Memoirs from Deutschland I

In one of my earlier posts, I had written about my encounter with the legendary German kindness. So let me continue from where I let off.

From Frankfurt airport, I had to take a train to Stuttgart. Quite unwittingly, I had booked a train with a transit at Mainz Station. I had not foreseen the enormous luggage that I would have. The transit seemed tedious.

There is one more thing very famous about Germans. Its their punctuality. Even trains are mostly punctual. But, as my luck would have it, the train I was waiting for, was late. I arrived at Mainz station only to see the my connecting train ready to start. Though it was just a platform away, I was not going to be able to make it in time. I had nearly 30 kgs of luggage to drag with me. It was a hit and miss case. I somehow dragged myself onto the platform only to see the train start off. There, I was, at a small station stranded. I went to the service point of DB there only to find out that the service people knew very little English. In few simple words, I explained my situation and managed to make them understand. I soon found out that I was stranded at the station for two long hours.

My buddy, Andy who was to pick me up at the Stuttgart Station had already foreseen the possibility and had given me his number to call in case of delays. Now, there began my first experience with the German Public Telephones. After some initial hiccups, I finally managed to call and inform him that I am going to be two hours late.

Finally, the train arrived and I got into it. I had to shell out forty five euros for the journey (when converted into Indian Rupees, it is too high). Finally, I arrived at Stuttgart at around 10 30 in the night.

My buddies were waiting for me. Normally, an international student is always assigned a German Student who would help in all possible ways to make your stay comfortable. I was extra lucky in this regard. I had two buddies, Andy and Veronica. I would say, they are the sweetest persons I met in Germany. The first time they saw me at the station, I was quite a mess. I had a trolley bag with broken arm which I was dragging in one hand, another air bag tightly packed to the last inch on the other hand, a big shoulder bag and then, the one sided laptop bag on my shoulder with puffy eyes and cocooned in jerkin. They offered to carry my luggages which I relinquished quite happily.

I knew I was in heaven then. I knew I was going to have a great time with them at that moment. And indeed, it was quite true.

My 30 day challenge

I was lazing around today, thinking how useless this weekend has been. It is my strongest opinion that weekends are meant to be lazy. Yet, seeing people around me busy made me a bit guilty about being lazy. So as I was brooding over the wasted weekend, I came across a Google Buzz post by a friend. It was about a TED talk by Matt Cutts. He spoke about the 30 day challenge, about how 30 days is just enough to form a habit or to get away from a habit. This talk inspired me to take up a 30 day challenge. At last, something fruitful has come out of the weekend.
So here is my 30 day challenge. I have just returned from a wonderful internship from Germany with lots of memories. I never took care to catalog them properly when I was there in Deutschland. My 30 day challenge would be to pen down a memory each for 30 days. Let me warn all the readers before I begin. The posts might be mundane, stupid or interesting.
Happy reading :)

My last post as Teenager!

As the title suggests, I am writing this post in the few final moments left of my so-called teenage. I am far away from my family and friends. Of course, I have made the new friends here. But, still old is gold.
I would say I have spent my final few hours of teenage in a wonderful way. I watched "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. It was shared in facebook. I have taken to watching every video shared by friends since coming to Germany. So, I started watching it and I could not just stop in the middle though the lecture was one hour and fifteen minutes long. Boy oh Boy, I could not just stop. It was just so absorbing. The topic of the lecture was Achieving your childhood dreams. One must really watch it to feel the difference. For a man who knows his own death, he was very positive and inspiring.
There was this one sentence which I liked the most. "When you hit a brick wall, remember they are there to show you how badly you want it. They are there to stop those who do not want it as badly as you want it. They are there for others." These sentences made me think about my own life until now. I remembered the brick walls I had faced, the brick walls that had defeated me and brick walls I had scaled over successfully. Yeah, indeed these brick walls show us our dedication.
This summer in Europe is a classic example. After facing brick walls one after the other, I am having the time of my life in Germany now. It was all worth facing the brick walls. I have admired and learnt so many things from people and their culture here. This might be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.
When I look back, I am very happy at the way things have turned up for me until now. The future looks promising enough. With the teenage officially over, I am going to try and grow up a little bit, be a little more responsible and act a little more mature.
This reminds me of another sentence from Randy's lecture. "Never lose the child like wonder. Its just too important. It is what that drives us." This lecture has really inspired me. I cannot stop thinking about his words and contemplating about it.

About Randy Pausch:
Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch(October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: 3 to 6 months of good health left. He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon. He, then co-authored a book called The Last Lecture on the same theme. Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.
Click Here to watch The Last Lecture.

Kindness Unexpected !

Well, in the last post I had written about my first air trip. Here is an continuation of the things that followed that showed me that all those stories I had heard about the Germans being very kind, were indeed true.
So, we reached Frankfurt at around 2 30 pm on 2nd of May. We had a lot of luggages, I mean, a real lot. I was carrying nearly 30 kgs of luggage myself all stuffed into two bags. So imagine the weight it would have had. One was a suitcase trolley and other a traveller's bag. We actually had all our luggages put in a trolley. But we had to go to Stuttgart from Frankfurt in train. The train station was within the airport, but we had to leave our trolley behind since we did not know how to take them up the escalator.
I was pretty proud of myself until the moment that I had not yet slipped and had any mishaps. Well, normally I have a lot of them. My friends comment that I was not taught to walk properly at all. So one can well imagine how proud I was. Somehow, carrying all the 30 kgs of luggage, I was trudging along. As per the Murphy's law, the moment I thought everything was alright, i slipped on the escalator with my luggage and had a minor mishap. I did not actually fall down, but broke my trolley's arm in the process of balancing myself. So now, I had to carry both the bag and the suitcase. somehow I got off the escalator only to reach the top and realise that we were supposed to go the other way. I was standing there, with all the luggages, talking my friend's ear off about the weight of these luggages and speculating on how i was going to carry all of them without any further mishaps.
There was an airport police who was standing near the escalator. He was watching me struggle with my luggage for quite sometime. He came over himself and suggested that we get a trolley. So my friend went off to search for a trolley while I was left standing with all the luggages around me, actually looking like a girl lost in the festival. The officer, then called someone and told them to bring a trolley and then came with it himself and arranged all our bags on the trolley. After my friend returned with another trolley, he showed us how to take it down the escalator and we bid adieu.
I was so grateful. It is not normal that we would find someone show such kindness without being asked to. And that too, a police, no way! not as far as I have seen. But here was a German officer who helped me with my luggages even though I did not ask him to and even though he did not have to. It was then I realised that I have just had my first brush with the legendary German kindness.
It really touched me. That moment, I knew that the German officer will always remain in my memory as this kind stranger who came forward to help and showed me how a small act of kindness can bring a big smile on someone's face and make them happy.





P.S.: This post is dedicated to that unknown German officer who brought a smile to my face by his unexpected kindness.

My First Take-off

I know I have been away from my dear blog for a while. Well, I cannot say I was lazy this time. I have been busy. Yeah, very busy. I was going to go to a foreign country for the first time and I had to pack for it all alone as I had to leave two days after my final exams. The exams, the shopping, the packing, all kept me very busy. Now, when I think of it, I really wonder how I managed to study anything at all.
I am a Big Dreamer. Yeah, I am. So, I spent my days before the trip dreaming about it and now I am living my dream. I have come to Germany, for my internship. They say, the fruit is even sweeter when you are made to wait. Yeah, it definitely is. I can really write one full very long post about the difficulties I faced for this internship. The days filled with worries, thinking 'will this work out ?' 'will it happen?' But, now that I am here, I can say those days did not go waste. This internship would be one of the best times in my life.
There are many things that I would like to write about. Many things have been my first in this internship. So, here's an account of my first take-off.
My flight was at 4 40 early morning of 2nd May. I was not packed until 8 pm of 1st May. I literally, had my mom screaming at my ears to pack up. I finished it in 3 hours, cramming up all the stuffs that I were to take with me, my mom throwing things at me which i was supposed to pack but have forgotten. It was total chaos. But, since when had I ever not been in a chaos! Then, by 12 I was ready to leave to the airport. I was dead tired. I had roamed the whole evening, the whole stretch of Adyar, looking for a studio to take passport photos without any success. I reached the airport in fifteen minutes. I was early, very much. I could not help but ogle at all those perfectly dressed pilots and air hostesses who were crossing the lobby I waited. Finally, it was time to check in. My parents and my uncle had accompanied me to the airport. I had always thought that I will be in tears when I leave (considering the fact how easily tears come to me). But strangely enough, I did not. My mom was almost close. I consoled her that it is just for two months and that I will be fine. I could not believe I was smiling and consoling. My parents were the first to leave. Two of my friends who were also coming for the internship with me bid goodbye to their families. I can say, I was the chattering box that night. Talked the whole night away waiting for the flight.
Finally, the announcement for the boarding came. I was really excited. Being a bit religious, I made sure that I put my right foot in when I entered the plane. Lol. Our seats were in the last row. Soon, the captain announced the flight was about to take off. I wanted to watch my first take off. I was falling asleep. I really had to fight myself to keep my eyes open to see the take off. Never once did it cross to my mind, that since it is my first flight, I might feel the air sickness during the take off. The flight kept on going in slow pace in the runway. It did so, for a long time, a very long time.
And finally, it did take off. Swoosh, I could feel the take off by the pressure I felt on my ears. But, thank God, I was not air sick. It was then the thought crossed me, "Yay, I did it! I am finally on my way to Germany".

Memorable (2)day!!! Part 2

Day 2 - 23 April 2011

With the previous day already filled with fun, I was looking forward to another round of it. This time, it was the treat for
QQuest 2011.

All were requested to gather at 1 sharp. The seniors (final years) gave us all a pleasant surprise by turning up in the traditional dress, dhoti and shirt. Of course, they were the topic of most of the jokes and teases, targetted at their dhotis especially. In lieu with the famous indian punctuality, we (all the second, third final years of SQC) left the college at 1 20 pm. The treat was arranged at Palmshore Restaurant, Santhome. There were nearly sixty of us. We all got into one single bus. The conductor looked very happy.

It was a buffet with one big hall for ourselves. Everyone formed a beeline for the food soon. Even our director had turned up for the treat. The food was delicious. More than food, it was the atmosphere around. We had a nice time, talking to the seniors, teasing them for the dhotis and a lots more. The atmosphere was so charged that some chose not to settle in one table, kept moving and there was someone who never ate from his own plate :P

With food plundered n tasted thoroughly, it was time for some fun. The gifts session. First the final years gifted a photo frame to the director with the whole QQuest 11 team. The real fun began after he left. We, juniors gifted the seniors. The highlights were the nicknames : 'Complan Boy' Vijay, 'Strict Officer' Mukesh, 'I hate girls' Vinoth, 'Body' Suresh, 'Mandy' Vivek, 'Brainy' Britto n 'Alice in Wonderland' Pooja.

After the gifts, there were some dances and songs and general fun, the highlight being the final years performance (if it could be called so :P ) and the proposal act by Manikandan. Soon, we left the restaurant.

But the day was not over yet. Soon a plan was formulated to go to beach and off we went to the Besse Beach. The Besse Beach personally holds a lot of memories for me, my first year batch outing, day out with friends and lot more. With the cool breeze, not so bright sun, the climate was amiable. We all rushed to the beach to cool our feets. Soon, we were drenched in water. After spending quite a time in water, we came up to sit on the shore. Now, on the shore, as usual, there were vendors.

The beauty of such outings is the sharing. The moment you get something to eat, it disappears regardless of who bought it. It happened with the soan papdi. Then, there was a small boy selling sundal. He was such a quick wit. To sell his merchandise, he made all the dhoti worn seniors 'Mapillais' and 'Machans'. It was so full of life and enjoyment.

Having a thorough round of fun teasing each other, around 6, we decided to leave for college. Again, the sights of small kids skating in the ring caught the eyes and some fifteen minutes were spent watching them skate, fall on their bottom, get up, skate only to fall again! It was a kind of mesmerizing to watch them. One of us took the initiative to awaken everyone from the enchantment and we reach college around 6 40.

Yet again, there was a small gathering at the internet hub, people ragging and nagging each other. I was caught amidst a long list of things to be brought from Germany. All good things come to an end. So did this day. With promises of getting the things in the list, finally I left for my hostel aruond 7.

So ended two days of complete fun n frolic in the middle of semester examinations. I still do not feel like getting back to the boredom and hence the result, this post :)







P.S. This post is dedicated to the 7 seniors of SQC who 'always made hard work look easy'. Kudos to you all :)

Memorable (2)day!!! Part 1

I always seem to have more fun during the semester exams, than the normal days. This time, in the midst of exams, I had the chance of spending two days filled with fun and food :) This is a post about to those two days :)

DAY 1 - 22 April 2011:

I had slept, the previous night, with a terrible headache. So I got up in the morning, feeling groggy and not so fresh. Nevertheless, there were so many things to do. The day started off with me n two of my roommates, filling ourselves at the Canteen and leaving for the famed shopping streets of T Nagar. All I had to buy was a big trolley and some clothes. We spent three hours roaming the streets, ogling at the dresses and ended up buying some too. We returned by 1 to college.

We had a treat at Zaitoon in the afternoon. A long overdue one, given by one of the best persons I have met in my college life. With a gang of 11, the treat was a memorable one. Our table were the loudest and the weirdest one. The dishes kept disappearing the moment it arrived at the table. Being a pure vegetarian, I had a great difficulty in saving dishes from the non-vegs who indiscriminately ate everything that came. Anyways, it was total fun. With everyone's tummy full, we left the place. Yeah, I almost forgot. There was one photo session in front of the restaurant.

Well, someone started the call for desserts. It was quite impossible to think that there was place left for the desserts, after all that we ate. Still, we proceeded to the Naturals ice cream parlour. It was empty, except for us. Now, ice creams have great power. The moment we stepped into the parlor, seeing all those scoops of ice creams, the temptation was too great to resist. Everyone had their own flavor, along with one of my friends singing one beautiful song.

Then, there was the thrill of catching a bus waiting at the signal with a trolley in hand when there was only 10 seconds left for red to turn green. Somehow, we scurried into the bus. At the college, we had to hear earfuls from the watchmen who advised us about taking Id cards everywhere.

The weather was awesome. It looked like it was about to rain soon. No one wanted the day to end. So we settled under tamarind trees. May be it was the climate, may be it was the atmosphere, or may be it was just pure emotions, no one would know. Everyone started singing aloud. Though there were some very good singers among my friends, there were quite a few like me who were worse bathroom singers. Still everyone joined in and went on singing aloud, causing a few heads to turn and few dogs to run :P :P

I could not stay with them till the end as some work came up. As the evening passed, the skies opened up, making the already perfect day more perfect with beautiful showers, a great respite from the summer heat. Thus ended a day of fun surrounded by friends.







P. S. This post is dedicated to that one friend who gave us the treat :) Thank you anna :) :)