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.
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.
