Finale

So here it is, the ending of my story in europe. While i look forward to seeing my friends and family in Singapore again, i can't bear to leave them here in Germany. These four and a half months here had not just been a simple holiday, but rather a beginning of a second life. I had not simply visited the tourists attractions, but also lived the life of a german. The german train announcement, the 10 dollars chai fan, the sunshine, the ice rain, the bavarian music in beer gardens, the stupid Sunday no work rule, the crazy beer festivals, the punctured bicycle, the house by the lake, the heart warming smile from Maria, the 2 hours bike ride down south, the strawberry hut, the naked people walking around in the park, the violinist in Hofgarden and the hundreds other if not thousands of new things i saw simply create this undescribable awesome experience. No amount of pictures or videos i record will and can ever reproduce the genuine experience that i gone through here in Munich. While i have pretty much emptied my bank account in these four and a half months, i have never felt that my money was better spent. As a cautious spender, that says alot. My mum and a couple of friends once asked why didn't i use this opportunity to visit more countries while i am here halfway across the globe, but really whats the point? To hop from one attraction to the next? I would rather spend that money on a deck chair and bring it to the countryside and spend the entire day lying on it. Anyway, spent my last day walking through the streets hopping from one tram to another, going through the streets where i first lived, the streets where i first explored. The memory of my very first day, dragging my luggage down the street full of party people going tock tock tock and spending the next 30 mins trying to find the stupid door, which didn't have a number over it, remained frighteningly fresh. All these flashed through my head as i took the tram route through Müllerstraße. Then came this announcement from the tram "Nachste Haltestelle: Müllerstraße" immediately sent a wave of nostalgic feeling through me, the very identical feel when i first took the tram in Winter, all geared up with gloves, winter jacket, beanie worrying if i took the right tram to school. It was as though i travelled back in time. But in the blink of an eye, here am i 4 and a half months later, writing the very last post of my blog. To all of you who did bother to follow up on my story in europe, hope you had great fun as well if not as much as i did. As for the many friends and family that i have met here, thank you for making this trip so memorable. Special thanks to Kan Ern, for inviting me to your homely gatherings and the seriously awesome asian food that you guys managed to cook up. To Yidan, who put up with my continous questions about the universities here. To Frau Anna Scharlipp, who offered her motherly love and ear for my ever same rant in broken german about life, weather and university. And not forgetting you Miss Green, thank you for being such an awesome Friend(in). Vielen vielen Dank für alles. My story in Europe part II? Wir werden sehen....

London

Wooo! 2 days left. Just got back from a 4 days trip London, and oh my god, i wonder how people manage to live in that city. Its like living in the middle of Bugis Junction and the traffic, human or cars just goes on and on and on and on for the entire day till 2 am, before the cycle begins all over again at 7 am in the morning. Somehow spending the last 4 months in Germany made me cautious of breaking traffic rules, and i don't mean speeding, rather jaywalking. But there in London, you will look like and idiot standing at the lights looking left (there are instructions on the road). In fact the cool thing to do is to walk between 2 moving double deckerbus. These double deckers are not the whinny whimpy double deckers in Singapore, but driven by suspected professional runaway vehicle drivers. For one i have never remembered myself grabbing the handle bars infront of me with so much strengh. So don't bother paying for a ride in a funfair, you get as much thrill riding on the top deck front seat of a London double decker bus. And if you are in for some bouncing fun, hop on the iconic london double decker bus, service 15 and 9 which pretty much goes through the city center. Up the fun by standing, but at your own risk for you might just bounce and hit your head against the ceiling and breaking your neck, losing your conscious before rolling down the back stairs and onto the street as there are no doors. In fact the double decker bus ride was so thrilling that we spent the entire 4 days traveling around on the top deck. But thats of course only possible later in the evening for the streets will be totally jammed between 7am and 9pm. Their solution to the jam is to charge more for people who travel to city center, something like ERP, but i think a better solution is really simply to remove some of the millions traffic lights in the city. I don't see how having one light every 20 m helps the traffic in anyway. As for the weather in London, it is rightly notorious for its unpredictability. So much so that it changes every 20 mins. One moment it looked like its going to pour, with cold wind howling, sweeping up all the dust and dirt from the ground, the next moment its all sunny and warm. There is no way to dress for the weather, you either bring too much, or you shiver in the wind. I picked the second. So much chaos and weather changes and running around that i finally fell sick. breaking my 4 months of sick free record. Spent the whole day after returning in bed. In fact just to ease the mind of my Gast family that its not schwein flu, i walked to the hospital near my place to see if i could find a doctor. Walked into this almost empty half lighted hospital with a couple of nurses sitting behind a counter, i asked for a mask immediately. Didn't want to spread a possible schwein flu. Explained my situation in English as my brain wasn't functioning too well to come up with german terms. Instead of being sent to a quarantined room, i was told that there were no doctors and that i should take the U bahn to main train station where a clinic is opened till 11pm. Take the U bahn!? I was like WTF? anyway, didn't feel too sick after that walk to the hospital so decided to walk back home instead. Its probably exhaustion, plus the chaos and horrible weather and the dirt, altogether making me ill. 1 day later after a good rest and i am back to normal. No medication. Lucky i must say. Don't wanna spend the next 7 days in Aloha man.

Garmish Partenkirche

Took half a day off from school to go to Garmisch Partenkirche with my Landlady. Initial plan was to visit Zug Spitze, the highest point in Germany. But the cable car ride up cost almost 50 eurs. I would rather spend that 50 eurs on a plane ticket and fly to italy over the weekend. So we chose another summit that is almost as tall but not as costly. My landlady's sister-in-law has a holiday home in the little town overlooking the mountains, so we were invited over. Took just a little more than an hour by car to reach Garmish. Its a little town sitting in the valley of the alps, thus it is surrounded by snow cap mountains (a little left). We first met up with my landlady's sister in law before heading for the mountains. We arrived at the cable car station only to be told that the cable cars go up only to the middle station as the weather is coming in and its no longer safe to go all the way up. Haiz. Built in 1981, the cable car didn't look too solid anyway. The cabin is so small that it can fit at most 4 adults. It did however offer a spectacular view of the small town below. Well not really small if you see the picture. From the middle station, we spent 1 and a half hours trekking downhill before the weather really came in. Unprepared for the shitty weather, other than a water proof bag and a half broken umbrella, we quickened our pace and finally arrived at the little town call partenkirsche. Check out google earth for better pictures. Felt like i entered another world. It resembled one of the middle age little towns in the Final Fantasy game, seriously super cool. Unfortunately it was raining and i didn't really want to bring out my camera. Got a couple of pictures though. But it was more point and shoot kind of pictures. Too bad it wasn't sunny, if not the pictures would be uber cool. Took a short rest before heading out with husband of my landlady's sister in law, Wally to Eisbach. Its a small little water body that looked really harmless, until you soak your legs in it. Eisbach, literally translated to ice stream. I didn't think it was ice cold when i first stepped in it until it felt like there was electricity in the water. And the change was in a matter of 3 seconds. The next moment i was out of the water already while Wally sank almost half his body in the water. Well he has been doing it for the past 17 years. He promised me that tonight i will sleep like a baby. I did indeed, from 11 pm till 9.30am the next day. Yeah my class starts at that time. Back to garmisch, back home, he cooked up a superb meal for us, lamb with baked potatoes and sweet corn. Top Restaurant grade stuff. End of the meal was ice cream with warm hersley chocolate sauce. All these in a cosy bavaria cottage house. Sometimes i really wonder if all these is just a dream..Didn't stay long after dinner as storm clouds were coming in. Super horrible weather was predicted for the evening, thus we had to leave. Halfway back on the autobahn, it started raining ice. Camera was in the back of the car and it was too dark for any good pictures anyway, thus didn't take any. But it was the longest and heaviest rainfall i have encountered so far. 1 hour into the drive and the rain was still as heavy. Rain finally eased as we approached Munich. Cooked myself another plate of spagatti with meat balls as i still felt hungry. That pretty much concludes my last excursion out of munich.