Once upon a time, some colleagues invited me to join them for a guest lecture at ITB Campus in Ganesha, Bandung. I liked the idea and accepted it right away. That was a good moment to get to know them better. Besides I would also use that opportunity to meet some old friends who still lived in Bandung, for the good old days , as we go back a long way 🙂
In ITB, we delivered a guest lecture about subsea engineering to the Engineering Physics undergraduate students, to point the way about introduction to subsea engineering and how the career in the area might look like. Well, the other colleagues did all the talking, not me :P. I just sat as quiet as a mouse in the class with the other students and observed them during the lecture. Some paid attention to the lecture, some were sleeping, some were having chit-chat with others, and some were busy with their gadgets. Just like us in the past. Students will be students 😀
I was quite content with this small trip. With the colleagues, we spent some time to explore the campus, bought some souvenirs, had delicious Sundanese lunch at Rumah Makan Ampera and enjoy spa at Zen Setiabudhi. Whilst with my friends on the next day, we drove around Bandung. The rain poured down heavily so that we decided to chill-out in a café, during which we recalled some memories about our university years.
Normally we did not hang out in a café, only in Padang restaurants or Sate Padang Dipati Ukur, for the sake of rupiahs. However, we gave it a try at that time. The coffee’s price was okay. We were quite shocked by the price of ‘pisang goreng’, which was IDR 24K for only 5 pieces. We eventually chose Spanish ‘churros’ for the same price, provided the foreign taste we could enjoy :P. We discussed this a bit and came to conclusion that the ‘cheaping-out mentality’ of Padang people (just like us!) was the main reason why there were not so many cool (read: premium-price) places in Padang, haha. After all, it is not the fanciness of a hang-out venue that makes somebody a true friend 🙂
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