Smacking My Head in SBB Train

I was en route back to Freiburg after a day tumbling around Luzern solo.

In the morning, I found myself at the foot of Mt Pilatus, determined to do a bit of hiking.
I realised that I at least need a map. I was honestly thinking it's like taking a stroll in Adrspach.
Here's the map I got for free from the counter in Kriens.

I skipped the gondola and hiked my way up, further than I intended to.

After a countless 'smell of the Switzerland' and drenched shirts, I broke my fast and took the gondola up.

Basically I did 1026m. Highest hike in my life.

The final gondola ride which goes up almost vertically scares the hell out of me. my thought was just, what have I bring myself into.

I made countless impromptu decisons but to question one, this is the first time.

It's all worth it when I am at the top.

I took the train down and the ferry back into town.

Basically my Golden Trip costed half than the original price. Yay!

I shall be honest here.

The trip taught me a lesson.a pricey one.

That tripping with at least a companion is always much more better than going solo.

My emotion and energy were spent well in this trip.

Last week I was figuring out lemon tree song happily with the girls in the train on our last trip together and suddenly I find myself dreading heading back to Freiburg alone.

 ♪♫♫♫ I wonder how, I wonder when ♫♫♫ ♪

It was the loneliest train ride in summer 2012 and with no one with me to laugh to nothing in particular, I dozed off almost instantly.

It felt like somnolence. I was in twilight zone. one moment I was reasoning that it's really dangerous for a young lady travelling alone to nap on a train. another moment, I was gone.

puck!

the really loud sound woke me up before the impact on my head.

after so many rotations on the atlas, my head finally hit the window. and it hit hard.

At that moment I just want to disappear into my seat.

I catched that the person opposite was gone and there's new face on the seat across mine.

anyway it's for the better. 

the railway has countless of skies fitted.

of various designs and rather antiques.

and I arrived safely into Freiburg.

Sanguine vs Choleric

I had the opportunity to work alongside a choleric. Found myself muted by the intensity of choleric.
Here's a scene

Sanguine : when is your last time going home
Choleric : 2 weeks ago
Sanguine : I'm so jealous. I can only go home once a year
Choleric (ok, this is what i understood, not necessarily what he said word by word) : be reasonable. my home is just next to this country and yours is continents away. end of discussion.

But all are pardonable when he shouted achtung at the corridor. I swear it sounds so cute. so clashing with the choleric personality.

Mein 10 € Kartoffel

We hadn't had much chances to see each other so Louisa who is my contact person suggested that we meet over gelato. But since it was Ramadhan we ended up in the restaurant at 9 pm.

I ordered kartoffel plate.
It costed 10 euro.
I found out that kartoffel plate is really mix of potatoes
Crinkle cut
Wedges
Chips
Croquets
All fried

The poor asian had too high expectations thinking that 10€ potato plate must be jacket potato or tuna potato.
But asian girl and german agree that mashed potato is unthinkable part on potato plate.
But now I get to tell you that i had the experience eating 10 € worth of potatoes in one sitting (yes, louisa is a german so she couldnt eat 5€ potatoes at quarter past 9 in the evening =p)

$$ Ka-ching $$

I had to fork out 8000kc or what they say some sort of fee. My friends from Montenegro just have to pay no less than 200 euro. or was it 100 euro.

Then there's
1. return ticket prg-basel-freiburg
2. transport card which is a whopping 50 euro per month. no discount because ISIC lost against German student card
3. travelling
4. food

BVMD gave me 50 euro a week, which is more than enough for groceries because it was summer and i don't even have the time to cook. Once I even cooked and didn't eat because I was too tired to eat ~I guess I was being too dedicated towards my exchange.

And BVMD put aside 50 euro for any travelling that we do. Because we had to pay for the National Service Programme in Freiburg itself, we asked them to cut it from this 50 euro. actually our fee shall have been cheaper because we already have our transport card but there's some miscalculation overthere =(. My friends were not over it. But I had to count my blessing
1. my Murgovsky concert ticket is paid by BVMD
2. We got a handphone each from BVMD and in mine is a 10 euro. and the cheapest reload you can get is 20 euro. and my friend didn't even have a cent in hers.
3. Louisa, Chris and Iva were so welcoming and were heaps of help.

Actually you can cut down a lot
1. bring your own food for lunch. i sometime skip lunch because i hate doing lunch alone so having sandwich and free coffe (albeit horrible) is more than enough
2. dinner. german dinner like pauper but I am not german. still, buy minute quantity of thing if you cook. I bought more than what I need and my place have a mini fridge so i had to throw a lot of food away =(
3. restaurant menu is expensive. lucky I ate only twice at restaurant
4. bring your own drink and food when travelling.

And my faculty offers mobility fund so I got 100 euro from that after my exchange.

Geography 101

Back in Freiburg, I am a Malaysian studying in Czech Republic and is on clinical exchange in Freiburg. When I Was with Bemtgen, he'd introduce me with those details in German. And then there's Miss Columbus et moi first meeting.

Miss Columbus: And Where are you from?
Me:l'm from Malaysia. We are not to Thailand Indonesia, and Singapore

Discusssed about how lucky we are to have a sunny day that 1st weekend.

Miss Columbus: Do you have snow in Malaysia?
Me: *frog croaking loudly*

Ps : I painstakingly drew a map of Malaysia with Borneo included. Alas, posting a blogpost from a phone is almost a miracle. In case u r wondering like Miss Columbus, just so u know. We are just above the equator line.
Pps : Miss Columbus is otherwise a gregarious soon to be a doctor whose company I enjoy very much during our stay in Freiburg

Geburtstag

Today marks 23rd year since I went through the birth canal.

My birthday is like the picture above ~ warm and colourful. with the people i love.
There is a yummy cake on the table, accompanied by my favourite food.
My dad is pouting with twinkle in his eyes, my mom is smiling and my brothers are teasing me with "you are old!"
I make my prayer, blow the candles, cut up the cake and ask my loved ones for their prayers as well.
My mom is the first to shower me with kisses and envelopes me in a warm embrace. and I say my thanks for  bringing me into the world.
Then I go and hug my dad and receives his stubby pecks.
My brothers bought me presents.
And we feast on my mom's delicious homecooked meal.

Except that all the above is just a mirage. I am actually spending my birthday alone, on my bed and haven't been speaking to a soul except my mom who called me when I was sleeping to wish me happy birthday. Obviously there's no cake because I am too lazy to go out and I ate the food from yesterday and had coco crunch for dinner. Whatever. Happy birthday to me. May Allah makes me an incredible Muslimah, bless my life, shower me with wisdom and integrity and let me die as a faithful servant. ameen.

It reminds me of Chris birthday.
On his birthday, I went for a day trip to Konstanz.
Konstanz is not that far away actually, but since there's Black Forest in between Konstanz and Freiburg, the journey is quite long.
I shall write about Konstanz sometime after.
Anyway, I got home (Chris and Iva's) past midnight and was rather hungry.
Turns out the lovebirds haven't gone to sleep.
They came and accompanied me for dinner.
Iva baked 2 types of cakes for Chris (lucky boy I know) ~ apple crumble and marble cake
When I was about to spoon the apple crumble, Iva suddenly remember that she put some alcohol in it but assures me that the alcohol has dissipated, so it is safe to eat it. (But now, after some research, I make a stand to not eat anything mixed with alcohol)
So I ate it. and I can detect the taste and smell of alcohol in my mouth.
So I went after the marble cake, which is really delish.
Must say Iva's is rather good at baking.

Oh no. I just miss them and their place. =)

In Their Shoes

I think I've been way too comfortable after high school. I need to be out of the box. I need to be challenged.
This exchange seems to be offering just what I need and how true it is.

I found out the terrible feeling of being there but not knowing what people in front of you are talking about. Because they talk in a language alien to me. I have been on the other side of the table eversince I came to Czech. I casually switch into Malay in the conversation where my non Malay speaking friend is also there, involved in the conversation. Now that I have been to both sides of the table, I try to speak the language that everyone understand.

I've been to almost all of the morning meetings, which are conducted in German. I was asked to be there.
So I know the feeling of that poor thing that's invited to the event where everyone is speaking the language alien to the poor thing, eventhough they have the ability to speak in English, which everybody knows.

When I went to the suturing class, which is of course conducted in German, I joined a class where everyone has been together eversince few years back. I am just someone coming with the surgeon, and sit with the students. I said my greetings. and sit back feeling out of place. So when an exchange student was standing there alone and others were happy chatting away, I remembered what I felt and went to greet her. The thing that I learnt is that it is nice if people are being welcoming especially when you are alone coming into a pack of people that already know each other.

And one of the many things that I learnt from Chris and Iva is that to offer the guest help and explaining directions. They both went miles to help me. giving a real map. finding where the worship place is. recommending where to shop and many many more.


I'm glad that I went out of my comfort zone. I learnt a lot, both professional skill and interpersonal skill. But I gotta admit that this is not for everyone. You gotta pull yourself together and be open to challenges. In conclusion, be a tough cookie.