Example of Narrative Essay (Memoriable Experience)

12 Days in Mecca and Medina

            A memorable experience I 've had in my life was on 1 year ago,  me and my family went to Mecca and Medina to doing Umrah trip. I was with my mother and  my brother exacly on October-November, 2018. Our trip started from Palangkaraya city to Jakarta city for 1 hour by using Garuda Airplane, then continued from Jakarta to Jeddah for 9 hours and from Jeddah to Medina for 4 hours by bus. Amazing experience who I get a while 12 days in Mecca and Medina, when I could come and see directly historical places.

            The journey from Jeddah to Medina takes about 4 hours. My first day in Medina begins around 4 o'clock in the morning, we all arrived in Medina, as soon as I entered this city and saw the lives of its inhabitants through the window of the bus I could only say "masha Allah". then after a few minutes entering the city center of Medina, I along with another group had arrived at our hotel called Cocorde Dar Al-Khair  which is located not far from Nabawi Mosque. After finishing Subuh prayer and breakfast my mother and I came out of the hotel to take a walk around the Prophet's Mosque. Many Medina community activities are picnicking with families in city parks, playing soccer, and so on. The activity of this city seems to be centered on the Nabawi Mosque and its surroundings.

            Our journey in the city of Medina continued on the second, third and fourth day. on the second day. we were invited to the Quba Mosque, which was the first mosque built by the Prophet Muhammad SWT. On the second day around 9 am we were invited to the Al-Quran Museum which is not far from the Prophet's Mosque, there storing various kinds of Al-Quran manuscripts, one of which was written using blood. The interior of this museum is very artistic on the walls decorated with lafadz of Al-quran and some calligraphy. There we also watched a video about the history of the mushaf of Al-Quran in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Then on the third day we were invited to the Qiblatain Mosque, where in the past this mosque had 2 Qiblat directions but now there is only 1 Qiblat direction. After from Qiblatain Mosque we were invited to the Mount Uhud and the tombs of the syuhada because it used to be in the Mount Uhud  there was a war called the Uhud War. And at night precisely the evening after Isya prayer we were invited to visit the tomb of the Prophet Nabi Muhammad Saw. who was in the Prophet's Mosque there was also the tomb of friends the Prophet Muhammad SAW namely Abu Bakar Asshidiq and Umar bin Khattab. Then on our last day in Medina we were invited to visit the tomb of Baqi, in this tomb there were many families and friends of the Prophet Muhammad. after that I went with the group to go from Medina to Mecca by bus.

            The journey from Medina to Mecca takes about 2 hours. on arrival at the hotel we immediately rested, because at 11 o'clock in the evening we will doing our first Umrah. I’m so excited because that is my first time to doing Umrah. When I arrived at the Ka'bah I could only stay quiet because I could not believe I could see the Ka'bah clearly. Then we performed our Umrah that began with Thawaf around the Ka'aba 7 times, then performed the 2 rak'ah prayers behind the Ibrahim station, continued by Sa'i by ascending the Shofa Marwa hill and facing the qiblat 7 times beginning at Shofa hill and ending on the Marwah hill. then the last tahallul or cut a little head hair. After doing Umrah we returned to the hotel to rest and continue our activities the next day. thankfully my first umrah went smoothly even though it was a little tired. on the second day I was with my mother and brother walking to the market which is located under the Abraj Albait tower. there are very many shops selling souvenir items from clothes, toys, medicine, nuts, perfume, and other souvenirs. There are also many shops that sell typical Arabic food such as kebabs, Arabic fried chicken, and certainly rice briyani or bathing rice. there was a funny story when my mother and I walked around the mecca, there was an arab citizen who guarded the shop saying "Let's go Ayu Ting-Ting shopping here, let's go to Mulan Jamila go to my shop" in Indonesian language. Me and my mother just smiled while answering "Na`am" in Arabic language. For days 3 and 4 the same as on the first day me and the group doing Umrah. On our last day in Mecca we doing Thawaf Wada, this tawaf was done because it would leave the city of Mecca. then back to the hotel to get ready for Jeddah airport to go home.

            That's the story about my Umrah trip with my mother and sister. It's sad to leave this city full of history, but there are many experiences that have not been spared from my Umrah trip. I hope I'm with my mother and sister can visit that noble place again. Aamiin Allahumma Aamiin.