Wilkommen! (3/3)
Just to pick up where we had left off: I had trouble opening a hotel room in Bonn, and discovered that the Germans really are a friendly people, who put quite a bit of importance on punctuality and arriving exactly on the time agreed upon.
After visits to the Beethoven-Haus and the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, we were finally ready to start on actual work. Or at least, we were expected to be ready for actual work. My body was still fast asleep somewhere on that 13-hour flight.
Before our group could even muster a half-hearted “Nein!” we were being carted off to the German Academic Exchange Office (DAAD) in Bonn and being given lots and lots of brochures. We talked shop there for about an hour before we were carted of to another meeting with the German Rectors’ Conference, which meant another hour of talking shop.
That meeting seemed to last longer than it really did. It was so boring and technical and so alien to the experience of Asian students (or at least Filipino ones) that I began wondering if I should throw up just to liven up the proceedings.
After that we had lunch with two section heads from the DAAD, which was much more enjoyable. As expected, Filipinos were known for the singing and dancing, and with my constant talk about Tawag ng Tanghalan and assorted Filipino pop culture nuggets, I don’t think I’ve really changed their minds about that particular stereotype.
Later on that night we met some DAAD scholars. Among the scholars would be the first (and only) Filipino that I would meet during my stay there. She filled me in about what it’s like to be a Filipino in Bonn (brown skin, she tells me, is a big hit with the menfolk), while I filled her in on showbiz news from the archipelago.
The next few days - from Bonn to Cologne to Karlsruhe - would proceed in that order. Meeting, lunch, meeting, dinner, hotel. As much as I wanted to meander around, our guide was very insistent that we follow the schedule laid out for us.
That was a pity, because that meant we were only allowed to have dinner in Heidelberg and pretty much nothing else. I had wanted to check out the plaque to Rizal at the University of Heidelberg, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time?
Also, the waitress at the student's pub we ate at while we were there kept quessing what sex I was, and in a very loud voice, if I may add. She kept going "Herr? Frau? Herr? Frau?" and I kept thinking how satisfying it would be to smack her up the head.
That was why it was sort of a relief when we got on the ICE in Karlsruhe to make our way towards Berlin, because in the capital we would have more time to ourselves. And we did. The problem was most of it was a t night.
That wasn’t really a problem though. On my first night in Berlin I tried to catch the Arctic Monkeys at the Potsdamer Platz, and when that didn’t work out, our group just meandered around, taking pictures at the remains of the Berlin Wall and at the Brandenburg Gate.
The next night entailed even more sightseeing, because we were adamant about seeing at least parts of the city before we were flown back to where we came from. Me and three journalists from Malaysia and Indonesia checked out the Book Burning Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie (by foot, and in 1 degree weather, may I add) before we decided to call it a night. We boarded a bus, got off at the wrong stop, and of course had to do more walking. In that cold. Whatever, it was fun when we were actually doing it.
The next day we had the whole afternoon to ourselves, and while the itinerary strictly said that we were to visit museums, our guide was feeling pretty generous and decided to just let us loose on the city. Most of the guys decided to go to the shopping places; I decided to get lost.
And I did, for a few minutes, in Friedrichstrasse. I just couldn’t get the hang of how they numbered their streets. After about 20 minutes of bewildered meandering I finally found out the bookstore I was looking for, and from there I was on a roll. I quickly found the next bookstore that I wanted to check out, and by then I felt confident enough to tackle the Berlin train system without any assistance.
My confidence wasn’t exactly misplaced, because after a few false starts I actually got the hang of it and was actually riding the train like some badass who’s lived there all his life. I was transferring from station to station with relative ease, and I actually began to consider maybe staying in the city if traveling around it was going to be this fun.
I would have stayed up even later (I wanted to go check out some bars), but somewhere in Southern Berlin my stomach started to act up. I had to make my way back to my hotel - it was lucky that I knew which trains to ride; otherwise I would have had a horribly embarrassing accident in a foreign country.
And when I got to my hotel room? Suffice it to say that after battling with my innards, I was too tired to go out. I told myself I’d just take a short nap and ended up sleeping till the next day.
Looking back, I wish I had just stayed up all night. There were so many places that I still wanted to check and never got to do. But all things considered, I had a fun week, and not a bad first time in a European country. Hopefully, I get to do this again.
After visits to the Beethoven-Haus and the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, we were finally ready to start on actual work. Or at least, we were expected to be ready for actual work. My body was still fast asleep somewhere on that 13-hour flight.
Before our group could even muster a half-hearted “Nein!” we were being carted off to the German Academic Exchange Office (DAAD) in Bonn and being given lots and lots of brochures. We talked shop there for about an hour before we were carted of to another meeting with the German Rectors’ Conference, which meant another hour of talking shop.
That meeting seemed to last longer than it really did. It was so boring and technical and so alien to the experience of Asian students (or at least Filipino ones) that I began wondering if I should throw up just to liven up the proceedings.
After that we had lunch with two section heads from the DAAD, which was much more enjoyable. As expected, Filipinos were known for the singing and dancing, and with my constant talk about Tawag ng Tanghalan and assorted Filipino pop culture nuggets, I don’t think I’ve really changed their minds about that particular stereotype.
Later on that night we met some DAAD scholars. Among the scholars would be the first (and only) Filipino that I would meet during my stay there. She filled me in about what it’s like to be a Filipino in Bonn (brown skin, she tells me, is a big hit with the menfolk), while I filled her in on showbiz news from the archipelago.
The next few days - from Bonn to Cologne to Karlsruhe - would proceed in that order. Meeting, lunch, meeting, dinner, hotel. As much as I wanted to meander around, our guide was very insistent that we follow the schedule laid out for us.
That was a pity, because that meant we were only allowed to have dinner in Heidelberg and pretty much nothing else. I had wanted to check out the plaque to Rizal at the University of Heidelberg, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time?
Also, the waitress at the student's pub we ate at while we were there kept quessing what sex I was, and in a very loud voice, if I may add. She kept going "Herr? Frau? Herr? Frau?" and I kept thinking how satisfying it would be to smack her up the head.
That was why it was sort of a relief when we got on the ICE in Karlsruhe to make our way towards Berlin, because in the capital we would have more time to ourselves. And we did. The problem was most of it was a t night.
That wasn’t really a problem though. On my first night in Berlin I tried to catch the Arctic Monkeys at the Potsdamer Platz, and when that didn’t work out, our group just meandered around, taking pictures at the remains of the Berlin Wall and at the Brandenburg Gate.
The next night entailed even more sightseeing, because we were adamant about seeing at least parts of the city before we were flown back to where we came from. Me and three journalists from Malaysia and Indonesia checked out the Book Burning Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie (by foot, and in 1 degree weather, may I add) before we decided to call it a night. We boarded a bus, got off at the wrong stop, and of course had to do more walking. In that cold. Whatever, it was fun when we were actually doing it.
The next day we had the whole afternoon to ourselves, and while the itinerary strictly said that we were to visit museums, our guide was feeling pretty generous and decided to just let us loose on the city. Most of the guys decided to go to the shopping places; I decided to get lost.
And I did, for a few minutes, in Friedrichstrasse. I just couldn’t get the hang of how they numbered their streets. After about 20 minutes of bewildered meandering I finally found out the bookstore I was looking for, and from there I was on a roll. I quickly found the next bookstore that I wanted to check out, and by then I felt confident enough to tackle the Berlin train system without any assistance.
My confidence wasn’t exactly misplaced, because after a few false starts I actually got the hang of it and was actually riding the train like some badass who’s lived there all his life. I was transferring from station to station with relative ease, and I actually began to consider maybe staying in the city if traveling around it was going to be this fun.
I would have stayed up even later (I wanted to go check out some bars), but somewhere in Southern Berlin my stomach started to act up. I had to make my way back to my hotel - it was lucky that I knew which trains to ride; otherwise I would have had a horribly embarrassing accident in a foreign country.
And when I got to my hotel room? Suffice it to say that after battling with my innards, I was too tired to go out. I told myself I’d just take a short nap and ended up sleeping till the next day.
Looking back, I wish I had just stayed up all night. There were so many places that I still wanted to check and never got to do. But all things considered, I had a fun week, and not a bad first time in a European country. Hopefully, I get to do this again.