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.

I am accepted!

Believe it or not, though it isn't my first time sending applications to schools, but it still feels good to receive the letter of acceptance from my new school, Cologne Business School. It took me about three days after I returned from New York to fill in all the forms need for the application.

Along with the letter of acceptance are good news and bad news. The good news is that now I can focus on preparing for the German visa. It is known that German visas are really complicated to apply. The files that I need to prepare are complex so I think it will take up a lot of time to prepare for all that... The bad news is that the dormitory is already full, so this means that I will have to look for a apartment in Cologne. However, from the information I gathered online, it is really hard for students to rent a place in Cologne. So now I have to go online and search for places again...

The City of Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth largest city, located in the central west area of Germany. The Rhine River runs through the city and the world famous Cologne Cathedral is situated along the Rhine River. Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany, which has nearly destroyed all the buildings inside the city. A lot of historic sites were destroyed and the Cologne Cathedral was one of the few that survived.

Cologne is famous of its mixture of culture. There are a wide variety of museums within the city and several orchestras are active in the city of Cologne. Cologne is also well-known for its beer, called Kölsch. The Cologne Festival is one of the largest street festivals in Europe.

The weather in Cologne is quite mild, snow is expected in winter and sun will glaze in the summer. The people of Cologne are friendly and full of energy. Cologne is also the known to be gay-friendly.

German courses

In the first two years of college, I studied German in school, earning 12 credits in total. But to be honest, I wasn't really satisfied with my performance in this area. I was frustrated after the first semester, when it became harder and harder, I wasn't able to keep up with the rest of the class, and I often did not understand the teacher very well. I am a slow learner, I need much more time than the others to digest what I had learned. But the pace was just way too fast and I believe I started to lose interest in it day by day.

Until now, I am still afraid to reopen my dust-covered textbook and start to face it from the beginning. My classmate, Debby, who was also going to Germany as an exchange student, invited me to take some German courses at a private cram school. I am really willing to do so, but upon hearing the fact that I had to take a test first to decide which class you will be assigned to makes me uncomfortable. I dread how others would see me when I turn out to be really bad at German even after learning it for two years. I know I am running away from it, but is there any way that can help me?

In the end, I know I still have to face it. Nothing will stop me from going to Germany, it is just that I will have to put hope and faith into myself. Next week probably, I will start my first course, before that, let me find my long-forgotten German textbook and fall in love with it.