Christine Wijaya

Uhhh it’s been a while since I last updated my blog… Didn’t have that much time during finals week to update anything here, and plus, after finals were over, I was busy packing for Vancouver. 

There were lots of events that were going on this past semester. It was my first semester in Biola, and I’m loving it to the maximum. I love my classes, my dorm, my room, my profs, basically EVERYTHING!!

My ID card!

Introducing to you… My crazy room mate: Emily Hoogenboom!

Welcome to our room…

My side of the room!!

Emily’s side of the room :)

I don’t have a personal bathroom. My dorm has community bathrooms. Definitely something new for me. So far so good…. Gotta chance to bump into my floor mates in the bathrooms :) :) :)

ISA Orientation.

With some girls during Commencement Dinner.

Commencement dinner….

Three pictures above were taken during Nation Ball! So much fun!

Half way through the semester, I went to SF to visit my church and peers over there. I miss them so much :) Thankful and so blessed to have them in my life.

Junior Sisters.

Family style! hahahahaha

Twin Sandwich! *mygirls*

My Birthday dinner with the Indonesians at Biola + my small group.

My Small Group.

The Indonesians got invited by Dr. Barry Correy for dinner at his house :)

With the President of Biola University :)

This past Friday, I went to Biola annual tradition in the month of December- Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Oh my goodness, it was BAZZAAARRR!! My first time seeing a monster size REAL REAL REAL Christmas tree decorated with colorful lights and ornaments! This event was hosted by the Alumni Board, directed by Prof. Rick Bee. They did a very good job! Biola Acapella team sang couple of Christmas songs for entertainment, and The Fragrance led all of us in worship. A LOT of people came, ranging not only just students, but also parents, alumni, and staff. There was also a mini carnival where there were booths to decorate ornaments, free international drinks, and so on. It was sooooo much fun!!!!

The Tree during the day :)

The Tree at night :)

The start of the mini carnival!!

INDONESIA!!! hahahaha anywaysss, Laura and Ian were in charge of the International House of Drinks. They provided hot chocolate, apple cider, and many other drinks FOR FREE :) :) :)

A booth where you can buy blankets and donate it for those who are in need…

Booth for alumni…

You can come to this booth and decorate your own Christmas ornaments FOR FREE! They provided the ornaments, glitters, glue, and so on. You can make as much as you want… SOOO MUCH FUN!!!

My Christmas ornament!! An attempt to make snow flake… hahahaha

The other side of my ornament: Biola 2010. My plan is to make one ornament per year until I graduate —> Biola 2011 and Biola 2012.. wooohooo!

1. Biola has a prayer chapel (Rose of Sharon Prayer Chapel) that opens 24hours. Students can come at anytime to spend their personal time with God (praying, reading the Bible, journaling…)


2. Construction for Talbot School of Theology is currently taking place at Biola. It is one of the major events that are happening on campus. The first phase of the building will be completed by next year. What is unique about the building is that the building is LEED- certified as environmentally friendly.


3. 30 units (10 classes) of Bible classes are necessary for all students. Biola is the only school in the world that requires all its students to be a Bible minor.


4. All students are required to go to chapel at least 30 times per semester.


5. Biola has this HUGE and artistic Jesus mural painted on the Science Building. (Picture Below)


6. Biola is the only national university that requires all faculty, staff, and students to be professing Christians (this includes janitors and those who work at the cafeteria.).


7. The Exorcism of Emily Rose was directed by a Biola Alumnus, and parts of the movie were filmed at MY dorm (Alpha Chi).


8. The President of Biola, Dr. Barry Correy is the most relational university president ever!!! He goes to the Caf and eats with students, invites students to his house for fellowship, etc. (This may be bias, but I can guarentee you that you would not find someone like him!)


9. Many of the utmost philosophers and theologians today are Biola Profs!! (William Lane Craig, Sean McDowell, JP Moreland, Craig Hazen, etc).


10. Biola was recently ranked #28 by U.S. News to be the ‘up and coming’ national university.


11. Biola has two buildings with the same name- Crowell School of Music and Crowell school of Business. So, be careful when you want to refer to the music or business building.


12. Total population of Biola, including graduate students is 6000 students. Student-faculty ratio is 17 to 1.


13. No smoking, alcohol, and drugs on campus AND off campus throughout the academic year (excluding summer and winter break, but this is still highly discouraged). Students are to sign a contract in the beginning of the year to affirm this.  


14. Process of hiring a faculty can take up to years. they have to be strong both on their Christian faith and also their field of study. During the interview with the president, every potential faculty member faces a question that plays an important role in whether or not they will be hired: “how will our students know that you love them?”


15. Biola’s Philosophy, Biblical Studies, Psychology, and Education programs are internationally known to be very competitive and solid.

Spent my Thanksgiving weekend with my higschool friends here in LA :) A friend of mine picked me up on Wednesday, and I just got back like 2 hours ago… Glad that I could spend few days with them, as I have to admit that I’m very anti-social in Biola. One of my friends said that he feels that I still live in SF because I never went over and hang out with them ever since I moved to LA. We didn’t do anything special. We just chilled and ate good food everyday. That was about it. Didn’t take a lot of pictures too! Hahahahaha. I had lots of fun though… It was nice surrounded by those people who you have known forever… I miss them already :(

Ahhhhhhh back to reality….. Back to normal life.. Back to hard core studying…. 3 more weeks till winter break. I’m in need of a long relaxing holiday…

Hanngg in there, Christine…. You need to finish stronggggggg….

Tried this express Korean bibimbap near UCLA, Westwood area. Amazingly, it was good!

Girls at Victoria Gardens

Total failure!! Asked someone to take this pic for us, and apparently her hands were shaking because it was very cold that night!

Had our own fun inside the room….

:)

Yayyyy!! Just finished registering for classes for spring semester! Hallelujah, everything went according to my plan :)

• Biblical Interpretation and Spiritual Formation
• New Testament (during inter-term)
• Psychology of Marriage
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cross-cultural/Ethnic Issues in Psychology
• Introduction to International Development

This past weekend, my pastor and 3 other people from my home church in Jakarta came to San Francisco. Let’s just called the 4 of them the JPCC crew because it is easier to refer them that way. They attended a conference in Atlanta, and before flying back home, they decided to stay for 2 nights here in SF. They came in the very right timing, as I was really homesick this past month. Got a chance to spend two full days with them on Sunday and Monday. I had a lot of fun. They somehow cured my home sickness. Can’t wait to be back with them in Jakarta.

On Sunday, I didn’t go to my church here (Gracepoint). I went to IFGF San Francisco (Indonesian Church) where my pastor from Jakarta was the guest speaker. It felt peculiar listening to him preach in a totally different environment compared to the one back home, yet through it all, I was very grateful that I was able to attend the service because I did feel a little bit at home. Anyways, after church, I had lunch with the pastor of IFGF SF and also of course, the JPCC crew. We ate at Spiral, a restaurant in South San Francisco. I think they do have one of the best ramen in the world! Then, we headed to Marco Polo to get their famous durian ice cream, which I have no interest in even trying… I got the green tea flavor (YUMMYYY). My pastor lovessss durian ice cream! Next, we headed to Fisherman Wharf and took A LOT of pictures. We stayed there for a while… Then, we stopped by near the Bay Bridge area and again, TOOK A LOT of pictures. For dinner, we at Marnee Thai. The food was overrated, I think. I checked it on Yelp, it has good ratings, but I don’t think it was that good. Before sending them back to the hotel, we went to Twin Peak to see the outstanding view of San Francisco.

On Monday, the weather was not very friendly to us. It was raining almost the whole day. We went to Ghirardelli Square. They bought a lot of chocolates for souvenirs. We ate lunch at Brothers, a Korean restaurant at Geary street. It was not that great at all. Then, we parked the car at O’Farrel Parking building and just walked to the Union Square area. We spend like 3 to 4 hours there and after that, we headed to the hotel. We chilled for a bit, since everyone was tired. We had a quick dinner at In and Out and went to the Airport.

I miss homeeee BADLY BADLY BALDY 10000000x. Just can’t wait to be back in my home church and spend time with my family. 16 more days till I fly back home.. Actually, thinking of flying back earlier….

:) :) :)

With Ps. Fendi and family :)

Lombard Street

Twin Peak at night. View of the whole of SF :) Beautiful….

Last picture at the airport. Missing them already! Counting the days till I see them again.

Got this from my pastor! He is definitely the most thoughtful pastor ever. He knows that I don’t like ironing (I iron all my clothes, I don’t like putting them in the dryer). This is steam iron. Very easy and practical!

I decided to not post Biola pictures. Not because I don’t want to, but because all the pictures are in my phone.. I am too lazy to import it! Sorry!

Maxwell Night (Spring 2010)

Freshman Discipleship

Baptism