To those whom I haven´t informed yet, I´m currently in Heidelberg for a Ph.D. interview round. Yes, sobrang sosyal ng center na ito at sinagot nila ang travel and accommodation expenses (all the way to the train ride from the airport to the city).
Those I´ve talked to know this is my dream school/center. I´ve even had a picture of the city as my desktop for the past weeks.
So what has happened so far? Here´s a quick rundown:
24.Februar 2009: DAY 1
- Plane landed in Frankfurt am Main. I had a terrible nosebleed once we landed. The temperature outside was 2 degrees Celsius. I went to the Fernbahnhof of the airport where the long-distance trains are. While waiting, an elderly lady started talking to me and asked if I were Asian. I then replied that I came from the Philippines. Her eyes suddenly lit up and she started talking in straight German. I asked her if she could speak English, but she said no and kept on going. Fortunately, I didn´t have a second nosebleed and picked up bits of what she was saying. I said (auf Deutsch, naturlich) that I was just here for a week for an interview in Heidelberg. She congratulated me and called her husband nearer. Apparently, they´ve gone on an Asian tour before. She enjoyed Thailand so much, but said it was really warm in Asia. Like a good European, she then proceeded to talk to me about the weather. It was a good thing their train arrived so she had to go. That was fun, though. Brought to life the resting German vocab and grammar I had. Haha.
-Arrived at the SRH guest house in Heidelberg. Dirty snow was on the ground in small patches. It´s not a pleasant sight, the tail end of winter. When I got off the bus stop, there was an Indian girl who got off as well. We caught ourselves stopping in the middle of the road to read our maps. We then learned we were both applicants and decided to search for the guesthouse together. Since there was a lot of construction going on, we got terribly lost. After 20 minutes and almost freezing, we got to the center. The girl, Soniya, would eventually be part of my mini-barkada here. (We´re a group of 5: me, two Indians, a German, a Swede)
-2pm, I decided to go out to buy some stuff at the Supermarkt. I was surprised to see all establishments were already closed! Then I remembered... it´s Mardi Gras! (Fastnacht/Fasching here in Germany). I walked to the Hauptstrasse (Main street of the old town) and found EVERYONE there. Almost everyone was in costume- from toddlers to grandparents. People were dancing, walking with gigantic beer and wine bottles in hand, and everyone was just plain happy. The parade people were in outrageous costumes and were throwing candy, flowers, confetti, and stuffed toys to the crowd. (Unlike the New Orleans tradition, there´s no flashing nor beads here. Still fun, though.) After an hour in the crowd, I finally saw one open Supermarkt, bought some pudding, water, and Curry Ketchup (I´ll explain sometime) and headed home.
-Fell asleep by 7pm and woke up at 9 when my roomate, Hans-Henning from Tuebingen came in. Initially, he wanted me to change rooms with his buddy, but I asked him if we could do it the next day. (Fortunately, he´d eventually let it go.) I stayed up to read about the research of the 4 Ph.D. mentors I was to interview with and slept at about 1230am.
I was restless but I knew I had to fight the effects of my jet lag. I knew this day would be the most important day of my life, thus far.
Those I´ve talked to know this is my dream school/center. I´ve even had a picture of the city as my desktop for the past weeks.
So what has happened so far? Here´s a quick rundown:
24.Februar 2009: DAY 1
- Plane landed in Frankfurt am Main. I had a terrible nosebleed once we landed. The temperature outside was 2 degrees Celsius. I went to the Fernbahnhof of the airport where the long-distance trains are. While waiting, an elderly lady started talking to me and asked if I were Asian. I then replied that I came from the Philippines. Her eyes suddenly lit up and she started talking in straight German. I asked her if she could speak English, but she said no and kept on going. Fortunately, I didn´t have a second nosebleed and picked up bits of what she was saying. I said (auf Deutsch, naturlich) that I was just here for a week for an interview in Heidelberg. She congratulated me and called her husband nearer. Apparently, they´ve gone on an Asian tour before. She enjoyed Thailand so much, but said it was really warm in Asia. Like a good European, she then proceeded to talk to me about the weather. It was a good thing their train arrived so she had to go. That was fun, though. Brought to life the resting German vocab and grammar I had. Haha.
-Arrived at the SRH guest house in Heidelberg. Dirty snow was on the ground in small patches. It´s not a pleasant sight, the tail end of winter. When I got off the bus stop, there was an Indian girl who got off as well. We caught ourselves stopping in the middle of the road to read our maps. We then learned we were both applicants and decided to search for the guesthouse together. Since there was a lot of construction going on, we got terribly lost. After 20 minutes and almost freezing, we got to the center. The girl, Soniya, would eventually be part of my mini-barkada here. (We´re a group of 5: me, two Indians, a German, a Swede)
-2pm, I decided to go out to buy some stuff at the Supermarkt. I was surprised to see all establishments were already closed! Then I remembered... it´s Mardi Gras! (Fastnacht/Fasching here in Germany). I walked to the Hauptstrasse (Main street of the old town) and found EVERYONE there. Almost everyone was in costume- from toddlers to grandparents. People were dancing, walking with gigantic beer and wine bottles in hand, and everyone was just plain happy. The parade people were in outrageous costumes and were throwing candy, flowers, confetti, and stuffed toys to the crowd. (Unlike the New Orleans tradition, there´s no flashing nor beads here. Still fun, though.) After an hour in the crowd, I finally saw one open Supermarkt, bought some pudding, water, and Curry Ketchup (I´ll explain sometime) and headed home.
-Fell asleep by 7pm and woke up at 9 when my roomate, Hans-Henning from Tuebingen came in. Initially, he wanted me to change rooms with his buddy, but I asked him if we could do it the next day. (Fortunately, he´d eventually let it go.) I stayed up to read about the research of the 4 Ph.D. mentors I was to interview with and slept at about 1230am.
I was restless but I knew I had to fight the effects of my jet lag. I knew this day would be the most important day of my life, thus far.
Day 2 kwento and pics next time.
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