Winter Academy Part 3

The past one month of Winter Academy had been fun, I can’t believe it went by that fast, I had a great time learning German and get to experience the culture of Germany. There is always an end to everything, it is finally the time to say goodbye to my fellow friends (those who are not going to stay for the semester.)! We had many farewell events to say our goodbye to our buddies, which includes class pictures, Winter Academy at CUBES, and International Student Farewell Dinner.  

Thank you for making my Winter Academy experiences memorable! When I am with you guys, the month went by so fast and I can’t believe how closed I became with some of your guys! I am looking forward to go on weekend trips and parties with you all throughout the semester (only 5 more months left!). As for those that will be going back home after the Winter Academy, I will miss you all so much and hopefully I will have the opportunities to come visit you guys at some point in the future!

Meanwhile let’s enjoy the two-week break we have before the beginning of the semester, which I will be traveling to Prague!

Winter Academy Part 3

This post will bring back the city tours we went on during the Winter Academy along with one of my favorite museum (I actually am planning to go back there for the second time later!). I encourage those who are afraid to sign up for some events because your friends are interested to sign up for all the events that you are interested! When you are an exchange students, everyone became more open into making new friends, so you will make some new friends that have some common interest with you that’s different than your original group of friends from the beginning. It doesn’t hurt to have more friends when you are abroad (or in general!). Some of my best friends that I have now are from joining the excursions. Once you step out of the comfort zone, you will have rewarding experiences as the result!

Day Trip to Frankfurt

We spent an entire Saturday in Frankfurt on January 16th, it took us around an hour to go to Frankfurt (it only take 30 min to go to the airport if you take the fast rain, just as a references!). Frankfurt wasn’t really nice to us because it was cloudy and rainy the whole day, we did a city tour in the morning, and went to the tour for the entire view of the city.

Unlike other cities in Germany or Europe, it is very industrialized and modern. As someone who is a city person, the day was a break for me from small town feel Germany to a city that’s similar to Boston.

Day trip to Stuttgart

Growing up under my father’s influence, I always knew a little bit more car knowledge and history than most people expected me to have. Day trip to Stuttgart was the one that I was most excited for, partially because of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The history behind this well-know luxury car brand is very fascinating. I spent most of the day there and only went through half of the museum (which means I need to plan another trip to Stuttgart once the semester start to finish the other half of the museum.). My friends and I grabbed an early lunch at a local German restaurant in the area before heading back to Mannheim. It is a typical German food, which includes currywurst and local German brewed beer (I was taking a break from döner.

After this trip, it made me more excited for the other car-related museums around the country. I am currently making a plan to cover most of them by the end of the semester.

p.s There should be one more post regarding on Winter Academy, it will mention the ending of the Winter Academy, the farewell party and the pub crawl hosted by the Winter Academy.

Winter Academy Part 2

Continuing from the ”Winter Academy Part 1”, I will continue to post some pictures about some other events from the excursion. This time it will be just the sports theme, so it is really short, but don't worry, I will get back to the city tours aspect of the excursion later! Stay tune for "Winter Academy Part 3".

As a country with excellent football (soccer) team, we had to go to at least a football game to show our spirit and passion for the German football. We went to a local football game (the Mannheim team!!!) and had a great time cheering with other local German on the behalf of the Mannheim team! We also had the chance to go to an Ice Hockey Game that was held in Mannheim! As someone from Boston, watching an ice hockey game might seem to be a normal Bostonian thing to do, but the watching ice hockey with all of your friends in a foreign countries while having a cup of local German beer and pommes frites will always be the best experience ever!

Winter Academy Part 1

The second day upon my arrival to Mannheim was the beginning of the 2016 Winter Academy. It is a one-month long program where I get to experience the German culture. Beside the couple hours of German class we have everyday, we can sign up for additional excursions to enrich our experience of German culture. There’s different types of excursions which includes tour of the surrounding cities, wine tasting, beer brewing tour, ice hockey, football, dance showcase, Black Forest. They are also great opportunity for you to make friends with other international students (so you can all struggle together!)

There will be more blog posts on Winter Academy, but I still haven't decide how many posts I want to break it down to, because it is impossible for me to share everything on the blog, but I feel like every moment is worth writing about, because they are all very memorable.

<- Heidelberg excursion city tour took place on January 14 (I believed it was the first city tour beside the local Mannheim tour!) We took this picture at the Heidelberg schloss (I think the Mannheim one still looks better!) It was a great time meeting new friends which a lot I am still in contact with!

P.s. We can go to Heidelberg via tram of S bahn with our semester pass

Speyer Excursion City Tour

Speyer excursion city tour on January 21, after German language class. The tour guide had private access to a high tower in the center of Speyer (importance of network!). This is the view after all the stairs we needed to climb, the view was amazing, and this picture definitely didn’t do the justice. I remembered a lot of my friends didn’t go that day because it was too cold, and I was sick for a couple days afterwards (don’t forget to bring some medicine!)

The view of the city of Speyer.

Speyer is a really small typical old German town (I remember it is one of the oldest city in Germany) and only have a population of twice the population of UMass.  

<-T

Döner for Love, Döner for Life

This should have been under the article of “Something that I realized after I reached Mannheim”, but considered how important it was for me (and everyone around me during the exchange semester), I think it deserved its own post. Many in America might not know what a Döner is, but I am guessing most of you at least know what a Kebab is. Many will question why as an exchange student in German, why aren’t you introducing the typical German food?

When people think of popular food in German, the answers are always beer, pork, knuckle, currywurst. For most of our general knowledge, we wouldn't expect a Turkish food to be so popular in Germany. Especially in Mannheim, there is a huge ethnic Turkish population means we have Döner shop on everything other blocks in the city (Remember how I talked about Mannheim using the block system for their streets?) According to Google, there are over 25 döner shop in the city of Mannheim (definitely more than the amount of Dunkin Donuts we have in Boston). They each have their own unique ingredients. There are also different form of Döner, such as Döner box and yufka.

Döner is definitely one of the most loved and popular street among the German population in Mannheim. It is definitely worth a try when you reach Mannheim, and make sure you try out different store to find your favourite (For me, it would have to be the City Döner near Mannheim Hauptbahnhof, it opens 23 hours per day).

<- An typical Döner from City Döner of Mannheim

P.s. I think I am not very bias, and I did try Döner from other cities in Germany, but I think Mannheim have one of the best Döner in Germany.

Below is an article from Wall Street Journal regarding on Döner and its effects on the German street food culture (It doesn’t hurt to learn some history about the food, so you can enjoy it even more when you go to Mannheim!)

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432704577350194262835880

Something that I realized after I reached Mannheim (2/2)

The following is “Something that I realized after I reached Mannheim (2/2) are more German fun facts, transportation and cash. If you have been to Germany, you shouldn’t be surprised by what you will be reading in this article. My friend who went abroad the semester before me at Mannheim told me to keep those in mind when I reach Mannheim. Hopefully those who have never been to Germany, will find these tips useful. If I think about more tips later, I will certainly add a part 3 on this.

1. Cash!

I probably mention it multiple times that many places in Europe prefers cash over credit cards, therefore cash is essential to one’s daily life. Once you set up a bank account, you will receive an ATM card that’s linked to your account as debit. Unlike America with Bank of America ATM everywhere on campus, there’s only couple places you can withdraw money in the city of Mannheim. All the ATM also happened to be very far away from the school and student residential area. Therefore you should take out some additional money when you are at the ATM just for emergency purposes. However for the most part, supermarkets and train stations accept the debit card for payment, so you won’t need to worry too much about finding an ATM.

P.s. They only take cash when you purchase your semester transportation tickets at the office, so just keep that in mind and make sure you go to the ATM to take out some money before going to the office (it could be a really long wait, speaking from experience).

2. Hauptbahnhof

The first place that you will reach once you reach Mannheim for the first time. “Hauptbahnhof” also known as “hbf” is the German word for main railway station or central train station of the city (even though it might not be centrally located within the city). Assuming that most exchange student will be landing at the Frankfurt International Airport will be taking a train to Mannheim, there will actually be a couple of stops that will have the name “Mannheim” before the train reach Mannheim Hauptbahnhof. Make sure you don’t off the train too early or too late, and get off at the main station where there’s main transportation to get you to the university for check-in.   

The term “Hauptbahnhof” is used in different city in Germany, therefore make sure that it is going to the Mannheim Hauptbahnhof for your destination. Once you exit the train station, there will be taxi, bus, and tram. I recommend taking the tram to the university even though it is within walking distance for your first day).

Similar to train station in America, there’s also coffee shops and convenience stores located inside the supermarkets. They seems to have a longer opening hours, so they are good for too early or late trains and emergency in general.

P.s. I think now for when it reaches at the Hauptbahnhof stop, there’s an English announcement for the tourist, pay attention on the train so you won’t miss your stop.

3. Schloss

When I first saw that I will be taking classes at the schloss, I thought it was the name of an academic building (similar to Mahr, Herter or ISB). The term “Schloss” actually means palace in German. The Mannheimer Schloss is definitely the main attraction and representation of the city. When the block system was used for the city’s urban development, it also used the Palace as the center (You basically will not have any excuse for not able to find where the school is!) Many large lecture halls will be located inside the palace along with many students event and concerts. The Winter Academy will be taking place at the schloss and you will have to chance to explore the schloss.

Many German considered Mannheim to be one of the most “ugly” city in Germany because it lack to impression of a typical German city and instead are more industrial. Many places including the schloss was partially destroyed during the wars and the rebuilding of the city gave a new look to the city. However (Fun Fact!) when they rebuilt the schloss, there’s a new addition to the schloss which made it the schloss with the most window in Germany (or maybe the world...I need to do more research on it, I will get back on that later!).


Throughout the semester you will have multiple of copies of the schloss, when you go to class (Yes, we study like a loyalty!), this was taken on the first day of Winter Academy because when I arrived Mannheim the first day, it was raining.

Something that I realized after I reached Mannheim (1/2)

After the useful tips to prepare for the semester abroad, I have decided to write something that can be more related to for the Mannheim students (the best city ever)! Below it's the first half of the list (it might be too hard to read with too many words!), which are more of useful tips and surprise discovery I had about living in Mannheim as a new comer.

1. You can drink tap water

Growing up in the Boston area and three years at UMass, I was told to never drink any water without filter it (or just buy bottles of water to save yourself from all these trouble). I took my European and Germans friends are couple of week of convincing before I begin drink water directly from the tap. There’s no additional chemical being put into the water at Mannheim therefore it is safe to drink (I am not a science or biology major so I will not question them). For our dorm, there’s a sink at each of our room so it will be very convenient for us to refill our water bottle whenever we wanted to.

When I arrived at Mannheim, I tried to find a water fountain to fill up my water bottle and they don't seem to exist in Mannheim (while we have one basically every 100 meter on campus group). I would still recommend bring a water bottle though which will save you a lot of money from buying water bottle in school or when you are traveling.  

P.s. Don’t hold me accountable if you get sick from drinking the water, also this might not apply to other regions in Germany. Always make sure you ask the people around you before you drink the tap water.

2. Recycle your bottle

Also when you reach Mannheim, you will not see any bottles on the ground as trash. You might not even find any bottles at the trash for many residential area in Manheim. That is because people in this city is really conscious about recycle (at least the bottles). I was told that beer is cheaper than water in Germany which I basically have to agree on. However the point to recycle your bottle (both water and beer) is to lower the cost of those bottles of water we bought from the supermarket. Unlike the United States that recycle mostly the soda can, Germany focused their recycle more on plastic bottles and glass bottles. By recycling one bottle, you will get a refund of 0.25 Euro - 1.00 Euro. With those store credit that you get from the recycling, you can purchase anything from that store (for some people that would be more beer...or water?).

However, keep in mind that you can only recycle the bottle at the supermarket that you purchase from! (Ex: You might not be able to receive the water bottle that you bought at Netto supermarket at an Aldi supermarket.)

3. Supermarket closes on Sunday

Speaking of the supermarket...the place that i have a love-hate relationship with! If there’s one thing that I dislike about the supermarket, it would be that the supermarket closes on Sunday! As someone from America where supermarkets open 7 days per week, it was really hard for me to keep in mind that supermarkets and a lot of restaurant in the city are closed on Sunday. You will need to make sure that there’s enough food for you to last a day (or find someone who have extra food for you), or check ahead of time and see which restaurant is open on Sunday for you to dine in. As someone who live in Ulmenweg (a student residential area), I found that there is a pizza place and a Döner (one of my favourite food, I will definitely introduce it later) place that is open on Sunday. Different residential areas or parts of the city have different restaurants available on Sunday, you can just Google them or ask the students around you.

Another fun fact about German supermarket is that they are not allowed to sell alcohol any day after 9 pm. The reason behind it is to avoid competition with the German bar and restaurant (which requires a different license when registering with the city).

Useful Tips to Prepare For Your Semester Abroad (2/2)

This is part 2 of the “Useful Tips to Prepare For Your Semester Abroad”. Of course, there are a lot more things that you have to account for and considered while you are getting ready, the following are just some of the tips I am glad I knew from my friends around me and things that I wished I did when I was getting ready for my exchange semester. I hope you will find them useful and I will definitely consider making a Part 3 of this series if I have any additional tips I can think of!

1. Print out photos of family, friends, pet, food, or whatever you like

Once you reach the dorm in Mannheim and the wall will be a little simple, and you will want to put some pictures on the wall to make it look better. The photo of you family, friends and pets will be a little part of home that you can bring a long to Germany to help cure the homesick you have in the middle of the nights, or when they can’t pick up your calls during the time differences. You would also want to have some old pictures with you to keep you company beside the pictures that’s available on Facebook.

2. Scan and make multiple copies of all your important document before your trip

Scanning all of your important personal document just for emergency purposes. Making sure you bring multiple copies on your carry-on and checked baggage. It will be useful to leave those information along with your credit card information for your family, or someone you can trust so they might contact certain agencies or school on your behalf for you.

Important document: Passport, Acceptance Letter, Health Insurance, Driver License, Visa (If needed)

As someone who had worked at the Bursar’s Office before, a lot of parents were unable to talk to the university regarding on the billing because the students didn’t waiver their FEPRA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) privacy rights. If you are expecting a refund from UMass as your spending money abroad, make sure you put down a valid bank account for Access Express Enrollment, so you won’t need to wait a long time until you receive the money.

3. Download the offline Google Map for Mannheim

There will be many places that you would need to be on the first day of Mannheim, therefore having a map of the city would be handy when it comes to going to different places for the first time. The city of Mannheim used the block system (similar to New York City), which mean even if you get lost, you can’t be too lost in the city. Also you might not feel too ready to ask a stranger for direction with your German (or English), so you won’t need to feel too lost on your first day at Mannheim. Eventually you will be used to the city and won’t need the map anymore, or you met new friends the next day that you can all get lost together (which sometimes is part of the fun at a foreign country)!

4. Enjoy your UMass Dining Experiences, and all the other food

As a student of the University with the #1 dinning service, you will certainly miss your dinning hall and Blue Wall (Even though they are really expensive). Make sure you eat your favorite dishes from the dining common before you have to say bye to them for an entire semester. As an upperclassman who was really sick of the UMass food, I missed the options we had when I was in Mannheim. It doesn’t hurt to order Wings over Amherst, Insomnia Cookies, Pioneer Valley for a couple more times before your journey. Also support to local restaurants at Amherst downtown before you return the next semester.

As someone who is from Boston, make sure you eat all the “common food” from the area (Lobster roll, New England Clam Chowder), because before you know it you will be in Germany and those food will not be so “common” near where you live.

5. Talk to others that went abroad before

It is normal to feel unprepared for your semester abroad, and talking to someone who had went through the journey definitely helped. It doesn’t have to be someone who did the exact program as you. (However we all would love to talk to you if you need some advice on suggestions regarding on anything you have concerns for!) The study abroad journey is very memorable and unique to everyone, so people often have different approach to prepare for it. Listening to other people’s experience will get you prepare for some of the excitement and obstacle that you will be facing and get you excited for the journey of a lifetime.  

Useful Tips To Prepare For Your Semester Abroad (1/2)

Most of us have not been study abroad before or at least be in a foreign country for 6 months without our family. The following is some useful tips from my experience to help smoothen the hectic experience you will need to face once you arrive in a new country:

1. Exchange your Euro

Before you even reach the airport, make sure you have a small amount of Euro with you! Exchange them ahead of time at your local bank for a better exchange rate and smaller transaction fee.

I understand where parents are coming from when they don’t want the students to carry too much cash with them while traveling. You will still need to survive the days between the German bank account is set up and the money to be transferred internationally. Unlike the United States, most places in Europe preferred cash over credit cards, so only carry credit card won’t get you very far when you are in Germany.

Carry a small amount of cash for the bus tickets and lunches at the sandwich shop, so you won’t need to run around looking for a ATM (or borrow money from a stranger).

MAKE SURE WHEN YOU EXCHANGE YOUR MONEY, GET A MIX OF SMALL AND LARGE NOTES!

2. Notify your credit card company to put a travel notice

This is a must when you are traveling to a foreign country for a long period of time. Credit card company will suspend the card if they see any unusual transaction activity (transaction in a foreign country) because it might be a credit card fraud. In order to unsuspend your credit card, student will need to take time out of their busy schedule (Believe me, you will not want to take any time out of your first couple of weeks in exchange to make those long, annoying phone call). Your phone plane abroad is definitely not as good as the one we usually have so you won’t want to waste your minute/money on those phone calls that you can totally avoid by calling ahead of time.

Also when you call the credit card company, make sure you also tell them the countries you are interested in travel so they can include those places when they are putting down the travel notice for you to avoid any further troubles.

3. Bring a set of travel size shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrush

It might sound silly for you to bring travel size shampoo and body wash on your 6 months trip. Many people would just not bring any and buy them once you reach Germany. I am not telling you to just use the travel size shampoo and body wash for your entire semester abroad, you certainly need to buy more of those once you reach Germany. (Don’t give German a bad impression of American by not showering, that would just be disgusting.) The moment you landed Germany, there would be a list of things you need to accomplished within the first day. By the time you finish taking care of those business, it would be night time already. After a long hectic day and 8-hour international flight, you would want to take a nice hot shower to end your day. By the way, there’s not a lot of 24-hours CVS type of stores for you to go to when you realized that you taking had the chance to buy any of the stuff. You don’t want to end your first night abroad in a foreign country that you were preparing to go to for the longest time ever in a bad mood.

Even if you didn’t need to use any of them for your first day, you can always bring them for your weekend trips (too many weekends for you to go on trips!), so they will never be a wasted!

4. Bring your winter jacket and different type of clothing

I checked the weather for Mannheim when I was packing my clothes, it doesn’t seem to be too cold as compared to the typical New England weather that we have all experienced. I only brought a lot of my sweaters and thin jackets for my time abroad. It was the biggest mistake I have ever made from all the things that I did to prepare for my sweater abroad. It is true that the weather in Mannheim is not as cold as New England (It still hasn't snowed here...which I kinda missed the snow), it is so cold here. I will also like to blame the horrible heating we have here in Mannheim as compared to the one we have in UMass or at home. As someone who is super lazy and drive down the street instead in the winter, walking around the city of Mannheim in the winter was the most upsetting things I had the do in Mannheim.

You will need to bring your winter jacket, because you might want to travel to a cooler countries which it is useful to have instead of spending a lot of money for a new winter jacket. I ended up buying a new winter jacket in Mannheim because it was too cold for me and I just don’t want to get sick. If you are expecting to be buying new jackets when you reach Mannheim, then don’t pack your jacket because it takes out a lot of space (We all understand and won’t be telling our parents that ;))

Also need to bring different type of clothing, all the different weekend trips and spring break that you will be gone for would require different type of clothing. Even though you are only going for six months, you will want to make sure you have the appropriate clothing for different weather.

5. Bring at least one outlet adapter

Beside the shampoo and body wash, it should be one of those objects that you will needed the most for your first night abroad. After a long day after you finished checking in and setting up the bank account, you would probably want to charge your laptop after you Netflix for a little while because you are still really awake from the time difference it has from Boston, or charge your phone because you need to set an alarm clock for you to get up in time to for the first day of Winter Academy. The one outlet adapter would let you still connected with family and friends back home or the new friends that you just met in Manheim. Having the one adapter would also allow you to be connect with the outside world (We all know how insecure we feel when our phones are dead) until you have the time to go to the store to purchase extra adapter for your other electronic.

If you don’t want your families to worry about you or not be able to call / iMessage / Facetime / Skype / WhatsApp / GroupMe / Gchart you, then it is for your best interest to bring at least one outlet adapter.