True Reflections

This is the last post of this blog. To sum up for this semester and also for my preparation of my exchange life in Germany, I will try to look back at my true ideas of exchanging in Germany.

Sometimes through out this semester, I have began to regret my choice of going to exchange program for a year. I have so many buddies and great friends here that I just can't bear to not see them for a year. My family will miss me and I will also miss my cat, too. Another thing is that my sister is happening to move back to Taipei from Denmark this August, so it will be a pity to not be able to meet with her in Europe.

Another reason that sometimes arose is that my German isn't as good as I think. It's really a difficult language to learn and I think I fear this language sometimes. When everyone congrats me on going to Germany, I always feel guilty.

As the departure day draws near, I should wish that I can conquer all the difficulties and battle through my way to Germany. As the whole preparation for this exchange program are coming to an end, it has been a great idea to keep track of the process through this blog and this project from the class. Wish myself the best!

Travel Plans

Traveling in Europe will be one of my important goals for my exchange experience in Germany. I hope to visit the U.K., France, Czech Republic, other Eastern European countries and also Northern Europe in the first semester. This is because my friends who are exchanging in Denmark and Czech Republic are only exchanging for the fall semester. I would also like to get a closer look at the inner parts of Germany and try to absorb in their culture.

For the spring semester, I planned to visit Southern Europe. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are some of my targets. I have a really close friend from junior high school who is going to Spain to exchange for the spring semester. He and I am going to tour around and see the most magnificent architecture works in Europe because he major in architecture.

After I get to know the academic schedule in my school, I can start planning my trip around Europe. I hope I can manage to cut down the cost while also enjoying my trip. Therefore, learning to make ends meet and control my traveling budget will also be an important lesson that I must learn during my days in Germany.

Tickets Purchased!

This Tuesday, I have officially ordered my plane tickets to Europe. I will be flying to Copenhagen to stay with my sister. Also, I chose to transfer at Dubai, because I took Emirates. As planned, I am traveling with Annie, my classmate who is exchanging in Denmark. We will spend a few days traveling together in Denmark, while I also will travel with my sister, too.

I've always love taking the airplane, although it is extremely expensive, but I have not sit in any class other than the economy class. The airplane companies that I have flew before are Japan Airline, Eva Airways, Singapore Airline, Delta, Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air, Thai Airways...... This time I've heard that Emirates have really good services and they have just started their business here in Taipei starting this February.  I've always been interested in how transportation of the entire world works. I always pay attention to everything starting from the minute I step into the airport. I hope I can learn a lot since I am also going to study transportation management in Germany this following year.

Appointment at the German Office in Taipei

On May 22nd, Judy and I went to the German Office in Taipei, which is located inside Taipei 101, to be interviewed for our visas. It was my first time inside the office of taipei 101. In the beginning, you have to go to a machine at the lobby to get a guest ID card, then you take the elevator up to the 35th floor, and change to another elevator that takes you down to the 33rd floor, where the German Office in Taipei is situated.

After we entered the office, we have to wait in a common room, a lady called us over and requested for our files. She looked over both our files then started to ask us questions. First, Judy was asked several questions about her files, and it turned out that she has to hand in her language course certificates, too. As for me, basically no problem but just one. I need to hand in the correct receipt of the travel insurance because the one I handed in wasn't in the correct form.

So after the process was done, we each paid 60 Euros for the visas, and the lady told us that it would take about 4-6 weeks to verify our applications. So I guess I'll have to wait for another month to get my passport back!

Airplane tickets

This is what I am working on this week. I decided to fly to Copenhagen first, stay at my sister's place and travel around Denmark. My classmate, Annie, is going to Aarhus, Denmark to exchange for a semester. We will travel together for about two weeks. Since she has to move in to her dormitory on August 1st, we decided to arrive in Copenhagen on the 31st of July, then she can stay with me at my sister's apartment and go check in at her school dorm the day after. I asked my Mom to contact her friends in the travel agency, but bad news came first. Almost all the cheap tickets for the Economy Class are reserved, therefore it would be difficult to buy the right and cheap tickets. We are still working on that and see if there are other options.

Another problem is that because I am exchanging for a year, and the spring semester ends in June, I will stay in Europe to travel more until July. It would be hard to buy round trip tickets because right now I have no idea where is my final destination in Europe before I fly back to Taiwan. I would most likely fly back from Frankfurt, Germany, since it's the nearest international airport to Cologne. The solution will probably be that I buy a one way ticket first, the during my stay in Germany, I can decide then how to buy my ticket back to Taiwan. We'll see.

Living in Cologne

So here is the situation: I am probably not going to have a dormitory room to live in.
It all dates back to March, before I departed for New York to attend model United Nations. My partner, Judy was really determined to finish all the application in March, she urged me to do so, too. However, I was really busy at that time so I decided that I will wait until I come back from New York. Judy went through the application process and successfully applied for the dormitory. By the time I finished the application in mid-April, there were no more vacancy.
My school, the Cologne Business School, is a small school with about 1000 students. Therefore, the dormitories for international students can only take 32 students. So by the time I applied, it was already too late. Now, I will look for flatshares, because I would like to have a kitchen to cook and also meet new friends and roommates from other countries. The price is ranged from 300 Euros to 500 Euros, I will choose the place with the rent under 400 Euros. I am seeking every possibility to search for a place to stay. There is a Facebook group for all the international students in Cologne Business School this year, and there have been updates on rental information. I hope I can find my ideal place to stay soon.

German visas

Right now my partner and I are working on applying the German visas, but the application is so complicated that I am feeling depressed by it day after day. There are just too many files that I need to prepare and the most complicated one is the prove of financial support that my Dad has to declare. However, my Dad has to go to the German Institute in Taiwan to apply for this prove of statement. This means that it will take up his time to make things work. I am truly sorry for that and I really appreciated what my Dad will do for me.

So according to my partner, who wrote the letters reserving for the appointment with the German officials in the German Institute in Taiwan, our appointment will most likely be scheduled in mid-May. The two of us have to go to the appointment together. So before the appointment, the two of us is going to have about two meeting together and check each other's files to see if we got them right.

From this experience, I have deeply sensed the strictness in the German national character. They want to be precise about everything so they want everything perfect and detailed. That is why Germany is a successful nation today.