Review Sem-1 2007-2008

At last after waiting for about 1 month, the result of the exams are published. When I looked to my evaluation page, I was like freezing for about 5-10 seconds. The results are far more better than my expectation. Now, full 30 ECTS (6 courses) are already in my pocket therefore I passed the scholarship's limit that is 22 ECTS. Looking back to Sem-1, it's a tough semester since the courses are pretty new for me and I don't have high appetite for competing like I used to have in high school :P . So, what courses did I take in Sem 1? The courses are as follows:

1. Requirement Analysis Design and Verification
This course study about the process behaviour of a system, how to a specify requirement in a formal way, and how to verify whether the design already comply with the system requirement.It requires hard work in the beginning of the semester. Many mathematical proof in this course. Luckily, I did very well in the exam. Honestly, I'm not interested with this course, too many proofs we should make :P Why should we prove green its not equal to red if we already knows they are clearly different? Well, somebody may argue mathematical proof is a beauty (hoeeek) but for others its just a rubbish (me).

2. Generic Language Technology.
This course covers topics about language transformation. We use Meta Environment tool in this course. The documentation of the tool is very poor and we got into trouble since we have to use the tool for the assignments. Fortunately, Arya always found a magical way to conquer this tool in every assignment. I'm not interested with this course either. Even until in the mid semester I didn't know what actually the lecturer talk about :D But, I like the last part of the course, its about SLR, LALR parsing teqhnique.

3. Software Architecting
The BEST course in Semester 1. I really enjoyed this course (from System Architecture and Networking group). I like the topics and the assignment were challenging. I did very well in the quiz and assignment. The exam was a little bit tough than last year. Probably I will do master project in the area that related to software architecture. Oh yes, the lecturer is damn good! He's really expert in this area. By the way, he did his PhD under the supervision of Tony Hoare in Oxford.

4. Adaptive Systems
The idea of this course is a futuristic idea but the content doesn't reflect that. I do not know whether adaptive systems will have hot prospect in the future. Instead, I'm more interested to data mining topics in this course. For the assignment, again, the tool often behaves unexpectedly. But Arya still have his magic for this one :D

5. Metamodeling
Hmm...I don't want to comment on this one.

6. Web Information Systems
This is an interesting course actually. We learn about the web engineering, semantic web technology and Web 2.0. The lecturer is very strict. The exam was oral exam. It was a new experience for me. And I did not prepare well for the exam, but somehow I succeed hehe.

That's all folks, my academic journey in Semester 1. Not very interesting for me since I only like one course (that suits my interest). Does this statement mean I select the wrong program? I will keep the answer until the next post.

By the way, I think Semester 2 is more challenging! There is another course from SAN that is Real Time Architecture! How about the girls??? Still the same hehehehe Two dutch girls and one Asian girl. I will write about Semester 2 next time!

Jadi Detektif

Tadi barusan iseng-iseng ngeliat siapa aja sih yang ngakses blog ini. Wah asalnya bermacam-macam. Tapi ada yang menarik sih tadi, ada yang domain name-nya utwente.nl. Siapa ya? Kayaknya aku nggak kenal orang dari Twente. Dan ternyata, dia sudah beberapa kali mengakses halaman blog ini sejak sekitar tanggal 22 Januari 2008. Dan tahu nggak, sebelum dia ngakses blog ini, dia nge-search "samuel Louvan" di Google, habis itu keluar address blog saya terus dia masuk ke situ. Hari ini aku cek lagi, eh dikunjungi lagi sama dia. Tapi sekarang dia udah langsung ngakses ke louvandahsyat.blogspot.com ga pake search dulu ke Google, udah biasa kali ya.

Yang paling mungkin sih "pengunjung" ini temennya Grant/Bung Lesky/Pak Wayan. Soalnya beliau-beliau ini punya teman di sono. Kali aja, dia ngeliat gw di friendster, terus nge-search nama gw di Google. Atau jangan-jangan gw pernah nge-view dia di friendster? Siapa pengunjung laennya? Ada yang dari chello.nl, kalo ini mah temen sekos. Speedling.nl ini sih kayaknya si Arya hehehe. telkomsel.co.id, yah paling IF'01 yang kerja di telkomsel. unibz.it (Free University Bolzano), kayaknya si Bayu neh.

Kok aku jadi iseng gini ya? Jadi ingat jaman dulu, suka maen-maen netstat. Seru.

A Name, A City, An Unexpected Trip

As you might know before, my lastname is Louvan. Many people, especially new friends, wondered what does Louvan mean. As a hint, I was born in a city named Leuven. It is located in Belgium. That's why my father gave me Louvan for my lastname. But hey, Louvan it's not the same with Leuven! Did my father make a mistake?? Gave me a wrong name?? Hmm, unfortunately not my friend. He's not that stupid :D Well, I don't know the exact answer but sometimes the foreigners such as French people, recognize Leuven as Louvan. So, that concludes the history of my lastname.

Is Louvan is my family name? The answer is no. Actually my family name is Kakisina but I almost never use it, because in my birth certificate my name stated as Samuel Louvan. How can it be? How can "Kakisina" doesn't appear in the document? Did my father make a mistake? Yes, he did. He didn't fill in the family name. Well, but that's ok since I think Louvan is better than Kakisina, I guess hahaha. But someday when I have a child, definitely I will give him/her Kakisina as his/her lastname. Same mistake won't happen.

How long did I stay in Leuven? Well, I just stayed there for 2 months and then we went back to Indonesia. Have I visited Leuven again? YES! After 24 years 6 months and 19 days after my birth, I finally came to Leuven for the second time. Actually it was an unexpected trip. Last weekend I met my oldfriend, Agung who came from Singapore for training in ASML. When we had our lunch, he unexpectedly said, "Come on let's go to Leuven!" I was thinking that it was a bad idea since it's already 2 PM and we have to catch a train bla..bla..bla. But fortunately, Agung has a car! Not just a car, but also Tomtom. Car + Tomtom = Trip!


The trip to Leuven from Eindhoven lasted for about 1.5 hours. So, how does Leuven look like? I think it's a beautiful small city. The city center is located in a straight long street and in the end of the street you can see the town hall which is very sophisticated! We spent only 1 hour there, took some photos, walked along the city center, and went back home to EIndhoven. Well, nothing much to see but at least I've already visited my birth place. I wish I could go there again with my mother. Someday we will!

A Plan

Suppose I will pass 22 ECTS this semester, I would like to do following things in the next semester:
1. Read the lecture material before attend the class!
2. Manage carefully my study time. Use ECTS guideline!
3. Take as many courses as I could. Drop some if I could not cope with it.
4. Read algorithm books, solve TopCoder/ACM problem as many as I can.
5. Attend more party! Got to know more people here in Eindhoven.
6. Play badminton at least once a week.
7. Look for internship opportunity.
8. Build again the relationship with her. I'm kidding :D Ok, with her. I'm kidding again hehe.
9. Travel to Germany/Spain/Italy.
10. Choose master project topic among Software Architecting, Information Retrieval and Computer Network.

Actually, there are still many things to add but hmm..lets begin with this list first and then let see whether I can manage to do these things :D

Puas!

Setelah hampir seminggu tidur jam 4 atau jam 5 pagi. Akhirnya, hari ini aku bisa tidur panjang full 12 jam non stop ! Rasanya enak banget, damai, dan puasssss. Tugas-tugas sudah selesai dan sudah di-submit. Yah semoga bisa dapet nilai bagus deh. Dua hari ini bisa istirahat sebelum mengerjakan tugas-tugas lain :( di liburan Natal dan Tahun Baru. Semangat-semangat!

test

Today's date is 6-12. Three years ago on this date was a very emotional and memorable for me, as on that date my father passed away. At that time I still cannot believe why he left us so fast. In the middle of these busy days and I remembered about my father in the same time, makes everything very difficult. I just feel want to cry everytime I think about him, about his kindness, high sense of humor, confidence, leadership, and deep affection to his children. He is more than a father for me, he's more like friend. I can discuss anything with him and he is very supportive to me. When I am in a bad mood or feel want to give up to a certain thing, his words always can cure me.

I still remember clearly when he was in the hospital and I visited him on December 2004. He put all his energy to breath, his face showed like he was under very big pressure. He could not talk, he just could write something in the paper. Before I left to Bandung again, I showed him a piece of paper, "See you on July 2005". Because at that time I would be graduated from ITB on July 2005. He responded nothing. And that time was the last time I met him alive.

Now, I just can meet him through my dreams. He always shows his smile to me when he meets me. Yes, his special smile. He always come in my dream when I'm in difficult situation. Miss you Pa!

A Fork Will Do

I just realized that my hair now is getting longer and longer. That means I need to make it neat everytime I finish my shower. Several days ago, after took a shower, I looked into the mirror, wow my hair was so messy :D. I tried to find my comb but I could not find it. And then, AHA! I saw a fork near the washtub. Can you guess what happened next?

Prerequisite

At that time, I didn't fell well in my stomach. Yeah, nature call! I just rushed out from my room, and oh my God both of the toilets on my floor were occupied! Without thinking, I run again upstairs, and both of the toilets were available, finally! Ok, 1....2... minutes, I finished my obligation :D and then flushed the toilet. Suddenly I realized, I forgot to bring tissue roll!! Well, what's happen next? I don't want to talk about it :P

Win!

Several days ago, I visited Arya's blog and in his blog he mentioned that Bryan McKnight's song with the title "Win" can boost up your spirit. Filled with curiosity, I went to YouTube and searched the song. Well, the first impression was hmm..it's just a normal song. But after I listened carefully to the lyrics, I was like, wowwww! And now, "Win" is a must song for me everyday. If you're too lazy to listen to the lyrics, just read it here
Wanna know some other songs that can burn up your spirit? (At least it's working for me). Try these! :
1. Theme Song of Superman Returns by John Williams
2. Theme Song of Star Wars by John Williams
3. Under Pressure - Queen (London Symphony Orchestra)

Keep The Spirit Up!

Wow! Time goes by so fast! It's already near on the end of November which means this semester will end in one month. Still, I can't believe that I can still survive here in Eindhoven haha. Thks God! Ok, until now I haven't written about my experience here in Eindhoven. So, because I'm in lazy mode currently and I want to improve my English, I will write something right here, right now! If you notice grammar errors or something like that, please notify me :D So, I can learn from it.
1. Study
In the beginning I was thinking that there is no much difference between ITB and TU/e.Unfortunately I was completely wrong. After I entered the second month, the workload was completely insane. I cannot sleep well (only 4-5 hours a day), cannot try new experiment with cooking, cannot enjoy the weekend etc.
2. Friends
Surprisingly, there are 9 students from Indonesia this year and 6 of them live in the same place! The good side is I have many friends from the same country, the bad side is my English is not improving :-) After we know each other I feel that I found the subtitutes of my previous friends in Indonesia. I also make friends from another countries such as China, Turkey, India, Pakistan, and of course, Dutch! The students from China are very serious, I think I can see them everyday study in the library haha. They're just talking about academical stuff I think :D. But some of them like Dong Wei, Hai Bin, Simon Hui are funny and friendly. How about the girls haha ? Hmm, there are only few girls in the class that I attended namely two Dutch girls, Eva Ploum (very serious girl) and Ms. X, and only one Chinese girl (Sun).
3. Sports
In TU/e you can do any sports that you like. Of course, I choose badminton! Usually I played with Grant (another Indonesian student) and Jinxian Jian (chinese student). We usually play every Monday and Thursday. But to have a chance to play regularly, you have to pay a fee for 18 euro per year. There are many badminton courts here, about eight courts.And there is also a coach but I never trained under his supervision because I just want to having fun.
4. Weather
One word: unpredictable!
5. Recreation
If you type of a person that like to go to the shopping mall, forget it, Eindhoven is not for you. Actually there are shopping mall here but I think malls in my country are far more better than here. Instead of going to the mall we can go to the park for refreshing :D There are many parks and the parks are well maintained.
6. Language
I don't have time to learn Dutch language. So, everyday I talk in English with others. But don't think that my English is improved exponentially :D Since I talk with Indonesian everyday and it is very tempting to use Indonesian than English. Besides, if I talk in English with other International Students, their English are just the same with me.
7. Food
My menu here is very monotonic. Almost everyday I eat corned beef, eggs, and that's all :D I hate vegetables so I' seldom to eat broccoli, carrots etc. If my mother knows about this maybe she will get angry :D

TO BE CONTINUED?