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2006-04-02T18:00:00.000+02:00

Here are all the entries of this blog arranged in chronological order. Don't be surprised if nothing turns up - Blogspot isn't really stable.

As an alternative, try to get to the day you want to read through the monthly archives.

October 2005

Day 1 – Arriving in Karlsruhe
Day 2 – Joining a German class without taking the placement test
Day 3 – Informing the Stadt and enrolling into the Universität
Day 4 – Administration and waiting
Day 5 – Ausflug to Trifels
Day 6 – The first Sunday in Karlsruhe
Day 7 – Changing classes
Day 8 – Grocery shopping
Day 9 – Some pictures of Karlsruhe
Day 10 – More waiting

Day 11 – Party at HaDiKo
Day 12 – Baden baden and steaming a chicken
Day 13 – What’s in Karlsruhe?
Day 14 – Meeting more people
Day 15 – Sergio
Day 16 – Of Referat and computer accounts
Day 17 – Overestimation of one’s language ability
Day 18 – Last day of German class and some other problems
Day 19 – Flohmarkt and Karlsruhe
Day 20 – Still searching for modules

Day 21 – Einstufung Test
Day 22 – First lecture auf Deutsch
Day 23 – Flurversammlung
Day 24 – Some differences
Day 25 – Where is the lecture held? And what is this letter for?
Day 26 – Excursion to Wissembourg, France
Day 27 – Daylight Saving Time

November 2005

Day 28 – Hausfest for Halloween
Day 29 – A failed trip but an enjoyable Stammtisch
Day 30 – Connecting to internet

Day 31 – A false sense of security
Day 32 – Karlsruhe’s pasar malam
Day 33 – Visiting Familie Smith
Day 34 – Klettern at Felsenmeer
Day 35 – Watching internet programs
Day 36 – Buying a German grammar book
Day 37 – Pay up!
Day 38 – Dry skin
Day 39 – Do you know where that is?
Day 40 – Ettlingen

Day 41 – Keinen Strom und keine Kartoffeln
Day 42 – Krankenkasse
Day 43 – I have a choice
Day 44 – Letter from the Bürgerbüro
Day 45 – Washing clothes with a washing machine
Day 46 – Meeting up with fellow Singaporeans
Day 47 – Köln
Day 48 – Interview and free lunch
Day 49 – What they discuss for Flurversammlung
Day 50 – Light bulbs

Day 51 – Changing bed sheets
Day 52 – 25€ for a mistake
Day 53 – Twins
Day 54 – Strasbourg
Day 55 – Area cleaning
Day 56 – Negotiation with a professor and Fluressen
Day 57 – Problem with counting
Day 58 – Learning things slowly

December 2005

Day 59 – Haircut
Day 60 – Slight improvement

Day 61 – Bruchsal
Day 62 – Feuerzangebowle
Day 63 – Salvaging the situation
Day 64 – Some tuning required
Day 65 – Cleaning up the floor
Day 66 – Dangerously optimistic
Day 67 – Skipped a lecture
Day 68 – It is amazing
Day 69 – Konstanz- Ulm- Stuttgart
Day 70 – ICT

Day 71 – Vivek and elephants
Day 72 – What’s that on the screen?
Day 73 – A record time
Day 74 – How to wash utensils the German way
Day 75 – Basel
Day 76 – Another bulb blew
Day 77 – Brainwashed
Day 78 – Not very bright
Day 79 – 101 ways to get to Dresden
Day 80 – Dresden Day 1

Day 81 – Dresden Day 2
Day 82 – Christmas eve
Day 83 – No updates for a while

January 2006

Day 84 – Back in Karlsruhe again
Day 85 – Excuses
Day 86 – 4,0 ist genug
Day 87 – Understand-German-lecture-notes-immediately
Day 88 – Karlsruhe Appreciation Day
Day 89 – Shoe polish
Day 90 – Translating everything doesn’t work

Day 91 – Harvesting Blu-Tacks
Day 92 – The power of assumption
Day 93 – Waiting for the sale
Day 94 – Registering for exams
Day 95 – Nest for homeless birds
Day 96 – Streets filled with people
Day 97 – Crazy weather report
Day 98 – The hypothesis was correct
Day 99 – Scheduling exams
Day 100 – How to be a decent burglar

Day 101 – Pfennigbasar
Day 102 – Snow can be quite beautiful
Day 103 – Celebrating Chinese New Year Eve
Day 104 – First day of Chinese New Year
Day 105 – Unlocking the Speak-German-With-Relative-Ease mode
Day 106 – The days are getting longer

February 2006

Day 107 – Self test
Day 108 – The package arrived
Day 109 – Deciphering what I wrote
Day 110 – Enzyme activity is lower at lower temperature

Day 111 – The difference is in the water
Day 112 – Dentist appointment
Day 113 – Studying in Germany
Day 114 – What I learn during Phonetik lessons
Day 115 – The Winter semester is ending soon
Day 116 – A Beisitzer
Day 117 – Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache
Day 118 – Differences between 2 universities
Day 119 – Dentist appointment number 2
Day 120 – Panic strikes

Day 121 – How an exchange student is graded
Day 122 – The premier institute of education
Day 123 – Because I’m an exchange student
Day 124 – Rate of consumption of various items
Day 125 – 40 days left
Day 126 – Generalisation and Dentist appointment number 3
Day 127 – Distracted
Day 128 – What is the focus of the lecture notes?
Day 129 – Chemical Engineering student don’t know basic Maths!
Day 130 – Visiting a plant-building company

Day 131 – Carol’s birthday party
Day 132 – Student life in Germany
Day 133 – Another dentist appointment?
Day 134 – Fasching

March 2006

Day 135 – Calculating the area under a curve
Day 136 – Why is it still snowing?
Day 137 – Uncertainty and waiting to be exploited
Day 138 – Reasons for not visiting Schwarzwald
Day 139 – Recovering from flu with the 3-2-1 Method
Day 140 – The Betreuer threatens

Day 141 – The Teilnahmeschein will be sent
Day 142 – My last mündliche Prüfung
Day 143 – A bad record stays forever
Day 144 – Not all Betreuer are mean
Day 145 – Speyer, IMAX theatre and Fluressen
Day 146 – Erotikmesse
Day 147 – Dizzy dizzy
Day 148 – My last Flurversammlung
Day 149 – Making travel plans
Day 150 – Mayonnaise production

Day 151 – Octane number and my lab group
Day 152 – Re-appreciating Karlsruhe and the coming of Spring
Day 153 – Visiting Familie Smith again
Day 154 – A new member
Day 155 – Bathing at Baden baden
Day 156 – Start of the Austria and Switzerland trip
Day 157 – Wien Day 1
Day 158 – Wien Day 2
Day 159 – Wien Day 3
Day 160 – Salzburg Day 1

Day 161 – Salzburg Day 2
Day 162 – Innsbruck
Day 163 – Zürich Day 1
Day 164 – Zürich Day 2
Day 165 – Last day in Germany
Day 166 – Reflections

1st April 2006 - Day 166

2006-04-01T23:47:00.000+02:00

For in-flight entertainment, I have 3 babies wailing in front of me.

As I write this, I think about what happened 180 days ago when I first reached Karlsruhe, Germany for my Student Exchange Program (SEP) as part of an enrichment program under the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The main building of Universität Karlsruhe

I didn't count wrongly. I cheated and took a 14 days break back home over New Year. There were no entries between 26th December 2005 and 8th January 2006.

The familiar aisle in Aldi-Sud

The 4 semesters of German Preperation Classes at the Centre of Language Studies (CLS) have undoubtedly helped me navigate through the puzzling German administrative system, be it in the Universität, the Bürgerburo or the Bank. It would not be easy if I did not know any German and was thrown straight into this situation.

A piece of Stadt Karlsruhe in my memory

But, I didn't really improve in terms of language ability even though all my modules were conducted in German.

Generally speaking, SEP is an administrative nightmare which should be avoided at all cost, especially for one in which the language of instruction will not be English.

However, if you do manage to get pass the hurdles that stop you initially, the experience will stay with you for life.

Certainly, there are times when one feels lost and quite helpless in a new environment. Carry on doing what you are doing anyway. It beats staying at a spot.

Unquestionably, I do think certain personality types are more suitable for SEP. But whoever you are, it will definitely benefit you in some ways.

Students have different reasons for going on SEP. Some want fun, some want exposure to an international stage, and some just want to get away from NUS and S/U all their core modules. But whatever it is that you want, keep it clear in your mind and be sure that you get it at the end of your program.

I tried to document every day of my life during SEP so that I could recall what happened. As time passes by and with exposure to new experiences, only fragments of memories of my SEP will be left. But that's just me. I trust that others have better memory storage capacity.

In fact, I feel like as if I have never went for SEP.

A SEP cannot be simply classified as "fun" or "not fun". At least it would be difficult for me to answer the question. It is an experience. And everyone's experience living in a different country or town will definitely be different.

It was wonderful to have you, my friends, as readers of this blog. I shall post up a content page listed in chronological order for ease of reading and navigation at a later time.

So, I hereby declare the end of this journey.

31st March 2006 – Day 165

2006-03-31T23:54:00.000+02:00

What a joke. A few days into Daylight Saving Time, I still set the wrong time on my alarm clock.

I wasted no time at all doing all the last minute packing and cleaning up the room. The fact that I'm leaving this place struck me when I finally packed everything into the suitcase. The room looks so empty. Just like the first day when I reached here.

I finished cleaning up all the furniture at around 1040. After which, I placed my luggage in the common room and the trash was taken out.

The Hausmeister was a few minutes late. Understandable, since today is the last day of the month. Many other people would be moving out too.

He did a quick check on the room and soon, I was on my way to collect back my Kaution. I didn't thought it would be so reibungslos.

I went down to the Krankenkasse to return them the insurance card. It was there that they revealed to me that they had not booked my account for the fees this month even though they said they would do so earlier.

Thoughts of not paying flashed past my mind. But it's better to settle all bills here rather than having them chase me when I'm back. The transaction cost would be even higher.

At the bank, I was informed that I would have to pay 6€ more for the Überweisung. Unnecessary cost incurred due to not checking properly before closing my bank account.

And the man at the counter still joked about the Interpol coming after me if I don't pay up.

That aside, all the administrative work were done quite painlessly.

I met Nan for lunch at the Mensa. I met Felix there too while having lunch. Felix is still doing his Studienarbeit. He's a pleasant guy to hang out with. Especially during IBWL tutorials when he explained the jokes to me.

After lunch, Nan and I went to have some cappucino. Then we started talking as if we were some old men, like what he said. Maybe we'll meet up again some time in 2008 in China, and continue talking like old men.

I followed him to the library as I had to write something for the "H5 Hall of Fame".

If you guys are interested to know whether my German has improved over my stay here in Karlsruhe, here's the proof. I wrote the following paragraphs in about 25 minutes without any help.

Liebe Leute von H5,

Hah! Ich bin der erste in diesem Buch zu schreiben! Es war ganz toll hier mit euch am H5 zu wohnen und euch kennen zu lernen. Ihr habt mein Aufenthalt in Karlsruhe unvergesslich gemacht.

Das Fluressen, die Feuerzangebowle, die Flurversammlungen und die "Ausländerfeindlichkeit" machten viel Spaß (Ja. Fährt nicht nach Singapur. Es gibt dort keine Kartoffeln und Strom! =P).

Weil ich zeitlicheweise schlecht geplant habe, hätte ich keine Zeit für ein Abscheidsparty. Das ist doch keine Ausreden. Trotzdem möchte ich mich für die wunderbare Zeit hier bedanken.

Seid nicht enttauscht! Hier findet ihr Schokoladen, die ich von Österreich und der Schweiz mitgebraucht habe. Das ist aber eine kleine Danke von mir.

Viel Erfolg noch in der Zukunft. Bis wenn wir uns wiedertreffen!

As you can see, anyone with 2 semesters of German at CLS could have written this. I'm sure a lot of mistakes can be found. Have fun finding them! But do tell me too where I've gone wrong.

As I still had 0,23€ left, I tried to spend it on something. No use bringing coins back. I passed by a breadshop and bought a Brötchen for 0,20€. Good enough.

I went back to hostel and started reading the magazines while waiting for time to pass by. Out of nowhere, a Chinese appeared.

It seems that he would be the next in my old room. But he's not allowed to move in as the Hausmeister claims that the ex-tenant (which is me) has not returned the room.

As he could only speak Chinese and English, he asked me to help him talk to the Hausmeister.

Well, just give it a try. It's not my problem too if negotiation fails.

I tried to ask the Hausmeister if he could move in today. But the Hausmeister now claims that there are some renovation to be done in the room.

"Könnten Sie bitte vielleicht eine Ausnahme machen?"

Probably because the Hausmeister was surprised to see me still here, he agreed to let the China man move in today and do the actual hand over on Monday at 0800.

"Das ist aber sehr nett von Ihnen!", I said to the Hausmeister, who is now extremely pleased with the compliment.

Oh well, everyone is happy now.

The time has finally arrived and I made my way down to the bus stop and subsequently the Straßenbahnhaltestelle. What a coincidence! I actually met Leo there. Leo has just finished his exams and decided to help me with my luggage to the Hauptbahnhof. I was more than grateful for his help.

Here comes the final test of the German administrative hurdle: Cancellation of my Bahncard 50. The lady at the counter said that the cancellation has to be done schriftlich. She handed me a piece of blank paper and I just started writing. Corrections from readers are welcomed.

Kündigen

Ich möchte meine Bahncard 50 kündigen, weil ich nach Hause fliege und nicht wiederkommen werde. Meine Daten läuft wie folgt:

Name: **** ***, ***
Bahncard Nr.: **** **** **** ****

Karlsruhe, den 31.03.06

Even if the letter doesn't get to them, they will find that the bank account does not exist anymore too.

I saved a grand total of 22€ with the Bahncard 50! Simply amazing!

At the airport, there were some problems too. My check-in luggage weighs 36 kilograms. The lady asked me to weight my backpack as well. 15 kilograms! And I 'm still holding on to another 2 kg on a paper bag.

She told me to repack my stuffs as they cannot allow such heavy stuffs in the cabin. Fair enough. I took out my laptop and some other electrical appliances and threw them into a plastic bag which I had prepared earlier.

She consulted another lady regarding my excess baggage. I was supposed to have only 20 kilograms. The other lady was much nicer. I told her my situation and she just smiled and told the lady, "Kein Problem!".

Lady number one then tried to explain that she had nothing against me.

"Sie brauchen nicht erklären," I replied. She didn't look very happy after that.

Which is true. Why do you need to explain yourself if you do not feel that way in the first place?

Even on the plane, there were some problems. My seat was allocated to another person. But that was easily solved.

So, farewell to Deutschland!

30th March 2006 – Day 164

2006-03-30T23:54:00.000+02:00

Although I set my alarm clock at 0800, I only woke up at 1000. I immediately took a shower, changed my clothes and headed for the secretaries' office. they will be closed by 1130.

The Teilnahmeschein was not ready yet. I kind of expected it with the irresponsible professor in charge. I have up till August to recieve my transcript and get the modules accredited. That should be more than enough time.

I headed back to hostel to find the Hausmeister in order to confirm with him my Auszugstermin. I must be really lucky today. He was right there sitting in his office. Normally, he's quite an elusive character. Sometimes, he can't even be found during his Sprechstunden!

It was confirmed. He will come at 1100 tomorrow morning to take over the room from me. I just have to pack up everything and wait for him to come. One thing I like about him is that once he says he'll do something, it will be done.

I decided to have lunch at one of the Kebap shop a friend recommended. It was really good. I got to drink a free flow of turkish tea while eating my Yufka.

I strolled down Kaiserstraße and bought an Eis for 1,40€. The serving was surprisingly big. I had Whisky cream and Melone. Not bad. But I've yet to see another ice cream parlour selling champagne flavoured ice cream besides the one in München.

I went further down to Mühlberger Tor to visit the Bürgerburo in order to announce my leaving of Karlsruhe tomorrow. I took a number with 16 people before me and went off to the toilet thinking it would take some time. When I returned, the number has already been called. I took another number.

There were now 54 people before me.

As soon as I was done with the informing, I went down to Postbank to close my account. Relatively painless. In a moment, I was receiving whatever pennies and cents I had left.

I walked around town and found myself attracted to C&A's spring sale. 20% auf alles. It might have been cheaper during the Winterschlussverkauf, but I still bought a belt to replace the old one I have. I'm leaving tomorrow anyway.

Some books would have been purchased, if not for the fact that I already have lots to drag back.

I started my packing shortly after 2100. Although I only had to stuff everything in the room into the suitcase, it was still not easy trying to do so. I was about 85% complete at 0315 when I finally decided to take a rest.

So, have to wake up early tomorrow to throw in the rest of the stuffs.

29th March 2006 – Day 163

2006-03-29T23:54:00.000+02:00

I woke up late and had to ask Qicong to leave first since he has to attend his lessons. He handed me his keys and left for the train station.

I took the time to think about where to go this morning. I decided that the Lindt chocolate factory would be worth a visit. But to visit the place, it would mean that I have to buy a ticket for 3 zones.

The problem was easy to get around.

The factory would only open at 1000, so I had some time to pack up all my stuffs into my backpack.

Lindt chocolate factory is no property of Willy Wonka, but the production lines were closed to the public as well. There was nothing interesting except for the strong whiff of chocolate in the air. In fact, there was nothing else I could do there except for buying chocolates.

Buy chocolate I did. Lots. Since they were for personal consumption, I did not mind buying the leicht beschädigt chocolate which were cheaper.

I was late for lunch since I went back to the hostel to put all the chocolate down. Qicong was worried that I disappeared with his keys.

The Landesmuseum here was also quite interesting. I could spend the whole afternoon in the museum looking at all the exhibit. On each display, there is a corresponding explanation with 4 languages, namely German, French, Italian and English. Understanding the exhibit is not a problem.

I couldn’t finish the museum on time. I made another arrangement to meet Qicong again outside 15 to 20 minutes later.

I rushed through the rest of the exhibits and when I was outside 20 minutes later. Mr Tan wasn’t there.

I waited until 1700 before I decided that he will not be there. I told him earlier that my train leaves at 1907 and should leave Dietikon by 1815. I presume he might have gone back first, and I made my way back too.

It turns out that he had to settle some billing problem before the post office closes, or else he would have to pay a fine. He was relieved that he did not have to pay the fine. I was too because my 40 CHF train ticket need not be wasted.

I took the 1830 train back to Zürich Hauptbahnhof and bidded him farewell from Dietikon.

It was not until 5.5 hours later that I reached Karlsruhe since I was taking the slower train from Pforzheim.

Back in the hostel, Stefan asked me again if there would be a Abschiedsparty since I would still be here for Thursday night. Well, I would be in Karlsruhe, but that doesn’t mean that my remaining time here would be spent partying away!

So, I have to start packing up the mess here.

28th March 2006 - Day 162

2006-03-28T23:54:00.000+02:00

Both of us were operating only on a few hours of sleep as too much nonsense was sprouted yesterday night.

Plans have been made to crash Qicong’s German lesson in the morning. But it’ll depend on whether the teacher in charge would agree to it or not.

We left the place at around 0835 and caught the 0845 train back to Zürich city. The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) is located right smack in the center of the city. It’s recognized as the top notch technical university in Switzerland.

We took the Polybahn up the slopes of ETH. The Polybahn is a fully automated cog wheel train that ferries people up every 3 minutes. Not unlike shuttle bus services.

On the Polybahn, we met the teacher in charge of the class. Since the opportunity presents itself, I asked her if I could join her class as a Gasthörer after the usual Q&A session.

Not surprisingly, she agreed. The next 1.5 hours was spent revising some foundation and deciphering some newspaper.

During the break, we went to a museum in the ETH which was similar to the
Raffles Biodiversity Museum, only that it was much more diverse in the amount of specimen on display.

Commonly seen: little children on ETH campus

Qicong had to go back to classes. I wandered for another half an hour inside the museum before going to the Hauptbahnhof for some tourist information. After which, I roamed the city streets in search of some cheap Swiss pastries.

Well, not exactly cheap. But reasonably priced. 2 strawberry tarts for 3,90 CHF at the local supermarket chain store Coop.

Soon, it was lunch time. Being a miser and wanting to save some CHF, the registered student at ETH had to go round the Mensa queue twice so that I could get a proper meal at student price. If not, it’ll cost twice as much. It seems like they are very strict about this regulation according to Qicong who had an unpleasant experience with them.

After lunch, I went around to some of the more prominent churches in town. The weather these days doesn’t seem very good. It was raining as I walk through the city. Taking a proper photo in this weather is not easy. But I have no such problem since I was using a single use camera. No review of the photos taken and hence saving myself the trouble of taking the same shot again.

If it works, good. If not, too bad.

Once classes was over, we went to Altstetten where the Chemical Engineering Department of ETH is. The buildings look quite cool. There were display cases showing various instruments and apparatus. It’s always quite interesting to try to figure out how they work.

We went to a farm nearby where a horse was. We walked all the way in the rain to see a horse! What’s wrong with us? We don’t see a horse in a farm often in the vast land we come from. That’s why.

The horse in question

We fell prey to false advertising in a supermarket after the farm visit. No excuse for me. I could have read more carefully.

Qicong’s floormates are an international bunch coming from all of Europe. I think it is can be quite fun, learning about other culture. Possibly one of the disadvantages is that it’ll be difficult to practise German since English is used more often instead.

So, have to sleep earlier tonight after the sleep deprivation yesterday.

27th March 2006 - Day 161

2006-03-27T23:54:00.000+02:00

The weather today was wonderfully sunny.

Refusing to leave Salzburg with only shots taken in the lousy weather yesterday, I climbed up the Kapuzinerberg again in order to take a better photo of the Festung. After all, it’ll be some time before I come back here again, if that ever happens.

Salzburg looks better when it's sunny

On my way down, I met the Korean guy Young with all his photographic equipment. He was also on the night tour yesterday. I guess he wanted to take a good picture too.

This house used to sell horse-shoes

I decided to take the train at 0953 to Innsbruck, 1 hour later than planned. This will give me enough time to get some groceries from the supermarket after being deprived of cheap food and drinks for the weekend.

I went to Konditorei Fürst to try their Mozartkugel. Although it costs 0,90€ per piece, it’s really good compared even to the 0,70€ Mozartkugel from Holzermayr.

After which, I went back to the youth hostel and bidded farewell to Yoshio who was having his breakfast.

The train from Salzburg to Innsbruck took about 2 hours. There were no stops in between these 2 stations. The scenery along the way was quite enjoyable, especially so because the weather was really good.

Once I reached Innsbruck, I went to buy a train ticket for Zürich in the evening. Since the last train leaves at 1638, I had effectively about 4 hours to explore Innsbruck. I deposited my backpack at one of the lockers at the train station. A heavy bag will only impede my movement.

Snow-capped mountains surrounding Innsbruck

Innsbruck appears to be more of a ski resort town that’s surrounded by snow capped mountains. Even so, there were other things to do. I wanted to visit one of the museums under the goldenes Dach, but it’s closed on Mondays.

The goldenes Dach in the background

Next stop – Cathedral St. Jakob somewhere behind the goldenes Dach. But as it was too big to fit inside the camera aperture, I only took the upper half of the church.

I almost paid more tribute to a long gone dynasty by visiting the Hofburg. But I changed my mind at the last moment just as I was about to pay. I had seen too many examples of how lavish the chambers of the Hapsburg were.

It’s time to take a look at how the common people lived at the Tirol Landesmuseum. I thought the place was quite interesting. It showed the various building styles through the times, furniture from different periods, and tools which the people used for various purposes.

Particularly of interest was that I realized that the firelighters look like pistols. Probably the pistols followed the design of firelighters.

I took a walk in the imperial garden nearby the museum. Not that imperial anymore these days as it’s free entry to everyone.

I noticed that the people here are all sitting on benches facing the sun. From where I come from, finding a shade is a second instinct to many. But it’s understandable. It’s nice to see the sun again after bad weather.

Reading in the garden

A sunny day means that an ice cream is in order (though it’s better to eat ice cream in cold weather. It keeps you warm.). But I don’t like the flavors offered.

Lunch was a sandwich and peach tea from an Austrian supermarket. I was making my way back to the Hauptbahnhof even though there was more than an hour left. I was quite convinced that nothing else would interest me here, assuming that the guidebook is correct.

The train came late and there was a 25 minutes delay due to some damaged parts. I was quite sure I would miss the connecting train and started to plan what could be done instead.

But that did not happen. The connecting train waited 25 minutes for us. Many passengers heaved a sigh of relief on hearing the Durchsagen.

In total, this stretch of journey took about 4 hours. I did some re-reading on the city with the highest standard of living in the World. I was quite glad that a classmate on SEP agreed to let me bunk with him. That definitely helps to cut travel costs.

Zürich Hauptbahnhof is a surprising simple place to navigate and figure out even though there are at least 54 platforms for both long and short distance trains. I managed to get my tickets to Dietikon quite effortlessly.

I really should not be so confident of myself when I’m at a foreign place and when it’s raining. I got lost the first time and walked a train station back!

The second try was better as I read the invaluable item called map. The place is actually quite easy to find if one follows a map properly.

So, some Singaporean nonsense to be sprouted.

26th March 2006 - Day 160

2006-03-26T23:54:00.000+02:00

What terrible weather. It was raining for the whole day. I got out after wasting time waiting for the rain to stop, but got quite irritated by the bad weather that I went to have breakfast at Macdonalds instead.

The rain showed no signs of stopping. I went to the Altstadt to try one of the handmade Mozartkugel from Holzermayr before going up the Festung. It is 0,70€ for one. The shop owner kept telling me that this is the real thing. Of course, which sane shop owner would say otherwise?

The fortress has never been attacked before. It's easy to see why taking the footpath in the rain. But getting past the fortress walls is a matter of 8,60€ nowadays. It is the largest medieval fortress in Europe.

I visited the second part of the fortress hoping that the rain will stop by the time I finished. There is a museum about a particular Rainer Regiment. There were World War II pictures of Austrians in German uniforms portrayed in a positive light. The first time I saw photos of such kind.

Then there were the Fürstenzimmer which contain Gothic style chambers. I took my time to read through the entire history of Salzburg.

It was still raining when I finished, so I went ahead with the first part of the fortress and saw a torture chamber where tortures were never administered, the Bull of Salzburg (which is actually an organ) and the watch tower where the view was supposed to be superb in better weather condition.

The rain was not as heavy by the time I came down from the Festung. For lunch, I settled for a large Käse und Schinken Brezel.

Taken from the Mirabell gardens with the Festung in the background

It was an unimaginably boring afternoon. I was so bored that I tried to convince myself to visit Mozarts Geburtshaus. But I refuse to contribute more to this 5 billion euro industry which accounts for 90% of Salzburg's revenue.

Out of boredom, I climbed up the Kapuzinerberg to entertain myself. The weather really spoilt the view from high up.

Probably the only nice photo taken on a rainy day

Disappointed at the lack of attractions to visit (because of the rain and it was late), I went back to hostel to take a break. Does this town has nothing more to offer besides Mozart, the Sound of Music, and the Festung? I probably would have been happier watching re-runs of the Sound of Music in black and white, while marvelling at how beautiful Salzburg is.

It was a coincidence. I met one of my floormates here. In the same city, the same hostel and the same room! He's going on a tour with his Spanish friend. I was very surprised to see him here.

I decided to give Salzburg one last chance by joining a night tour conducted by the hostel. Maybe my reading up of Salzburg was not extensive enough to uncover other places of interest here.

The tour guide Phillip was great. He filled us up with interesting information about his town. Like how they refuse to be recognised as Austrians, but as Salzburger instead.

Did you know that the energy drink Red Bull came originally from Salzburg? This has something to do with the history of the town.

The town of Salzburg was once under siege. The enemies had blocked off all paths leading up to the fortress, preventing the Salzburger from getting essential supplies.

The town was getting worried when there was only one bull left. The commander came up with an idea of painting the bull in different colours and parading it on the platforms of the fortress. This created the illusion of being well supplied for the enemies.

Of course the enemies fell for the trick and withdrew. Henceforth, the people of Salzburg became known as Stierwascher or Bull Washers.

Red Bull was but the name of choice for a drink which would supposedly give you an extra burst of energy.

I thought Jägermeister is from Germany, but I was informed otherwise. The same goes for the beer which Augustine monks brewed. Both beverages came from Austria.

I asked Phillip about the Mozartkugeln and the 2 confectioneries. It seems only logical that Fürst is the original since the person who came up with this treat is called Josef Fürst.

We had some Jägertee while looking at the nightview of the Festung. After we went back, I went to the bar with Yoshio for a drink. Seems like I can now take 500 millilitre of beer quite well now.

So, I'm quite glad to have joined the tour and left Salzburg with a good impression.

25th March 2006 - Day 159

2006-03-25T23:54:00.000+01:00

The trams in Wien

I wasn't sure which train to board at the train station. I simply boarded the only train that leaves at 0909 as someone told me that was the train to Melk.

On board the train, I asked a young lady whether this was the correct train. She didn't know as she wasn't travelling so far, but she offered to help me ask the train conductor. I declined and found the conductor later.

The conductor was nice enough to come and inform me just before the train reaches Melk. I would have continued sleeping if not for him.

Melk is a quaint little town with a distinctive yellow abbey designed in high Baroque style. I cannot remember the last time when a church made me go "wah", but this one certainly did. Unfortunately, some parts of the abbey were closed, while some other required a tour guide to accompany. I missed the tour at 1100 and the next would be at 1400, which is already too late.

Entrance to the Abbey

I reached Salzburg at 1500 and followed the directions in the guidebook to the youth hostel. After which, I went out to see what the town has to offer.

Salzburg is considered one of the most beautiful towns by many. I think it would look much better in summer though. A fellow traveller at the hostel commented that this is a very small town and he wouldn't spend more than 2 nights here. Indeed, the small town is choked full with tourists. I finished exploring the Altstadt in 2 hours.

Went to see some of the free attractions like the Dom, St. Peters Friedhof and the Festung. The Festung would have to wait till tomorrow since it's closing soon. Lots of tourists were crowding at Mozarts Geburtshaus. For a music illiterate like me, he's just another dead person. I doubt visiting the place where he was born for 5€ would make me appreciate music any better.

Morzarts Geburtshaus

I walked to the Nonnberg abbey where Maria von Trapp studied there for 2 years. It's a private monastery and it was dark inside. Nothing much to see.

The Glockenspiel is supposed to play at 1800. I waited, but nothing happened. Instead, I got entertained by a bunch of noisy youths. It was back to hostel after a simple dinner.

A statue of Mozart on Mozartsplatz

So, 1 hour less of sleep tonight.

24th March 2006 - Day 158

2006-03-24T23:54:00.000+01:00

I woke up slightly later in the morning and instead of going some places, I was on the phone trying to make a reservation for a bed in Salzburg. Since Schloss Schönbrunn will only open at 0900, I went online to do some usual internet stuffs.

I found a photo developing shop selling single use cameras. It's 2 for 9,99€. I bought it without hesitation.

After buying a Schokotörtchen for breakfast, I was on the tram to Schloss Schönbrunn. If people visits Versailles when they are in Paris, they should not miss Schönbrunn when they are in Wien.

A view of Schönbrunn from the Garden

Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Hapsburgs family. The layout of the chambers are somewhat similar to the Kaiserapartment I visited yesterday. The garden behind was quite huge as it used to be a hunting ground.

I was given an option of either having an audio guide or a brochure with all the information of the chambers. Since the information in both are the same, I took the brochure instead of having to press an audio guide onto my ear all the time.

The rule of keine Fotos was strictly enforced in all museums and palaces. But there were always people who persistenly tries to take photos. When an italian tour group saw a man takign photos, the tour guide told the man to stop . That was not enough. She and her tour group found a curator and pow toh the man.

Seriously, are they just jealous that the man got away with it? They could have too, but they didn't dare to.

It's a pity that some parts of the garden was closed. Nevertheless, I went up the garden and had a great view of the Schloss.

The Neptune Fountain which was still frozen

The Roman Ruin in the Garden showing the Hapsburg as the successor of the powerful Holy Roman Emipre

A cafeteria at the top of the Garden

I have the impression that the cashiers at the supermarkets aren't friendly and generally distrust customers. A cashier told me to hurry up while I was searching for coins while at another supermarket, another cashier asked to look into my shopping bag, probably because I had a crooked smile.

I've heard stories from Martina K. (whose husband is an Austrian), that Austrians generally do not tolerate Ausländer as much as Germans. Good luck if you don't speak German.

I went back to the hostel and had an afternoon nap before heading out to the river. I was quite disappointed that there was nothing there.

Next, I went to the Gasometer. This place used to be a gas supply/storage plant consisting of 4 chimneys which was later converted to a shopping mall and student hostel by 4 architects. Ouite clever, I thought.

The Gasometer

The Marketplace

After that, I went back to St. Stephans' Dom and went to the shopping district to do some window shopping. then it was to the train station to buy my ticket to Salzburg tomorrow.

Someone looking down at the Marketplace

So, reading up on what to do in Salzburg.

23rd March 2006 - Day 157

2006-03-23T23:54:00.000+01:00

From the information I've gathered from the Internet and the guidebooks which I borrowed from the hostel, I went about my itinerary for the day.

I left the hostel at 0805 and went to buy a tram ticket at the Westbahnhof. Since I predict that I would not stay out later than 2000, I bought the cheaper Einkaufskarte.

The first stop is St. Stephans Dom. I made a quick tour of the cathedral and wanted to climb up the south tower. However, it was only 0840 and the tower will only open at 0900.

Entrance fee for the tower was 3€. I was rather disappointed when I climbed the 343 steps up (I counted. There were only 334 steps), only to be surrounded by walls. I could only see a pathetic view of the Wien through the window. I highly recommend everyone to skip this tower. But of course, climb up anyway so that you can agree with my recommendation.

Horse Carriages can be found everywhere, but this one has no horsemen.

Next stop, the Hofburg consisting of the Silberkammer, Kaiserapartment and Sisi Museum. The ticket was 7€. I gave the man 20€ and he returned me only 3€. When I told him that the mistake, he said he didn't notice but "ich vertraue Ihnen". What nonsense.

The main entrance to the Hofburg

The Silberkammer displayed the silver and porcelain wares used by the Hapsburgs. All the gold and silver did not interest thelonetraveller. He was more interested to find out how the napkin was folded. According to the audio guide, only 2 people at any one time knew about this closely guarded secret.

The Sisi Museum was a small museum of a few rooms dedicated to Kaiserin Elisabeth, who was affectionately called Sisi by the people. Depressed, obsessed with maintaining her 51cm waist, liked to travel a lot to get away from the constraints of court life, and assasinated by an Italian arnachist who actually had another target. That was her life.

The Kaiserappartment basically showed how the living chambers of the Hapsburgs were like. How they lived and where they did what.

After lunch, I continued my tour with the Schatzkammer for a fee of 6€. Nothing impressive inside except for an gigantic unicorn horm (actually, it's from a Narwhale). No big green diamonds to gwak at. I expected something better for the 6euro entrance price.

The Swiss Guards Entrance to the Schatzkammer

I wanted to visit another church, but it'll cost me another 4€. From the picture in the guidebook, I decided that I shall not pay any more tribute to churches today.

Art musuems were out of my itinerary. I believe a visit would bestow upon me the power of falling asleep immediately though.

I went in search of the Hundertwasser Haus at Löwegasse instead. But it's a bit difficult to find, I had to ask the concierge in Hilton Vienna for help.

Hunderwasser Haus...

This Hundertwasser Haus was pretty run down. It looks very dirty compared to the one in Darmstadt. There were actually quite a number of tourists there, even though the place is quite out of reach.

...in its' run-down state

I've heard about cheap tickets at the Staatsoper and decided to give it a try. The rest of my evening was then spent in the opera house watching Aida with German and English subtitles. Since the audience were clapping wildly after the end of the performance, I conclude that such cultural activity is beyond my current level of comprehension - I hardly felt stirred by the performance, though I remember calling the characters stupid at some point.

So, Wien would be a great place to visit if one has some background in music or arts.

22nd March 2006 - Day 156

2006-03-22T23:54:00.000+01:00

I woke up at 0400 and started all the last minute preparations like packing in my toileteries. Things went on as planned and I was out by 0443, 2 minutes earlier than stipulated time.

I reached the tram station at 0502, 5 minutes earlier than the tram. There were only 3 people on the tram. Nobody seems to board the tram at the other Haltestelle.

When I reached the Hauptbahnhof and went to the platform, I realised I could have saved a Kebap over the train fare. And nobody checked my ticket for the entire trip from Karlsuruhe to Nürnberg. I slept for most part of the journey, only to wake up when the train stops.

Despite initial worries of missing a train connection, it did not happen as the connecting train came late.

There was enough time for me to walk around Nürnberg. I have quite a good impression of the plce. It's a pity that I did not visit this place last year during the Christmas period.

Late March. But it was still snowing.

As I did not want to eat biscuits for lunch, I bought a Kebap before heading back to the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof. There was a good 10 minutes before the train arrives, so I started eating.

Then came the announcement that the train would be slightly late. An English couple couldn't figure out what it said, so I told them what it meant.

"I thought German trains were never late", said the lady.

Which makes me wonder where did German trains get that reputation from? Once, I waited 20 minutes for a train from Stuttgart to Karlsruhe.

The lady told me that she and her husband were supposed to cruise down from Köln to Vienna. But there was some ice and the captain told everyone onboard to take alternative forms of transport.

I am quite glad I did not stinge on the 1.50€ to make a seat reservation. The train was quite packed. For a 5 hour train ride, it only seem logical.

The old lady sitting opposite me asked me if I was going to Vienna. She needs help with a suitcase 3/4 the size of her.

The hostel was near the Wien Westbahnhof and was fairly easy to find. After I left all my stuffs there, I started walking towards the city centre.

Since I had no proper map of the area, I got quite lost as there were many lanes in the city centre. Maybe I am in Karlsruhe for too long, but seeing all the shopping streets made me excited.

No pictures taken as the sky was quite dark and cloudy. I did a brief overview of what's in town and took note of what places would interest me.

Just before heading back to the hostel, I went to some supermarket and found that things are more expensive here. For example, the single use camera costs 12,99€ here.

So, buy all the things you'll need before you visit Wien.

21st March 2006 - Day 155

2006-03-21T22:36:00.000+01:00

Today is the last day of my lab module. I also received my lab report done on Friday. No corrections needed!

I had lunch one last time with my group members. They were fun people to work with, even though we might have some comunication problems due to the language. But hey, things still got done, and while it was done, we enjoyed ourselves.

Martina K. passed her organic chemistry exams. Her friend did not. That is a problem because her friend is already in his 9th semester, and this exam is a Vordiplom exam. The Vordiplom should not take more than 7 semesters. That could possibly mean that the friend will be ex-matriculated.

That aside, I finally went down to Baden-baden in the afternoon to take a look at its' Friedrichsbad. This bathhouse is first opened in 1877 and combines the ultimate in Roman bathing culture with Irish hot air baths, so says the brochure I took.

This is the first time I visited a bathhouse. As such, I cannot make any comparisions with other places. But I certainly did enjoy the session.

There are 16 stages altogether as listed below.

5 minutes shower
15 minutes warm air bath, 54 degrees Celcius
5 mintues hot air bath, 68 degrees Celcius
1 minute shower
Soap and brush massage
1 minute shower
15 minutes thermal steam bath, 45 degrees Celcius
5 minutes thermal steam bath, 48 degrees Celcius
10 minutes thermal full bath, 36 degrees Celcius
15 minutes thermal whirlpool bath, 34 degrees Celcius
5 minutes thermal kinotherapeutic bath, 28 degrees Celcius
8 minutes shower
A few seconds cold water bath, 18 degrees Celcius
4 minutes drying off
Application of moisturising cream
Resting area for the remaining time

All these procedures took about 3 hours (take in walking time from point to point). At stage 2, I striked up a conversation with an old gentleman, who brought me around and explained to me what each step was for. He has been coming here once a week for the past 15 years.

Stage 2 and 3 were just warm air, so all I did was to lie down and start sweating. At the soap and brush massage, the man massaged with quite a lot of force, so it wasn't as ticklish as I imagined.

The thermal steam baths were really hot with all the water vapour in the air. I had difficulty breathing as my nose hurts while I breathed in. My spectacles fogged and I couldn't see anything. I didn't know if I was sweating or was it water that condensed off me, I was just dripping wet (of course, this is a bath).

The rest of the pools were quite relaxing. Except for the cold water pools where I was shivering. Now I know how cold water is at 28 and at 18 degrees Celcius.

After showering and applying moisturising cream, I followed the old gentleman to the Ruheraum where I was wrapped up in blanket and just fell asleep.

It's really quite convenient to come here for a bath. I don't even need to bring anything since no clothings is allowed. The lady at the reception had to remind me that in case I didn't know. Except for Mondays and Thursdays, men and women use stages 7 to 11 together.

It does feel a bit awkward at first going in naked. But after a while, it feels quite normal. After all, I don't think anyone wears clothes when they shower.

If you are thinking I might have saw something interesting, rest assured. At this funny time I chose, only retired old men and old ladies will come. I must be the youngest customer for this time slot.

I made my way back to the Rechenzentrum in the evening to buy my train ticket from Karlsruhe to Nürnberg. It's funny, but I can only find this particular train connection online. It's not listed in the Automat. After which, I went to buy some biscuits for the long train trip tomorrow.

Please do not bother to check this website for at least a week from tomorrow onwards. thelonetraveller will not update anything during this period.

So, till next week!

20th March 2006 - Day 154

2006-03-20T23:58:00.000+01:00

We have a new member for the lab grouping. His former group was disbanded because one of the guys only needed to do 1 experiment, while the other had ex-matriculated, leaving only 2 of them.

Talks a lot. Is a great actor (a.k.a wayang). The experiment with him took a little longer than usual with his apparent concern that things are not done correctly and asking the Betreuer questions every 5 minutes or so, even though it was quite clear what should be done.

His performance was much appreciated. He defused the stern Betreuer. Earlier on, the Betreuer was asking Martina S. a lot of questions when she was not able to answer some questions. That took up about 40 mintutes.

I think it's common. They find so much excitment in exposing your weakness and will attack relentlessly until one is so panicky that he is unable to think properly.

But it's good training grounds for the students here. They have to know every single detail of what they are learning. In fact, things taught to me during the first 4 semester became clearer after being grilled by their questioning.

After the lab, I went to the cafeteria with Alex and Martina S. to do the lab reports. I hope I did not give the wrong explanation, or leave them with a wrong impression.

Temperatures hit 16 degrees Celcius in the afternoon. It has been a long time since the sun felt so warm.

There was a grill party here on the floor to welcome Spring. Supposedly, Spring starts tomorrow. I think there will be more grill parties after I leave.

I've been informed that there's actually nothing much in Innsbruck. As such, I intend to make it a day trip and go somewhere else instead of spending the night there.

I haven't really made concrete plans of what to do or where to go. I might forgo the bath at Baden-baden tomorrow in order to get all the information down on paper, especially the address of the hostels.

I'm no fan of bathhouses. 29€ for a 3.5 hours of bath time doesn't sound cheap to me anyway. The idea gets stale after shelving it for so many times. Still, it could be quite an experience. Guess the experience component is what makes it expensive.

So, going or not would depend on what time I finish lab tomorrow too.

19th March 2006 - Day 153

2006-03-19T23:23:00.000+01:00

I woke up early for a Sunday in order to catch the train to visit my host family somewhere near Darmstadt. For those who are wondering, this is the family which I stayed with for my language immersion course in 2004.

Cornelia and Kayleigh were already at the Bahnhof when I arrived. The rest of the family were at home. It feels good to see them again before I leave Germany.

It's always great spending time at their place. It makes me remember about the time when I was doing the language immersion course. So much so that I forget that I have to go back to Karlsruhe.

Seems like there were some problems with their internet connection. The problem was fixed when Liam and I took out the old network card and installed it in the new computer.

I was pulled in by Kayleigh to do some rope skipping. It helped confirm the fact that there are indeed reserves of fats which I do not know of.

The afternoon program was going to some hall to see Kimberly take part in some dance competition. I think I'm the only Chinese looking guy who infiltrated into this event. I didn't even pay the entrance fee!

I noticed some time ago, that on almost every large sheet of glass windows, there is a black shadow of a bird pasted onto it. At first, I thought it was for decoration purposes, though I do not think that the black shadow looks exceptionally artistic. Then I concluded that it could be used to warn people that there is a glass there, so that the Putzfrau has no excuse not to clean the window properly.

Cornelia told me that it was to prevent birds from flying into the glass. She looked quite surprised that I didn't know.

Seriously, I do find the explanation quite unusual.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the living room talking to Geoff and Cornelia. Next week, there will be an election for their area. Pretty much the same as back home, except that we all could make an educated guess at what the outcome would be like.

Then it was some more board games with Kayleigh. After dinner, it was Kniffel. The last time I played it was when I was still staying with them. Almost 1 year and 9 months ago.

I was quite entertained by Kimberly and Kia with their "dance to the music" segment while playing the game.

Soon, it was time to leave. I felt sad that it would be some time before I would see them again. In der Zukunft, so sagen wir. No doubts about it. I am really lucky to have been housed under them during the immersion course.

I heard from Cornelia that they might be taking in another immersion student this year. I hope I did not raise their expectation of the next student.

So, back from a dream and preparing for a lab tomorrow.

18th March 2006 - Day 152

2006-03-18T23:46:00.000+01:00

As the end draws near, I am beginning to re-appreciate Karlsruhe. When I first reached here, I had the impression that I still had lots of time to explore this town. Apparently, this was not the case as the time was spent dealing with some other matters on hand.

With my single use camera, I went out to the Schloss to take some pictures. While approaching the Schloss, there's always a funny feeling.

The Garden and the Schloss in the background

Sometimes, I feel like a peasant seeking an audience with some king. Other times, it was like a foot soldier doing prowling duty. But most of the time, I imagine that there's a horse carriage pass by me and a page asking, "Sir, would you like to return to the Schloss?"

Crazy.

I realise today that there is a trail consisting of 1645 blue ceramic tiles leading to some pottery production place. Not that I counted. There was a sign which said so.

The New Path

Continuing with my stroll, I came upon a small field. Some flowers are already blooming. Buds are also appearing on the ends of trees.

Spring is coming. Birds chirping in the morning for the past few weeks to remind everyone of it. The days are getting longer. First light at about 0630 and the Sun only sets at around 1815. I think I can feel it. Like there is something joyous that is about to occur.

But why am I still in my winter coat?

After the short stroll, I went to Karstadt to buy some chocolates for my host family. I'm going to visit them tomorrow. It'll probably be my last visit. Of course there would be opportunities to visit them in the future, but it won't be easy.

I decided to buy some strawberries for a change in fruit intake. Surprisingly, I got them for free. The fruit shop owner even offered me the whole basket. Probably because the owner was closing for the day and he thinks that the strawberries won't last till Monday. He figured it's more practical to give it to someone than to throw it away, I guess.

So, back to doing my trip planning.

17th March 2006 - Day 151

2006-03-17T23:24:00.000+01:00

In today's lab, we learnt to determine some Stoffdaten of Benzin and Diesel. Not in the right state of mind today. I keep thinking cars run on motor oil.

The idea of octane number has been drilled into me finally. I had read up on the topic several times in the past, only to forget it in a few day's time. Seems like it's more effective to learn somethings under some pressure.

After a very through questioning session lasting more than 1.5 hours, we finally began with the experiment. It went on largely without any hiccups. Except that I had some problems with switching on the gas pipe. Not that difficult, I just had to push it down and turn.

The session was finished at about 1245. I went to lunch with Alex in the Mensa. Alex is a very quiet person. A few days ago, Martina K. asked him, "Bist du 100% deutsch?". Her argument was that Alex was too nice to be a... ahem... German.

He told me that because he was too light, he need not do the Wehrdienst. How convenient. Seriously, he's small sized compared to the other Germans I see here. I am quite confident I'll be able to fireman lift him for quite a distance, even in my current state of unfitness.

We went to the cafeteria after lunch to continue with writing the lab report. You know someone hasn't been making much progress with the language when you see all the corrections Alex made. Articles remain curiously hard to get a feel of. Which is why I tend to skip the problem by using plural if possible. Then again, with the plural form, the noun changes too. But that's another problem.

Another 2 Ausländer and a very patient German. The perfect combination to a lot of Quatsch.

I went to the Rechenzentrum to print out a train ticket for my trip from Nürnberg to Wien. Why not directly from Karlsruhe to Wien? I figured I'll save 18€ by breaking down the trip this way due to some online offers.

But I haven't brought the ticket from Karlsruhe to Nürnberg yet. That will come on Monday.

Although there's not much time left, I'm still haven't found a hostel in Wien. I don't even know what is interesting there! If I don't like it there, I can simply ride on to the next destination. As long as I reach Karlsruhe again by 29th night, there should not be any problems.

So, finding places to visit is on tomorrow's to-do-list.

16th March 2006 - Day 150

2006-03-16T20:39:00.000+01:00

Lab today was in the afternoon as Martina K. has a Klausur in the morning. I woke up early hoping to catch the Hausmeister for the Zettel he was supposed to give me.

There was no need to. I was delighted to see the Zettel in my mailbox. On the Zettel were some standard instructions to return the room - all posters taken down, the room cleaned, the lamps mounted, all nails removed.

I didn't even nail anything on. But there are 2 nails sticking out. I'm not so confident about removing them without damaging the wall and paint.

Martina S. sent me a SMS that the experiment tomorrow needs to be shifted back in the morning as Martina K.'s exam will be in the afternoon. The professor has just informed her about it.

The lab today was quite interesting. We were supposed to make mayonnaise from plant oil, egg yolks, vinegar and salt. It doesn't taste good.

That aside, the shear stress versus shear rate graph makes more sense to me now.

The Betreuer was humourous. He asked whether the language we use back home was Singalish. Almost correct, I told him.

After the lab, I went to wander around and went tombstone window shopping as the institute was supposedly quite near the cemetary and there was a shop displaying the various designs available.

So, I need to start booking hostels in Austria.

15th March 2006 - Day 149

2006-03-15T23:20:00.000+01:00

As expected, the experiment today took much longer than yesterday. Although I brought my grammar book along, I didn't have the chance to read it. I was busy fiddling with the lab equipment and reading off graphs.

4 more experiments to go, and I'll be done with this module. Meanwhile, I'm planning for a trip to Austria while I'm not doing any lab related stuffs.

Initially wanted to get a 4 Day EURO Domino pass (that's the minimum available here) for the trains in Austria, but changed my mind after doing some calculations.

The itinerary should look something like this:

Karlsruhe --> Nürnberg --> Wien --> Melk --> Salzburg --> Innsbruck --> Zürich? --> Karlsruhe

Duration of trip: 8 days (22nd - 29th March)
Estimated total cost: 520€

I am still considering East Europe, even though there is a lack of trustworthy travelling companions who are willing to take a break from the exam preparation.

I must be the least travelled exchange student ever. What a waste.

So, more information mining on the internet.

14th March 2006 - Day 148

2006-03-14T22:34:00.000+01:00

Lab today was a horror. We started at 0830 and only ended at 1430. The experiment was not difficult, just that it involved a lot of waiting.

Plans of going to Baden-Baden got shelved.

We were extremely bored while waiting. The Betreuer must be the slackest I've seen. She only came over twice the whole day at the lab - once when we were starting and another time when we were packing up. Not that it is not good.

I managed to get hold of the Hausmeister to set an appointment with him. But he said I could only do that if I fill up a particular form, which I have no idea what it is.

I shall wait until he deposits it in my mailbox. Like he said he will do once he gets the list of people moving out at the end of the month.

I should make a trip down to the Akademisches Auslandsamt if the moving out problem is still not solved by this week.

There was another Flurversammlung in the evening. I didn't even know there was a new Mitbewohnerin on the floor.

The usual stuffs about toilets, showers and kitchen. Nothing of much interest since I would be leaving soon. It was slightly faster compared to the previous few times. Drifting away from the discussion topic is a common problem here.

As I was cooking dinner, Eves came around. We had an enjoyable chat. Things which a Auslander can only say to another Auslander. I was quite surprised when he realised that I'm an exchange student. I thought he already knew that. He's only in his first semester. Still a long way to go.

Tomorrow's experiment would take even longer.

So, maybe I should bring my grammar book along.

13th March 2006 - Day 147

2006-03-13T23:55:00.000+01:00

Today is another day where my brain is not functioning on the German frequency. Recieving and transmitting signals were especially tedious, not to mention inefficient.

Luckily the Betreuer today was a nice lady. She did not ask us too many questions regarding the experiment. Even when she did, she guided us through the equations.

Lab was over by 1200. I went for lunch at the Mensa as usual.

I have reasons to believe that the cause of my dizziness the past few days is the result of a slight ear infection. My ear feels wet sometimes. But the symptoms are somewhat different to my previous experiences with ear infections.

The first time, I was feeling so dizzy, that I did not want to get up at all. Some pus like substance kept flowing from the infected ear.

The second time, there was no dizziness. Only a very wet ear. I went to the hosiptal and had a tube stuck deep inside my ear to suck up all the pus still trapped inside. Disgusting.

This time round, I'm feeling a little dizzy every now and then. And my ears still feels relatively normal. A little beer helps alleviate the dizziness though.

I went to the Apotheke hoping to get some anti-inflammation solution. But the pharmacist said I'll need a prescription from a doctor.

I read that the ear is capable of handling small infections. A few more days and the infection will clear up by itself. Now I wonder if the source is reliable. But having no pus is already a good sign.

If it doesn't get worse, it can only get better. I presume I'm on my way to recovery since I don't feel as giddy as last Wednesday. I shall continue to monitor the situation.

So, I have to pay more attention to that ear.

12th March 2006 - Day 146

2006-03-12T23:27:00.000+01:00

No plans to go anyway today. The bed seems much more comfortable anyway.

I couldn't finish my lunch of instant noodles as I felt quite full from some snacking earlier on. There are still a number of packets left, but they will be finished before I leave this place.

The afternoon was spent in hostel trying to read up the lab for tomorrow. I have a feeling I would forget what I've read when the Betreuer asks. I should read up on it again later.

I met Nan for dinner. We went to the Uni-Grill for Kebap. I seem to have a craving for Kebap these days. After dinner, we went to the Kippe for a drink.

The atmosphere in the Kippe is always good. It's cosy inside and the metal signboards on the walls are quite interesting to read.

Previously, while we were walking to the Kippe, we had unwittingly made a wrong turn. That brought us to the red light district. I mentioned that there was a Erotikmesse in Karlsruhe.

In the Kippe, we were discussing whether we should go visit this cultural event or not. I had read that it's opened till 2300 today. Since both of us haven't been to such exhibition before, we decided that it might make an interesting excursion for tonight.

When we got there, we learnt that the price for the entry ticket was 15€. This was a bit unexpected. We had decided that the maximum price we would pay is 10€. We tried to haggle a bit with the lady selling the ticket, but she refused to give in, saying that the original price was 25€.

Since we were already there, and that it is the last day of the exhibition here, we decided to go ahead with it.

We kind of felt cheated when we saw nothing especially raunchy inside. It was not unlike other exhibition where there are stalls selling various items. The only difference is that the items sold here were more...erm... novel.

DVDs, piercings, massage service, lubricant, vibrators, pumps from Sweden (do you recall Austin Powers?), and some other kinky toys were only part of the display. There was a stall selling chocolates in exotic shapes, with various sizes available.

There was a stall for Swingers. It looked like they were recruiting members. There were also photos from their past gatherings. Looks like they enjoyed themselves. We saw people signing up.

We expected that at such exhibition, the majority of the visitors would be understandably, male. But we were wrong, we saw quite a lot of females too. Some of them were intently staring at some of the above mentioned items. They really looked very serious.

We were in time to catch the last show of the day - a striptease act. Nothing much of interest really. It was a very detached experience since we were standing quite far away. There were people taking photographs and making movie clips though.

We left shortly afterwards, still feeling that 15€ was a bit too much to pay. But we would have regretted it if we didn't know how it looked like.

So, meine liebe Austauschstudenten, was habt ihr heute gelernt?

11th March 2006 - Day 145

2006-03-11T23:29:00.000+01:00

I woke up at 0730, but since I had nothing much to do, and I was feeling a bit lazy about going anywhere, it wasn't until it was 1100 before I got out of bed.

I missed the tram and subsequently the train to Speyer. I finally reached at 1400. 1 hour train ride and a return ticket for 1,80€ because of my semester ticket and Bahncard.

Approaching the Town of Speyer

It was a 15 minutes walk to the town centre. One thing I noticed, was that the pavement was extremely wide. Quite a charming town, probably because I was too used to seeing Karlsruhe.

The broad steets of Speyer leading to the Kaiserdom

The Kaiserdom in Speyer there is supposedly a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. It's quite spacious inside. Click here to see some photos.

After spending some time there and trying to follow some commentary from a English tour guide, I walked in the rain to the Technik Museum. It's not far away, only 500 metres from the Kaiserdom.

Run! Giant Spider on the loose!

I would have entered the museum if someone brought me there when I was 6. The interest in planes, trains, and cars and why (and how) they move have dwindled ever since.

I went to catch Der blaue Nil instead at the IMAX theatre. 7,50€ for a 40 minutes documentary. It's about a team going on a Kayaking expedition from the source of the Blue Nile till the Mediterranean Sea. 40 minutes was just nice. Any longer, I would have exhausted myself from all the German and switched off.

The rest of the time in Speyer was spent wandering around the town and visiting other churches. The rain certainly dampened the mood to explore the town further. I made my way back to the Bahnhof when the rain got heavier.

I got back in Karlsruhe by 1800. Mannheim would have to wait till some other time.

Erik and Jan prepared a Fluressen to celebrate their 2nd year staying here. Simon was up to his usual Ausländerfeindlichkeit. It's funny sometimes. The people who so openly talk about it are the people who don't really mind having Ausländer around.

Then again, I might be wrong.

Stefan handed me a book - H5 Hall of Fame. Basically, I'm supposed to write something in and attach a mug shot of myself in the book. I'm the first to write on it since I'm the first to leave this place. The others will still be here for at least another year.

I'm thinking of a trip to Austria at the moment. Nan has quite a lot of suggestions on where to visit.

So, some concrete research tomorrow.

10th March 2006 - Day 144

2006-03-10T23:57:00.000+01:00

Lab today was more interesting than usual. Particularly because the lab supervisor was quite cute and lovable.

Unlike the other Betreuer we had for other sessions, she was very friendly. She started the lab session with us 5 minutes later. Maybe because she was late, she seemed a bit nervous asking us questions about the experiment. It looked like we were the ones asking her questions.

As she explained some basics to us, she would laugh nervously occasionally. I can't help but notice that she walks with her toes pointing inwards. Looks a bit komisch though. While waiting for the reading to stablise, she voiced her own opinions about some lectures here. Makes me forget that she's the Betreuer.

After the lab, I commented, "Sie ist ziemlich süß, oder?"

Martina K. looked at me and started laughing.

I wonder why but I'm feeling dizzy again. I still have no idea what triggered off the dizzy spell. Maybe I'm not drinking enough water?

If all goes on well tomorrow and I wake up feeling better, a trip to Speyer is on the list. Martina K. told me that there's a museum with a IMAX theatre worth visiting.

It's good to get out too. I've wasted far too many weekends on all the Prüfungen. After all, the experience here is ending soon in 21 days.

Maybe a trip up to Mannheim as well. For some big town window shopping. And Kebaps for lunch.

So, I will sleep all I want for now and hope the dizziness goes away.

9th March 2006 - Day 143

2006-03-09T23:27:00.000+01:00

I think I must have been blowing my nose too often during the few days I had flu. I felt giddy after typing the entry yesterday.

It was just as bad this morning. I didn't feel like waking up at all. I wonder what triggered off the dizziness.

But it got better once I got out. By the time I reached the lab venue, I felt quite normal.

The lab got screwed up today because a particular instrument went kaputt. All the readings recorded were incorrect. But since this was a machine fault, the Betreuer gave us the values from last year's Protokoll.

What a relief. I thought we have to repeat the experiment and wait for another hour. We were able to finish the lab report by 1130.

I bought 2 single use camera (maybe disposable wasn't the correct term) yesterday after my Prüfung. It's at a special price of 2 for 8,95€. But the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating. It has been raining the whole day. The kind of weather which makes me feel like hiding in hostel. No pictures taken as of yet even though the camera has flash capability.

I went out again in the evening after the rain stopped. Although it was quite windy, it wasn't cold at all. Temperatures hit double digit again after a sudden dip 2 weeks back.

A bad record stays forever. Vivek burnt a toast and made the whole floor smoky. An hour later, I was in the kitchen when Jörg came and asked me why is it that I always manage to make the floor smell so nice with all the burnt stuffs.

He was visibily disappointed when I told him he nabbed the wrong Auslander this time. I see it appropriate to add in that wicked laugh after I told him it couldn't always be me, even though he already doesn't look very pleased that I appeared so smug about it.

It was at the very least amusing to me. Aren't assumptions great?

So, more creative ways to make an "ass" out of "u" and "me".

8th March 2006 - Day 142

2006-03-08T23:38:00.000+01:00

Today was an exciting day.

First, there was the lab which I thought I prepared for yesterday. But I wasn't able to answer some questions of the Betreuer, and was made to sit elsewhere to read up on the experiment.

Good too. I couldn't recall anything at all. Seems like German words takes up a larger capacity to store.

Martina K. explained later to the Betreuer that I had an exam today, and should be forgiven for not preparing. I think that's a lousy excuse. The reason is that I took the flu tablet and became groggy after that. But still, someone spoke up for me and I appreciate that.

Lab went on as usual. Fine tuning and waiting.

I had about 4 hours before my Prüfung appointment. I spent it to do some last minute revisions. I had my lunch and went to the place about 1.5 hours earlier, only to realise at 1400, that I had forgotten to bring out my gelbe Zettel.

More than enough time for me to go back to hostel to take it.

The Prüfung started at 1510 instead as the professor had some visitors to the institute. The Prüfung was terrible. I didn't really concentrate on the topics which he asked. In fact, I was only able to answer the questions because it was somewhat related to another module I was doing.

He asked another question which exposed how lacking my Grundlagen is. It's about head and loss of head. I can only vaguely recall it being introduced during Fluid Mechanics lecture in Semester 2. The lecturer only mentioned it briefly (if I was paying attention then).

I could only remember there are different charts available for the different pipings, each with their own values of loss of heads.

"Ich kann Ihnen nur eine schlechte 2,3 geben."

Yeah, supposedly bad. I heard from someone that in Hauptdiplom Prüfung, 2,0 is already considered "not good". But it's good enough for me. I passed!

I know this for sure. There wasn't any problems with the language for this lecture. I could understand most parts of it without much difficulties.

And my flu is suddenly gone. Miraculous, isn't it?

The lab tomorrow is supposed to last for the whole day.

So, better get some rest now.

7th March 2006 - Day 141

2006-03-07T23:40:00.000+01:00

I finally caught the secretary at her office. She agreed to help me send the Teilnahmeschein to the other secretary once the professor issues it. Things are easily done when you approach the right person.

The lab session today took a longer than expected time. But the Betreuer today was much friendlier than the one yesterday. He didn't ask us a lot of questions. Most of the time, he was doing the talking.

The lab was conducted in a building where there is no heating. For most of the time, we were all jumping around while waiting for the analyser to give the concentration of nitrogen monoxide/dioxide emitted from the flame.

I had lunch at the Mensa with the lab group. Usually, they disappear after each experiment. All of them are busy preparing for their Klausur.

Came back to hostel. Was starting on my revision when someone called me.

"Deutsch oder englisch?"

Cool. They provide language options nowadays.

It was the Beisitzer for my Prüfung tomorrow. He asked for the time to be pushed back an hour later. No problem on my part, though I wish for the event to be over as soon as possible.

I took a 4 hours nap after the flu tablet knocked me out. I was in the kitchen when Erik suddenly said, "schrecklich, oder?".

Apparently, the internet connection was down while I was asleep. It's now functioning again. Obviously.

I wonder why. I understood what was said during the lectures. I read through the notes without much difficulties. But I can't remember what I've just read. I don't seem to be concentrating.

Shouldn't have taken the flu tablet. I'm still feeling lethargic.

So, spot questions!

6th March 2006 - Day 140

2006-03-06T22:19:00.000+01:00

Lab today was at a venue which I was not sure of. I left earlier and walked to the place instead of waiting for the bus.

The snow had melted and re-froze, making the ground surface a little slippery.

I saw Alex (another Alex, not the one mentioned in previous entries) outside the building because he couldn't find the entrance. We went around looking for the entrance and following all the sign-posting on the way, it led me to a building where I usually have lectures.

We followed the Betreuer to the lab. There, he began to ask questions regarding today's experiment.

He wasn't particularly pleased with the performance of the group as there were some questions which we couldn't answer. It was assumed that we did not read up for this session.

I could have answered the questions. But it wasn't directed to me. He was getting a bit frustrated. He threatened us that he could tell us to go away for 3 hours and read the experiment again before we start again.

But I was quite sure it wouldn't happen. He said it himself immediately after the threat.

The experiment was actually kinderleicht. It was finished in less than 45 minutes. But the discussion part took up a lot of time.

It was 1055 by the time we finished. I ran to the secretary to ask her regarding my transcript. Managed to catch her before she closes at 1100. I was all flustered and couldn't speak properly. But somehow, she understood what I was babbling.

After sorting things out, I left my address with her so that she would be able to send the transcript to me. I haven't been writing my home address for quite some time. It looked funny and I thought something was missing even though all information was there.

Next up, liaise with the other secretary to ask her to send the Teilnahmeschein to the first secretary instead of the Prüfungsamt.

I met up with the lab group to do a bit of lab report at the cafeteria. After which, I went off for lunch.

Graphs for this experiment can be plotted using a computer, much to my delight. No need to draw all the messy graphs and risk making myself blind from marking the points. Still, I took slightly longer than expected.

I got back here and continued with my water regime. Slight improvement. But I believe I will recover miraculously after the Prüfung on Wednesday.

So, still lots more revision to do.

5th March 2006 - Day 139

2006-03-05T23:36:00.000+01:00

A lazy Sunday spent in the hostel.

Still having a runny nose. Apparently, I need to drink more water and get more rest. I know! I haven't drank enough water! How can I forget? Let me try the 3-2-1 method.

The 3-2-1 method of fluid intake is the result of many years of experiment (conducted by yours truly on yours truly). Basically, it starts with the patient drinking 3 cups of water. After which, he will down another 2 cups of water in 1 hour's time, every hour. Repeat procedure for as long as humanly possible.

Of course, the patient is allowed to visit the Klo. But after each visit, he has to drink another 1 cup of water.

Sick of hearing people telling you to drink more water when you're down with a flu? With the 3-2-1 method, no one will ever dare say that to you again!

Having a flu? Give it a try! Any source of potable water will do. Any cup with a minimum volume of 0.2 litres can be used.

It worked for me. The last time I had a runny nose, it took me only 4 hours on the program before I recovered!

Note: Results may vary. If symptoms persists, please consult a certified doctor. If not for the runny nose, you'll need help anyway after 10 hours.

So, that pretty much tells you what I've been doing the whole day.

4th March 2006 - Day 138

2006-03-04T23:21:00.000+01:00

The furthest place I've been today is the supermarket 3 bus stops away. Plans of travelling to Schwarzwald have been shelved due to the following reasons.

Mourning the lost of a beloved camera
Recovering from flu
Preparation for Prüfung

1. Mourning the lost of a beloved camera
My camera finally gave up on me. Although the photos I took turn out over-exposed, I was still able to take some video clips using the camera.

Today, I wanted to shoot some short clips of how thick the snow here is, and how everything is covered in white.

The usual whirring sounds from the camera. But nothing on the screen. A few more tries to switch it on did not work.

Hey, I can't even get it to retract the lens back! Now I have a problem keeping it somewhere.

It is indeed unfortunate that the camera should go kaputt at this time. No doubt there are somethings which a camera cannot capture, a photo or a video clip always help trigger off memories.

I shall contend with an disposable camera for the time being. No close-ups, no fancy pictures, no instant gratification. Come to think about it, no pickpockets too. After all, it's a cheap, off the streets disposable camera. Not very valuable, don't you agree?

Back to the days where taking a photo is deliberated act and trigger-happiness comes at a cost.

2. Recovering from flu
Despite being on self medication for 2 days, my nose is still watery. But it is well under control. Taking more flu tablets and water should do the trick. More rest would be nice too.

3. Preparation for Prüfung
The preparation for the Prüfung on Wednesday is not going on very well as I struggle to fight off the sleep monster. Like the other exams I've taken here, I can only say I am over-confident and under-prepared.

I see spider webs again.

So, cleaning up the room tomorrow.

3rd March 2006 - Day 137

2006-03-03T23:58:00.000+01:00

Due to the sleep inducing effect of the little yellow pill, I went to sleep early yesterday right after reading up on the lab I will do today.

But I can't seem to remember anything about what I've read. The Betreuer asked me some questions which I couldn't answer. I could only understand part of what he asked.

I realised today, that things might not go on as smoothly as I want them to. Although I'm doing the labs, there exist a possiblity that I would not be able to transfer back the credits. The reason being that the highly efficicent administration here might not be able to rush out the necessary documents before I leave, despite having 8 working days as a buffer.

No worries. I can always request them to send it to me. But the nagging questions keeps popping out. Will they do it? What if the document gets lost? What if they took such a long time, that the new semester would have started and I still haven't transferred the credits for the module?

The absolute worst thing that can happen is that I will waste my time here doing all the labs and reports but unable to transfer credits back. And end up doing the corresponding module back home.

Relax. That doesn't sound that bad.

I met Autumn at the Mensa during lunch. After which, we went to the supermarket for some grocery shopping.

The snow became rain as I was making my way back to hostel. Then it turned back into snow. It snowed quite heavily for the rest of the afternoon, forming puddles of slush on the footpaths. Simply annoying.

I have been informed, that my request of wanting to get exploited has been approved (Yeah, it's a strange world. Lots of people actually want, and are waiting to get themselves exploited, to the delight of many institutes and Firmen). I have also been told that an interview awaits me. They will then assess me on my ~~exploitability~~ suitability for the task.

Alternatively, I can delay the exploitation and spend the time more fruitfully. That is also an plausible option which I should explore since I'm not really keen on research work.

So, I wonder why my left eye is twitching as I write all these.

2nd March 2006 - Day 136

2006-03-02T21:52:00.000+01:00

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I heard a familiar sound.

The last time I heard it was sometime in January when it snowed. It snowed quite heavily last night. Today, everything's covered in white again.

But not for long. As the temperature is hovering around zero degree Celcius, the snow melted once the sun came out.

Lab today was still manageble. We thought it would end earlier as it seemed to be a short experiment about particle filtration using sieve trays. But they purposedly labeled a particular tray wrongly so that they could demostrate how the width of the pores in the sieve is measured using a "high tech" equipment, as said by the Betreuer.

It was more like a statistic lessons about determining the Mittelwert and Varianz of the sieve pore size. But still, it was quite interesting to see how it's actually done.

I realised today why the hairdresser speaks with a funny tone. She's from Hungary. She was talking to her daughter on the phone when I overheard her. At first I thought it was some dialect which I could not understand. She told me it was Hungarian.

It snowed again in the afternoon. But the snow looks like little moth balls. There were lightning and thunder as it snowed. Never seen that before.

I'm feeling sleepy now after taking the little yellow pill. My nose is runny. More water, more rest.

So, bedtime.

1st March 2006 - Day 135

2006-03-01T23:28:00.000+01:00

I woke up slightly earlier today as lab work starts today.

On my way to the bus stop, I saw the Hausmeister in his office and decided to ask him when I can make an appointment with him. He told me to find him again about 2 weeks later.

There are 4 people in every lab group. In my group, there was an Indonesian, a Slovakian and a German. Generally got along well with them. They are all full time students here.

I looked through the lab manual and decided that most of the experiments are not easy. They are supplemented with a lot of extra readings for background information. The difficulty level is no doubt raised by the different langauge used.

Here's how the lab went on today. First, the Betreuer asked us some questions about today's experiment and what we were supposed to do. Her instructions were not very clear though. We ended up taking wrong sets of values.

After we went through the experiment, she took a look at our results and gave some comments. Next, she introduced a new instrument to us. I find this instrument really amazing. It's called a Planimeter.

Question of the day. How do you calculate the area under a curve in a graph paper?

Count the number of squares lah!

- Secondary one student from a neighbourhood school

If an equation for the curve is given, integrate it within the given limits lor.

- Secondary four student from the same school

If accuracy is not a problem, use the Trapezium Rule with more trapeziums. A bit tedious, but can skip the integration part if it's super difficult!

- Junior College student

Use my favourite calculator model, Casio fx-991MS. Very good model. Solar powered one somemore. Got the Trapezium Rule function to help solve this kind of questions. Area under curve with known equation? I no scared!

- Engineering student from a certain university

Eh, use a computer. The points of the curve can be plotted using Excel then you can get an equation of the curve. Then use MATLAB to help you do an intergration within the limits. Very accurate too. The only problem is you cannot bring a laptop to exams.

- Computer dependent Engineering student

Use a Planimeter.

- Betreuer from Universität Karlsruhe

A Planimeter was what people used when calculators and computers were not widely available yet. It can be used to measure any closed plane areas given that it is correctly scaled. It's super cool!

The exposure to this instrument seems to close the gap between all the methods I know. I had been wondering for some time how people in the past did it. It can't be that they were counting squares all day long!

Anyway, I think she taught us how to read the scales wrongly. I had my doubts when I saw the scale and heard her explain how to read it. The principle is somewhat similar to that of reading off a pair of vernier calipers. Unless all the websites I visited provided the wrong reading method.

But it could just be me understanding what she said wrongly.

So, I have to do some reading up for the lab tomorrow.

28th February 2006 - Day 134

2006-02-28T23:12:00.000+01:00

This morning, I went down to make my rent payment for the month of March. The payment is supposed to be due in the first week of March. But with the lab starting tomorrow, I will not be able to make it within the stipulated time the lady is in.

But she was not there because today is Fasching, a holiday here. I handed the money to another person instead. Initially, he wanted me to come again tomorrow. I had to explain several times to him that I would be unable to come down for the rest of the week before he finally agreed to take payment on behalf of the lady.

Now, I've to get hold of the Hausmeister and make an appointment with him on the day I leave. He will then check the room and take over it from me before calling up the lady to release my deposit of 330€ back to me. This Kaution thing is really troublesome.

I took the bus in the afternoon to go to the Mensa. But the bus took a different route because of the Umzug. I had to take another Straßenbahn before walking to the Mensa.

After lunch, I went to the town centre to take a look at the Umzug that's going to take place. Along the way, I saw many children dressed up as animals (mainly lions), insects, witches, knights, and other characters. Some adults were dressed up too.

The Umzug started later than expected. It was a lively procession. There were people in trucks throwing out sweets and such to the spectators. Some gave out beer and ice cream too. It made people on the receiving end happy.

It's pretty interesting to observe how everyone scrambled to pick up the goodies. Like pigeons pecking at bread crumbs thrown on the floor. Babies in prams have an extra advantage. The folks who threw the sweets usually stuffed a handful of them into the baby's pram.

Not so nice to observe, was that some adults "fought" with the kids over the items thrown.

There were people wearing witch or monster masks in the procession. Sometimes, instead of giving out sweets, they stuff confetti down the neck of people. I heard from Frau Böhmer, that in some towns, the witches were so wicked, that each of them had to wear a number tag. This served the purpose of identifying the culprit if someone wants to lodge a complain.

By the end of the procession about 2 hours later, my coat pockets were filled with sweets, a bottle of hair conditioner and a box of match sticks.

Maybe we can start proposing that the performers distribute sweets during Chingay.

As the roads were still cordoned off and the buses were still not in service, I walked back to hostel in the rain/snow after the event.

I guess this would be the last festivity I'll experience in Germany. I had fun while it lasted. The atmosphere is something that I won't be able to capture on any photos or video clips.

So, sweets to keep me awake while reading my notes!

27th February 2006 - Day 133

2006-02-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

Like the past 3 Mondays I have had, I woke up early in the morning and made my way down to the dentist.

I went in full of questions marks and asked them what exactly I was doing here. The dentist and her assistant laughed. The assistant betted with the dentist that I would come in today not knowing what was the problem.

It turned out that nothing was wrong with my teeth. I think the phone call last week was to ask whether I was grinding my teeth during sleep or not.

What a joke. I must have answered yes, resulting in this appointment today.

And I thought they wanted to pluck out all my wisdom teeth. So I ate my fill before going down.

After which, I went back to hostel to pick up my organiser before going to the university to make an exam appointment. Suppose the secretary doesn't reply me, it'll be on next Wednesday in the afternoon.

The Mensa doesn't offer dinner from today onwards. They will be taking a break until the new term begins. Lunch will still be available at 4 out of the normal 7 queues.

This looks like fun. I had a hard time choosing only 5. Especially when the adjectives are quite similar to each other.

Suddenly time seems to be moving faster. Hope the trend continues until I'm about done with all my lab sessions.

I just threw all my worn clothes into the washing machine. The wash load is completely full. I don't think another sock can be stuffed in.

1 hour for the washing, 2 hours for the drying. Which means I'll probably stay up till 0230. Good. I can do some reading while waiting.

So, reading begins now.

26th February 2006 - Day 132

2006-02-26T19:03:00.000+01:00

I wonder what I've been doing the whole day. It just slipped past without me realising it.

Maybe it's because I woke up at 1300 today.

Haven't done anything serious up till now. Read a few pages of the lab manual and decided that the experiments will not be easy.

What ever happened to the plan of studying for the exams next week?

Oh. It got chucked away as I was reading selected chapters of A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain. Here's what he has to say about student life in Heidelberg.

One sees so many students abroad at all hours, that he presently begins to wonder if they ever have any working-hours. Some of them have, some of them haven't. Each can choose for himself whether he will work or play; for German university life is a very free life; it seems to have no restraints.

Apparently not the case now. All the people on the floor are busy preparing for their exams.

There is no actual break in between semesters. The so called vorlesungsfreie Zeit simply means that there's no lectures. But all the exams and labs occurs during this period. When one is just finished with his exams, he finds that the new semester is starting tomorrow!

Of course, that is a bit extreme. But it really did happen to some people on the floor here.

This is unlike the system back home where we get pushed through the semester, rushing through mid-terms, lab reports, projects, project presentations, and the finals. Then suddenly, it's the largely undisturbed holidays where we completely do nothing related to the university,except for internship attachments or some ongoing research.

No preference for either systems. Both are as good. The person just has to adapt himself to it and work things out.

Oh well. Easy to say. Getting down to it is another matter. Just look at how I've been spending the past few days lazing around.

So, to the dentist tomorrow.

25th February 2006 - Day 131

2006-02-25T23:40:00.000+01:00

Taking things pretty easy today.

Woke up near noon time and had a simple cereal breakfast. I think I might have been drinking too much milk. No, it's not stomachache this time. The last wisdom tooth of mine is sprouting. I hope it doesn't grow fully to be a terror.

Watched Aeon Flux. Quite an interesting action packed movie.

Went out to the other supermarket to get some of the stuffs I did not get on Thursday. Sure they might cost the same, but I tend to think one product tastes better than the other. I wonder if it's just me or is there really a quality difference.

There was a long queue at the cashier, but I managed to catch the bus back instead of waiting for the next bus in 30 minutes.

Back in hostel, there wasn't much to do. I wanted to wash my clothes, but had no coins. Uedat's out of town. Guess that'll have to wait.

I went later in the evening to K4 Bar again. This time, it's Carol's birthday celebration. Stefan came over with a bottle of beer for me, probably seeing how bored I was.

Ahh. The people on my floor.

It's strange. I'm getting very panicky over the dentist visit on Monday. I found myself tensed up when I thought about it. I think it's because I am still not sure what they are going to do to me. Then again, I can always find out on Monday and refuse treatment. No big deal about that.

Still have not started revision on my last module and my lab work. The intended break is taking a bit too long. Not good. I've decided to do my last exam here next Monday. Now, I just have to see if the professor has the time or not.

So, better progress tomorrow.

24th February 2006 - Day 130

2006-02-24T23:56:00.000+01:00

I woke up at 0700 this morning and met up with the other people going for the excursion.

The excursion is part of one of the modules I'm taking here. The company we're visiting basically builds Chemieanlagen for other companies.

We left in 3 cars each with 3 people. Since there was someone leading the way with his navigation system, I just sat behind and did the usual thing as the vehicle moved, only waking up if the vehicle stops.

It so happened that by the time I woke up, we were about 50 kilometers off. The car I was in decided to break away and find our own way.

After some more wrong turns and a very irritated driver who cannot hold his anger, we reached the place 1 hour and 15 minutes late.

The others were still not there.

The irritated driver couldn't help but comment on his intelligence and the stupidity of the 2 other drivers.

*Yawn*

I was expecting to see some real chemical plants and a tour around the complex. But it turned out to be a full day lecture-styled excursion. We helped ourselves to the free flow of biscuits and drinks.

Lunch was on the company at its' own cafeteria, which is not unlike Mensa. For once, we queued and took the food we wanted without paying. The queue-up-for-food-scenes in the movies or TV programs always leave out the payment part.

Then it was back to some more presentation, some computer simulation and me falling asleep.

Dinner was at a Gasthaus which was quite cosy. Had Rippchen mit Sauerkraut und Brot, Apfel- und Traubensaft, and a cup of coffee. I was quite surprised when we walked out without paying. It was sponsored by the company as well.

We went our separate ways after dinner. I followed the same car. They decided to visit Frankfurt am Main for a while even though it was already after 2000. We went to the Stadtmitte anyway.

I was back in hostel by 2330 and decided to go down to the K4 Bar to find Nan, who is celebrating his birthday.

Met another Chinese there. I've seen him around before and thought that he must have been here for at least a year. Turns out that he came over only during last October. A pleasant guy to talk to.

Alex seemed a bit crazy today. Asked me a lot of funny questions in Chinese. Maybe he drank a bit too much.

I did not stay for long as I was a bit tired. Slept late last night.

So, clothes washing day tomorrow.

23rd February 2006 - Day 129

2006-02-23T23:19:00.000+01:00

I woke up earlier this morning to go through the notes for one last time. After which, I went for lunch, and to the exam venue, where the professor was already waiting.

The Beisitzerin looks familiar. I can't recall where I've seen her. But I place my bets that it was during the Pfennigbasar. It's highly possible, since this module is offered by the same institute as the Hauptfach she's in.

The exam was terrible. I really couldn't understand what the professor was asking. She seemed to go about in loops phrasing her questions. It was really bad. The questions were so decievingly simple that I was thrown off track. Here's an example of my embarassment.

"Given that a batch reactor can sterilise milk at the rate of 1 litre/hour, how many reactors will be required to sterilise 10,000 litres of milk if we separate the amount into 5 batches?"

"..."

Ladies and Gentlemen! Can you believe it? The Kuching-Kurak with supposedly 5 semesters of Chemical Engineering Ausbildung actually got stuck at this question. And he had the cheek to admit it. Shameless!

*Buries head in disgust*

A primary school student who has been imparted the most elementary mathematic knowledge would have no problem answering that!

*Starts digging a hole into the ground*

I really blanked out at that point of time. A pathetic excuse would be that my brain is not in the "German operating mode" today.

When I asked her what a particular word meant, she took it that I did not know the answer to the question.

Well, the truth is, I think I've been trying to memorise everything. It comes to a point where I can tell the factors that may affect the performance of a membrane, but am unable to explain why, since I cannot find them in the notes.

To be fair, I vaguely remember that she explained the reasons why during the lectures. But I was unable to catch it, partly due to her speaking too fast, but mainly because I couldn't understand what she said anyway. Also, I did not attempt to ask her for clarification after lessons.

Like I said, I deserved it.

Not surprisingly, time passed very, very slowly while she had fun grilling me, with the Beisitzerin making more "-" than "+" on her checklist.

Luckily, there's the policy that exchange students only need to pass the exams overseas to transfer the credit points. Even if I get an 1,0 here, it's pointless too.

Be grateful that I passed!

I attended the lab briefing after the exam. There was a change of location but we were not informed. I still managed to find the place anyway, together with another 3 lost students.

It's going to be quite tedious. 15 experiments in 15 days. Lab reports to be handed in the next day before 1200.

I got the impression that the experiments here are a lot more dangerous. I'm about to find out soon if that's true or not.

Something interesting. I didn't know Grashof and Nusselt were professors at Karlsruhe. Carl Benz was a student here.

So, I should make an appointment soon for my last exam here.

22nd February 2006 - Day 128

2006-02-22T23:41:00.000+01:00

Just as I was about to leave for the Mensa for lunch this afternoon, somebody called.

It was the Zahnärztin. If I did not hear her wrongly, I think she told me something like the Krankenkasse has approved my plan. And they would like to make an appointment with me for my next dental treatment.

???

I thought she said she was done with me on Monday! And what plan are they talking about?

Only one way to find out.

Anyway, I was unable to fix an appointment with them at the moment as I still do not know what will happen next week.

Hey... that's strange...How did they get my number? I didn't even register it with them!

Tomorrow right after the mündliche Prüfung, I have to attend the first meeting to find out how the lab here will be like.

After finding that out, I guess I can proceed to make an appointment with the professor for the last exam date.

Totally no idea what the focus on tomorrow's exam will be like. I can't seem to pick out the important points and concepts for this module. I just skimmed through the notes, and everything looks just as important! But that's too much to ask within a time frame of 30 minutes. Even if the lecturer can ask questions that fast, I can't answer back at the same speed.

I finally clarified with the lady what I have to do in order to get my Kaution back on the day I leave. Seems like I have to pay the last rent in cash in order to get it back.

After which, I happily pulled out my bedsheets and exchanged them for new ones with the Hausmeister.

I could see dust flying when I slapped on the matteress and pillow. Makes me wonder if that's dust, or are those the dead skin that peeled off me.

So, the favourite activity when time is running out for exam preparation.

21st February 2006 - Day 127

2006-02-21T23:05:00.000+01:00

Up till now, I still have 5 chapters out of 7 to complete despite having the whole day to read up on the module. It's not as simple as I've thought.

If you should think that this must be the 11th time I'm going through the notes, I'm not even anywhere near finishing it for the first time.

My mind wondered off while I was reading. I was actually thinking of what I need to do before I leave this town at the end of March.

I imagined myself packing and squeezing all my stuffs into the suitcase. I imagined myself handing back the room key to the Hausmeister and collecting back my Kaution. I imagined stepping onto the ICE train at the Hauptbahnhof leaving for Frankfurt Flughafen.

Before that happens, there are still 2 exams, 3 weeks of lab work, and lots of paperwork to be done. Headache.

I think I'll still have about a week left after all those things to enjoy the rest of my time here in Karlsruhe. I haven't been adventurous enough to explore this town. I know there's something, or some place waiting for me to uncover. But I would want to be somewhere else instead during that period for sightseeing.

It's funny how at the same time, I just want to be home sooner.

So, one thing at a time.

20th February 2006 - Day 126

2006-02-20T22:16:00.000+01:00

I made the last visit to the dentist this morning.

Though the whole process of drilling and filling up the tooth was faster than the previous visit, I thought it was more uncomfortable. This tooth the dentist drilled into today was more sensitive. As she drilled, tingles went down my spine and it's really not a very pleasant feeling.

After she was done, she told me that everything was in order and I do not have to come back again!

Well, if I had to go back for any other dental treatment, I think I'll develop a phobia for dentists.

Since it was still early and the Mensa was not yet open for lunch, I went in a opposite direction, not knowing where it'll lead to.

Apparently, there's a circus in town. I chanced upon it during my stroll. But it's not opened today. Then I began to realise that there were actually a lot of posters and banners in town publicising the circus. It's just that I did not take notice of it.

Afternoon was spent in hostel going through the notes. It might be not easy to pass this coming exam, contratry to what I thought. There's a lot of explanations to do and very few diagrams and equations.

Speaking of explanation. During a lunch time discussion with Nan and Jason some time last year, we decided that the a good Stichprobe of one's written German ability would be to craft a well-written complaint letter, and sucessfully getting the relevant authority to recognise the problem. And in certain cases, getting your money back.

Similarly, getting your opponent in a quarrel to understand your viewpoint is the acid test for one's speaking ability.

It seems that I've just created the possiblity of testing my speaking ability in the future unwittingly.

I absent-mindedly left the kitchen door open while the drumsticks was in the oven (yes, chicken again! It's not good to keep the food opened in the freezer for too long). This resulted in the oven spewing roasted/baked chicken aroma all over the floor.

It so happened that there were washed clothes hung outside the kitchen. Can you imagine oily smelling clothes now? I would be quite irritated too if someone did this to me!

This sort of inconsiderate act requires several loud bangs on the offender's door, coupled with a menacing look, and a harsh tone. Pretty much like what you see in the television where someone was hiding some criminal in their house, and the police came with a search warrant.

Of course, the generalisation would be that such evil deed could only be commited by a not-so-clever Auslander. Which in this case, was completely correct.

See? Generalisation makes everyone's life easier!

The other day, someone else came over and asked me if I had left the windows closed after showering. This builds up a lot of moisture in the shower, leading to the growth of moulds. When I casually asked the person why she asked me, she replied that there were only 3 people on the floor who could have done this.

They were all Auslander.

It's not much of a coincidence if you think about it. When most notices are in German, one would expect that the offender doesn't know how to read. It really narrows down to a few people.

Seriously, I do think it's better this way that they come straight on and confront you. Quite unfortunately, my lousy German communication skills does not allow me to bring any valid points across should the need arise, besides the usual Entschuldigung and es tut mir Leid.

After all, it's quite cool to be able to say something like this:

"I quarrelled with a native speaker and I won!"

Crazy.

But I should really try to improve on my spoken German and engage in meaningful exchange of ideas.

Yeah, right. Settle your exams first lah!

Then again, these people are few and far between (like 2 out of 12 Mitbewohner. Achtung! This is statisically bias). It's all part of the wonderful cultural package in an exchange program. They make any exchange program more colourful and complete.

So, more revision with the sensitive tooth.

19th February 2006 - Day 125

2006-02-19T23:18:00.000+01:00

Slept in late today. By the time I woke up, it was already near noon.

I went to the kitchen and saw Eric, Stefan and Simon sitting there having coffee and talking. I joined them for a while before I got back to my room again.

It seems that they are suddenly doing this very often. Gathering around and talking. Maybe it's because of the lecture-free period and that they're preparing for their exams. Usually, this place is quite empty on Sundays.

Sundays always fly by. It makes me wonder what did I actually do today. According to my watch, there's another 40 days before I leave this place. I guess there'll be things here that I will miss.

40 days. That's about enough time to teach a goldfish how to navigate through a maze.

Dickmann's tasted better today. The marshmallow is creamy soft. Unlike the ones back home, where you have to roast them over fire to get it soft.

I tried roasting the frozen drumsticks using another oven without Umlauf. No forced convection, so I have to turn up the temperature from 180 to 220 degrees Celcius. It turned out browner (compared to yesterday) after an hour in the oven.

Wärmeübertragung is an interesting field, despite me not having understood the topic completely, and the fact that I always had problems solving questions related to it.

It's actually correct to assume that carrots have a spherical shape, unlike what I've said earlier. The carrots that are freeze-dried looks like little orange balls.

Managed to skim through a miserable portion of the lecture notes. The lecturer likes to use abbreviations, which I have no idea what they are. She even creates her own short forms!

I've been a mugger for the past few weeks. I should go somewhere soon. It's getting warmer and turning dark later everyday. Good for visiting places. Minus the occasional rain.

So, get back to revision!

18th February 2006 - Day 124

2006-02-18T23:57:00.000+01:00

I spent the early part of the day punching holes in my notes. Just doing some organisation before I start on the revision for the next module.

It was a lazy day for me. Nothing much done. I guess it'll be better spent visiting some other towns.

In the afternoon, I decided I'll go to Wal-Mart. No reasons in particular, just wanted to get some fresh air. I got a packet of deep frozen drumsticks for dinner, coffee, and a packet of Dickmann's.

I've been looking with interest at this particular Dickmann's thing. It looks like a solid block of chocolate on the outside. But the weight gives it away. If they were really solid, they would not be so light.

After I got back to the hostel, I made myself a cup of coffee and opened the packet of Dickmann's.

I took a bite of it and found that underneath the chocolate coating is a whole lot of cream! Actually, it's supposed to be marshmallow. I learnt that it's called a Schaumkuss.

It's quite sweet. I should buy the smaller sized ones next time. Too much marshmallow.

Some facts I've gathered about my rate of consumption of selected items in a month:

Coffee - 100 grams (amount increases during exam period)
Fine sugar with coffee - 500 grams (as above)
Bread - 3.6 loaves of 5oo grams each
Milk - 8.5 litres (no stomachaches now surprisingly)
Eggs - 25 (that's almost one every day!)
Pizza* - 8 of 350 grams each
Potato chips* - 5 packs of 300 grams each
Shower gel - 250 millilitres (dependent on brand used)
Toothpaste - approximately 60 grams (assuming I forget to brush my teeth on 2 nights every week)
Euro - Variable. Averages about 650 per month due to exam period where travelling is non-existent.

Note *: Stopped eating as they are believed to be responsible for my expanding waistline. Number was taken last month.

I ran out of movies to watch. Watched Big Fish again, this time restraining myself from fast forwarding.

I should have placed the exams slightly earlier. I'm losing momentum. Have to pick up speed again after relaxing for 2 whole days.

So, marshmallows for coffee break tomorrow!

17th February 2006 - Day 123

2006-02-17T23:27:00.000+01:00

I passed my mündliche Prüfung in Stastistische Methoden in Verfahrenstechnik.

Basically, it was really off standards compared to the exams other students are subjected to. I spent my time on mastering the derivations for the 3 chapters which will probably come out and understanding all the trivial stuffs related.

During the exam, the professor asked me to come up with the basic equation for the Normalverteilung, which was unfortunately not in any of the 3 chapters. No big surprise that I could not answer.

The professor proceeded to tell me the answer. Then he asked me something which I read up on Konfidenzintervalle, and I scribbled furiously on a piece of paper while trying to articulate what I was doing.

He asked me another question which I had keine Ahnung.

Sensing that the student had spotted questions for the exams, he said he would like to know more about the second part of Konfidenzintervalle.

This, I answered with ease. Time passes slowly when you're stuck not knowing what to do. But 30 minutes was already up.

I know I'll definitely pass. I had expected that there would be questions on Fehler 1. und 2. Art and Regression. But it was not asked since I had already had problems explaining basic terms and equations.

I was more than zufrieden with the results, though I think I do not deserve it with the amount of basic principles which I did not know.

The professor justified that as there were some points which I was not clear about (actually, I think he meant a lot of points), and that there is inevitably Spracheschwierigkeiten, it was the grade he decided upon together with the Beisitzer.

The Beisitzer said this module is not some Mickey Mouse stuff, not forgetting about the deciphering of the notes. You know, the usual stuffs you'll tell Austauschstudent to encourage them.

Anyway, another exam is over. I do think I've learnt a lot over the past 2 weeks going through the notes over and over again to get the meaning in. Reading a Statistik book in German is not so much of a problem for me now.

As I was walking from the Mensa to the Straßenbahnhaltestelle, there was a young lady on her bicycle coming in my direction. She looked at me, and I briefly glanced at her. A short while after she passed by me, I heard a crash.

She rode into some bushes. I was quite amused. So were the other 2 old ladies nearby.

The hazards of riding bicycles without keeping your eyes on where you're going.

Since it'll be another 5 days or so before my next exam, I went to town just to walk around. It was a pleasant stroll down the familiar streets. I wonder why, but the weather today was exceptionally warm. I think I can leave my coat at the hostel soon.

Cleaning up the room was the next thing to do. The last time I cleared it, it was on the eve of Chinese New Year.

Had some in-room entertainment after dinner. I watched Big Fish and enjoyed it. Facts can sometimes be too far fetched to be believed.

So, some well deserved rest.

16th February 2006 - Day 122

2006-02-16T23:04:00.000+01:00

Today marks the end of all the lectures I'm having here.

I recieved the confirmation that another oral exam of mine will take place on next Thursday. In the meantime, I have to prepare for the exam tomorrow before starting on the other module.

There's still another exam which I have not made an appointment for yet. That should probably come in 2 weeks' time. This can only be confirmed once I know more about the lab timing at the briefing next Thursday.

Effectively, I'll be "free" from tomorrow afternoon until next Thursday. I am beginning to wonder where I can go for a short getaway. I have to do some travelling before going back. Am looking at options like Innsbrueck, Prague and Barcelona.

Perhaps I'll try to hitch-hike to my destination this time round. That should be the cheapest option available.

The temperature today hit the double digit mark at 10 degrees Celcius. But it was raining in the afternoon. I think it hasn't stopped yet.

As the weather gets warmer, I looked at the unworn clothings which I've brought along. What was I thinking bringing so much clothings? Now I still have to bring them back.

I'm also reminded that I forgot to do something while there was still snow. I should have gone to the Schwarzwald. Well, I've taken a train through the Black Forest the last time I went to Konstanz, and it was snowing. But it's quite a pity that I did not aussteigen at that time, simply because it was too cold.

It's late and I have an exam tomorrow. I should be revising, so that I can answer at least one-third of all questions and secure a pass.

It's really quite embarassing when the professor looks at you, gives you all the hints, and you're still unable to give an answer. From the side of your eyes, you see the Beisitzer slowly shaking his head while producing the "tsk tsk tsk" sound. How they wonder about the state of university education in Kuching-pura.

In Kuching-pura, students do not have the luxury of having a free education. However, one can expect some form of subsidy from the generous government if one is "deserving" enough of an university education.

But events have made it necessary for the premier institutions in Kuching-pura to raise the tuition fees again in response to the increasing operating costs (some say wastage for a certain university).

Of course, the student population understand that costs will rise eventually (just like how everyone wants a higher salary). But where did the money go to?

Nobody has a clue, though rising costs was largely pin-pointed to facilities, administration and professors with their research.

Rumours has it, that it was spent on building better facilities for example, a grand looking building, which unfortunately the students won't get to use.

Administrative personnel are trying their best to help students who run into funny administrative problems in the course of their studies. Unfortunately, they aren't exceptionally efficient with all the red-tape around. A pay raise might help change that.

Some speculate that higher pay has to be given to the professors in order to attract more talented professors, who will then come from all around the World and do researches, which will have far reaching consequences in whatever field in time to come.

Oh yes, the last point is important. It makes the university more...distinguished. Everyone will then hear the name of the University and be wowed. The graduates stand to gain from this too. Imagine, a graduate from one of the top ranked universities (in the region)! How cool is that?!

The Beisitzer is still shaking his head.

So, better go back and do some more revision.

15th February 2006 - Day 121

2006-02-15T23:15:00.000+01:00

Didn't sleep well last night. Kept waking up for no reason.

I made my way down to the exam venue on the other side of the town after having a larger than normal portion of cereals. I might not have the time for lunch due to the scheduling of another exam.

I reached the venue 15 minutes earlier than the appointment time. One of the secretaries had to open up a room for me to go in and wait.

I spent the time taking out the gelbe Zettel for the Bewertung later and kept all the remaining stuffs.

The secretary came and told me to go into the office for the Prüfung. The professor and the Beisitzerin were already there. The usual greetings and such, and the Prüfung began.

According to my observations, I believe this is how the grading goes. Of course, take it with a pinch of salt.

Let us begin with the assumption that any student who first steps into the office starts with a Note of 5,0. This is the lowest possible grade in the grading system here (which corresponds to a "fail"). The lower the number, the better one's exam performance is (to a maximum of 1,0).

Student enters the office - 5,0
Student shows gelbe Zettel proving exchange student status - 4,0
Laughing at the professor's jokes even though they are not funny or you don't understand a thing - 3,0
Giving some comments reflecting the background of your studies and that you do know what you're actually doing - 2,7
Professor asks a question and student is stumped - 3,3
Student sprouts some nonsense which is not even vaguely related to the question - 3,0
Professor gives clues to help student - 3,7
Student answers question correctly after some time - 2,3
But still with some misconceptions - 2,7
Professor ask another question to which the student answers correctly - 2,0
Allowing the professor to relate his adventures, with the student confirming that the phenomenon observed by the professor is indeed true - 1,7
Taking the advice which the professor has to offer and showing determination to continue learning German in the future - 1,3

There you have it. I walked out with a final Note of 1,3 for this module. The fact is, I learnt more during the 35 minutes discussion than all the lectures I've attended for this module.

You could say I was not paying attention to the lectures or how little I've absorbed. But the professor touched on some issues and it set me thinking. That is correct. The jelly in my thick skull is hardly ever utilized.

By the way, Umsatz can either mean "conversion" or "turn over". I almost answered wrongly because of that.

I happily made my way down back to attend another lecture, which I would have the exams for the module shortly after.

It has been enjoyable attending the lecture, even though the professor does not write legibly. It seemed to have revived my interest in a certain field. I finally knew what the funny looking, inverted cone shaped structure along Old Tampines Road is for. It's funny how answers come up at places where you never expect to find them.

I followed the professor to the exam venue after the lecture ended. This is the last time this module would be offered. As I have said in the earlier entry, it has to make way for newer modules.

Along the way to the exam venue, I asked the Professor some questions.

He's been teaching since 1977. The module which I'm taking, has been offered since 1985!
No doubts about it, he drives from Köln to Karlsruhe everytime there's a lecture. That's about 6 hours for a return journey.
Arbeitslos rate remains high at over 10% in Germany.
There are good job opportunities for a process engineer in Germany. Apparently there is a shortage of Verfahrenstechniker.

The exam began shortly after the Beisitzer arrived. This really feels like an exam where in a short span of 30 minutes, everything under the sun could be asked.

I thought I was ready for this exam since I spotted the questions (although the voice said spotting 5 chapters to read out of 6 doesn't really count as spotting) and made all necessary preparations.

I was wrong. Remember about the illegible handwriting? It turns out that the parts which I scribbled (because I wasn't sure what he wrote on the blackboard) were tested as well, even though I thought they were relatively insignificant.

Coupled with the fact that my short term memory shut down yesterday, there were a few graphs which I either forgot how to draw, or what the axes should be labeled as.

Language difficulties can be an advantage with such a good professor. I pronounced the first and last syllabus of a word, he filled in the blanks for me.

Still, ich habe die Prüfung gut bestanden.

I even had time left to catch lunch before going off for another lecture.

I tried to register for another exam after that. It was quite amusing. The secretary described a certain event to me. After which she proceeded to write the word down. I just said genau at the word, and she thought that my German is good!

Well, you told me what the word meant. Einzelprüfung simply means individual testing according to what I gathered from the secretary.

Today was the last lesson for Phonetik classes. There were only 4 students. We did some revision on the previous exercises.

Frau Böhmer told us the some funny Nachname. Like Herr Rund, Herr Dick und Herr Lang. Or Herr Schwarz, Herr Rot und Herr Grün. When she was a student, she was known as Herzog. Along with her at her Studentenwohnheim there were 2 other girls known as Kaiser und König. Wouldn't know if she made the story up but it was funny.

It feels strange when things are coming to an end. The thought of people you might never see again. The people who have been in the same class with you for 14 weeks. The people who you do not talk to, but quietly acknowledge the existence of. You start to miss them. Then slowly, you forget about them. Until your path crosses theirs again.

So, a little celebration for completing 2 exams in German!

14th February 2006 - Day 120

2006-02-14T23:01:00.000+01:00

An impending sense of doom has striked.

Panic. Panic. Panic.

I think I still don't know a thing about the exams tomorrow. I don't seem to recall anything at all. I take back my words. It is difficult to read stuffs in another language, especially when there's not much time left.

Some of the topics sinks in, but to phrase them in my own words, it's not really possible. Sure I can read them, but that doesn't mean I can use them effectively in my speech. Definition of a certain term? I probably could only give a word or two about it. That is, if I can remember them.

Commiting them to memory is a costly option now with the amount of stuffs I have. Not that I didn't try to do it earlier. The Verweilzeit in my head is relatively short. And it doesn't make sense to memorise things which I cannot even understand.

My brain refuses to recognise any words I read. The system just completely shut down. I can't even form a proper sentence. This must be the only exam period which I spent so much time on and understood only so little.

Among all the chaos and uncertainty, a voice tells me this.

"No worries! You will definitely make it!"

"Why?"

"Because you're an exchange student! Not some full time student here. Surely you aren't that outstanding that they want to keep you here for another semester. And there's the language as a mitigating factor. Everyone else says you'll definitely pass, it's just a matter of how well you do."

I choose to believe what the voice said. After all, I did what I could during my revisions. If things do go wrong, we'll discuss that when it really happens.

So, I'm going to sleep early tonight.

13th February 2006 - Day 119

2006-02-13T22:30:00.000+01:00

I visited the dentist in the morning.

Although I made the appointment last week, I still had to wait for half an hour as the guy before me took slightly longer than expected.

Let's just say I felt uncomfortable on the dentist's chair this time round. I was tensed up most of the time as she held a drill and started to bore a hole at the back of my front tooth. She asked me if I needed a Spritze or not. It took me some time for me to register that word. The word sank in just before she fished out a syringe out of a drawer.

No, thank you. But please do it later. If it hurts.

It was largely painless, except for the times she stuck something in between my teeth and pushed into the gums. It's a bit ticklish at times when she was finally done with boring the hole. I could imagine a worm popping out from the tooth.

She told me that the tooth has decayed further since the last time I got it filled up. Probably due to some minor fissures in the filling that the bacteria got through.

Now, let's play a game of spot the difference.

Before

After

If you're wondering about the colour of the teeth, the "Before" picture was taken under orange light (after a cup of coffee, some chocolates and biscuits).

The dentist told me to make another appointment with her. She suspects that the other neigbouring tooth has been infected by the pesky bacteria and wants to drill into it to flush them out.

Well, take a good look at my teeth again. They might all be dentures the next time you see them.

Did I read somewhere that German dentists always insist that lots of work has to be done to your teeth?

It might probably be true since the normal person doesn't visit the dentist unless there's something wrong. And when there's something wrong with one tooth, there's a high chance that the other teeth are not in a very good condition.

I count myself lucky that my childhood was not scarred by those menacing looking dental nurses who sticks funny instruments into kids' mouths in primary school. The fact that they happen to possess a pair of shaky hands did not help.

I never had a problem with dental health back then. I attribute this to the fact that I drank lots of milk, ate lots of sweets, and never brushed my teeth unless it was absolutely necessary.

Yeah, right.

I tend to think that kids who have had traumatic experience(s) with dental nurses and dentists take better care of their teeth when they grow up. Their parents might never need to remind them to brush their teeth before going to bed after that.

So, tune in again next week for more Dentures Adventures.

12th February 2006 - Day 118

2006-02-12T23:58:00.000+01:00

I did pretty much the same things today as I did for most of the other Sundays here. Yes, the oily breakfast again.

Progress in terms of preparation for exams remains slow. I am getting dangerously optimistic again. I have to constantly remind myself that I will not be able to finish everything if I continue like this. And by everything, I mean everything that I have spotted.

I'm not terribly good at spotting questions. In fact, the last time I tried spotting questions for my exams, it was a total disaster. Absolutely nothing that I had spent my time on mastering came out. Not even as a part question a, b, c or i, ii, iii. I should say I deserved it since I was completely off the focus of the lecture.

I looked through the notes of a corresponding module in NUS (which was kindly sent to me by a classmate whose name and my name are inversion of each other) and the one which I'm doing here. There seems to be fundamental differences in which the same topic is presented.

National University of Singapore:
Understand concepts through examples.
Never mind the nitty gritty.
Just apply the equations to get the answers!

Universität Karlsruhe:
Without concepts, you cannot understand examples.
Derive, proof and show how the equations come about.
Explain the usage of a certain equation in a given problem.

Of course, these are just generalisations based solely on my observations. It might not be true for other modules. Hah. Talk about hypothesis. But the Stichprobenumfang is not big enough.

Ok. Enough of nonsense.

Each method works for different groups of people. I think they complement each other quite well.

But too bad. That would be too much to fit in a semester.

So, just solve the immediate problem and move on.

11th February 2006 - Day 117

2006-02-11T23:48:00.000+01:00

Cooped myself up in the room the whole day. Did some reading which I was supposed to finish yesterday.

I read. I understood. I forgot. I only have very a vague impression of the lecture notes I've read. Remembering the stuffs is one thing, expressing the idea verbally is another. I can imagine myself scribbling away during the mündliche Prüfung. Like some charts or derivations to help me in my explanation.

I think it'll be worth the effort to practise the following sentences.

"Ich bitte um Ihre Verständnis. Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache."

Hah. I shall say it in the most incorrect way with wrong pronounciation and with lots of stammering.

Yeah, right. That's going to help.

For certain modules, I get the feeling that reading the lecture notes in German is not very different from reading them in English. It's much easier compared to when I first started reading. Maybe because I'm more familiar with the grammatical structures and vocabulary they use.

After all, they are engineering courses, not some poetry classes. There is only so much grammar and so many words involved.

So, back to the world of Zusammenhänge und Gleichungen.

10th February 2006 - Day 116

2006-02-10T23:56:00.000+01:00

Another of my lecture has officially ended. The exam for this module will be 1 week from now.

According to the requirements of the mündliche Prüfung, someone known as a Beisitzer also has to be there to act as a neutral party (and possibly to take down notes of what I said).

Which means that I cannot...ahem...you know...with the lecturer who is grading me.

After the professor announced the end of the lecture proper, he asked who would be free on next Friday to act as a Beisitzer so that a particular Kuching-Kurak can take his exam.

I was quite surprised. I always thought they'll get someone else. At least not someone who's taking the same class as me!

The person who agreed to be the Beisitzer doesn't have to take an exam for this module. Apparently, he just needs a "Certificate of Participation" signed by the professor.

It seems that this module will no longer be offered from next semester onwards. The department wants to implement some other exciting modules for it's students and hence has to strike off some modules taught by the older professors. The professor here has taught this module for the last 20 years!

There's another module which I'm taking that has been slashed too. I should say I'm quite lucky to have caught the last train. If I came over a year later, I'll probably have no other modules to map.

I went to Jason's farewell party in the evening. When I reached, there were only 2 other people. More people came later.

Saw some other people who are attending the same class as I am. Nothing suprising. The number of students in the department isn't very large too.

Stayed there for quite a while and hitched a ride back as Jason was sending Augustine to the Hauptbahnhof.

So, back in hostel and feeling sleepy.

9th February 2006 - Day 115

2006-02-09T23:31:00.000+01:00

The semester is coming to an end soon. I believe some of the other lectures have already ended judging from the number of people waiting for the bus this morning.

There used to be a lot of people trying to get on the 0750 bus on Thursday. Everyone stands near the entrance and exit of the bus, not unlike in Singapore. But the situation is not that bad here since there aren't as many people taking the bus here. Not to mention the particular bus service is more like a feeder service by SBS standards.

The lecturer probably got bored of teaching the same old thing. He got his sidekick to hold the lecture instead.

I just realised that I'm running out of time. Got a little too confident and overestimated myself on my rate of information uptake and the residence time in my grey matter. I'm taking far too long to finish my lecture notes. And I'm only focusing on the parts which I think are more important.

I will finish them all before my exams starts.

I still have another two exam dates to set. I do not want to drag it on for too long. I want to finish the exams before I start on my lab work on the end of February. It can be quite terrible writing lab reports. Not to mention it's in German now.

Now I'm reminded. I forgot to bring my lab coat with me to Germany! I shall find out if one is needed during the first appointment with the professor in another two weeks.

So, back to the routine.

8th February 2006 - Day 114

2006-02-08T23:06:00.000+01:00

It rained today. I didn't bring my umbrella out with me even though I read the weather forecast in the morning.

I attended the lecture where the professor does not write legibly. It wasn't easy making the words out. Sometimes he speaks too fast, but I'm not writing fast enough.

I'm wondering why he repeated the same stuffs. I vaguely remembered the things on the board today were taught in the second lecture. I checked when I got home. That part was exactly the same.

Maybe that means I should read up more on that section.

Felix told me that doing half of each of the four question during the exams will not get the person a 1,0. The points for each question are not cummulative in that sense.

I realised today during the Phonetik lesson, that the last session will be next week. I'm having less problems with "zu-" now. The course did help me take more notice about the proper pronunciation of words, but my reading remains flat with no signs of commas, full stops, exclaimation marks and etc.

There's an interesting article on the Zoo in Karlsruhe. One of the zoo-keepers observed that some chimpanzees are found holding snow in their hands(?) and watching them melt away with apparent amazement.

Hah. The things I learn during Phonetik lesson.

It seems that the people on the floor are spending less time in the kitchen. Those who are still cooking, are often caught reading notes while they are stirring their broth.

So, I shall be looking forward to this time next week.

7th February 2006 - Day 113

2006-02-07T23:07:00.000+01:00

Today was the last lecture for one of the modules.

The professor told us the format of the coming exams. Four questions in 2 hours. If you manage to finish 2 questions correctly, that's a 1,0 (or the equivalent of an "A", if we follow grade by grade up to 4,0 for a "D").

Sounds unbelievable. Does that mean doing half of each of the four questions will also get you the same grade?

Anyway, I'm not taking the written paper. I'm taking the oral one since I'm in Chemieingenieurwesen instead of Maschinenbau oder Elektrotechnik.

When I asked the professor about the format of the oral exam and what do I need to prepare, he told me the exam will probably last 30 minutes. And to eat and sleep well the night before.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear. But he told me something else. Up to date, everyone has passed this oral exam. I intend to keep it that way.

Having worked a few years in the chemical field, he probably knows more about distillation columns than me. I was quite surprised the first time he told me about drawing McCabe Thiele diagrams and introducing the feed at which plate.

Oh well, the professor is from the Business faculty. You can only believe so much fluff.

It's not easy to study in Germany. Without the steady persistance to finish studies, one might get distracted (and perhaps do some Hauptstudium in Merry Making instead) and graduate a few semesters later. Though that's not a big issue here.

So, getting back to preparations.

6th February 2006 - Day 112

2006-02-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

Somehow, I slept through my alarm clock this morning. But I managed to get to the dentist by 0950.

The morning went something like this.

Was asked to show my Krankenversicherungkarte.
Filled in a form about personal particulars and some questions about medical history.
Sat on a sofa and waited for 45 minutes.
Went into the room and sat on the dentist's operating chair.
Opened up my mouth.
Dentist did a general check to see which tooth was there or was missing or decayed and asked which tooth I had problems with.
Mumbled to her which tooth it was.
She confirmed that there was indeed a tiny piece of tooth missing.
Asked me what material I would like for the filling. The "free" one, or the 10€ one which is supposedly of bessere Material.
Thought 10€ for better material was not too expensive, taking into account how I eat and drink.
The dentist proceeded to do her job with the plastic material, drill, and sanding equipment.
Job done, after some more sanding to make the repaired area smoother.
Got off the operating chair.
Asked me if I would like to fix some other tooth.
Hesitated.
Told me that it'll be on the Kasse.
No more hesitation.
Made a proper appointment on next Monday as she had other appointments for today.
Paid 20€ for the Praxisgebühr and the filling.
Happily skipped to the Mensa for lunch.

The consultation fee of 10€ is effective for 3 months and only valid for the same dentist, on top of the compulsory 56,62€ I pay the Krankenkasse every month.

I'm still puzzled to why the tooth broke off. The dentist commented the other teeth were still in good condition (except for the wisdom tooth which is not growing stright, and the other tooth to be fixed).

I am currently using toothpaste with a flouride concentration of 1450 ppm. I have no idea what the value is for toothpastes at home. I just don't want another broken tooth.

According to the bottle-of-water-outside-the-window index, it reports a temperature well above zero degree Celcius. The residual snow is slowly melting off, revealing ugly patches of soil and dead leaves.

So, back to exam preparations.

5th February 2006 - Day 111

2006-02-05T23:48:00.000+01:00

I slept in late today until 1300. Absolutely nothing interesting happened today.

I need to visit the dentist. I believe a part of my tooth has been chipped off while I was munching on some cereals. The part of the said tooth feels rough as I run my tongue over. I'm glad that it doesn't hurt at the moment.

Brushing habits remains the same. Despite the increased intake of milk and joghurt, my teeth are still weakening. It sounds ridiculous, but my guess is that "un-flourine-nated" tap water have a negative effect on my teeth.

No flouride in the tap water, but they add their flouride somewhere else. It's quite common to see Salz mit Florid here. I heard that the toothpaste here also contain higher amounts of flouride compared to those back home.

I managed to find a dentist in the area through an online map. It's about 5 minutes walk away from the hostel. Even with the Krankenversicherung, I wonder how much I'll spend.

The Krankenversicherung supposedly provides very basic dental benefits. If I'm not wrong, I still have to pay at least 10€ for the consultation fee. I'll see how it goes.

So, more dental updates tomorrow.

4th February 2006 - Day 110

2006-02-04T23:19:00.000+01:00

Did I mention about the other supermarket I found the other day? It's just three bus stops from the hostel (in the opposite direction). A return trip to the supermarket takes me about 50 minutes, and I do not have to squeeze on the bus with other people.

It's hidden from the main road. I didn't know it existed until one day I was curious and decided to do a search on the internet. At least I found it now, and on the last week here.

It seems that all the mandarin oranges here changed. I almost bought more orange-like mandarin oranges this afternoon. Tough skin, difficult to peel and sour.

Maybe because there are less people visiting the supermarket. The cashier seems friendlier too.

A mistake on my part to start watching Harry Potter. Though there are more urgent issues to handle, I chose to indulge myself in finishing all the four movies in one sitting.

To ease any sense of guilt, I finished the first chapter of my lecture notes. Which was only about....10 pages?

Yeah, right. Suffer the consequences now.

More fun with fruits. I bought a comb of green bananas about 9 days ago. Perhaps it wasn't very smart of me to throw them inside the fridge. But I had no idea that they turn yellow so slowly.

Not enough bananas. Or they should gas the bananas first before shipping them.

So, I have to keep my mind from wandering off tomorrow.

3rd February 2006 - Day 109

2006-02-03T23:56:00.000+01:00

The lecturer decided that since he has enough time to finish his lecture, there will not be a lesson today.

I woke up quite late and went to Mensa for lunch. Because of the unexpected high consumption of fruits yesterday, I went to the supermarket to pick up more. Wanted to get some mandarin oranges, but took a bag of oranges instead.

I should have noticed that they look firmer than usual. Shall go out tomorrow again for some additional grocery shopping. Just as well. It's better to get some fresh air outside rather than coping myself up.

Remember the bottle of water outside the window? It finally solidifed after I removed the bottle cap. But I still think I won't see a whole bottle of ice even if I leave it ouside in this temperature.

Did a little revision and realised that I still have lots to learn for the module. The wonderful part is, I don't have all the notes since this is a mitschreiben lecture. But the professor doesn't always write legibly. I have to guess the words as I go along.

Now when I look back at what I wrote during the first lecture, I have to agree that it's full of non-existing words.

So, back to clearing up the mess I made.

2nd February 2006 - Day 108

2006-02-02T23:40:00.000+01:00

No problems with waking up this morning for the lectures. A waste of time I'll say. Not much use if you're teaching students how to use a computer application when there's no hands-on session. I went back to hostel after lessons to collect a package.

After collecting my package from the Poststelle, I went off to the Mensa for lunch and bumped into Autumn there.

It was foggy today. It wasn't as cold as yesterday even though the sun went into hiding. I went to do some regular grocery shopping.

On my way, a certain building was being demolished. Should have been nothing interesting. But quite a number of people just stood there looking on.

You know it's not a good sign, when you run 200 metres after a Straßenbahn, and still be catching for breath 5 minutes after that. Having no running shoes with me is a good reason not to start running/jogging here. The weather here is a good excuse.

There's an exhibition in Ettlinger Tor. It's about space exploration. The exhibits are free for viewing, but you might consider renting their equipment (which happens to be a flimsy piece of red-green plastic known as 3D glasses) to enhance your experience.

Or you can talk to a person who is dressed up in a jumpsuit adorned with suspicious looking insignia from the "Zulu Space Exploration Agency" along with some other iron-on patches.

I returned to hostel and spent the rest of the day dreaming about spaceships and rockets.

I just finished my shower and gave Stefan a little scare. I was waiting for him to open the door. He didn't expect to see anyone still up in the shower and got a bit...surprised. I muddle-headedly switched off the lights as I walked out of the shower/toilet, forgetting that he's going to use the toilet. I turned around to see him get startled again.

I love the item inside the package!

So, the long weekend has officially started.

1st February 2006 - Day 107

2006-02-01T23:12:00.000+01:00

Lessons started only in the afternoon at 1400. I tried reading up some stuffs on a certain module in the morning. It was terrible. Asked myself some questions regarding the lecture notes and I just froze there not knowing how to answer.

Great. The general ideas aren't even there, and the Prüfung is in 2 weeks. Noch viel zum Lernen.

The lecture in the afternoon was not too bad. The lecturer was rattling off. I couldn't catch a lot of what she said. But, I think I understood better because she uploaded the notes earlier, giving me some time to do my Übersetzung.

Now I can't even recall anything she said during the lecture.

I lent a few of my copied tutorials to this German student, Felix, to photocopy. He has some problems with copying from the chalkboard. I think he's short-sighted and should get a proper pair of spectacles.

Attendance for the Phonetik lesson was poor. The Lehrerin knows it's because the exams are coming soon.

Nothing much interesting happened during the lesson today. It was a revision of what she went through the past 3 weeks. I still have a problem with pronouncing "zu-" though.

It's cold outside today. Can't stay outdoor for too long. All the tree branches were white with frost. The snow from last Wednesday is still here.

So, shower, study, sleep.

31st January 2006 - Day 106

2006-01-31T23:52:00.000+01:00

A largely uneventful day. I went for all the lectures as usual.

I was quite happy to see that it was still bright after my last lecture of the day. It just felt more normal to still see daylight at around 1720.

Dinner was at the Mensa. I can't possibly eat the same things like pasta, instant noodles and pizza everyday. Ok, I was lazy to cook and wash up. I might go back to eating bread with ham and cheese.

There's supposed to be a Vollhausversammlung this evening. It's for the election of some people to some duties. People who don't attend are likely to get their extension of rental withdrawn. I'm not really bothered by that. Hah. Short term resident here.

I'm finally finished with the übersetzen of the lecture notes for one of the modules. Tomorrow, I plan to do that for another module.

It's time to start reading through soon. But first, a break from all the translations.

So, more progress to be made tomorrow.

30th January 2006 - Day 105

2006-01-30T23:12:00.000+01:00

Lessons in the afternoon. The morning felt like a weekend.

I received an email informing me that the Professor would only conduct the mündliche Prüfung on a certain day. After that, he'll be on his way to some other place.

Which means I have to prepare for two exams on the same day. How exciting. Two totally unrelated field of studies.

The afternoon lecture was not very helpful. Two students were asking lots of questions which I did not understand. This probably shows how prepared I am for the module.

Language ability today is almost non-existent. I am quite sure that there is a certain switch that has to be tripped by some activities I do in order to unlock the Speak-German-With-Relative-Ease mode. I can hardly make myself understood otherwise.

While I was cooking dinner, Jörg came over and thanked me for helping to paint the kitchen yesterday. That was quite unexpected. Probably because not everyone wanted to do the painting.

Fridel, the Bierminister, came and collected the money for drinks as it is the end of the month. I paid 0,60€ for a bottle of beer that I drank some time earlier. Come to think of it, I don't remember paying for the beer I drank in November and December.

This is really convenient. Especially when you forget to pick up drinks at the supermarket. There's Cola and Apfelsaft available too.

So, maybe a bottle of beer is all I need to trip the switch.

29th January 2006 - Day 104

2006-01-29T23:38:00.000+01:00

Today's the first day of the Chinese New Year.

It just felt like another Sunday to me. I spent the whole day in the hostel, since I did not have any visits to make here.

You would have thought I must have been relatively productive with my work. Not quite correct though. I simply felt like doing nothing today.

It's not often, that I get the chance to spend Chinese New Year alone. I'm making the best out of this experience. Unlike thinking that it's a very "routinised" schedule to visit relatives every other Chinese New Year. In fact, as each hour today passes by, I can imagine what I'll be doing, where I'll be, if I was back home.

Sure it's fun (and the red packets are an incentive), but I used to wonder how it'll be like to spend Chinese New Year alone.

My wish has been fulfilled.

No wonderful breakfast today. I skipped it and had lunch at 1400 instead.

I helped paint the kitchen in the afternoon, though not for long. I left the work to the restlichen Mitbewohner.

Seems like some of the people on the floor have some problems with moulds. I got invited into Stefan's room to view an artwork of moulds on the wall. Now he has to scrub them off the wall. It's amazing how they can grow in this cold weather. They must have been keeping their rooms a bit too warm and moist, making it conducive to grow moulds.

It turned from -8 to 3 degree Celcius as the sun slowly made it's appearance. It's good weather for a walk. The weather report looks good for the next few days too.

It's pretty fast. I just realised I will be going home 2 months later. That's about 60 days left before weekends will no longer be spent lazing around.

Actually, that's not true. I'm supposed to prepare for my exams, which are about 2 weeks away. Besides, weekends back home are also not very fruitfully spent in terms of clearing school work.

So, stop dreaming and get back on track!

28th January 2006 - Day 103

2006-01-28T22:42:00.000+01:00

Being a Saturday, I wanted to sleep in later this morning. Somehow, I felt something was not right.

It's Chinese New Year Eve.

In the past, I would know that it's going to be Chinese New Year soon. The familiar tunes would be heard almost everywhere one goes. The decorations going up. A special section allocated to Chinese New Year goodies in the supermarket.

Well, not here. It just feels like any other Saturday. The Chinese students here all seems to be quietly doing their own preparations.

I did a through spring cleaning for my room and put everything back into order, even though the last cleaning session was not too long ago.

I met Autumn for lunch at Die Kippe and we went to the Stadtmitte for a walk.

It sounds absurd, but we actually went to buy mandarin oranges. Just to get into the mood of Chinese New Year.

When I got back here, I wasted no time and went for a shower. After which, I threw in all the dirty clothings into the washing machine. It just didn't feel good with dirty clothings lying around to recieve the Year of the Fire Dog.

Habits are hard to change. It has been done for all Chinese New Years throughout my life. This is the first time I am spending Chinese New Year away from home. I am quite surprised that I actually did all these things to welcome the New Year.

I even harboured the thought of cooking a pot of rice and leaving it overnight!

Much as I want to make everything as similar as possible to my past experiences, there's always something different.

For example, no reunion dinner.

I like going for reunion dinner. And the time after that when I sprout nonsense with my cousins. Then going home after that, sitting on the sofa, and get mesmorized by the variety programs on television.

Ok. I admit. I just like it that it's going to be a 2 day public holiday.

But really, you'll feel the mood for Chinese New Year, if you allow yourself to.

Somehow, people around me all seem...different. I believe this is due to the effect of making myself aware that Chinese New Year is coming. Just look at how many times I've typed "Chinese New Year"!

According to various sources, people have said that this is not a good year for people born in the year of Dog.

Despite general consensus, I say this year will be a wonderful one. Let's take a closer look at the various aspects.

General:
On the whole, this will be a lucky year for you. Lots of good ideas will be generated.

Health:
Very good. No problems or whatsoever with health, on the basis that you exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Sleep is not important.

Finance:
Dabbling in investment instruments such as 4D, Toto, and Big Sweep (or any equivalent) might make you a winner! What are you waiting for?!

Romance:
You will be happy with your partner. If you have none, you will be happy with yourself.

Career:
Keep quiet. Watch and learn.

Studies:
No pain, no gain. But gain doesn't always come with pain. Consider reading something in your native language.

Bonus:
Lady Luck is smiling on you. Please go to your nearest betting station if you see any numbers in the following character.

What numbers shall it be?

What? You can't see anything? Lady Luck is generous today. One more chance!

Do you see it now?

It cannot be! What do you mean you don't see anything?! Ok. Last chance! Look carefully!

It's so obvious now...

So, wishing all a happy and prosperous Year of the Dog!

27th January 2006 - Day 102

2006-01-27T23:45:00.000+01:00

Another work week came and passed just like that. Just when I was getting warmed up to start some serious work, the weekend is here.

It finally stopped snowing. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the ground is not as slippery as I have thought. The -7 degree Celcius temperature must have kept the snow from melting.

Everything is covered by a layer of snow. I am beginning to appreciate how beautiful snow can be.

I used to think that I'll need a magnifying glass or a microscope to see the pattern of snow flakes. Well apparently, I could see them when they landed on my black jacket. The design of each snow flake is always different or so I heard. I didn't bother comparing though.

It's like fine sand that is almost weightless. Hear the "crunch crunch" sound when you step on them. Kick them around.

I learnt from the lecturer that it's not often that it snows here in Karlsruhe. Such low temperature is also not common.

My camera is not functioning. The pictures I take outdoors are always over-exposed. No use tinkling with the settings.

So, that's why there's no pictures these few days.

26th January 2006 - Day 101

2006-01-26T21:22:00.000+01:00

The snowing didn't stop through the night. It was still snowing this morning. Light snow though.

In the morning, I saw some vehicles clearing the roads and footpaths of snow. That's good. Otherwise I'll be walking unwittingly onto the road because everything is white.

I saw some people at the University throwing snow balls at each other. And a girl sitting in the snow, presumably a case of slip and fall.

After the morning lecture, I made my way to the tram stop in order to go to Schwarzwaldhalle, where the Pfennigbasar is held.

For the records, I slipped and almost fell 4 times on my way there.

On the Straßenbahn, I could guess that most people on the tram were going to the Pfennigbasar as well. There were lots of people standing outside the Schwarzwaldhalle when I got there.

There's an opening address by someone. I think it was the town mayor. When he announced the official opening of the 39th Pfennigbasar, the crowd started to squeeze through the entrance.

As I was waiting to get in, I talked to a German student who is studying Lebensmitteltechnik. She commented that she was once an exchange student in Canada. She said everything there was done very efficiently, unlike in Germany, where things have to be settled by yourself.

I have to thank the Germans here who try to give me some affirmation. Most of them say to me, "du sprichst relativ gut Deutsch", or something along that line.

Of course I speak good German. I've been practising the same few sentences for more than 2 years!

They'll know better when they ask something nach meiner Meinung. Ich habe doch keine!

The flea market is quite huge. They are selling quite a lot of things too. Some of the items which I thought looks good. Paintings, standing lamps, toys, clothings, shoes and lots more. Too bad. Most of them are a hassle to transport back home.

I bought 2 decks of playing cards for 0,10€ each. I was half expecting that there'll be missing cards though. In one deck, 3 cards were missing. In the other, all the four suits run only from "7" to "A"!

Surprise surprise. The second deck is actually complete! Or so I found from the internet. But I don't know any card games using only 32 cards.

I bought the cards because the picture cards look different from the normal playing cards. I might go back tomorrow and see if they replenish the stocks.

There's a man who bought 33 decks for 5€. Maybe he's a collector of playing cards.

I also bought a book written in English for 4€. It's in a good condition. Seems like a good buy to me. The title? The Foundations of Chinese Medicine - A Comprehensive Text for Acupuncturists and Herbalist.

So, anyone needs diagnosis for any ailments?

25th January 2006 - Day 100

2006-01-25T23:25:00.000+01:00

Unglaublich! I actually slept for 12 hours straight last night.

No lessons this morning. I should have woke up early to revise for the lectures yesterday. Didn't managed to finish it because I over-estmated myself. Long sleeping hours. Terrible.

I thought there was a lecture this afternoon. When I reached, I heard another man speaking instead of the Lehrerin.

I haven't been hanging very often in the University compounds since the hostel is so near. The few places I go in the University are the lecture and tutorial venues, the Mensa and the Rechenzentrum, or Computer Laboratory.

I have only passed by the library. My stay inside usually does not exceed 5 minutes. I have heard about the wonderful collection of books found in the library here. I shall go and do a through visit. Soon.

The topic for today's Phonetik lesson - How to be a decent burglar.

Here's the passage:

Herr und Frau Boch aus Bochum sind bei Freunden zu Besuch. Spät in der Nacht klingelt das Telefon. Eine Stimme spricht: "Ihre Kinder schlafen nicht. Sie machen furchtbaren Krach. Ich habe sie ins Bett gebraucht. Ich habe den Hahn zugemacht, damit die Badewanne nicht überläuft. Ich habe den Hund aus dem Kühlschrank befreit. Ich habe das Licht ausgemacht und die Türen geschlossen. Sie können froh sein, dass ich so ein anständiger Einbrecher bin."

The purpose of the passage is to pronounce the -ch, which can be pronounced in a "hard" or "soft" manner.

My problem lies with pronoucing "zu-" though.

Achtung! The passage doesn't make much sense if you're using any online translator. Don't waste your time.

As I was walking to the tram stop after lesson, white particles of diameter 0.2 centimeters started falling from the sky.

Great. It better not be slippery tomorrow morning when I walk to the University. I'll probably have to leave earlier to test ground conditions.

I was still saying this afternoon, "Wonderful nice cold weather. And it's dry!"

So, better weather tomorrow.

24th January 2006 - Day 99

2006-01-24T22:08:00.000+01:00

Tuesdays are my second busiest day with 3 lessons. The busiest day is on some Wednesday where the lectures goes on from 0945 till 1900.

Lessons were as usual. Not very interesting as I still cannot fully comprehend the lectures. I was unable to see the significance of some manipulations and such. It's beginning to feel like a lecture in English. Roughly understand what is being said but not able to retain the information immediately.

I recieved an email regarding the exam appointment with one of the professors. The time slot clashes with another lecture and there will be another exam on that day. I'm asking for another appointment to take the exam. Probably in 2 weeks' time.

I didn't realise that I'm so near to my exams. Only another 2 weeks plus to go with lots of translation stil undone. Not to mention understanding concepts.

It was colder today at -4 degree Celcius. But still tolerable. It's hard to imagine it's cold here with the sun shining brightly outside.

So, have to squeeze more stuffs at a faster speed now.

23rd January 2006 - Day 98

2006-01-23T23:58:00.000+01:00

Lessons in the afternoon at 1400. I had the whole morning to myself.

Managed to read through a few pages of notes. Only to realise later that I cannot recall the things I read.

The sun was shining today. But it's relatively cold. The puddle of water that I pass by on my way to the bus stop froze up.

The water in the bottle which I had excitedly placed ouside the window upon knowing that temperatures will drop below zero yesterday did not.

Hah! The hypothesis I made earlier is correct. Until temperature dips further.

The weather station really went kaputt yesterday. It's not going to be -27 degree Celcius on Saturday after all. I verified it with 2 other sources.

That's good too. I came to know about this Pfennigbasar which will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Basically, it's a flea market. A big one apparently. It's the 39th time they're holding it since 1968.

As with all flea markets, it's always "look look, see see, buy nothing". Maybe a half eaten apple pie for a penny? Anyone?

So, I'll see what junk I can get back.

22nd January 2006 - Day 97

2006-01-22T23:23:00.000+01:00

The schedule for today was pretty much the same as for yesterday.

I woke up at the same time and killed myself again with an oily breakfast.

As I finished my breakfast/lunch, I went to the kitchen to wash up the plates. I passed by Fridel's room. Apparently, he just woke up.

He had this smile on his face when I said "Morgen" to him. He must have thought I just woke up as I was still in my sleeping attire.

The other day, I was quite amused when he walked into the kitchen at 1325 and said "Guten Morgen".

I didn't go anywhere today except for staying in the hostel. Not very healthy I realised, especially when I'm so well stocked up with all the junk food.

Speaking of which, I don't think I'll be going out anywhere this coming Saturday. The crazy weather report predicts a temperature of -27 degrees Celcius in the day and -40 in the night! The meter must have gone kaputt.

Wait. Such an opportunity to freeze myself doesn't come easily. I will go out on Saturday!

For a short while. Will probably come in when I feel something's going to drop off. If I can still feel anything, that is.

So, the weather better not disappoint.

21st January 2006 - Day 96

2006-01-21T23:46:00.000+01:00

I woke up later than the stipulated time. It just feels good to sleep in on a Saturday.

After the morning routine, I killed myself with an oily breakfast of eggs, bacon, Weiner and bread. That was supposed to be my breakfast. But it became my lunch instead.

The weather turned good for a while. So I decided to take a walk around the hostel.

Nice cool weather today at 4 degrees Celcius. The weather station reports that the temperature might drop to -10 degrees Celcius on Tuesday night. I'll probably wear everything I've got with me on that day since my lessons ends at 1715.

Nothing interesting on the way. I walked down the stretch of Büchiger Allee and reached some part of the Waldstadt before taking a Straßenbahn to town.

The streets were filled with people. Everyone seems to be busy buying things. Very different from what I saw a few days ago.

I went back to hostel to clear the pile of notes and a packet of chips.

So, looking forward to Tuesday to conduct a little experiment.

20th January 2006 - Day 95

2006-01-20T23:52:00.000+01:00

Today's weather was good. Much better than the past few days. The sun is out again.

Nothing interesting happened today. Except that a pigeon mistook my head as a nest and tried to land on me. That is just a hypothesis. I wouldn't know what the bird is thinking.

Nest for homeless birds

The days here are starting to get longer. There's still some light after 1700.

The bottle of water which I left outside yesterday turn cold. The water didn't freeze up. I doubt it will even if it's colder. Will try again if the temperature drops below zero.

So, the weekend is here and I still have tons to read.

19th January 2006 - Day 94

2006-01-19T23:42:00.000+01:00

It's Thursday again.

I woke up at 0730 instead of 0700. Rushed out after washing up in order to catch the bus. Managed to reach lecture venue on time.

I wonder why I feel warmer in the morning when I first step out of the hostel. After the first lesson of the day, I usually walk out thinking, "Man. It's cold!".

I went to register myself for exams after lecture. The first one was done quite quickly because I already fixed the date and time with the professor in charge.

The second one was a bit more troublesome. I had to take a tram to the other side of the town, to a quiet corner, where another part of the University is located.

Still, things went on relatively smoothly. The secretary was quite helpful. But I still don't know whether this Professor will be free on the dates I suggested. I heard he's heading to Chile around that period for some business.

After lunch at Mensa, I headed back to hostel. I decided to do some cleaning up. It's going to turn into some mini ecological garden soon if I don't.

I left a bottle of water outside the window. I think it might be more efficient than leaving it in the fridge. It's been an hour since I did that. Will check on it before going to bed.

So, going off to shower.

18th January 2006 - Day 93

2006-01-18T22:48:00.000+01:00

I had my fourth 3-hours lecture for a particular module. As the professor is based in Köln, it's quite difficult to get him down to Karlsruhe just for a student who wishes to take his exams.

As such, he offered me an appointment for exams - 15 minutes after the last lecture 4 weeks from now.

What can I do? You can't expect me to go up to Köln to find him for my mündliche Prüfung. I just accepted the date. But I still have to go and inform a certain secretary regarding the arrangement.

I'll be taking the exam as a Nebenfach exam as this module is not under the department of Chemical Engineering.

There was a excursion today for another module. It's to visit this place where there's a Electron Accelerator. Supposedly ganz in der Nähe. But I decided to give it a miss as I had another lesson after that.

Phonetik lessson today was spent talking about songs for introducing young children to the names of their thumbs and fingers. According to the Lehrerin, it helps young children to exercise their fingers so that they'll have less difficulties learning to write in the future.

We also had to make up a story about a boy who broke the window pane and what happened after that.

He got poisoned by the böse Hexe who lived inside the house with the now broken window pane.
Or maybe, the boy got shot by the just awoken hunter who thought it was a pack of wolves trying to attack him.

I'm not good at making up stories.

I went to walk around in Ettlinger Tor after the Phonetik lessson. The departmental stores are really quite empty. Nobody seems to be buying any stuffs any more.

Wait till the Winterschlussverkauft comes. That should be quite similar to the Great Kuching-pura sale, where most things are at the right price but the wrong size.

So, noch viel zum Lernen.

17th January 2006 - Day 92

2006-01-17T23:55:00.000+01:00

During class today, I saw a Turkish girl flipping through her dictionary as the lecturer went on to explain some of the stuffs.

Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing this girl since...early November!

I'm just letting the power of assumption run freely. No checking of dictionary in class. Some sort of Frau Neumann's style, though I've only been in her class for one semester.

It was raining the whole day here. I noticed that on days when it rains or snow, it's actually warmer than on days when it doesn't. Could it be because of the cloud cover?

Concentrating in afternoon class was not too difficult. Fell asleep momentarily for about 5 minutes but stayed wide awake for the rest of the hour or so.

I finally found out what does the symbol "!=" means. In C Programming, it's supposed to mean "not equal to" (if I remember correctly).

In this case, the "!" is supposed to be right on top of the "=" symbol. Because of limitations, I can only put the symbol as such.

It means "gleichsetzen" or rather, equating the left side to the right side. Not much different from just putting a "=" sign. But they just have to make it so very exact.

So, till tomorrow.

16th January 2006 - Day 91

2006-01-16T23:36:00.000+01:00

I woke up at 0700 this morning without any alarm clock. All because I fell asleep early yesterday.

The internal alarm is starting to ring though. Exams are possibly 3 to 4 weeks away, though I haven't set any appointments for exams with the professors yet.

Something is obviously wrong, when you can remember the reason why someone named a particular distribution as Student's Distribution while you have no recollections of how it is actually done.

No lessons in the morning. I stayed in the hostel and watched the professional painter at work. The people here decided to hire him because all of us were too lazy to paint the place, and we had no better way to spend money.

Besides that, I have started to harvest "Blu-Tacks" on the walls of my room. There's quite a lot of it left on the walls by previous occupants. I figure they will come in useful if I accidentally make any indentations on the wall.

I took the bus to the University after lunch at hostel. Usually, I'll walk, because I seem to miss the bus quite often.

There's this girl on the bus who turned around and smiled at me.

My fly was open.

Of course not. I think it's the Poland girl (with the high pitch voice) that I got to know last Friday at the Hausfest. Amazing. I don't seem to recognise her. Maybe the place was too dark and I was a bit betrunken that day.

I saw the bus conductor at work again. This time, there's a lady who claims that she left her wallet at home while she appeared to have gone grocery shopping earlier. Of course, she must have been using her EC Karte. I think she paid her bus fare (or fine) using that as well.

Lecture went on fine. The lecturer was talking about the distribution of the usage life of light bulbs. I was particularly interested. Did I mention that the third bulb in my room blew on 24th December when I returned to hostel? The spare bulb I had came in useful.

I happen to know this Romanian girl who is currently using candles in her room because all the bulbs in her room blew. She doesn't know where to buy light bulbs. I presume she's not in her room most of the time.

So, shower and bed time soon.

15th January 2006 - Day 90

2006-01-15T23:34:00.000+01:00

I woke up just before 1030 this morning. I've been waking up late since yesterday, probably because I slept late due to the Hausfest on Friday.

Being a Sunday, I made myself the usual breakfast of eggs and sausages. I was rummaging through the freezer and somehow managed to find some fish fingers. So I had that fried as well.

The day was quite sunny. But it was cold outside. Colder than the past few days. Here I am, comfortably holed up with the heater switched on to the maximum.

The afternoon was spent rewriting my German lecture notes in English and watching more war films. It's quite a pointless activity doing the translation, especially when I'll take the exams in German. Not that I can understand everything after it's translated.

Read in context. Read in context!

That's actually no different from assuming.

Vivek is back. I didn't see him. But I saw this.

Return of the Floor Indian

So, more surprise sandwiches to come.

14th January 2006 - Day 89

2006-01-14T23:35:00.000+01:00

Nothing much done today. It took me one entire day just to go through a set of lecture notes.

Went out in the evening to do some grocery shopping. Bought some usual stuffs like snacks, sausages and such.

Since Christmas is over, the streets are much quieter. Some of the shops close earlier too. But supermarkets are still opened till 2000 on Saturdays.

I also went around looking for shoe polish. Black shoe polish is readily available here. The brown ones are more difficult to find. Maybe more people here own brown shoes than black.

Quite obviously, I wanted to buy some shoe polish to brush up my shoes.

Instead of the black Kiwi bird, they have a red Frog brand of shoe polish. They call it "shoe cream" here by the way. I can't seem to find Kiwi shoe polish here though.

The "shoe cream" looks like some poster colour freshly squeezed out from a tube, only that it feels harder. After being a loyal customer of Kiwi for so long, I had my doubts about the quality of Frog.

But it turned out quite good. My loyalty has since shifted. Because the shoe polish is in a cream form, it's easier to apply onto creases on the shoe. And it doesn't leave stains on your hands, unlike the Kiwi shoe polish.

Brown shoes to last me through the cold and wet weather

It was pretty cold outside today. I could feel my ears going numb as I walked back from the Tram station. I bumped into Sergio, the Mexican whom I did a Referat with in October last year. He went out to buy a bottle of wine for his friend's birthday.

Actually, I see him around quite often. Maybe because we happen to choose the same time to go to Town.

I have become a bit delusional after reading the German lecture notes which I had difficulties understanding. Watching war films depicting World War II in Europe seems to excite me a fair bit.

"Bitte nicht schießen! Bitte nicht schießen!"

"BANG BANG BANG"

I am unable to imitate the actual sound, and so have to settle for the Universal Round. It sounds pretty much the same no matter what rifle or handgun is used.

You might be interested to know this. I observe that artillery shells generally go "BOOM".

So, it's Sunday again soon.

13th January 2006 - Day 88

2006-01-13T11:54:00.000+01:00

Today is designated as "Karlsruhe Appreciation Day".

I have been too tensed up by recent events concerning my Studium. Hence, I decided to take a break and get excited about this place again.

After the lecture (which I could understand what the lecturer was talking about but unable to catch the essence of what he was teaching), I went for lunch at the Mensa.

I met Autumn there and had lunch with him. I then decided to go walk around the town as I haven't been doing that for some time already.

As I was walking through the familiar streets, I was convinced that this place hat mir gut gefallen. It's what I had asked for. A town that is relatively quiet. Even though I have been here for more than 3 months, I haven't went into every shop yet. There must be something waiting for me to buy it back home.

The afternoon was spent in the hostel trying to perfect the method I came up with yesterday. No luck though. I wasn't in the right state of mind to read lecture notes.

I went to K4 Hausfest with Nan. We met Alex there and we started talking. Initially only wanted to spend an hour there. Instead, I stayed for three.

Alex got hit on. Absolutely no time was wasted. The girl asked if Alex was in a relationship after a few sentences between them.

There's another girl from Poland who approached us. She speaks with an incredibly irritating high pitched voice. And she's learning Chinese.

Other than that, there's nothing interesting. What else were you expecting?

I learned from Alex, that when one drinks beer, he sprouts nonsense. But when one drinks red wine ( no less. Whites are for ladies), he makes supposedly intelligent comments. Because knowledge lies within the wine (or some equivalent latin phrase).

Yeah, right. I'll drink some red wine just before I go for any exams here then.

But the nonsense part might be true. Just before I left, I met some fellow Studierende des Chemieingeniuerwesens. They attempted to introduce me to some guy.

"Hi. Rong Jia aus Kuching-pura."

"..."

A friend introduced him as Simon to me.

"..." Still no reply from the guy.

"Hast du so viel getrunken, dass du deinen Name vergessen hast?", I asked.

I would never have said that normaleweise.

So, time to conk out.

12th January 2006 - Day 87

2006-01-12T23:56:00.000+01:00

Today, I made the decision to stop going for one of the lectures. I decided that my time should be better spent instead of falling asleep during the lesson .

I paid the secretary of the department a visit. I managed to get 5 gelbe Zettel for the 5 modules I am doing here. The process was not as painful as the regular students described it to be, only because I'm an exchange student.

The fact that one of the lab modules I want to take will not be graded means that I might have problems transferring the credits for this module back.

Problems never seem to run out. They are irritating, but necessary at times.

It's quite amusing to think that I went through so much trouble to find this module, make sure it fits in and everything, and finally assuming (wrongly) that it'll be graded.

It was a coincidence that I met Autumn and Nan at the Mensa for lunch today. They were quite surprised to see me too.

The rest of the day was spent holed up in the hostel, trying to devise some foolproof "understand-German-lecture-notes-immediately" method. I believe the first step goes something like this:

"I am so good in German that there's nothing in German that I cannot understand."

Say that as many times as necessary to convince yourself that it is true. That's right. Go on. Say it!

If this step should fail you (i.e. you still cannot understand German lecture notes properly after saying it for the 100th time), consider trying the alternative (which is equally effective):

"I am so good in German that there's nothing in German that I cannot understand with the help of a good English- German dictionary."

That should do the trick, though it takes a bit more time.

So, pick up a set of German lecture notes and start reading!

11th January 2006 - Day 86

2006-01-11T23:54:00.000+01:00

Although there were no lessons in the morning, I manage to wake up at 0600. Not that I am hardworking, but because I slept very early yesterday.

Initially, I thought there would be no lessons until 1545. However, I got suspicious and decided to check on the internet to see if there are any new lecture materials uploaded.

Hah. Something was uploaded. Although the lesson plan issued in the beginning of the semester showed that there's no lessons today, I decided to print the notes and make a trip down.

How sneaky. The lecturer was right there conducting lecture. Ok, maybe she said it before that there'll be lessons. But my German comprehension power does not allow me to understand such instruction.

She went through the whole set of notes in 1.5 hour. Luckily I didn't miss this lecture!

Attendance for the Phonetik lesson was quite terrible. There were only 6 people around instead of the usual 13 people.

The whole day, I have been quite worried about the exams I'm going to take here and the procedures to register for the exams. Sounds like quite a chore to me.

Außer dem Studium, Deutschland hat mir ziemlich gut gefallen.

One of the Phonetik lesson classmates, Hongzhang, helped explain what I should do to register for exams. It did clear up my doubts and dispelled some of the worries I had.

I should fix the dates for exams with the professors soon. Just kill it and be done with it.

Wait, I have to plough through the lecture notes before going! I can already visualise myself blanking out in front of the professors. Please! Don't put a 5,0! Ich brauche nur ein 4,0!

It's not good to be the first sometimes. Like being the first SEP student from NUS to fail a module overseas.

Can you imagine that? I'm actually feeling stressed!

So, time to kill worry and stress before they kill me.

10th January 2006 - Day 85

2006-01-10T21:01:00.000+01:00

I woke up in time to prepare for my lessons at 0945.

I met up with Autumn for lunch at the Mensa. I have to say that Mensa food is not that bad. I told Autumn that the food from a certain resturant (or rather, a cafe) back home was really nicht essbar and that Mensa was much better. Unbelievable but true.

We then went to do some grocery shopping. I went back to hostel after that.

On my way back, I saw Simon. Simon commented that I always look tired. Maybe it's the jet lag effect.

During the afternoon lessons, panic struck me. I realise that I have to register for my exams soon. All the lectures will end by mid February and I should start making preparation for the exam dates.

A month more and still nothing done yet. Great.

I was so worried that I couldn't concentrate in class. Despite the many people who said it should not be a problem, I still have my doubts about it. Surely the professors won't let you pass when you can't even express yourself properly? There's only so much I can cite "Language Difficulties" as an excuse. Wait, that's actually a reason!

Hah! Excuses!

But I made the decision to come here. I should always remind myself that.

I've finally extended the rental for my room. It's so easy when you meet the correct person. Just buzz on the door and tell her what's wrong and things are settled.

So, 11 more weeks until the end of my rental contract.

9th January 2006 - Day 84

2006-01-09T23:54:00.000+01:00

After a two weeks break back home, I'm in Karlsruhe again.

I woke up late this morning at 0955. I wanted to have breakfast, but there wasn't much time left for me as I still had some things to pack in.

Like 6 cans of Chicken Curry, 3 packs of Chicken-in-a-Biscuit, 6 packs of instant noodles (with 5 individual packs in each bigger pack) and some other stuffs.

My parents dote on me. My father took a day's leave to see me off with my mother. My mother said if I didn't go back, they would have came over during the holidays.

I felt sad leaving them (my parents and you know who else) this time. More so than the last time. Maybe because things in Germany are somewhat more settled now.

The plane was supposed to fly off at 1435. But due to some technical problems, it only flew off at 1600.

Once I got off the plane, I went straight to collect my luggage and hurriedly went off to catch my train back to Karlsruhe. The train was on it's way right after I boarded it.

I got back here at around 1145, only to see Simon and Stefan in the living room. I couldn't catch everything that they said. Guess my German comprehension power has gone down a little.

Thinking back, the past two weeks was really enjoyable. I guess I missed home without me realising it.

So, time for bed.

25th December 2005 - Day 83

2005-12-25T23:54:00.000+01:00

Most part of the day was spent in the plane sleeping and watching movies. The flight arrived in Singapore slightly earlier than the stipulated time of 1720.

After doing some Duty-Free shopping with Yun, I went back home.

So, there might not be any updates for these two weeks back at home.

24th December 2005 – Day 82

2005-12-24T23:54:00.000+01:00

As expected, I wasn’t able to wake up at 0700 after such a long day yesterday. I woke up at 0812. Since I’m not able to make it on time for the 1200 flight, I might as well sleep in and try to catch the evening flight.

For the people who are still confused about what I’m talking, the situation is as follow:

Before my Exchange Program, I thought that it would be a good idea to spend Christmas in Germany (or Europe in the general sense).
I realized, that Christmas is more of a family festivity. Which means most of the people in my hostel will be going home.
Nothing is opened on Christmas, since it is a holiday.
Since the opportunity presents itself for me to fly back home, I might as well make full use of it.
The ticket I got is for the evening flight on 25^th December.
Here I am, going to try my luck by going a day earlier to see if there’s any empty seats left.
But if luck runs out, then too bad for me, and I’ll spend a memorable Christmas Eve at Frankfurt Flughafen.

I prepared everything and left the hostel at 1615. Only Uedat and his friend were still in the hostel. Guess Uedat’s not going home for Christmas. After the usual exchange of greetings, I was on my way to the Hauptbahnhof.

The trip to the Hauptbahnhof was quite smooth. The bus and the tram came on time, and I was able to board the 1700 Inter-City-Express train to Frankfurt Flughafen.

The conductor finally checked my ticket!

I reached the airport more than 4 hours ahead of the scheduled flight time of 2220 in hope of standing a better chance to get on the plane.

After waiting for the counter to open at 1840, I asked the counter staff whether it was possible or not to make the change. I’m quite lucky that the flight’s not fully booked, and I managed to get on the flight.

Macdonald’s was closed due Christmas Eve, and so were many other shops, including duty-free shops. Looks like I can’t get my Ice Wine this time round.

With another 3 hours on hand, I was really quite bored waiting.

I found out that I was on the same flight as the meet-up-in-Köln friend. He’s going back to Singapore for around 2 weeks too.

It’s quite cool, there’s actually Wireless LAN internet access in the plane. But I’ll have to pay if I want to use it. Maybe in a few more years, the service will be free.

So, I guess I’ll be spending the rest of my time on board sleeping and watching movies.

23rd December 2005 – Day 81

2005-12-24T03:10:00.000+01:00

Since the tour at the VW Gläserne Manufaktur will only start at 1000, I slept until it was 0900 before waking up. Nan was already awake by that time and he went to make his sandwiches. I simply took a plastic bag and threw the bread, salami and cheese in. I figured that I can make the sandwiches on the train.

Although we reserved our tour in English, we found out that the tour was only conducted in German. That makes me wonder why would they bother asking yesterday during the phone call.

The particular model of vehicle produced here is the Volkswagen Phaeton V10 TDI. It looks good on the outside and has some pretty interesting functions. For example, the driver and passengers inside the vehicle can actually choose their own preferred temperature.

Sounds like a complex case of heat exchange to me.

Volkswagen Phaeton

V10 TDI, like I know what that means.

There was also a driving simulator which many people wanted to try out. The guide said that the Phaeton drives and feels much better than the simulator. Well, they should give us a test drive of the vehicle instead!

We rushed off to the Dresden Neustadt Bahnhof after taking a few more shots. Nan thought it would be better if we went to the Dresden Hauptbahnhof. When we reached, we thought that the train was already gone or that it doesn’t stop at the Hauptbahnhof. But Nan was right, we saved ourselves some time and did not have to rush.

The next place we went to was sächisches Schweiz, or Saxony Switzerland. As said before, we followed the advice of the hostel owner and bought a Stufe 2 ticket and proceeded to Stadt Ratten.

The Dresden transport company designated the Stadt Ratten just outside of the Stufe 2 region, conveniently charging tourists who want to visit the Bastelei more.

When we reached, the whole town was quiet, which made us wonder what could be here.

Being lazy, both of us were looking for buses that would bring us up the Bastelei. However, it seems that the bus is located at the earlier train station.

Nevertheless, we crossed the river by a boat which was operated by making use of the water current and a thick metal cable.

I noticed that there wasn’t any rubber lining or tyres by the side of the boat. When we asked the operator, he replied,

“Wir sind in Deutschland”

and proceeded to do the hand-waving-in-front-of-the-face gesture. Did he meant that Germans aren’t very clever? Hmm…

The Bastelei is just a big boulder to commemorate someone. If not for the thick mist, it would have been wonderful. It was quite beautiful up there.

After the Bastelei, we went looking for a faster way down to Stadt Wahlen. There was indeed a bus stop, but the bus was not operating. We tried to hitchhike, but nobody stopped.

So we walked through the quiet, cold and damp forest. Little Red Riding Hood must have been really brave (or really stupid) to walk through a forest alone. Luckily for us, there were no wolves.

After an hour or so, we reached Stadt Wahlen and managed to catch the train back to Dresden City. Both of us were quite tired by then and slept through the whole trip.

When we reached, we went around the Christmas market again and saw that prices for Dresdner Christstollen were slashed. It’s quite strange that most of the tin boxes were sold out instead of the Christstollen.

I had a dinner of grilled chicken with Brötchen before going back to the hostel to get my stuffs.

Back in the hostel, we met an American who did her exchange in France and a middle aged Mexican looking for female singers willing to work for nothing for three years. Yesterday, the Mexican was trying to convince another woman into joining him. He was really persistent about it.

But isn’t it a bit too extreme? No money for 3 years? We learn here that Was nichts kostet, wert nichts. So much for people following their dreams. Maybe they have better ideas about how to do it though. It’s not good to be too practical.

Nan accompanied me to Dresden Flughafen for the flight. I must say he’s quite a good companion for travel.

By the time I reached Stuttgart, it was already nearing 2200. I decided to wait for the 2338 S-Bahn for a more direct connection so I will not have to umsteigen 4 times.

By the time I reached back in Karlsruhe, it was already 0136. I took a scary S-Bahn back to Marktplatz. Scary because it doesn’t stop at every station. There was an old man who wanted to get off but couldn’t. Once I got off, I decided to walk back to hostel as it was safer that way. I don’t want to be transported to some place 5 kilometers away and have to walk back all the same.

I reached the hostel at 0230 and started to do some packing. Jason came over and passed me some books as his luggage was already 28 kilograms. I seemed to have quite a lot to bring back too.

So, will I be able to wake up tomorrow morning at 0700?