After an unusual long period without any signs of life from my side, I decided to send out an update today. The last weeks have been really busy as I somehow totally miscalculated my holidays. It seems I am becoming less and less German, because my sense for organization gets lost. A scary thought! Anyway, because I gave myself 1.5 weeks more holiday, I really had to struggle with keeping my deadlines (fortunately some lecturers Read more…
Although it is not always a good idea to generalize, I need to mention a few things I noticed about people in Great Britain. The sense of fashion is a bit different than on European mainland. Many British women love to wear some kind of a mini skirt, furry boots and a top that shows more than it covers. It may happen, this even goes along with overweight and far too much alcohol. Men love Read more…
My first examination period in the UK is over and it was easier than I expected. Honestly, I was very happy with that. After exhausting weeks of nothing else apart from studying, I needed a break from Sheffield on the Saturday after my last exams. Thus, some friends of mine decided we should go on a daytrip to Cambridge, the famous university city. There are plenty of daytrips to different destinations organized by the Student’s Read more…
Plenty of things happened since the last post. First and most important: Rafael moved out and he is almost back in Brazil again. Lately, it was freezing cold for him. It was sometimes really funny to see him wearing a woolen scarf, gloves and a hat whilst I was walking next to him in a sweater. However, to be honest UK is already much colder than I ever expected. I did not think that we Read more…
The strong American influence reached also my lovely island and so we happened to celebrate a huge Halloween party last Friday. Although nobody really knew, how to celebrate Halloween properly, we made the best of the situation and it resulted in a big international party. Everybody was wearing fancy dresses as you can see in the pictures. Thanks to Seiko I was a karate kid. After getting proper make-up at my Chinese friend Irene’s place, Read more…
He finally made it! That was what I thought last Monday evening after Rafael, my former roommate in Chandigarh, arrived at Sheffield bus station. It is now one week since he arrived and we both enjoyed this time a lot. Last Saturday we went to Blackpool, which is probably the most touristic town in UK. It looked a little like cities on the northeastern coast of Spain. Loads of amusement parks and arcades. It was Read more…
The first two weeks in university are over and I really like studying here. Nevertheless, there are a few things that are supposed to be simple, but are anything but. I would even say they are absolutely annoying. For example, submitting assignments. At university in Dresden, one only sends the assignment to the tutor or professor via email and everything is fine. Here however, it is not that easy. Instead it is totally complex and Read more…
Today was the last day before the university will start. I am really curious what I will have face from tomorrow on. How the lectures will be and so on. My schedule is fixed and it is going be interesting – especially on Mondays. I have one Portuguese lesson in between two computer science lessons. That means running from the church (yes, some of my lectures will be in a church) to the Arts Tower Read more…
By the end of the first week in Sheffield I can say: the start was good. After some problems, I have found a room. I have wi-fi in my room and we even have digital TV in the living room. The price is ok and it is 20 min from the university. From what I saw of Sheffield until now, it seems to be a good city to live. Two days ago, it was raining Read more…
I am back from Paris. Unfortunately, this was my last trip for this year. I really had this feeling of travelling again – just like in India. Only one week after coming back from London, Philip and I went for the next trip. Paris is a really cool city and the title is only related to a really funny coincidence. We did a lot of sightseeing and saw several of the big tourist attractions. Seeing Paris for Read more…
I am back from the trip to London and the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight is a lovely island in the south of the UK and who has not been there yet, should definitely visit it one day. It is beautiful, believe me! They even have their own little festival, which is called the Garlic Festival. It was great meeting some of the friends I got to know in India and I enjoyed these days Read more…
Yeah – the reunion is not far away. Wednesday next week Philip, Adriana, British Esther, Nick and I will meet on the Isle of Wight. I am really looking forward to this event, because I am so happy to see all of them again. I seriously missed them. Above all the joy in England, Philip and I will go to Paris to visit Elli, a friend of mine, only one week later. The best is, Read more…
The days I did not want to think of have arrived. Tonight I will arrive again in Chandigarh. Tuesday and Wednesday, I will have to pack all my stuff and say goodbye to everyone I have grown fond of. That will definitely not be easy! I cannot even imagine to be back in Germany in less than a week. On the one hand I am looking forward to coming back to Germany. On the other Read more…
The last nine days I have been far from internet and far from civilization at all. As I wrote in my previous post I joined a very international group for a trek to Goecha La. The group consisted of three women from the US, Great Britain and Switzerland and two other man from Canada and France. Together we went up to the Goecha La viewpoints at around 5.200 m. On the summit day we were Read more…
Unfortunately, my final vacation is over. I used the three weeks I had left for a trip to the northeast of India. From Delhi I want to Bagdogra / Siliguri by airplane. Then headed on to Darjeeling and Gangtok. There I arranged for a trek to Goecha La, from where I saw the Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Last but not least I went to Kolkata. It is unbelievable that these three Read more…
Thursday, I had the opportunity to go to the cricket match between India and Pakistan. Here, this is more important than a football match between Germany and Holland! However, Indians do not really create a passionate atmosphere in the stadium. Thus, I took over the role of an animator. As a foreigner, especially white guy in an Indian cricket shirt, this is not very difficult. Just for fun I started a Mexican Wave with my Read more…
Since the big trip to Goa, I have not been on large weekend trips. Last Sunday a small group of us drove by bus to Kasauli. It is a very quiet place about two hours from Chandigarh. The town is not exciting, but very relaxed. As I have seen many of the big tourist spots that are within a weekend’s range, I start to like these small places. I went there with Rajes, Libby and Read more…
This part takes off exactly a day after part I. Old Goa – My Date with St. Francis Xavier The journey to the Dudhsagar Falls was great, but exhausting. Therefore, I decided to take a timeout and spent the next morning on my own. I went to Old Goa, which was once a thriving Portuguese city. Old Goa is still full of well-preserved Christian architecture. Of course, I did not drive there without a reason. Read more…
It is very difficult to get back to work in Chandigarh after being on vacation for 2.5 weeks. We went to Goa for Christmas and New Year. The vacation was great and there is a lot to tell. However, first of all, we were completely spared by the giant tsunami that hit the entire region in south east Asia! We are all ok and apart from several power outages nothing happened to any of us. Read more…
Last weekend we finally were in Agra. The entire time, Agra was the most important destination for me here in India. The reason is the Taj Mahal, which is located in Agra. As mentioned in the post on Jaipur ‘Mahal’ means palace. In Jaipur I saw the Hawa Mahal (Place of Winds) and Jal Mahal (Water Palace). In Agra the Taj Mahal means nothing less than ‘Crown of the Palace’. Although the name sounds big Read more…
Following the Beatles Last weekend we went to Rishikesh, which is well-known for being the birthplace of Yoga. Back in the days, the Beatles spent some time here. I assume for various reasons, but who knows. Today it is an epicenter for Yogis around the world. Indeed, we saw many ‘Hippies’ there. We, however, did not go there for Yoga, which I went to a couple of times in Chandigarh, but for rafting in the Read more…
Firing the Cleaning Guy A lot has happened here in the last two weeks. First of all, I asked our landlord to dismiss the cleaning guy. He had stolen at least 30 € from me little by little. That may not sound a lot, but is actually 20% of my monthly salary! The man was not stupid. He used to take only 500 Rs (10 €) at a time. In the beginning I thought I Read more…
Off to Jaipur for Diwali Last weekend was the Diwali weekend, which meant Thursday and Friday were off. Diwali is the biggest festival in the Indian culture. It is like Christmas and New Year’s Eve together. Since my work colleagues indicated that the best place in India to celebrate Diwali was Jaipur, we had to go there. Jaipur is a 12h bus ride away from Chandigarh. The bus leaves in the evening and arrives in Read more…
First Time in Delhi Last weekend we went on a trip to Delhi. Delhi is the capital of India and in terms of population one of the largest cities in the world. Officially, Delhi is supposed to have 12 million inhabitants, but unofficially Indians even speak of 20 million or more. My expectations of Delhi were not very high due to the stories of other people (some of whom also live there). In short, a Read more…
Last weekend was a longer one and so we went to Dharamsala, a town in the Himalaya foothills. A bit similar to Shimla, it is located 2000 m above sea level. There is the exile seat of the Tibetan government and especially of the Dalai Lama. After some struggle in the beginning it turned out to be an amazing weekend and we were extremely lucky to meet his holyness, the Dalai Lama. Queuing in India Read more…
Since many asked me, what I do at work, I want to tell you a little bit about it. In the beginning I had nothing at all to do, except to teach myself PHP. That was too dull for me, so I joined the only SEO person in the company. SEO means Search Engine Optimization. The whole point is to optimize websites, so that they are listed on top for certain keywords on Google or Read more…
Last weekend the time had finally come. Claudia and Ralf, my close friends from Germany, came to visit me in Chandigarh. It was not easy to pick them at the train station, because once again I was the only foreigner there. Of course, I was immediately spotted by a beggar boy. As always, I arrived much too early and additionally the train was late. Thus, I had to deal with the beggar boy for about Read more…
During this week I thought it was getting colder, but that was only because I was already at work by 8 am and came home by 7 pm. Yesterday and today I was finally outside during the day and it is still as warm as in summer in Germany. However, it is pleasant, because it is not so humid anymore. Rickshaw Experiences I want to tell you a few things about Chandigarh and life Read more…
Last weekend I went on my first trip in India. We went to Haridwar, a very holy city for the Hindi. It is dedicated to the god whose symbol is the swastika. It is very weird walking around a town where you see swastikas everywhere. Haridwar itself is not very beautiful. Actually, it is a typical Indian city – loud, dirty and hectic. I have to admit, I was happy to be back in Chandigarh Read more…
I just got back from some weird rickshaw ride. The driver had no hands on either arm! For those who do not know – rickshaws are bicycle taxis. I only realized the missing hands when we were going already. However, despite initial concerns, it turned out that it is possible to ride a bike or rickshaw without hands. My first week in India is over and I have to say that I like it here. Read more…
First of all, I would like to tell you that I am well. After quite a long journey I made it to Chandigarh in one piece! I arrived at Delhi airport around midnight and was picked up by an AIESECER named Anuj, who also helped me to collect my train ticket later. Before that we waited 10 hours at the airport, because the hall there had air-condition. Then we took the bus to Delhi. The Read more…