Thoughts of a Rodent

Hoo hoo hoo... this is one of the very few French phrases that I have learnt from Ding Ying while spending one of my most precious long weekends here that I have in Europe - in the much beloved French capitol of Paris.

I saw Hilton Paris! P/S: Not Paris Hilton hor. Hilton Paris :D One night cheapest room is EUR

Actually the last post was already about Freiburg but yah it was written in Chinese. Was kind of emotional after meeting the Schmid family again on Saturday so yup. Writing about it again, this time in English. Na ja... this is by no means a translation of the last post though.

Can't believe it. 2 years and I promised to come back. It was on 25 March that this promise was made true - when I followed the excursion organized by the International Office to Freiburg. That day tho was the last day to snow as well. On the way from Konstanz to Freiburg through the Black Forest, the view was just so superbly spectacularly indescribably breathtakingly irresistible. Tried to take some photos and too bad they did not turn up as well taken from the moving bus. And Schwarzwald (black forest) was on that day to me simply Weißwald (white forest). If you think the snowing in the spring is not enough, muahaha.... come to Black Forest and take a look. They are at least a few inches high.

So reached Freiburg at around 10.30am. The bus stopped at Karlsplatz and it was snowing heavily. (And yes therefore, no pictures taken as later the snow melts into rain) And directly we walked from there to the magnificient Münster - one of the few structures that remained mostly intact after the city centre was heavily bombed on 27 November 1944. Went there again and thereafter, had lunch at the Freiburg University Mensa. Oh man.... it just reminds me of the times back during the Immersion.

So yup, couldn't wait to see family Schmid already. 2 years of LOOOONG wait! So after lunch I quickly disappeared from the group and went to take the Straßenbahn (tram) to Munzinger Straße, and Rita and Berthold picked me up from there. They are just always so nice. Rita even baked a Sauerkirschtorte (sour cherry cake)! Ok I dunno if it is specially for my visit but she baked the cake. And one of their granddaughters, Lisa who is now going to be 7, was so excited that she came over with her father Frank. Although it was a short visit of about 2 hours, it was really worth it. We chatted a lot on different things, including my parents arrival on this coming Friday. Hehe... will be picking them up from Zurich airport on Thursday afternoon. I myself have not been to Zurich till now. Too expensive le the ticket.

You know, I did not realize it until that very moment the chartered bus entered Freiburg that I really missed Freiburg. For a short moment I pondered on my initial decision for Konstanz instead of Freiburg. Really feel the connection I had towards Freiburg although I stayed for only one month there. But that does not mean I dont like Konstanz. Konstanz is still a very nice place to stay in. Just that I personally prefer Freiburg. Muahaha.... maybe this is called fate.

Yup anyway, they sent me back to Karlsplatz at 4.20pm to get back to the bus which would leave at 5pm, and so I reached Konstanz at around 7.15pm.

From Sunday onwards, the clock is now one hour faster (i.e. 6 hours difference with KL/Sg time) and Spring has officially begun.

So 17 days after arrival and having a significant amount of free time, together with another about 14 other exchange students in 3 groups of 5, we headed to Stuttgart for a weekend retreat.

Stuttgart is 140km north of Konstanz. Not too far away in Malaysian terms (slightly shorter than KL -Ipoh distance) but the train (Regional Bahn) takes 3 hours. It is also the capitol city of the state Baden-Württemberg and is the birthplace of some cars like Mercedez, Audi, Porsche etc.

For most of my new friends it is a one day trip but I decided to stay for a night at CC's place. So got to see his room. haha... His room is significantly more expensive than mine (he pays 80 Euros more per month), but 一分钱一分货. Think his facilities are better than mine. Broader. But nevermind la. As long as I have a liveable space its good enough for me. :)