hut, Papa John, Lime Mexican, Bali Cafe, Pizza Rustica, Sushi Maki, Voodoo BBQ and Grill, Denny's, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Pollo Tropical, Uptown Buffet, Sergio's, Johnny Rockets, ChurroMania, The Cheesecake Factory, Bobby's Burger Palace, Military Burger, 100 Montaditos, Chicken Kitchen, Cici's Pizza, Bahama Breeze, some random Chinese and Thai restaurants.

And places I wanted to visit: 
Florida (Fort Myers, Naples, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Beach), Seattle Washington, Portland Oregon, Chicago Illinois, California (Yosemite, Death Valley, Big Basin / Big Sur, Napa Valley, Coachella, Comic Con San Diego), Mount Rushmore, Hawaii, Alaska, Niagara Falls, Fajardo Puerto Rico, Cirque de Soleil Las Vegas, Philadelphia New Orleans on Mardi Gras, New Mexico Taos Pueblo, Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park Utah, Arch Valley Utah, Great Sand Dune Colorado, Carmel beach Monterey, Havasu Falls Grand Canyon Arizona, Montauk and Roosevelt Island NY, SXSW at Austin Texas, Big Guava at Tampa, and many more

This means I need to go back to US again someday :)

About CCIP - MDC 2013-2014

CCIP (Community College Initiative Program) has 3 core values: academic, community, and understanding. The main goals of the program are to study in the field of study that we chose and may obtain college credit certificates (mine was Business with Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Certification), complete 100 hours of community service and 60 hours of unpaid internship. So it's not only about academic, but learning through experience.

The participants (grantees) are from different countries. In my batch at Miami Dade College there were 28 students within the area of Business and Tourism and Hospitality studies, 16 studied at Wolfson (Downtown) Campus and 12 at Kendall Campus. They are from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey. Can you imagine how cool is that? I’m forever grateful to have friends from all over the world. 

When I came to Miami it was Summer. The first week, we had some orientations about the program, with topics around culture shock, how to get along, time, financial, and health management, etc. It was educative, informative, and fun! They took us in a van and showed us how to get around with public transportation, then shop for daily household needs at Publix or Walmart. After that, we were enrolled in a Intensive English Class (ESL - English as Second Language) and it was only for us CCIP MDC students. The classes were divided by levels based on our TOEFL score. Intensive means 1 class from 9.30am to 1.25pm and continue another class from 2.30pm to 6pm. We basically spent a month from Monday-Thursday for English class. I was placed in Kendall campus (about 45 minutes from Downtown Miami by public transportation) and lived in The Startford Apartments 88th St and 122nd Ave. But most of us Kendall students were enrolled in Downtown (Wolfson) campus.

I woke up at 6 every morning without alarm. Prepare for the day, including food for lunch because we don't want to spend money eating out. We need to leave home early to get to class on time because it takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour to get there. It was exhausting but it helped us to get used to, be active and push ourselves to the limit. Most of the time, we didn't want to do anything after classes. We just want to go home and rest. Not to mention that we carry our backpack filled with 2 grammar books, 1 reading fiction book, 1 college binder, and we have to bring our jacket (not to wear it all the time) because almost every classroom was very cold like a fridge but outside is as sunny as it can be. But I can't accept the fact that I've been in Miami for 3 weeks and visited only few places. Feels like I didn't make the best of it. Sometimes I just don't want to go straight home, I got off the bus at stores and complex mall in my area, just to see.

On Friday and Saturday, we have to attend orientation (this was all good, helps us to prevent disorientation), do some community service, obtain our ID card, group discussion, go to the bank (to receive our stipend check - we love going to the bank :D). After that we go to places, last week we went to the Goodwill. Today, we are going to Miami History Museum (something you might do as a tourist visiting Miami, right?) and tomorrow we are going to the Dolphin Mall. It's been 3 weeks since the last time I visited a big mall. In my hometown, super malls are everywhere and they are pretty near to where I live. But anyway, our program coordinator already planned everything for us as a group. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the World Nations Parade and I'm happy about it.

No matter how tired my body is and how my ego wants to go to somewhere else, I only can be thankful because I know there are people who work very hard to provide the best for us, to enrich and support us. So for it, I want to thank Nate and Margaret (best program coordinators), Anoush (I love all the times you spent your days with us), Dean Owles (you're very fun and lovely, thanks for sharing every important details and your experience). I have 3 best housemates. We want to make the most of this year and have a great moments together.

Have a good Friday!

The Stratford, Kendall Miami
August 2nd, 2013
06.00am

 

CCIP Departure and Flights Jakarta - Miami

I lived in Miami, Florida, USA and studied at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus on a scholarship program called Community College Initiative Program (CCIP) under the Community College Consortium (CCC), funded by US Dept. of Education for about 10 months, from July 2013 - May 2014. We can't choose in which city or campus we want to study but I think the field of study that we choose takes a big part in the decision on where we will be placed.

Read how I got the scholarship here.

I left my job (although I was a creative freelancer), my start-up clothing business, my family, my dog, my friends. I was happy doing what I did but I was so ready to leave it all for the "once in a lifetime" experience studying abroad! It was super easy because I know that I will be fine.

On July 14, 2013 I flew to Miami USA to start the scholarship program. I packed only a medium suitcase and a backpack filled with important things. My parents, my sisters and brother, my brother in law, my nephew Gabriel, my friends: Lala, Raysha Cacil, Caca and Gigi, and Jali took me to the airport. Lala and Cacil gave me a personal made book of recipe for easy to make food and said in that book to me not to forget to eat and not to eat late cos they know I have an ulcer. Caca and Gigi gave me a box filled a socks (and a paper with "Just in case you get cold",) candies and cookies (and a paper with "Just in case you get hungry"), and pictures of us from our trip to Jogjakarta (and a paper with "Just in case you miss us"). They are just the sweetest! I love them a lot!

I met CCIP students from Indonesia that also placed in Miami: Mimy from Gorontalo, Jerry from Manado, Putri from Palu, Tjipto from Solo, and Hendrik from Papua. We (except Hendrik) were in the same flights from Jakarta to Miami. So I know I have friends along the long waaay, we stick together and conquer all the problems that happened during our departure, including the excess baggage because both connecting flights have different regulation on maximum baggage weight.

First flight was Jakarta – Changi by Garuda Indonesia for about 1.5 hour. Then Changi – Narita, Japan for 8 hours. The long flight made my legs feel numb. If you’re short, put your bag under the seat in front of you and place your foot on top of it. Watching movies will make you sleepy all the time. I watched 3 movies and fell asleep in all of them! The Admissions, Garp, and another one with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streissand. I had the same plane for the next flight to Houston but we still need to check in, make a security check then walk to the gate to board. Narita Airport is small and has no free wifi. I didn’t see much of it because it was only 20 minutes transfer.

Narita – Houston was like a bumpy road. It was another 8 hours flight. Heavy turbulence in such a bright afternoon. I felt uneasy, I wondered had this happened a lot? I looked out the window, we were above a big big cloud. I remained seated for a long time in that plane because of the turbulence, I can't go to the lavatory and the worst was the food can't be distributed and I was starving. Thank God I had that cookies from Caca. Really made me and my tummy happy. Finally I watched a full movie. Hotel Transylvania. That was funny and detail. I also watched Stokers to end the flight. A very staggering one for a flight entertainment.

Point of entry - HOUSTON. WELCOME TO AMERICA!

Houston - Miami. 4 more hours to get to my final destination. I was waiting for my time to rest on a real bed.

FINALLY, I ARRIVED IN MIAMI! 

CCIP Application Steps and Preparation

My college friends- Rahmi Hindriani and Yoan got this scholarship on year 2012-2013, and they encourage everyone to apply for the program. So, I downloaded the application form for year 2013-2014 program, wrote the essays (basically I just answer the questions) and submitted it.

CCIP stands for Community College Initiative Program (click to see more about it)

The Community College Initiative (CCI) Program provides a quality academic program at U.S. community colleges intended to build technical skills, enhance leadership capabilities, and strengthen English language proficiency. The program also provides opportunities for professional internships, service learning, and community engagement activities.
Participants spend one academic year in the United States and may earn certificates in their fields of study. After completing the program, participants return home with new skills and expertise to help them contribute to the economic growth and development of their country.
- See more at: http://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/community-college-initiative-program#sthash.hlzUnDyP.dpu

The Community College Initiative (CCI) Program provides a quality academic program at U.S. community colleges intended to build technical skills, enhance leadership capabilities, and strengthen English language proficiency. The program also provides opportunities for professional internships, service learning, and community engagement activities.
Participants spend one academic year in the United States and may earn certificates in their fields of study. After completing the program, participants return home with new skills and expertise to help them contribute to the economic growth and development of their country.
- See more at: http://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/community-college-initiative-program#sthash.hlzUnD

Our batch had a different timeline, which I’ll explain the details as best as I can because a lot of people who are interested in this program might need some references from the internet (the same way I did when I google to seek information about this program.) So I hope you’ll find this useful.

ABOUT, DEADLINE, APPLICATION FORM

The deadline for CCIP application form is usually in November each year and the program usually starts in July-September the next academic year. If you’re Indonesian, the program is administrated by AMINEF and you can find the information about all programs and application form here. There will be couple of programs you can choose, make sure you’re eligible and have all the requirement to complete including documents. 

PREPARATION
*This is the type of “the sooner the better” things to prepare.

• PASSPORT. In my suggestion, if you don’t have a passport right now, make one! If you already have one, you can always re-new because one of the requirement (to receive grant and join program) is to have a passport valid until the end period of the program. If you don’t have one, there will be some time to prepare (the official preparation). Official preparation means the preparation you do to complete all the requirement needed to be given to the official administrator of the program in your country. They will ask you to send documents, both softcopy (scan) via email and hardcopy (print/official/legalized copy) to their office.

• COPY OF ID CARD (Citizen card, Driver License, or Passport Datapage).

• TOEFL / ENGLISH TEST SCORE. You have to obtain at least certain score on your TOEFL test. The requirement for 2013-2014 CCIP is minimum 500. Please note that this should be TOEFL ITP, you can google to know more about it. Language or educational institution like ILP, LBI, and AMINEF hold the test but they have their own schedule, so call and ask.

DOCUMENTS

For CCIP we need following documents:

• High school Diploma

• High school Transcript

• University Diploma

• University Transcript

ALL NEED TRANSLATION in English. Some School or University have bilingual (Indonesia – English) language on the Diploma certificate or transcript, but if it doesn’t have the English, you can google for "Sworn Translator service" (jasa penerjemah), you can even manage one with online service, send the scan of your documents and they’ll send you the print out of the translation to your address. The fee for the service would be Rp. 50.000 – Rp. 75.000 per page of translation result. When you receive it, make sure to scan and keep the translation documents before you send it to the adm office.

All SCAN documents should be in PDF
KEEP A SCAN OF ORIGINAL keep it in your personal email or file storage

HAVE LEGALIZED/AUTHORIZED COPY OF EACH IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

If you make it to the next step, the program administrator will send you an email and ask your availability to come for the interview in AMINEF office. Based on my experience, emails from administrator are very clear. Just follow the instructions.

On the interview, as much as you’ll be nervous, brace yourself. Answer directly, and try to relax.
I received email on November 16th 2012 and had my interview on November 29th 2012.

After that, I received the email on 20th December 2012, saying that I’ve been nominated for the Community College Initiative Program by the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) Board to pursue a professional enhancement program in the United States. But the final selection for this program will be made in Washington, D.C. Also we need to fill medical form completed by a doctor and send all the supporting documents. 

There is a requirement to have a Medical Check Up but you don’t actually have to have a full package medical check up, just do what’s asked and told in the medical form. (AMINEF will reimburse your medical cost around Rp. 800.000). Basically you only need a doctor to examine your whole body condition in general way and have him/her fill the form then do some lab test, and Mantoux or PPD skin test (to check whether you have a TB/TBC). PPD skin test was hard to get even in Jakarta. Most hospital didn’t have it because the med for the test is easily expired and hard to keep, so I had to roam around hospitals, even if the hospital can provide you it’ll cost 10x because they have to order it just for you. I got my PPD skin test at Mitra Kelapa Gading Hospital (If you’re in Jakarta, you should just come to this hospital. Well, call all the hospital first). It cost around Rp. 100.000 – Rp. 250.000
Also for the vaccines, you need MMR and DPT vaccines and it’s quite hard to find. So start searching for PPD skin test (commonly known as Mantoux test) and MMR and DPT/DT vaccines. Remember, some vaccines and test only valid 6 months before departure. Make sure you have a prove legal letters (in English) from doctor or hospital that assure you have taken your vaccines and tests.
Just to add a little information, the vaccine effect depends on your antibody level. My arm was swollen for almost a month but it wasn't hurt. Some people might have allergic to those medication or method.

After submitted all the documents and medical form, all we have to do is wait, patiently. The email stated that I've been officially selected to participate in CCIP came in May 23th 2013. Also stated which consortium and college (and campus) will I be in. I had about 2 weeks to prepare for my departure to Miami.

There’s also Pre-Departure Orientation for the Grantees from all over Indonesia. Really informative and prepare you upon your arrival. You are one step closer :)