Artikel ini adalah karya dari Matheus Aaron dari SMAK St. Louis 1, Surabaya yang merupakan pemenang kategori di Jurusanku Essay Competition in Colaboration with Victoria University .
I was sitting in a café by the side of the road longing for someone who should have arrived an hour ago. It was still 4 o’clock in the afternoon but the sun no longer shine. It was hiding behind the hard rain. The newspaper I was reading turned to pulp. An Americano and an Espresso sitting on the table turned ice cold. The steam was nowhere to be seen. Out of nowhere, a tall figure rushed to my table. With raindrops still dripping from her coat, she heavily breathed in and out. Mist kept forming and dispersing under her nostrils.
Gaspingly, she said, “Janice! It’s so good to see you!” “Maggie! You’re back! What happened? You’re ice cold. Have a seat and a sip of the coffee,” I replied. It has been a long time since we graduated from high school. She grabbed the seat in front of me and sniffed the coffee. I know what was on her mind. “You didn’t poison the coffee, did you?” We broke into laugh.
“You won’t poison me just like how Jessica poisoned Mirna, right? So, what actually happened with Mirna?” she asked.
Just like mothers gossiping about their children, I gossiped “Well, rumors said she was poisoned by her own friends she met in college in Australia. Just like you, the murderer returned to Indonesia to do the kill. Speaking of Australia, you’re the one who actually owe me a story of a life as a scholar in Melbourne! Tell me!”
“I took Biomed,” she added. I was shocked. Why in the world would someone take Biomedicine as a degree? It’s so boring and bland and all the plain words you can think off. She saw my mixed-up confused face. “I know. It seems lame but when you get in, it’s great!” She started explaining things you learn in biomedicine. If it wasn’t for the coffee, I’d doze off right now. Then, a line struck me. “…and the best part of it you could save people’s lives.” That struck me hard. It was my deepest passion to actually transform people’s lives. Healing them would actually change them. Most of the times, those near-death experience changes you. Most of the times too, they got so close death came upon them.
“Hello?” Maggie snapped her fingers in front of my face. The daydream was gone floating away with the rain. The sun came back shining through her smile. “I thought you’re here for my story.” “I was inspired with your saving-people’s-lives anecdote. I mean, I’m stuck here in nowhere close to change my habit.” I stutteringly replied. Her next words were the finest. “Anything you do will change the world. It’s just what change do you want to make? What legacy do you want to leave?”
Silence was conserved. I think it was 10 minutes exchanging glances sipping the no-longer-hot cyanide-free coffees. She broke the silence this time. “Come here! The people are really nice.” My mind was still in a state of emptiness. “Sorry, what?” “Why don’t you enroll here? There’s a lot of overseas students here too. Like you. Like me. Like us.” Why?I asked in my mind. Just like she read my mind, she began elaborating on why people are actually going far to Australia just to attend Victoria University. One thing stuck hard in my brain is that the opportunities are open wide. There are many clubs, societies, workshops, and even competitions to join in. “You do not participate. You get to be a part of their Ohana. Their family,” added Maggie. She then bragged about the club she’s in, kickboxing. “This is to support my degree, to live healthy.You can see my slim hip over here. I’d like to thank Kickboxing for this.” Ah! That explains why I can’t recognize her in a single glance. She has lost so much weight over time.
Finally, she’s back to her point. “That’s why you should go here. Many international students came here for the same reason I came here: opportunities. There are so many things to do there exploring your limit and breaking it. When you leave university, the opportunities are not closed down but opened wider. Graduates of VU are ready to join the global workforce.”
Astonishment still got the best of me. Words stuck on the tip of my tongue. Until that time, I was directionless. I do not know what I want to neither know where to go. She came to show me a purpose I should serve: healing people. Victoria University is the way to achieve change. “Well, I should get going,” ended her taking the last sip. “Perhaps, when can you meet me again?” “No, Jan. You WILL meet me.” Not long after, we’re roommates and giving a speech as Nobel laureates.