I did it - cycle

Today i went to the uni on my bicycle. It went good, except for the last road crossing. It was a big crossing with trucks crossing it (dont tell my mama) and i was really confused. Luckily, the signal was green and i crossed it hurridly. I hope no one got hurt behind me :) Having said that, i would really like to admire the steps the govt has taken to encourage cycling. They have separate lines and signs for bicycles on roads. They make bicycle stands on footpaths. There is always place for bicycles on trains and buses. There are free bicycle-lending services. etc.

Because of a small city, travelling with a bicycle is very pratical here. Although most of the city is on plain ground, the university is located on the hills beside the main city. So driving a bicycle to the university gives a hefty amount of exercise. But going back is more fun (although i have never travelled back on cycle, as one of the friends always takes the bike from me in Uni). I expected to see more bicycles around, but most people use buses or cars. Strange!!!

Left or Right?

Today was my frist day driving a bicycle on the roads of Germany. German roads are filled with road signs, especially at crossings. This signs are very useful and even control traffic on crossings that have no signal. But so many can be confusing at the start. This is what happened to me. At every crossing i had to think about the road-signs that i saw and manipulate my actions accordingly. They have specific signs on crossings to indicate traffic coming from which direction has the priority to pass first. They also have many one-ways near the heart of the city, so we have to take diversions as well.

But the toughest thing was to keep on the right side. Every time i turned on a crossing, i had the urge to start driving on the left side of the road, but then i would remember that i have to travel on the right side (contrary to Pakistan). Thank God i didn't make any big mistake. I reached safe and sound on my destination and back. But it was a Sunday (low traffic), i have to do this again on a week-day!!!

Lost in my city

Today morning i got on the bus going to my university. There are three Bus-stops in the uni. Three buses go towards uni. Two of them pass through all these 3 stops and the third one only passes through one stop. It is this third bus i got on. During the journey i forgot that i was on this third bus so i when the bus got to the first Uni busstop, i didn't get off and waited for the bus to go to the second Uni stop (since it is closer to my department). But the bus went another way!!!

I was surprised. It was then i remembered that i had to get off on the previous busstop. Now i waited for the bus to stop at next busstop (where-ever it was) and walk back to the Uni. But it showed no sign of stopping. It just went on and on until it got out of the city. It was travelling through the forest on the hills surrounding the city. After some time, it stopped. I got off. . . and there i was with no civilization but forest around.

I saw the time table and fortunately a bus was comming from opposite direction in half hour. I waited; and then got on the cliff and wandered in the forest a little to cut the wait; and took pictures. Finally the bus came, which seemed like the best thing that day.

Cost of living in Germany

Now some information about the living expense in Germany. This might be useful for people planning to come here. I have an average lifestyle (unlike many Pakistanis living here), so my expenses can be a little higher. Below is monthly costs that i pay.

Compulsory Insurance: €58
Uni registration: €26
House rent + bills: €200-250 (many share apartment with someone cutting this price into half)
Phone: €15 - 20 (i don't call Pakistan as i do voice chat. if u call Pakistan for half hour every weekend, add €20 to it)
Uni Cafeteria: €50 (now this is what others don't do)
Food and other: no idea :) but something like €100-150
Recreational travelling: €10-20 (most of us do this)

Keep in mind that i live in a small city. Other cities may have more or less house-rent. Other universities may have more or less registration fee.

Foreigners, Heidelberg and Holiday Inn

This weekend we were invited to a city nearby for a meeting. Invitation came from DAAD, the German organization for scholarships and higher education for foreigners. They iinvited all of their scholarship holders of different nationalities studying in South-West Germany. There were thousands of them. The event lasted for 3 days. We were accomodated at Holiday Inn for these days. We had our meetings and meals in University of Mannheim.

On Saturday, they gave us dinner in a disco, where after eating, people got up to digest it :) We slipped from there and got on the river at night and praised the huge number of Swans there.

On Sunday we were given a trip to one of the most beautiful cities of Germany: Heidelberg. This city has a road named after Allama Iqbal. It is located on lush green mountains and has historical buildings since it was probably the only city that was not bombarded in World War 2, that too because of its beauty and history. All-in-all it was a wonderful experience.

Almost Switzerland

Today we went to see one of the most beautiful sites in Germany: Konstanz. Here lies a big lake which shares its borders with Germany, Switzerland and Austria. This lake is so big that they run 3 or 4 story passenger ships in it. It lies in Southern end of Germany.

We went by train but got off the train as soon as we saw the starting end of lake. It was a really beautiful lake-shore. Then we got into the city. We wanted to go to Switzerland but some of our friends didn't have their passports. So we roamed around in Konstanz only. This is a big tourist attration with ships full of tourists. They even flew a big airship above the city. Later that day we got on a paddle-boat and rode it around in one part of lake with small passenger ships passing around us. Since it was Sunday so all stores were closed; so we went to a friend nearby for lunch.

Later we discovered that we did go in our boat to the part of lake that belongs to Switzerland. So we did visit Switzerland :)

Dr Atta ur Rehman

Today we were invited to a meeting in a city nearby to meet Dr Atta ur Rehman. All scholarship holders of our batch and the previous were invited. The meeting was in the evening but we went in the morning to see the city. We had lunch in this beautiful park in city center. In the evening we went to meeting center and met our batch-fellows from all around South-Germany. Dr Atta came on time to meeting center. They also arranged dinner for us.

Dr Atta said that they are expanding these higher education progams and sending 200 students to Germany alone next time. He said that they are building an engineering university in Pakistan with cooperation of Germany and France. He asked us to give them our preferences in our last year so they can place us in Pakistani universities when we return. We'll be hired as Assistant Professors. He added that in future, all faculty in Pakistani universities will be evaluated evey three years by international evaluation organization and jobs and promotions will be decided on this evaluation. This evaluation will consider the work they have done since last evaluation, so concept of seniority in job promotion will be eliminated. Let's hope that all this works well.