My Graduation

The moment I found out it costs me over $200 for a graduation I decided to make (almost) everything about my graduation as budget as possible. All stuffs attached to my body are either free or on discount. Except for makeup coz I can’t do my own makeup and I had major breakout just couple of days before the big event due to stress and PMS. Only a professional makeup artist can handle such situation so yeah~ Despite being budget, my graduation went well thanks to my unbeatable A-team consisting of @nanience (Road Manager and Official Videographer) @purrfectbee (Official Photographer) and @shineshineee.z (Assistant Manager). Now, bear with me coz I’m gonna be posting heaps of graduation photos for days to come. Also, a graduation vlog is coming your way!

Above is the initial wording for an Instagram post containing a picture of myself in regalia.

Tadinya mau gw post sehari setelah graduation, but then I thought, hey, kenapa gw memperlakukan Instagram lebih eksklusif akhir2 ini? Clearly the main audience for my internet presence platform is you—the readers of my blog. So yeah, last minute gw memutuskan untuk premier perilisan foto dan cerita wisuda di blog, instead of Instagram. :)

Yep, that’s true. Wisuda gw memakan biaya lebih dari $200—alias 2 jutaan. Emang ga mahal2 amat, terutama untuk standar kampus di Australia. But please note that I didn’t get to bring home the regalia~ I only got to rent it for 5 hours! $200 itu cuma include tickets for the ceremony (1 tiket untuk graduand dan 2 tiket untuk guest), ijasah, dan refreshment. Foto2 official wisuda, regalia, souvenir, dll charge-nya lain lagi.

Like seriously, kalo wisuda gw ga dibiayain Purpose gw pun ga mau ikut~

For me celebrating graduation is only for undergrads alias S1. Postgrad, I’m so sorry, I am too old for that. Makanya gw strict banget soal budget. Gw mau wisuda gw sesederhana mungkin. Nyokap bokap tadinya mau dateng, gw larang, coz it would’ve been costing so much money! It ain’t worth it.

I mean, buat gw kuliah S2 itu becanda banget sih, cuma 1-2 tahun normalnya. Just like that dapet gelar master. That is insane. In my case, S2 cuma 1,5 tahun dan maybe setengahnya gw habiskan dengan getting wasted drinking, that is definitely NOT something to celebrate~ LOL~

Lagian gw berpendapat graduation is not a family day~ But of course budaya Indonesia yang super lame itu melestarikan konsep graduation = family day. Sama halnya kayak nikahan, it’s supposed to be your day, but it’s your family that celebrates more. Nope, that ain’t gonna happen for me.

So yeah, bottom line, I wanna keep it low-key. Just one fine day to be pretty, hang out with my friends and laugh the degree away, and I did. :)

My graduation was everything I could ever ask. Pertama, gw mau wisuda gw super duper budget. Literally ga mau keluar duit banyak karena biaya wisudanya aja udah mahal. Ga mau naik Uber/taxi ke venue, naik kereta+tram aja. Ga mau pake kebaya. Tadinya mau beli dress biar terkesan formal. But nah, a dress costs at least $100~ Same with high heels, a good one also costs $100. Ngapain beli barang yang cuma bakal dipake sekali seumur hidup, terus dibuang~ Literally you guys, gw GA PERNAH dan GA MAU pake rok/dress kecuali terpaksa (misalnya seragam atau occasional outfit). That’s just my life policy. Jadi tolong ya kalo mau ngasih gw kado, JANGAN kasih rok/dress, ga bakal gw pake~

So yeah, gw putuskan nggak ada spending untuk baju sama sekali. Pake yang ada di lemari aja.

Blus soft pink yang gw pake itu hibahan temen China gw yang lagi pulang kampung. Masih brand new karena orangnya memutuskan untuk ga suka setelah beli~ LOL~ Dia mau declutter lemari. Jadinya dikasih ke gw. Untung muat.

Celana merah maroon gw beli di Dotti berbulan2 yang lalu karena diskon, jadi cuma $10 dari original price $40. Bahannya mayan bagus dan bisa dipake ngantor suatu hari nanti. Good long-term investment.

Sepatu boots juga long-term investment, bisa dipake ngantor atau formal event lain. Gw tipe orang yang kalo beli sepatu mending sekalian yang mahal tapi bisa dipake bertahun2. This 5 cm heeled boots costs me $80. Udah gw pake berbulan2 buat menghadiri berbagai formal event di Melbourne. Kebetulan harus tampil sedikit lebih tinggi ketika wisuda otherwise gw tenggelam di regalia, jadi kepake juga deh boots-nya.

That choker is just plastic, only $3 from Lovisa’s sale. But it looks super elegant and totally matched my outfit. Love it!

Yang gw spend lebih hanya makeup, coz like I said, I can’t do my own makeup. Well I can, but it’s gonna be disastrous! So I booked a pro MUA, dapet diskon harga mahasiswa. Still a bit pricey though, $100. Standar harganya di sini $150-200. Tapi yasudahlah ya, event sekali seumur hidup, at least ada effort untuk look proper. I like the makeup tho, walaupun gw merasa bulu matanya terlalu cetar~ I mean, aku kan anaknya low-key, ga suka yang cetar2. Tapi si MUA cuma punya either cetar atau cetar membahana, so…

Anyway, moving on!

So I have 2 guest tickets. Normally anak rantau akan pake tiketnya satu buat plus one, satu lagi buat fotografer, atau dicaloin ke desperate Chinese fam. Ketika gw bingung mencari fotografer yang bisa gw pakai jasanya dengan harga murah, temen Thailand si lebah yang hobi fotografi menawarkan jasanya GRATIS. Woohoooo!!!

Gw nungguin plus one 1,5 tahun ga dateng2, so fuck it, I’ll just save it for someone else. Kebetulan Nanien dapet tiket murah ke Melbourne untuk akhir tahun dan doi butuh penginapan. Nanien adalah vlogger/videographer. So, simbiosis mutualisme. Dia akan mendokumentasi wisuda gw dalam bentuk vlog dan gw akan menyewakan kamar gw gratis untuk dia.

So my graduation will be documented in both photo and video, and I got both for free!!!! Muahahahaahahaha~~~~

I purchased one additional ticket for Matahari, coz I thought I would need help with flowers and souvenirs from people. Matahari jadi pembantu umum. Wkwkwk~~

A’ite! Graduation team assembled! It’s gonna be awesome!!!

And it was. :)

In total 5 hours of graduation, it was a total blast. Ain’t no second wasted. Super sibuk foto2, bikin video aneh2, reuni+farewell sama orang2, ketawa2, becanda2, makan+minum, bolak balik keluarin+masukin bunga buat properti foto, bolak balik ngerapiin regalia karena merosot melulu saking banyaknya gw gerak. Seru deh!

Upacaranya sendiri, hmmm… boring~ Mainly karena gw lapar dan mengantuk, tapi yah namanya upacara wisuda bule ya, mereka emang ga hebohan. Sederhana banget. Paduan suara cuma nyanyi gaudeamus igitur. Abis opening speech rektor/dekan, satu persatu wisudawan langsung dipanggil ke panggung tanpa ba bi bu. Lalu, ga seperti di UI yang wisudanya sekaligus semua fakultas digabung, wisuda unimelb per fakultas per hari. Pretty small-scaled. There were only around 200 graduands and they managed to squeeze everyone into 2 hour of ceremony. That’s another level of management.

Thank God 2 hours ain’t feel long when you have your powerbank ready. Jadi gw asyik2 aja main IG Stories, bales2in reply. Tau2 nama gw udah dipanggil aja. So quick!

My A-Team, Nien, Lebah n Matahari NERIAKIN NAMA GW KENCENG BANGET ketika gw maju! I WAS SO PROUD OF THEM!

Emang sih konsekuensinya adalah gw jadi ga tau nama gw disebutkan dengan benar atau salah, but hey fuck it! I’d rather remember my graduation as the time when three of my best girls shouting my name out loud fucklessly in front of 1000++ people, than feeling salty about my name being mispronounced! ;)

So yeah it was awesome!

Tapi cukuplah, ga mau mengalami yang namanya graduation lagi. Cukup sampai S2 aja. Hehehe…

Nanien will upload the graduation vlog when she has free time. I don’t wanna rush her coz  it's the end of the year, I know she has lots of work to do. If it has been uploaded I will update this blogpost with the embedded video, so check back in the near future! It's gonna be sick! I've watched the preview and I can tell it's already awesome. Y'all can tell I was having fun! It was wild! LOL~

Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures!

 

More on my Flickr!

Thank you so much for reading. Thank you so much for your virtual companion during my postgrad. Thank you for your congratulation, sorry if I can’t reply one by one, but I am always thankful for sure.

-->

This post will be my last writing written in Australia. The next blogpost will be written in Jakarta. I try to do a recap post before the new year. Okay then, I’ll catch up with you later! Byeee...