Hamburg and Copenhagen: A trip on rail, road, sea and air

Hamburg and Copenhagen: A trip on rail, road, sea and air

by Chandra Sekar Venkataramani Comment Closed
Covering 600+ kilometers in Germany in a spacious, comfortable private railway cabin at just 30 Euros and arriving perfectly on time at the destination requires luck. Favorable turn of events made this experience a reality when I took the NightJet NJ40470 train operated by the Austrian Railways (ÖBB - Österreichische Bundesbahnen) from Karlsruhe to Hamburg (https://rail.cc/en/night-train/zurich-hamburg-nj-40470/500). The 6-seater cabin I was allotted had hardly any occupants and I could stretch my legs on the recliner seats for a comfortable nap in the climate-controlled cabin. A sleeper cabin (incl. breakfast) in these NightJet trains readily costs around 100 Euros, even if booked 3-4 months in advance.   Starting the trip with the usual free walking tour (https://www.neweuropetours.eu/), I got to know that Hamburg (supposedly deriving its name from  'Hammaburg' roughly meaning 'Castle on the rivers', as the Elbe and Alster rivers flow here) has a long history of tax-free sea trade, culminating in its today's status of being a gateway to Germany. More Vegan/Vegetarian options at Restaurants and cheaper public transport options are noteworthy. The city...
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A Saturday Trek at Schwarzwald

A Saturday Trek at Schwarzwald

by Chandra Sekar Venkataramani Comment Closed
The Schwarzwald (English: Black Forest) located in Baden-Wuerttemberg, the south-western state of Germany, is a name constantly repeated by travel and nature enthusiasts. Even by food lovers, who love to occasionally enjoy a Black Forest cake. The onset of warmer days from May to August/September is a welcome call for Trekkers in Germany. While having never really trekked in the past myself, the ad I spotted accidentally in the local newspaper (benefits of reading German) sparked a thought to sign up for one. The ad spoke of a local club organizing a one-day Trek starting at Durmersheim, a town located 8-10 kms south-west of Karlsruhe, and invited even non-members to join if interested. Couple of weeks later, we were all boarded on the local train (called 'Murgtalbahn' informally, meaning the train that runs in the valley of the river Murg. Hint: Geographical features and City/town names are very closely linked). In a group of 30 odd people, I was the only Indian and perhaps the youngest at 26 years of age,...
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Wohnungssuche in Germany

Wohnungssuche in Germany

by Anoop Krithivasan Comment Closed
As soon as you get your admission next thing you need to look upon is for accommodation. It is very difficult to get accommodation in Germany, especially in cities like Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, and Hamburg. In these cities the prices are too high which is very difficult for a student to afford. Note while looking for accommodation : If your university is providing the accommodation kindly take it because you don’t have the burden of searching , checking the accommodation etc. The university will mostly provide in a Studentenwerk which might or might not be near the university, but still take it if you have good transportation facility. Even if you get it for 6 months take it because once on coming to Germany you can judge the situation on arrival and act accordingly. If you’re not getting in Studentenwerk start looking for private WG – Wohngemeinschaft in websites like WG-gesucht.de, Studenten-wg.de, Facebook pages and immowelt.de. If you’re fine with the WG...
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Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots

by Chandra Sekar Venkataramani Comment Closed
From Madras Institute of Technology to University of Applied Sciences Esslingen “You can never connect the dots looking forwards. You can only connect them looking backwards” were the famous words of Steve Jobs. My presence at Esslingen, Germany in September 2016 is a surely a series of dots (a collection of steady efforts, hard work and cumulative experiences) tracing back to the days of September of 2009 at Chennai, India. The Start It all started with my interest to learn a foreign language in 2009 while still at Madras Institute of Technology, not just for the career opportunities it offered me, but also for the feel good effect and sheer joy of learning a 3rd language. I signed up for the German classes in 2010 and by December of 2011, I was through with my A2 level in German. Though I wanted to go further, my language journey came to a grinding halt owing to a financial crunch. As a university gold medalist, I...
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