Ready to shift to Erlangen

Hello readers,

It was a great trip to my University in Erlangen last week and I had a very successful time overall. The comfort of travelling by Deutsche Bahn is something that has to be experienced. The automatic doors, the unfailing Reiseplan always at your seats, the beautiful landscapes whizzing past you at more than 200km/h, the clean toilets and the almost always unfailing punctuality – these are things that make me want to travel more with DB, but the cost involved is enough to convince me to give up the idea instantly!

This time I wanted to make the stay longer so that I could do my things more comfortably. I arrived on Wednesday evening and checked into my reliable Jugendherberge and simply relaxed. I would recommend the Jugendherberge to anyone travelling to any other city and staying for a short duration. The rates are cheap but the service is pretty neat. This time around I got a better room but without WC and Bath attached. But the common WC and bath for the floor was just opposite to my room and I was really lucky to get that comfort for just 23 euros per night (breakfast included). The lift was quite creepy though with a very small confined space and very very creepy outdated metal doors that, when shut, made an impression as if, the person inside is being taken into some torture chamber!

For dinner I tried some really wonderful Spaghetti near the Arcade complex and it was great. On returning to the hostel I discovered one could receive wireless internet signals from the dining hall area and it was free! I was quite lucky to be able to stay connected to people and check my mails from the comfort of my laptop at the youth hostel.

The next day morning I had a good breakfast at the hostel and I really love a good German breakfast for the sheer variety of things you can choose from. So, though I have a tough time at the Mensa everyday trying to eat German lunch, the breakfast is always good to enjoy. I got ready for my meeting at the Zentraleuniversitätsverwaltung (Central university administration) for my Immatrikulation – the process wherein I apply myself to be taken in as a student who wants to do his Promotion (Phd work).

The Immatrikulation process was relatively simple for the following reasons – Firstly, DAAD had given me all the important supporting documents and papers along with which I only had to show my Visa and my earlier educational certificates and it was all done. Next, I had already made a trip to this office in July and met a few people. So, they could recognize me and I had already submitted copies of my educational certificates (DAAD does that too) and they had sent me a letter that certified that my Indian Masters degree was equivalent to a German Diplom degree. This equivalence certification is very important so that I’m permitted to start my PhD work as a student here. I wish to specially thank DAAD Ref. 425 for their kind help and support all through. Finally, the secretaries and staff at this office were very kind and helped me a lot in filling out the forms or directing me to different rooms etc.

Then I have something very important also to narrate. How the spoken or written word is very important here in Germany and everything is meant exactly word to word. I had reserved a room for my stay in Erlangen in the Studentenwohnheim, from next month beginning from the 1^st. of October. I simply assumed that the room would be ready even by the previous evening and booked my train tickets accordingly i.e I would arrive by evening of 30^th September. When I told this to the Chief of the house, he wasn’t really amused and simply told me there has been a misunderstanding. Well, yes I do realize his position, when he says that the previous tenant has the right to choose to stay till 30^th Sep. and after which the room has to be made ready for me. These are certain things I’m learning and also feel are very important to know for newcomers in Germany. Always clearly speak what is required and define everything involved in any deal /plan/ transaction clearly including the most minute details. There are no blurry images or automatic pre-assumptions here!

On the way between the Studentenkanzlei where I did my paperwork and the Youth hostel is the Kitzmann Brauerei (brewery) which throws up a really enchanting aroma of the best Bavarian beer all along the street. Incidentally, the Bergkirchweih in summer is an important beer festival here in Erlangen.

I then returned to my room and prepared for the meeting with my Professor the next day. Came down to the dining hall late in the evening where it was calm and peaceful and I surfed the net for a while.

The next day I had a wonderful meeting with my Professor and a colleague about the project we would be starting and also met many other co-workers. We had a discussion on how to start the cell cultures of the plant system and what difficulties we could be expecting through the course of the work. Then we had a go through the results of the preliminary tests (different seed cultures) that my Professor had carried out last month. I had been feeling very nervous all along the previous day, thinking about how this meeting would turn up, but surprisingly my Supervisor was totally cool and also made me feel comfortable. That helped me focus on the job at hand and we had a fruitful discussion and made some definite plans about the work for the next 2 months ahead and also a few ideas about the long-term goal of the project. We then visited the lab and she showed the photobioreactors, with which she had carried out her latest published work – involving scale –up of the process of cultivation of plant cells to a higher volume. I pictured myself reaching that stage of work at some particular point of time not very immediate but not too far either.

Most of my colleagues are comfortable speaking in English when I ask anything to be explained so, but normally revert to Deutsch very quickly. I was able to still understand most part of it including the technical terms and discussions, but sometimes it becomes too much technical to handle and I ask them to repeat in English. But mostly, even the technical terms can be easily understood if one is good in basic vocabulary and then applies the meanings of the words to context.

I would advise anyone planning for the DAAD scholarship to concentrate and do the language course sincerely. It would be far better to be able to understand and speak basic German, since we can’t always ask our colleagues to talk to us in English for every single ordinary thing like basic technical stuff discussed in the lab. For example, my colleague told me something about VE-Wasser and I was sure it was something close to distilled water used in the laboratories. I checked later and found out it is the short form of Voll Entsalztes Wasser – or fully demineralised water! This would definintely not be taught in any language class but the basics should be made strong during the course which would help one grasp technical words like these very easily.

We had lunch at the Siemens office canteen and it was splendid. I chose an Asian speciality which had steaming rice with spiced up vegetable sauce . As I said earlier I would love a german menu for breakfast but when it comes to lunch, I’m satisfied by nothing less than a plate of rice – the Asian touch!

Later in the evening, my colleague Christine explained more about the lab practices and the normal techniques used and I understood most of it pretty well. My earlier stints in various labs during my college days would all come handy but I would be needing more skill, patience and dedication to work with plant cells since they are very fragile and easily contaminated. She then dropped me back at the hostel and I packed my bags to the train station. The trains arrived and travelled without issues and I was back in Marburg on time – late at night. I had planned my travel in such a way so that I could spend the maximum time in Erlangen.

As I am back here, there is another very disturbing thought. The Autumn is setting in and the leaves are falling down, dead brown. It draws a very disturbing parallel to the last week I’m going to stay in Marburg. Suddenly, things seem too dreary and paled down. After 4 months of fun at the language school, its now time to say good bye to my kind teachers, the sweet secretaries, our language school Chief and most sadly – my friends at the school and so many more at the Wohnung. The calm and conserved people of this city, the royal Old Town near the Schloss, and so many more.. I am going to miss this beautiful little city very much..

But I am still looking forward to more enriching experiences in Bayern henceforth, where I am going to stay for a long time next month onwards.. So, Grüß Gott (Greet God, Bavarian greeting) to all of you there until next time!