Travel stories, Germany- where love begins

In spite of living and studying in Germany just in one month, I did fall in love with this beautiful and peaceful country.

2 months ago before coming to Germany, when everything was just a dream of mine, I received the acceptance letter of DAAD- German Academic Exchange Service announcing that I was allowed to conduct my internship at Oldenburg University in Germany. After a lot of determination and preparations, I was both happy and worried so much because that was the first time I would study abroad. I had learnt about everything very carefully before coming to German. Moreover, I asked some my teachers and friends, who had studied aboard in Germany to share experiences. And all of them told me that: “German is very great!”

Observation is the best teacher!

Following the local time, at 6:00 am I arrived at Frankfurt airport after eleven hours of flying. Actually, I felt enthusiastic more than tired. The weather was colder than I had thought. There was sunshine but it was still very cold. Swished wind in Germany is was the same with the northeast monsoon in Viet Nam. I took the coat from my backpack to put on hurriedly. However, I looked so strange with the coat while people here were wearing short and shirt enjoying the sunshine. I was squirmed in finding the procedures door to continue the flight to Hamburg. I was overwhelmed with the complex map showing hundreds doors. Honesty, I asked an agent but he gave me such a long direction, which made me overwhelmed again. This airport was so large that I had to take 2 trains to arrive at the ticket door of the flight to Hamburg.

I had stayed in Hamburg for 2 day so as to enjoy this crowded port city. It was the cleanness and the modernity that gave me the first impression about this city. The magnificent buildings interleave with rows of green old trees, or green lawns and beautiful flower gardens. The color of natural plants existed everywhere in Germany which is well-known as the green city of Europe. With the short time of a day, I could only take a stroll around the old streets, harbors, go to the highest floor of the mall centre to have a view of the beautiful and exciting city in a beautiful summer day. I knew that I fell in love with this city!

Goodbye Hamburg, I went to Oldenburg where I would practice in 3 months. Picking me up at the station after a long way was a new friend with a warm smile and a rose that made me forget all tiredness after a long journey. She took me to a small flat in the school dormitory. On the way, she introduced many things about the city and where I would stay. Not as monumental as Hamburg, Oldenburg is an ancient and peaceful city. My flat is the highest floor of this eleven-floor building. From here, I could have a general view of “The Green city”. Sometimes, there were some birds flying to my desk. They were so cute, but it was troublesome when they “left” feces in my room.

In the next morning, I got up so early (because I was not familiar with the time-belt). I rode a bicycle to school. However, it took me almost 40 minutes to reach my school because of my getting lost. Fortunately, I left my flat very early; otherwise, I was late for job at the first day, which might be so embarrassed. My probation place was the Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences. When passing the door, I was recognized by a staff there. And he asked me if I was Tan who came from Viet Nam. I nodded my head in hustle. He led me to the room of the Head of the Institute - Professor Ellen Kiel, who inquired me very thoughtfully and took me to introduce to every member in the Institute. I was introduced some studies in here and I got acquaintance with some equipments and machines. She gave me some documents and asked me to read, then choose one topic that I were interested in to research. And she would give me suggestions about the research topic later. During the first 2 weeks, I just only made acquaintance and took part in some research groups to find the study direction for myself. At the third week, I chose my research topic and started research work. Everything ran very smoothly because my teacher guided me and everyone helped me very considerately and enthusiastically. I was really keen on this research job.

This travel brought to me lots of unforgettable experiences, so many new things and a lot of stories to tell. Thank IAESTE VIET NAM for giving me this opportunity! And, especially thank Advanced Program of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry for standing by me and equipping me with the necessary preparations in learning as well as in life so that I could be confident to walk abreast with friends in all over the world.

(The Vietnamese version of this story was written by Thanh Tan Nguyen)

Translated by Huong Hoang

http://www.itctnu.edu.vn/tin-tuc/2014-07-11/nuoc-duc-gap-roi-se-yeu-dt838.html