My second trip to Deutschland

I went to Germany in Jan 2007 for some project work and after that project got over, I was shifted to some different domain and I thought that it will take long when I will get my second chance to go to abroad, but time passes very fast and came the time when I was again to go there for some project work. This travel was planned for the month of May-2008.

I was feeling agog for this travel since I had completed a basic level german course and was highly confident that I will be able to use it for some very basic conversations and also wanted to get practical experience of german language. Also, by this time since I had already been involved in three projects, I was knowing much more number of persons in Germany than I knew last time. Again being bit experienced, I was also having more confidence about my work. But the most exciting part was that the travel was scheduled to be in the month of May and I really wanted to see how the same land which I saw full of snow looks in Summer.

After all the required preparations and similar stuffs, I was ready for flying. I was not feeling nervous like last time since all of that had gone with the last travel. The flight journey as expected went fine and finally I was in Munich. On the flight, the hostess asked me what drinks to serve and I replied in German, to which she was astonished as she didn't expected a German reply from me. This made me more confident about using German language. After landing at Munich, I went to the Isar Hotel and occupied my Zimmer (room). After taking a rest for some time, had something to take care of the hunger and then went to see the outside view. It was looking very different than what I saw in my last trip. There was greenery everywhere and the sunlight had spread everywhere. At around 6pm, it was giving a feeling of around noon !!!

Next day I went to office, met the colleagues and occupied my cubicle. I left office in evening at 7pm, but it was still looking like 3pm in india. I went to look at some shops and then for dinner. I returned at around 10pm and still some sunlight was visible. First time I was seeing sunlight at so late hour of the day. Days were going fine there and it was not so much of work load as last time. I got some time for planning sight seeing and there were also 2 extra holidays in May in Germany. I visited Neuschwanstein, Berchtesgaden, Munich, Salzburg and Werfen ice caves. Each one of these places was better than the other. Another point to mention is that I travelled to all these places alone.

Since there was no per-diem option available, and the meal expenses was to be borne by TI, I used to eat a lot. I didn't feel like I am in a foreign country as I used to have a proper dinner everyday at one of the Indian restaurants nearby. I used to get Indian flavor vegetarian food there. On my previous travel, I was unaware of this restaurant and hence used to eat some stuff just for the sake of eating. Also this time, I used to pick up some chocolates/soft drinks from the cafeteria often as it was not to be paid by me. So from food side, this travel was very good.

Now come to experience with the German language. Whatever I had learnt in German was not even an iota of what I need to make proper use of it in Munich (because of difference between standard and bavarian language). I tried to understand what people are talking, but it was completely futile effort. Coming to positive side, this helped me a lot. I could understand the numbers properly and this was a big help as sometimes people will tell "catch this number bus" or "bus will come at this time", etc. Even small, broken sentences along with hand language served to get help from people who don't know English. The humorous part in one of these encounters was that someone asked me some question in English and to show-off that I know German, I started replying in German and that guy after listening everything says that he doesn't know German !!!

Finally it was the time to return back. My return flight was from Munich to Delhi as I had planned a week of vacation at Delhi with my maternal uncle and his family. I also had a plan of meeting old friends in the NCR region. With all these excitements, I bought lots of chocolates for all and left the country. I reached Delhi and after a week's stay, finally back to Bangalore !!!!

First foreign trip

I graduated in 2006 and I joined my first job (Design Engineer @ Texas Instruments). A few months later I was casually told that I might have to travel to Germany for some project requirements. Just these informal words from a senior person in my team led to a lots of thoughts and excitement to flow within me. There were a lots of reasons for the excitement - the first foreign trip, being new in the job what am I going to do alone, will I be able to do that or should I request to work from India itself and so on. Even the worse thing was I was told not to disclose this to anyone in the company since it was not official then. Most of my friends were in the same company and hiding it from them was really difficult. Finally I discussed it with my friends and it gave me a moral support as we discussed more about the pros - getting a chance to go out being a new member in the company, enjoy to the fullest, financial benefits, etc. But still there was an internal fear of how will be the things there? How will be the people? Will I be able to talk to them properly and also understand their accent? and many more such questions.

This discussion on travel initiated in October. Every week I was told that may be next week or so I have to travel, but nothing was happening. I had also lost the hope for the same. Finally it was January when I was asked to proceed with the formalities for travel. That time I started enquiring about the weather conditions etc and I was dismayed to hear that I am going to a place where the temperatures easily go 10degrees below the freezing point and is always sub-zero in the month of January. This led to a feeling of excitement and worries flow in the mind. Exciting because I really wanted to feel it since I would be the first experience of such a climate and worrying since how will I bear it.

Travel preparations were going on until the final time for the travel came. My nervousness was increasing every moment. Finally I left my home and reached airport. Things went much smoother than expected and I was waiting at the airport lounge after all the security checking etc. I was surprised to see so many people travelling to a single place on the same day and this was a daily flight. So definitely lots of people travel to and fro daily, which was really against what I had thought of.

I boarded the flight and finally landed in the city of Paris (which was a transit halt for me). I had just 1.5 hours for the transit and I was running at the airport to go to the next terminal. Though the time was sufficient for a smooth transit, but I just wanted to have time to accomodate any surprises which happen. I finally boarded my connecting flight and reached Munich which was my destination. I smoothly came out and took a taxi for the hotel. I was thinking that the person will take me through a much longer route since I was new, but surprisingly in 15min I was at the hotel and the fare was also what I expected.

I checkedin in the hotel and switched on the TV. I was able to find only a single channel which was not in German and that too was a news channel (CNN). Somehow the day ended and it came the next day when I had to go to office. One colleague picked me and introduced me to the team and then after sometime I started working. I didnt find that also as difficult as I had thought of. Now its the time for lunch. I went to the office canteen and was looking for what can I eat. It was a major concern since I am vegetarian and finally I could get a bowl of salads and fruits with a glass of juice as lunch. I had to survive on this for the entire stay, occassionally I got some good veggy stuff in the canteen which was like a bonus for me!!

One day morning I woke up and saw that the view is completely white outside. and what was it?? hey, it was snowfall happening!!! First time seeing snowfall was very exciting. Just opened the window door to feel it, but had to close it since it was very chilled.

Things kept on going like this, me being in snow for about 20 days. Everyday the weather forecast was very interesting for me as I wanted to know how much negative temperature I am able to sustain. As expected it was -5deg on an average. To get a better feel of the sub-zero temperatures, I went to Zugspitze (highest peak in germany) and there it was -15deg and really made me feel its chillness. It was unbearable in open for a minute also. I was wearing so many clothes to protect from it. But still the cold made me feel its existence.

Now came the time for return. Lots of thoughts as to what should I take back for family, friends and all. Whatever I see comes to be very costly in terms of INR. Finally, I took only a few things and a lots of chocolates for all. Then I headed for returning back. I took some wrong way at the airport and I was searching for my terminal when it was already the time for the departure of the flight. Luckily the flight was late and I made to board it. It was again an exciting feeling to return back to motherland awaiting to meet people and sharing the experiences of the first trip.

Overall in Germany, I found the people to be very helpful. Only problem I faced was with language and I had to make use of sign language to talk sometimes to people outside office. I decided to come next time only after learning German. Otherwise it is a very nice place, though bit quiet. Definitely worth visiting.