Hey! This blog is long overdue. I wanted to talk about how i felt when i came to Germany for the first time. It has taken me a year to get myself to write this, but i feel it's for the better. This is because now i have a lot more to share with you. I have collected all kinds of experiences during these one and a half years that i feel is sure to interest you. Now without further a do, let me get straight to business.

I was 23 years old when my college gave me the chance to travel to Germany. I was highly reluctant to do so as i was happy in Manipal. I was travelling on bikes with my friends to the nearby places, had a wonderful set of classmates and had nearly everything that a guy could ask for during his college days. Then it took some convincing from the side of my friends to get me to come here. so in the end I made up my mind to be open to the new experiences and travel to Chemnitz, Germany.

On the fateful day of september 23rd 2013 the journey had begun with Ajay Shetty. We both were travelling abroad for the first time and didn't know what to expect. All the expectations was drowned by the tiresome travel. When we finally reached, we were greeted by our student guide and a couple of our german classmates who had safely taken us to our hostels. I was impressed by chemnitz when i first saw it. It was small as people had mentioned but you could feel the city like vibe it gives you. The coming few days has us familiarized with the new town, we had been to Zentrum(Market place) and walked around the city. I am usually more excited than necessary and hence it had taken me a couple of weeks to get over the fact that I am finally in a new country. We had a senior who had taken pretty good care of us, providing us with dinner almost daily. It was still a little too silent and lonely for me as there weren't as many people as I would have liked. Ajay and me were there in Chemnitz a month earlier than the rest of our classmates.

A month had passed and we were finally accustomed enough and knew a lot more than our classmates from Manipal who were on their way from India. We went to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof(Train station) to pick them. We were suddenly playing hosts then, helping them finish their formalities. Our classes soon began, we didn't have attendance and could choose to not attend classes and stay back in our rooms. That was a delight for lazy people like me. The first semester flew past by like a dream. All the Manipal people were in the same hostel except for Ajay. We partied almost daily and didn't have a care in the world. Just when things are going well, a villain appears right? Just like that we had our semester exams to spoil our party. It is a bit downhill from there. I had failed in a couple of subjects which thankfully I have cleared now. Our classmates had split ways and had gone to other cities to pursue internships. The few of us left here in Chemnitz had found separate friends of their own. But life goes on and so it did.

In April 2014, I had finalized my Thesis topic here and made my first trip back home to India after coming to Germany. It was a very good experience as my family treated me with so much kindness and friends being delighted to see me. Everyone looks at you as if you have achieved something by just going abroad. Only I know deep down how little I am worth all the adoration that I've received.

Came back to Germany in a month. My birthday came up. Me and a couple of my friends had been to Amsterdam to celebrate. That's the perk of studying in Europe. You get to travel to a lot of countries that are nearby. I've been to Prague, Paris, Budapest, Berlin to name a few cities. But that's a topic for another blog I guess. 

Other than that, life in Chemnitz is pretty much like India because of all the Indian friends that I have with me, except that I have to make my own food and do my own dishes. You'd expect that coming to a foreign country. My thesis seems to be on the finishing stages now but I don't expect myself back in India at least for another 3 months. I'm clueless about what I am going to do after that. Let's see.