4th October 2005 - Day 1

After 12 plus hours of flight on SQ26 and numbed legs (and bum), I set my foot onto Franfurt am Main Flughafen. The immigration customs was relatively smooth going. At least I didn't have any problem with it.

The flight was late because there was some container stuck the wrong way up in the cabin. Due to safety reason, the pilot decided to ascertain what it was before taking off. After 40 mins of hoo-hahs, the plane finally left Singapore.

That was not all. I was late for the earlier train to Karlsruhe. Therefore, I had to take a later train, which arrived 25 mins late. Whoever said that die deutsche Bahn is very efficient might have to rethink the sentence.

I arrived in Karlsruhe at around 0920. I didn't attend the Sprachkurstest as I was late. Jason, a fellow Singaporean who is studying there came and fetch me up. I was quite glad that he did, in view of my 27.1 kg luggage and 11 kg hand carry bag.

He then brought me to the Akademisches Auslandsamt to settle my accomodation. It turns out that I would be housed in the Hans-Dickman-Kollege (HaDiKo for short). It's nice room, compared to having no place to stay. I then applied for internet. I was quite surprised that it was actually so fast to settle in.

Jason then took me around to tour the Karlsruhe buildings. we had lunch at the Mensa. It was pretty interesting as the food taken was measured by weight and paid accordingly. The price for students is currently €0.60 per 100 grams.

After which I came back to the hostel to unpack my stuffs and arrange things. I left again at 1700 for the official address of the International Office of Karlsuhe.

Following the address, there was some O-group games. Basically, it was some naming game. Of course, I haven't eaten yet. We went with the O-group tutor to some Kippe where the food was quite nice. I had my first glass of german beer.

We then took the Straßenbahn down to Nancy Straße where there was a party. Not very interesting, I think. I met up with Alex (the one who kept sending me emails) by chance and he told me he'll give me a lift back, which he did.

So here I am, after finishing my shower and surfing the net, typing this virgin entry for this blog. I have to sleep early to attend the Sprachkurs tomorrow.