Week 3.3 | Cycling trip to Willstätt

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Finally, it's time to start class. It's the first official week of the semester and frankly, it's a mess for me. I didn't understand the schedule so I had to wait until I met my advisor. He helped us in determining the classes schedules but the schedules weren't... correct. Well, it is but it's just that classes don't work that way. First of all, we were late to our first class because of our meeting with the advisor. It was suppose to be in room D012 but when we went there, nobody was in. We had to ask for help, and it turns out the class has moved to D014. It was so strange because we did told the professor that we would be late for the class but she never thought of leaving some kind of note for us to inform us that she has changed the classroom. Way to go. 

In my university, the lecturers would at least write something on the whiteboard to inform the other students who arrived late or even stick a note on the door. I guess I'm so used to it. Maybe in Germany, nobody is late that's why they don't need to do that.

Sarah and I are doing the same program so luckily we had each other. I can't imagine facing it alone. It would be so stressful for me. Sarah has been a really big help to me too and I can't thank her enough. On the next day, when we went to our Animation class, again, nobody was there. Turns out, the subject has no class. But it was in the class schedule. I don't know anything anymore. 

And you know what? After all the confusion, right now, I can't even take the subjects I wanted. Somehow they excluded the fact that some of the subjects (like Animation) need two semesters to complete and this semester is Part 2 of the subjects so I can't take part. Interactive Media (a subject which I am very interested in) only accepts 18 students. Which you can guess, they gave priority to the degree students over the exchange students. Right now, I'm taking one subject from my faculty, a language course and a number of business courses. Great, I am now a business student. Lucky for me, I can take subjects from other faculties but now, I need to travel 12km to Gengenbach to take those subjects and another 12km back home. But what's really cool is that the classes are like a few days workshop instead of 2 hours of lectures every week. Bad news is that, next month, I have classes from 8am to 5.15pm every Thursday till Saturday. Yes, Saturdays. Goodbye half of my weekend. 

At the end of the day, I just hope they would update their course details with the correct subject code, schedule, max participants, and the amount of semester needed for all the subjects. The title of the subject and subject codes aren't even standardized. It was in English then suddenly at some other website, it has a completely different subject name in German. It was stupid, I can see there were no format used. Even when using the Moodle (like MMU's MMLS but more confusing), I can't find the subjects that I wanted to enrol in, because the title is totally different and some don't even put subject code! And surprisingly, some subjects is not even online so you can't enrol online. What? Oh yeah, you have to register again for the exam even though you have chose to enrol in those classes. Confusing, yes. Very. It's different from what I'm used to and it felt so unstructured. 

Sorry for the long rant, I can't be happy everyday and it's not like it's perfect here. Of course, I'm only expressing how I feel and what I have experienced. 

But enough of that, das ist genug! Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

Wednesday, 17 March 2015

Berit and I discovered a really cool bakery place in the city centre where the sandwiches & bread there looks droolicious and it was quite cheap too! All under EUR2.50. I'm gonna try all the bread there!! Haha. 

On that late afternoon, we decided to bike around since both of us are very free. So, why not a bicycle adventure aye? And yes, by referring to the Offenburg website again, I found a route. But it isn't very clear and google map ain't helping either because it doesn't have some of the POIs stated in the website. So, we had to find it on our own during our journey.

I even DIY-ed my very own GPS holder. LOL.

I am an engineer, trust me.

Oh yeah, some interesting things I want to share.

Fun fact #2

Germans like to accelerate and decelerate at an incredible rate(? so technical lol). 

Fun fact #3

You want to cross the road and you're at the zebra crossing? You're given the priority to cross the road. Even though there is some car travelling at 100km/h, he will stomp on that brake pedal for you. Even when you're on the side of the road. 

In Malaysia, I've never experienced this outside of MMU campus. Usually, the car doesn't care and it's the pedestrian that has to look out for cars. They usually need to wait until the coast is clear then only they can cross the road. Even when they are using the zebra crossing. But one of the annoying thing is that the pedestrians usually doesn't use the zebra crossing in Malaysia. Because they don't make a difference.. So.. Idk. 

Fun fact #4

Every day is no plastic day. So, there's no free plastic bags for your grocery shopping. You need to buy them. Like in Penang.

off we go!

We also saw some swans on the way!

Super happy Berit! Hahaha

and me with my typical Asian pose!

Somewhere in Willstätt

The construction in the background just killed this picture. But yeah, the river still looks awesome.

Somewhere (again) in Willstätt

I guess this is the Kinzig dam/river in Willstätt?

Encountered a few friendly villagers out with their pets and this little fella just came toward me, brushed his furry coat on my leg and then, sat on my foot. LOL. Yes, true story bro.

He is just so big and fluffy, I wish I could bring him home and sleep on him. Lol! I didn't notice but Berit did, there was a wet patch on my shoe afterwards. I don't wanna guess what it was, but it was obvious. LOL. Territory marking I guess??

and we continue!

And she was hungry. Hahaha!

Hesselhurst Forest Lake!

Derp face. Lol. Was happy because I can finally stop and rest for awhile. My legs were killing me. I don't think I've even cycled that far before. 

I love this picture. It was a candid and Berit is so photogenic. :D 

Then we went to another side of the lake, and I had the chance to take some priceless pictures of some random couple. 

I can't help it, I like romance! And they look so lovely. :)

The road to nowhere.

I know, it's beautiful and it looks like some professional picture. *lol, self-complementing* But what you don't know is that the road is full with gazillions of tiny small bugs! I don't know what they are called but they were tiny, annoying, irritating and just f*cking disgusting!

Open your mouth to laugh or talk while you're cycling, you're bound to swallow on choke one one of them. LOL. One got into Berit's eye and one even got stuck to my lips. Just.. yuccccckkkkkkkkkkkkk. Terrible, I don't wanna travel on that road again, not without a hazard suit.

Finally, out of bug land and onto the big road!

No speed limit. Crazy ass speeders.

Route of the day!

Note that the path full of bugs are from KM21 to KM24. I've warned you.

I'm just gonna end this post with a picture of what I cooked that day for dinner. Some simple couscous with zucchini. Weeeeee~ Lol, I just love cooking. 

Ciao!