München (Munich),capital city of Bavaria, Germany I

photos without watermark is from other sources, click on picture to go to its original site.

It was Monday morning, 25th of July 2011. We depart from Deggendorf roughly at 9.30am. It was roughly 2 hours journey by train an hour by car. One day is not enough to explore the city people and i hope to go there again and stay there longer.

München or known as Munich in English is the third largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. This city was badly bombed during world war II and only during the Olympic summer games in 1972 this city start to be more developed and re-constructed with new landmarks which is the Olympia Park. I believed that during Adolf Hitler time Munich had been badly hurt and now it is slowly picking up every pieces and i think this city hold such a great history and that’s why i love this city compared to Stuttgart apart from Bayern Munich Football Club hahaha.The truth is this city give me more impact in the heart compared to Stuttgart.

The interesting attraction about this city is that, it has kept the identity of a ‘big village’. This is because in the city center no buildings are allowed to be build higher than the towers of the Liebfrauendom or Frauenkirche.

The towers of Frauenkriche (Church of our lady)

I didn’t go to the Frauenkirche but i saw it from a far while i was walking around the city. As it was the highest tower no wonder i keep on seeing that building and i think the second highest is Marienplatz. Well i am not sure about the fact but that’s what i observed. As you can see in the picture below if you go to a higher place you can snap a picture of the two  Munich city landmarks which are the Marienplatz and Frauenkirche.

Beautiful view of the city famous landmarks: Frauenkirche and Marienplatz

The first place that i go after i arrived in Munich is the Marienplatz Square. It is the heart of the city of Munich. I was lucky cause i was there at noon (12pm). The main attraction of the Marienplatz is the carillon in the tower of this town hall which will resounds at 11a.m and at noon. I got to know that in summer it will resounds at 5pm too. The carillon will make a round which somehow it will appear like it is dancing.

Load the video to understand more what i meant.

Just few meters away from the Marienplatz, there is a famous market which is called the Viktualienmarkt. It is a famous food market and beer garden in the city center.

Please remember Germany is famous for its beer and don’t be shock to see almost the whole day people drinking beer and hang out with friends. One thing i noticed while i was there was the icon or identity of the Bayern or Bavaria districts which is the Maypole.

Maypole of the Bayern 

Check it out here about the tradition: maypole tradtion
Next we went took an S-bahn to Odeonsplatz where it is near the Frauenkirche and we begin the sightseeing before we head to the Englischer Garten (English Garden) which is one of the most largest urban public park in the world.
                        
                           
                    
                          
                    
The pictures i took can’t compare with the live view, it was just beautiful and fortunately the weather was good that day. We could walk and see more of the cities. If it was raining it will be too cold to go outside for sightseeing. The local people here said this summer doesn’t feel like summer at all cause it was always raining.
Up next Schloss of Nymphemburg (Nymphemburg Castle)!
p/s:
Can’t put everything in one entry..sorry peeps.

Warm Welcome in Deggendorf.

It was Friday, 24th of July 2011. After being so tired running to board my train (check the end my previous entry) i finally arrived in Deggendorf after roughly 4-5hours in the train. I thought Deggendorf would be smaller than Stadtoldendorf (stadt=city). Since it holds the name ‘dorf’ which in English it means ‘Village’. Anyway i guess its kinda big town because the University Of Applied Sciences is there. I guess most probably this town is full with students.

I was picked up by my exschoolmate, Faiqsyahmi. I think the last time i saw him was in 2006 when i was in form 5. He is studying Mechatronic in University of Applied Science, Deggendorf, German. So i got a glimpse of malaysian student’s life in Germany. He got a friend, Aishah. She was nice enough to let me stay in her room for 2 nights.

Aishah just gone back to Malaysia that Sunday morning so i could not meet here but she left me a note with a towel and tooth brush. It is sweet of her isn’t it.

            

As i arrived in Deggendorf late that evening, i went first to Faiq’s house and guess what? i got to eat Malaysian food. I had ‘Ayam Masak Merah’ . Hm i think so.. but anyway it was delicious! and i really miss Malaysian food and thank you thank you so much for the dinner. Real Malaysian food oh how i miss it. Cant wait to go back and eat ‘Gulai Tempoyak Ikan Patin’ and it be more meaningful cause it will be Ramadhan. Its been a long time since i had Ramadhan with my family. Always fasting in University the past few years. Ok looks like i changing topic right now.

The next morning, again i got to eat something Malaysian. It was fish curry and rice!  Oh thanks again and later after the meal we start our journey to Munchen.

We decided to there by train. Munchen or Munich is a busy town it would not be a good idea to go there with a car. We will end up in the traffic rather than moving around.

We got our ticket. We was lucky cause we took a group ticket and we had another extra mate which is an old man. So instead of paying 19euro person, we only paid ~10 euro per person.

That i guess indicates that our journey gonna be good and it really was :)

Up next, Munich the city of…. i don’t know..i only want to go there because it was a place for Bayern Munich Football team ;p

Bye for now!

p/s: Apart from having a university in their town they also have BMW factory based here. Cool! ;p

National Social Programme 2011 in Stuttgart.

Photos are from Suzanne Jansen and me.

This programme is organized by BPhD Germany  and coordinated by Melanie Föll.

It is from 22nd July to 24th July.

Student Exchange in Stuttgart

This programme is aim to gather all the student exchange students in Germany and spend the weekend together and explore one of the city in Germany. They do have another one in August in Dresden. Unfortunately i cant join them cause i will be home by that time.

The best part of this programme is you get lots of new friends and get to know other peoples from different country or maybe parts of the world. There is a total 10 people which is 8 Student exchange and 2 coordinator. The students come from Spain, France, Serbia, Holland,Malaysia, Indonesia and Germany.

We manage to get overview of how pharmacy course is conducted in each country and apart form that their culture. Meeting them add up my list-of-places-to-go hahahahha. Spain is on top since i want to go to Barcelona ;p

Enough of day dreaming Elyana!

On the 22nd which is Friday not much to tell. I left from Stadtoldendorf at 10.10am and arrived in Stuttgart at 4.00pm. I was the first to arrived and Melanie picked me up at the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (Stuttgart main train station) and we went to the supermarket near the house that we stayed for 2 nights in Stuttgart. There i met Robert and he is doing all the shopping for our food for the next few days.

Later we went back to the house and chit chat a little bit while waiting or the others to arrive. The house is some kind of a fraternity house called ATV Suevia if I’m not mistaken. The owner of that place nice enough to let us crash at their house for few days. There i met Claudie, Emilia, Suzanne,Mayumi, Tally.

Dinner together

After all arrived we had our first dinner together and later at night we went to this festival where people can try foods and beer. Then we sat at a bar where we drink and chit chat before we head home to call it a night.

The next day on the 23rd of July 2011, we had our breakfast together. This time i met Koshe and Viola. At around 10 we went to the hospital pharmacy where we had brief introduction from the director about hospital pharmacy in Germany. It was awesome and high tech i can say. Well it is German, apart from being famous for their beer they are also one of the leading country for technology ;p

the machine that works on its own to take store and take out medicinal products

 

Us with the Hospital Pharmacy Director

After that we went to the inner city for sightseeing. first we went to the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof tower. There we went to the top of the tower to have the view of Stuttgart inner city from high. It was nice. Within the hauptbahnhof, they also have a museum to show the next plan for Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof . This project actually promise the citizen of Stuttgart about increasing space for parks and more centralised and fast connection train for the future if this project is done. This museum is made to let the public get the overview of what the DB is doing right now. This projects connects more than 3 country: France, GermanyFor more information about Stuttgart railway projects you can refer here: http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/stuttgart21/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_21.

Later at noon, we went to park to have a small picnic for lunch.

Lunch by the lake at a park

After the lunch we walk a little bit more around the city. Not much i think, we went to the rathaus and i dont know where else to be frank.We just walk and enjoy the view. I cant really remember all the names of the place we pass by. You can just view in the album later for the photos of Stuttgart.

Source of Fernsehturm Stuttgart picture: Wikipedia

Later we went to Fernsehturm Stuttgart or in English it is called Stuttgart TV tower. From up there you can see more of Stuttgart and other parts of Germany. I’m not pretty sure what the attraction is, but i think all tall towers attraction are the views from high up from the ground they provide. According to Melanie and Robert , it would be better to see the view when its dark but unfortunately we can’t get that cause its summer and the day is longer. For more information about the tv tower go here: http://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/ENG/leisure/fernsehturm.htm

view from Fernsehturm Stuttgart

Later we head back to ATV Suevia (our house for the weekend) and on the way we bought beer and Fanta for the beer tasting session. Basically they do beer tasting and i did fanta and chocolate tasting. On the way back , we also had doner ( a kind of kebab).

with our doner

beer and fanta tasting

Later after we done with the beer and fanta tasting we moved on to the next activity which is the Seafestival. Unfortunately the festival is over, so we walked by the lake before we head back to the inner city. At the inner city we tried to find a bar to drink something but all the bar are full. some of the girls wants to dance so we decide to hang out at a club. At around 4 we call it a night.

The next morning we had our last breakfast together and we start packing up cause after the Mercedes Benz museum tour the NSP will come to its ends.

We went to the mercedes benz museum and it is super-duper-awesome.

us infront of the Mercedes Benz Museum

I’m lazy to upload the pictures of the car cause its A LOT!  More pictures and info you can go here: http://ariffshah.com/jalan-jalan-eropah-mercedes-benz-museum-stuttgart/

ya ya OK i will put a little bit here:

After that we head back. I need to be at the train station at 2.07 pm but i got there at 2.08pm. I nearly missed my train but luckily Robert stopped the train. It is one moment that i will never forget cause we are running like hell so that i don’t miss the train. Thanks to those that come with me to the train station. I will never forget that moment.

So that is how my weekend in Stuttgart goes.

Up next is Munchen! baby! ;p

Journey to the South of Germany.

Just got back from the journey to the south of germany last night and i have lots of stories to share but im gonna take it slow ;p only left few days before i leave this beautiful country.

I have been in Germany for almost 5 weeks now. As i mention in my previous entry, i am living with the pharmacist’s family in Stadtoldendorf. It is more to the north of Germany. It is nearer to Berlin instead of Munchen or Stuttgart.

The only place i really want to see in Germany is Bayern Munich or they call it here Munchen. Munchen is located in the district of Bayern and it is the main city for Bayern region. The other place i really want to be is in Stuttgart but not because of the city , its because the National Social Programme is in Stuttgart. Tomeet up with new friends from different part of the world had always been my interest.In order to travel around Germany in any direction,south, north , east or west all you have to do is take the train. It is easy and comfortable.

It is expensive if you travel with the fast train but they have lots of offers and what you need to do is just search for it and buy the ticket early. At first according to the budget i only can travel to one place. Its either Stuttgart or Munich. To be in Munich is my choice but luckily i got to travel to both. If i buy ticket without offer and i buy it on the spot, it will cost me 200 euro (~RM800+) to travel to Munchen and return. Since i bought the ticket earlier and i take some slow train; i manage to cut the travel cost to 162euro  and i can travel from Stadtoldendorf-stuttgart-Deggendorf.

Stadtoldendorf – Stuttgart                71,50 euro (fast train:IC)

Stuttgart – Deggendorf                       49,00 euro (fast train:ICE)

Deggendort- Stadtoldendort            42, 00 euro (slow train, offer tickets)

The price for the fast train is actually offers price cause i bought the ticket early.If not it will be more expensive. If you really read what i wrote here you might be wondering why the cost is a lot more cheaper when i travel back to Stadtoldendorf from Deggendorf. This is because i used the Quer-durchs-land ticket. This ticket is valid for the whole day from 9am-3am and you can travel anywhere in Germany using slow/region trains and busses. The downside of this ticket is, you will be in the train for the whole day and you will change train frequently. Check here for more information: http://www.bahn.de

Thanks to my dear aunt :)

PHOTO: this is how the ticket bought from Fahrkarten looks like.

Hey wait.. where is Munich? LOL.

Lets back up a little bit. My friend Faiq is living in Deggendorf which is one hour away from Munich by car. So the reason why  i really want to be in Munchen is that, i able to visit my friend in Deggendorf and also go to my favourite city in Germany.I’m killing two birds with one stone people!

Since Deggendorf is in the Bayern district, i can travel to Munchen using group tickets which cost us 29,00 euro. We were lucky cause we don’t have to split the ticket cost into 2, cause on the way to Munchen and old man wanted to travel together with us and he paid 10 euro for the ticket. At first we wanted to travel by car but since Munchen is a big city, we might caught up in the traffic. So we took the train which is better.

I will tell the details more with a specific entry. This entry will only give brief overview of the whole 6 days of travel in the south of Germany.

22nd –24th July 2011 – National Social Programme in Stuttgart.

24th – 27th July 2011 – Deggendorf, Munchen

Actually i don’t just stop at Munchen, we travelled further south by car and that is the best place within the 6 days of journey to the south of Germany. Its like a fairy tale land. I will let you know what that place is in the next entry.

So stay tune cause photos will be in the next entry.

Bye for now!

A Train Station is known as Bahnhof in Deutsch.

So i did a little walk today in Stadtoldendorf. I finished work at 12.30pm , done with mittag (mid-day) lunch at about 2.30pm. We grilled today. As it was sunny and its not raining when we were grilling. Unfortunately, after lunch and i was about to get ready to go for a walk in a beautiful sunny day, it starts to rain. Picked up the cloths from the line and i gave out a loud sigh.

Ohh my day didn’t go as i planned. So, i get back to my zimmer (room). Cehh its not my zimmer. Its Hope’s actually. I am staying with my host family. Remember? duhh.. lol..

Was thinking of helping out in the Apotheke (pharmacy) but i think there’s nothing much i can help. Actually I’m a bit frustrated with the weather that is why i feel like doing nothing.

Anyway, lucky me again, the sun start to shine right after i finished seeing a movie: Quarantine 2. So i quickly get ready and head out for a walk. I was waiting like a week to go out and explore. It was around 5 when i went out.

As usual i made a pit stop at Cafe Juno for a cup of cappuccino. Wanted to eat sandwiches but i cant understand the menu hahahaha ;p I think I’m better in French when it comes to ordering food ;p Maybe i was in Belgium before and i went out alone and get my lunch at restaurant around the Grand Place.

Well, after i had my wonderful cappuccino i was thinking to go to the railway station just to get some information on how to go to Stuttgart. On 22-24th July 2011 i will have a weekend in Stuttgart with other student exchange from Poland, Czech Republic and i don’t who else. Since Stadtoldendorf is far away from Stuttgart i need to plan it accordingly if i were to attend the National Social Programme weekend.

So i was walking to find this railway station and i got distracted by a buliding. Without a clue i just walk towards the building and i was so interested in it cause it looks like a castle. Well its not a castle exactly but i looks like one ;p

Anyway, i was wondering what’s up with this building. In front of it i saw a banner hanging saying something like happy 70th birthday? “Hurra Hurra bla2.. vati..70th Jehr”

It is in german ofcourse. I think its something like Hoorey hoorey! ..70th Year old”

Nahh see im good hahahahahaha..kidding people..im kidding.

Anyway, when i walked a bit closer and i finally go like:

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this is the Bahnhof and i was actually looking for it”

“hey but wait, where is the counter where are the people?”

Then i saw a machine. Oh no wonder there is no people and no wonder the building look so sad and gloomy. Oh the machine got language in English..hahaha.. Oh as u can see in the picture below, the red one is the machine for the ticket..and there is a bicycle parking behind it. Cool huh.. here they can just ride bicycle. I remembered as i was on the Journey from Amsterdam to Belgium i saw the place is full of bicycles! Hundreds of them parking near the station ;p

So done with Bahnhof i thought of walking somewhere else just to explore more of Stadtoldendorf but unfortunately as i start walking it the sky is getting grey indicating that its going to rain. So i had to walk back home before it starts raining heavily. Just nice as i reach home just before the rain really start to pour from the sky like the sky is crying ;p

well where the hell is me in those pictures? lol.. what to do when you are all alone exploring.. Luckily camera is built with self-timer lol..u just need a good place to put your camera ;p

p/s: hah..im not sure to choose for tomorrow activity..to go into the woods to search for mushroom with Mr Wendt or go to Hannover with Marry.. both also i’m interested.. actually i kinda looking forward for the mushroom thingy..i like the woods and the environment.. hah..maybe i let the weather for tomorrow judge for me.

A special thank you note.

Greetings from Germany, 22:10; 04/July/2011.

Well since i got a little bit time before i call it a night. I just want to let this out from my heart cause I am really grateful and Alhamdulillah i think 2010/2011 had been just very great.

nahh the cherries not ripe yet but it is already sweet ;p

Thanks to my lovely aunt, cause she makes my second trip to Europe region a reality AGAIN. She did it the first time and i had wonderful times (Holland, Paris,Belgium) here in Europe (2008) and got to know and meet up with my relatives in Isle of Wight and Colchester in United Kingdom. Now for the second time she actually sponsored me the flight for my Student Exchange Programme and not just that ;p. Thanks to my beloved parents (especially the shoes ;p) for their support and to my dear professor, Prof. Yuen Kah Hay for his kind help in chipping in some pocket money to me.

Not to forget Herr (Mr.) Michael Wendt and his family for taking me in as a guest at his house and let me experience the feeling of working in an Apotheke (pharmacy). I had great times and experience lots of things this first week in Stadtoldendorf, Germany.

Thanks to MyPSA for giving me the chance to join this programme together with another 5 students (the seats are limited). Im in germany, Hong Huei in Croatia, Mei Kian in Poland, Apip in Taiwan and another 2 im not sure where they are. Thans IPSF.

Thanks to BPhd Germany for accepting my request (i put germany the first choice for exchange and i got it.lucky me)

Trust me without their support and help i wont be in Europe now and be having  my Student Exchange Programme a reality. It need hell lots of money to just fly over to Europe let alone staying here for roughly 7 weeks.

Well anyway god knows how much i appreciate those who directly and indirectly been there supporting me in so many kind of ways.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

p/s:

Dear God, I knew that somehow the rainbow will show up after rain. Forgive for all the sins that i made and You knew what the best for my life.Thank you. Alhamdulillah.

rewind: persiapan sebelum pergi Europe.

Asyik- asyik cakap English je kan..hari ni aku malas nak type English.. Nak cakap Bahasa Melayu pulak.

gambar: aku ambik masa tgh fly.

Sementara aku tengah tunggu parti keluarga angkat aku ni mula, aku pun terfikir la nak buat entri ni. Sebenarnya sebelum pergi hari tu aku nak tulis entri ni. Tapi apa kan daya kemalasan menguasai diri.

Sejujurnya aku tak prepare sangat nak ke Europe ni. Sebabnya aku sibuk dekat lab. Lepas habis exam, aku balik Kuantan sekejap. Jengah rumah tercinta , tak sampai seminggu aku dah di Penang semula. Aku sibuk dengan research untuk final year plus busy dengan Green Lung.

So balik tak balik ke Kuantan sebelum pergi tu, ada la 3 hari sebelum bertolak. Aku sempat rembat sepasang kasut, tukar duit Euro dan packing. Kasut sangat penting sebabnye aku nak berjalan jauh (ingat aku ada kereta ngan motor ke kat Europe?), cuaca yang sejuk(mahu beku kaki kalau tak pakai kasut).

Pejam celik dah kena berangkat. Sebenarnye, makin dekat nak ke Europe semakin malas aku nak bergerak ke mana-mana. Awal-awal masa dapat tahu terpilih pergi je aku rasa excited. Lepas pada tu aku buat tak tau je.

Tapi dah sampai sini, not bad la. Haha. Just oh amat sejuk dan aku tak suka. If sejuk tanpa hujan takpa (aku suka) tapi ni sejuk+hujan tu yang tak suka tu. Aku lagi suka hujan dekat Malaysia, nak mandi hujan pun aku suka. Tapi dekat sini maaflah, jangan harap aku nak mandi hujan. Sejuk tahap ghaban aku cakap.Ni aku pakai 4 lapis baju pun masih sejuk. (tengah hujan ni)

Ok la..aku pun dah naik malas taip, sebab rasa tangan aku cam beku. Sejuk cam ais. Hari ni cuaca sangat sejuk dan aku agak tak tahan hari ni and parti tu dekat luar. Tadi aku lepak-lepak jap, aku duk dekat area unggun api (parti cam ala BBQ). Mula ok, lepas tu pergh datang hujan terus..aaa tak tahan..tapi aku nak duduk dekat luar. hahaha tapi makin ramai orang kat situ dan aku malas nak duk tayang muka. (sebab aku tak pandai cakap sebenarnya)

Ada orang yang nak borak tapi soalnye aku ni tak pandai ckp German dan orang tu pun tak pandai cakap English. So hadap la jadi observer professional. Haha.Better than nothing kan?

ok bye2..

Tak larat dah.

p/s: aku sayang gila kasut ni!  sbb tu gambar byk hahaha..kompem bertahun kasut ni dengan aku ;p