Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously

I guess I already told you in my previous post that I've been accepted at the Australian National University, Canberra. I registered for Master of Linguistics (coursework) program, but ANU staff offered me Master of Linguistics (research) program instead. They said that I have a potential in this program considering my undergraduate thesis (I did some research on speech acts and implicatures on the dialogues in the movie Everything is Illuminated, which resulted in very interesting cultural and linguistic conclusions. I even admire myself for being able to do such a wonderful job. I love my undergraduate thesis. That's one of the very few things I hardly regret from my undergraduate study experience).

But as I think about it carefully, I think research program will cost more time and money. And I'm not such person who loves to risk my time and money. Time and money are like the two best gifts God ever gave me, you know. Of course, there's a possibility for scholarships. But it's not a full-fund scholarship and I have to compete with other people who probably deserve scholarship better than me. So, nah. I'm still in my previous choice: coursework program, as it is more efficient and effective, in my opinion. Besides, coursework program doesn't only provide me courses in the class. I should also write some 20,000 - 30,000 words sub thesis, which I believe will improve my academic writing skill.

Other than that, I just want to take one-year program so that I could come back to Indonesia (Hell YEAH, I'd love to leave Indonesia like FOREVER. but my family will not allow me) and find a more suitable job for my career. My one-year working experience was kinda a huge failure, despite I got so much knowledge (whether economic and lingustic knowledge) from my job as an editor at Markets.co.id. Thank you, Mr. Gde Anugerah Arka for that. But still, I want to find a job, which I will love for the rest of my life. A job that will get along with my linguistic hobbies.

Well, let's just pray I'll find some job in Australia. If there's still some more good luck available for me. Then, I don't have to return to Indonesia and I will probably be so filthy rich.

So now... I'm excited in preparing everything. From passport, visa, accommodation (I registered for a room in Fenner Hall, ANU. But I'm not sure yet whether they will accept me or not. Let's pray for the best), etc.

And here are the courses I'm going to take during my study there. Some of the courses sound so exciting. Oh, no. ALL OF THEM sound exciting. I love linguistics so much.

Compulsory courses (Group A):
LING6001 - Introduction to the Study of Language

And at least two of (Group B):
LING6003-Introduction to Syntax
LING6005-Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction
LING6008-Semantics
LING6010-Phonetics: Sound of the Worlds Languages
LING6019-Phonological Analysis

Elective Courses:
LING6002-Language and Society
LING6007-Morphology
LING6009-Field Methods
LING6015-Language and Culture
LING6016-Language in Indigenous Australia
LING6017-The Chinese Language
LING6018-Languages in Contact
LING6020-Structure of English
LING6021-Cross-Cultural Communication
LING6022-Language Planning and Language Politics
LING6023-Dictionaries and Dictionary Making
LING6026-Syntactic Theory
LING6101-Second Language Acquisition
LING6103-Discourse and Society
LING6505-Acoustics of Voice
LING6508-Study of a Language Family
LING6509-Research Design in (Applied) Linguistics
LING6511-Conversation Analysis
LING6521-Child Language Acquisition
LING6522-Seminar on Semantics
LING6525-Special Topics in Linguistics
LING8025 - Tools and Resources for Language Analysis

Okay, I'm waiting for the rain to stop. If it doesn't stop yet, I won't be able go to my faculty to assist Writing class. God, I hope it will stop raining soon.

Meanwhile, I have translated two professor profiles and I have finished two Teacher Training journals.

Give me a big applause!!! *clap clap clap* ---> nevermind

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Still waiting for the rain to stop, I'm gonna tell you about my future plans. I'm planning to try Fulbright scholarship program. I want to study linguistics in America. Wish me luck.

I'm planning to focus on pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics. If I could I want to discuss about bahasa Indonesia and Indonesian local languages in my future thesis. And I have observed some universities in the U.S. And I have to choose 3 universities that I would like to attend. However, I found these four:

Yale University


It is one of the best universities in the U.S. It also has one of the best linguistics department. But I got only a little information from the site. I'm not sure whether or not they will encourage my ideas about Bahasa Indonesia and Indonesian local languages. However, they do encourage researches on sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. And I love the location (I love eastern part of the US). Moreover, the member of The Ivy Leagues. haihaihai.

Cornell University

I love the location. It is also the member of The Ivy Leagues. I love the campus panorama. My favourite professor, Bu Melanie Budianta is the alumni of this university. It has one of the best linguistic programs in the US. But... but... when it comes to historical linguistics and sociolinguistics, Cornell focuses only on the European or Indo-European languages. T___T
Stanford University

It is one of the best universities in the U.S. It also has the BEST and the most complete linguistic programs. I just don't like the location. I don't like California.

University of Hawaii Manoa


It is probably not the best university in the US. However, it supports sociolinguistic and historical linguistic research on Austronesian languages (including bahasa Indonesia and Indonesian local languages). I like the panorama in Hawaii.... but I'm afraid of Tsunami and Russia's plan to have a missile test in the North Pole. XD

So, which one should be my priority? and which one do you think should I eliminate from the list? I can only choose three. [read]