Finest Moments In Germany – Part 1

Hey pals I have reached Aachen, Germany safely and with a glass of coffee and cold climate of Germany just thought of sharing some of the finest moments took place in past few days.

Outside RWTH Main Building

My flight schedule was Calicut, India to Dubai, UAE and Dubai, UAE to Frankfurt, Germany. From the day I knew that I will be changing my flight from Dubai, I felt quite sad that even though I will be landing at Dubai I will not be able to go out and visit one of the beautiful city in the world. But to my fate, I found lucky enough. My flight ( Emirates Airline ) on 26th August 2010 got delayed by almost 4hrs from Calicut Airport itself. So I missed my connecting flight at Dubai. Emirates provided me accommodation, food and travel free of cost in hotel( I guess it was 3 star ) in Dubai. No wonder why Emirates are best airlines in world. I stayed in Dubai for a night. My uncle’s (Alok Saboo) business is set up in Dubai so he asked one of his staff to show me Dubai and unexpectedly we saw most of the landmarks of Dubai in one night itself. Dubai is very beautiful. A big thanks to both of them.

Germany ICE Train

The very next day ( 27th August 2010 ) I flew to Frankfurt, Germany by Emirates airlines ( next available flight ). I was excited as it was my first fight journey and I enjoyed it to the maximum. I came down to Aachen, Germany by train the same day. I traveled by ICE train till Cologne ( köln ) and then by Regiobahn train till Aachen. ICE trains are  high speed trains that runs all over Germany with connections to neighboring countries also. They run at a speed of 300 km/h. The distance between Franfurt to Aachen is around 250km and I completed the whole journey in less than 2 hours. It was exciting experience to travel at 300km/h on land.

The most interesting thing was when I came out from hauptbahnhof (pronounced as halfbanhof meaning railway station in German) I saw Mercedes, BMW and Odi as taxis. I was shocked for a moment and then realized that I am in Germany and most of the Germans like their BMW more than his son ( no offense ). I hired a Mercedes to my place. It was a 5 minutes drive and I had to pay 5 Euros for it. I was speechless for a moment and then consoled my self (hehe… )

Aachen streets at night

Well in the following days I have completed most of the formalities like registering at the STADTAACHEN ( city registration which is compulsory in Germany ), got my temporary ID, WIFI username password, library card etc. Currently I have only German classes ( A1 level ) which is one month extensive course and is compulsory for all the international students. Though I had learned German in my schools (7th STD and 8th STD), I must confess that I don’t remember a single bit of it. Its fun learning German in Germany.

We had a city tour which was the part of German course. It mainly focused on exploring the city and German culture. Aachen is very beautiful and it consist of lots of fountains. The building structures and streets reflects the typical European culture in a truest sense. There is a dome which looks amazing in night and is awesome from inside. It has beautiful glass paintings and you feel extreme peace once you go inside. Aachen is also one of the historic place in Germany. Lots of stories and historic events are associated with it.

There was also a trip organized to border triangle, which was again the part of German course. It is a place where you will be in three different countries simultaneously. This place is actually shared by Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Though I couldn’t visit the place, I heard that if you turn to one side, you are in one country and If you turn again in another direction you are in a different country. They sounded exciting and I will be visiting it shortly. My German classes will get over by 8th October( approx) and my semester will begin by 11th October. Once semester begins, I have no idea about my time schedule will be. Anyways I need not worry for now…

INCAS UNO TABLE

We attended few get together ( more or less its parties) organized by INCAS ( an organization set up by the university to help incoming international students ). Every tuesdays there is a get together by INCAS. There will be tables arranged and you can just go, introduce yourself and get involved with the activities they are doing. The activities includes playing UNO, Moneyplay or discussion on ones countries, its clothing style, culture, dance forms, food, language, film industries etc. Must tell you that people here are very interested in bollywood movies.  Sometimes some group of students represents their country. They tell others about their country, for example last tuesday students group from Chile represented their country. This get together mainly focuses on interacting with international students so that we can get exposure and know them, their way of living and culture. It will help us to increase our contacts that can benefit us later. They also organize regular trips to various places covering Germany and some times outside Germany too. Last saturday they organized a trip to HEIDELBERG (RHINE river banks). It was a proper trekking of nearly 25 kms. The place is extremely beautiful and there was wine festival being celebrated. Wine festival was followed by wonderful fireworks. It was the same day when we had a trip to triangle border also and I was unlucky to go none of the place as I was not well. But we do have few trips coming up in the first week of October and I hope I won’t miss them.

RHINE River bank

I and my friends went for the trekking to the nearest valley. There is a cafeteria at the top from where we could see whole Aachen city. The whole city looks amazing. We could see most of the landmarks of the city including the famous Tivoli stadium, Dome and many more. In fact we can see some parts of Belgium too. All together it was a great experience so far and anxiously waiting for lot more…

Food is quite expensive here and so I have started cooking too. Just trying my hands on various dishes and I am proud that I did not burn anything till now . Actually I am hating pizzas and burgers, which is another reason for cooking. Thanks to my mother for teaching me and giving me come tips. Its a very pleasant weather as of now. But once winter starts ( some where mid October ) it will be very cold . Temperature is expected to go below -5 degree and it will snow too. It sounds exciting but will have to take some precautionary measures also and have to prepared for it.

Well well well lots more exciting moments are left out in this post, will cover it in the next one….so watch out my next post….till then Auf Wiedersein…

A sharp turn in my life – Scholarship in Germany

Now this is something never expected in my life. A sharp turn in my life. Well I came to know from my faculty that I have been selected for India4EU program and will be going to RWTH Aachen University, Germany. This was a surprise to me as I had never imagined even in my dreams that I will be getting this opportunity. I just thought to myself that “how can I get selected as there are people who had CGPA much more than me?”

India4EU is a section of Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window. It’s a scholarship program wherein students from partner universities in India can complete their part of graduation in partner universities in Europe. I came to know on Monday (don’t remember the exact date) but I was told not to tell anyone regarding this, as it was not announced officially. I was actually waiting for the official acceptance from Europe commission. I had a really tough and tensed time till Thursday when I got the official scholarship letter from the coordinating university.

All the 4days (from Monday till Thursday) I used to check my mail in almost every 2 hours. Well, when received the confirmation mail, I immediately ranged up my faculty to confirm if he had received any mail. He said no but confirmed me the email id. I felt extremely happy and I then called up my parents and told them. They were shocked and were very happy too. I explained them the whole thing. It was kind a surprise to both me and my parents. I didn’t tell any of friends at hostel, as I wanted to confirm it from CIR department in our college.

Next day I went to my HOD and asked her if she had any such information. With a shocked face she answered me no. I couldn’t follow what was going on, but I actually expected this to happen. I then called up Pradeep Sir, CIR Ettimadai campus. He confirmed me that yes I have been selected for India4EU program and the information is correct. I was overwhelmed and then I told my class rep to announce it in the class. It was announced during lunch break and as expected everyone was a stunned and was extremely happy. They congratulated me in a very unique way. I am not mention it here….: D. I can feel it even now…: D.

Well…I got lots of wishes from my friends, relatives, faculties members etc. I got numerous calls on next two days i.e., Saturday and Sunday( My battery will normally give a backup of 3days once fully charged…but I had to recharge it thrice in those two days hehehe… ) All my relatives in Kanpur(which is my native place) wants to see me. Whenever I talk to anyone over phone, first and last question used to be “When are you coming to Kanpur?” and finally I will be going Kanpur on 26th June.

On inquiring I came to know that, six more students from Amrita University will accompany me to RWTH. Three are from Bangalore Campus and remaining three are from Ettimadai Campus. I am in regular contact with them.

When I mapped the courses offered to me at RWTH Aachen University, I found that I have to complete Management Elective 1 here and so currently, I am doing a fast track course. The subject is Operations Research. It is quite easy subject and I think I can get good grade too. Well, till now everything is going really fine and smooth. I have also received my visa.

I just hope for the best and wish in future also everything goes well in a smooth manner…..