Thursday 14 May 2015

The first week in Germany

19th November 2014, my 19th birthday gave me one of the most exciting gifts ever - a summer internship at Germany!
The placement and training cell at IIT Bombay allows second year students to apply to universities for a summer internship at the end of the second year. I also applied for TU Braunschweig, Germany in the month of October. Having a decent resume, I was among the 10 people who were shortlisted for the interview. On 10th of November evening, I was interview by Professor Sandor Fekete on Skype. The interview was good and at the end, the professor explicitly mentioned that he was impressed with me. I was overjoyed hearing this.
19th November : It was my birthday and going by the usual tradition of IIT, I was held to the wall and my bums were bombarded with slippers. Ah, that was painful. Nevertheless, it was over. Pheww. I was chatting on fb with my aunty (she was awake at that time to wish me). At 12.40 AM in the morning I received a mail saying I and another peer have been selected for summer internship at TU Braunschweig! Woah!!! I was shocked and amazed! I confirmed with the internship coordinator and yes! I was selected! Friends tried to bang my ass again, but they left because it was exam time. (Sigh of relief for me). I was so delighted that I called my mother at 1 AM in the morning to tell her that I got the intern!

Fast forward 6 months.
8th May, I landed here at Frankfurt Airport, 1.30 PM local time. Ah! Seemed like real life GTA :P
The airport was so big that it took 15 minutes for the aircraft to taxi from the runway to the gate! It was a long flight and finally - Germany!
We were 3 of us (2 boys and 1 girl). We took a train from Frankfurt Airport station to the Frankfurt main station. We had to go to Braunschweig. The ticket from Frankfurt to Braunschweig was price 92 Euros!! That's like 7000 Indian Rupees!
Well, there was no alternative. But there was a problem. German train drivers were on a strike on that day! How badly we managed to stand for an hour in the train. But finally, we arrived at the destination!
Professor's secretory and her husband had come to pick us from the Braunschweig railway station. We reached our apartments - Studentenwerk as they call it.
We were handled the keys and utensils for cooking - all thanks to Ute (Professor's secretory).
Our rooms - simply brilliant. We have a refrigerator, an electric stove, a microwave, central air conditioner, cupboards, attached washroom and big windows to look out from 7th floor!
Here are a few pics :




Here is what I explored in Germany in my first week :



















More to come soon :D