Happy Birthday Carissa Atrianty!

Today is my best friend's birthday. And I realized... how this girl has inspired me so much! This post is dedicated to her... for her 24th birthday. It's just a story of Carissa Atrianty (or Icha) from my perspective, but also how friends can inspire you to grow.

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Inspire Others to Write

Back in college, icha introduced me to blogging. It was the first time I knew about Blogger, The first time I decided to write online. The main idea is to nourish our writing talent, while expressing ourselves. Hers was "The Big Escapades" while mine was "Kaleidoscope". It was filled with funny stories, book reviews, inspiring quotes and pictures, and daily lives. I decided to stop writing there after 5 years, while Icha still update hers regularly. Salute to that!

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The Drawing Challenge

As a graphic designer, Icha needed to take basic drawing classes. She used different medias for the class: charcoal, pen, pencil, etc. It was fun and inspiring to see her tasks and how she did it.

At the same time, Icha knew about my drawing talent. At one point, she challenged me to draw together with her. It took me hours to finish drawing my hands, but I was satisfied with the result. Today (to be honest, just now I realized it) I learned that it is a priceless gift to encourage / challenge / inspire friends to go beyond limit.

Keep the Music Goin'

I joined choir and play piano while living abroad. Icha who plays the violin joined an orchestra instead. She performed in De Anza College back in 2012. What amazes me is that Icha found a time for orchestra in her schedule, met new people and older students, and performed on stage in front of the audience.

Shared Photo Blog

Around 2013, I created a photo blog on Weebly. It main purpose is to share photos of my experiences studying abroad in Michigan. But along the way, I thought of Icha and others to join. I thought it might be interesting to keep updating each other with pictures.

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Indonesia Mengglobal

I forgot how we both came to know the site. Indonesia Mengglobal is a website for Indonesian students who are interested in studying abroad. The website is filled with blog posts to help the candidates to prepare themselves. I wrote about University of Michigan a while ago. Carissa also did for her Art Center college. It's amazing to inspire other Indonesians to earn education abroad, and inspire friends to share as well.

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Quality of Work

We both entered different universities in 2013: Icha stayed in California for Art Center College of Design while I went to Michigan for University of Michigan. While visiting her place in 2014, I realized how hard she works. Designer can work individually or in a team, for a project. They start off with a concept first, exploring multiple ways to convey it, and work it off from there. I saw first hand how Icha tried different designs for a product. She has to stay up now and then for the job. On top of that, she wanted to deliver the best for each of the design! I guess that's just inspiring to anyone. Isn't it? :)

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You Can Write a Novel

Back in high school (it's like in 2007) Icha wrote a novel. It was a story about a girl who moved to Scotland and met... a ghost. Yep, that was the main idea. Haha. Well, she's better at explaining then me though...

Lisa is convinced Cornelius has an unfinished business, which she's eager to discover. Their interaction gradually turns into a ticking bomb, as Lisa finds herself falling for him. But is there any possible force in this universe that can bring them a "happily ever after"? 

And guess what? Now in 2016, she actually revised based on ideas and feedback she got! This... is what I call true passion.