Germany so far!

Its been 22 days since I came to Mannheim, Germany and yes life has been different. I come from India originally, but the past 3 years have been spent in Philadelphia since I go to school there. My main purpose or you can say excuse to come to Mannheim is to study business and information sciences at the Business school, Uni-Mannheim. The whole study abroad program gives me an opportunity to meet students from all over the world, study in a different academic set up, improve my German language skills and most importantly see Europe.

I came here having minimal hopes, because that’s the kind of person I am I guess. I don’t like to pin too many hopes on something because then the expectations are just way too much to cope with. Because of that, everything that I have experienced here has been pleasant and welcomed. Mannheim is a small city in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. People here speak German only, and it’s a little hard to find nice English speakers. If you are a tourist you can get by, but if you want to spend four months here then you better speak the language. People are friendly, but if you keep on talking in English that friendliness will never turn into friendships. Knowing the language is important to make German friends and experiencing what Germany is all about. I live in housing provided by the University and have a polish room mate, so in Germany, thanks to her, I only hang out with Polish so far and I talk to them in German. I don’t know whether I can generalize, but I feel like for me it has been much easier to connect with Europeans than it ever was with Americans. The warmth and understanding I receive from these people is amazingly surprising, but it is because of them, staying here has been a fair deal so far.

I have not travelled much yet, because of arranging for classes and making new friends and everything, but I do start soon. So far what I have seen of Mannheim, makes me like the city in some aspects. I feel like in some ways Mannheim is like a small city in India, though much more organized and much more clean. There are shops all over the city and mind you, if you are coming here from America or any other country for that reason, your VISA aint any good here. Cash works the best here. Most of the small shops don’t even take the bank debit cards from German banks here (Maestro). If you are really out of cash then Starbucks is your only option, yes yes, wherever you go Starbucks follows you. So coming to my point of similarity between Mannheim and a small Indian city, the small shops with people selling cheap goods and not accepting anything but cash reminds me of India. Euro is expensive, but if you have been here for a while, you know the cheap eats and actually eating here would be cheaper than eating back in the States.

Americans think you cant be cheaper than Walmart, but Germans prove you wrong. Stores like Lidl and Aldi here in Mannheim are dirt cheap, and I mean it. Cheap is always good, and these stores just make my life better . Apart from these stores, the market is divided in two sections. One has all the branded showrooms from ESPRIT to DOUGLAS to NIKE and one side has small bakeries and fruit sellers. It’s the time of Ramdan, and if you are fasting then the Turkish make it easy for you. There are bazillion Turkish shops with food menu specially designed for those fasting. And overall, I just love the food here. German bratwurst is a treat for everyone. I don’t eat beef or pork, but if you do then this place is for you. German food is just great. The bread is mouth watering, and there are so many kinds to choose from. Talking about food, I cant miss the doner kebabs. It is a Turkish specialty, but you get it in abundance here, and the delicacy is mouth watering indeed. McDonalds and Burger King can also be found at many places which is very helpful in case you are only here for few days and all the German food names are making you crazy.

Mannheim is a city for chocolate lovers. The air smells like chocolate all the time because of the chocolate factory close by. I never liked chocolates before coming here, but now I love it. There is so much more I can write here probably, but I think I should save some for later. Haha! Weird ending I know, but I am not that good a blogger yet!