Wednesday, March 04, 2015
"All good deeds have a ridiculous beginning"
My trip to Germany was great for me. As we were informed by the college for the visit,
I had no idea whether I’ll be attending or not but Narendra mama had already
planned about that and took that responsibility. After getting the final decision,
during the 1st terminal examination in Asoj, I joined a language class for
Esperanto after Dashain from 23rd October to 20th of December
nearly about 3 months.
As my planning to go for the tour
was fixed I went to make a citizenship certificate and filled a form for a passport
before Dashain vacation. Immediately after the completion of bijaya dashami I
came back to Kathmandu from Chitwan
Similarly, on 15th
Dec I went for my interview with my parents in gyaneshwor where German embassy
is located. I gave an interview where the interviewer was Nepali lady. After
waiting for nearly about a week, the result came and we all friends went to the
embassy to collect the passport, waiting for a turn then suddenly became happy
and sad simultaneously as we were given visa only for 17 days and console our
self thank god for getting a Schengen visa. After getting a visa we waited for a ticket,
unfortunately, we couldn’t get a ticket before 27th as our planning was
on 23rd, after making all the arrangements I became mentally alert
about the trip.
Finally, 27th Dec came and at about 3:00 pm I left from room to the airport, our flight was at 9:30 pm in Oman air.
My visit to Germany became interesting to me;
personally. It was my first visit outside the country. Before going, I was very
glad to know that our college was going to take a huge number of students for a
cultural exchange program. As we’d already planned to go for a cultural exchange
program in Herzberg city, the Esperanto city, we should have to learn the same
language i.e. Esperanto.
In order to have some basic knowledge, we started
learning Esperanto for a period of three months. We’re taught by Miam Salam
shany, Esperantist as well as a journalist of UNESCO, who was from Pakistan
Esperanto Association. We were in a large number, so that, we decided to divide
different programs for reflecting Nepali culture in Germany. From the college
side, we were informed that we would be taken to two European countries viz,
Germany and France.
As the program was fixed, I started to prepare my
documentation (citizenship certificate, passport) during my Dashain vacation.
And after that vacation, I went for the department of passport for submitting
form where I stayed for 6 hours waiting for my turn.
After the completion of shopping for clothes to
overcome the cold climate in Germany, 27th Dec 2014 was the date on
which our flight was booked on Oman airlines at 5:55 pm in the evening. After departing from the family ,I went to the
airport at 3:oo pm. All friends were there already while others were yet to
come, At about 4:30 pm, we went inside the departure for checking and after
immigration we went for boarding pass before 30
min, of flight. Similarly, at 6:00 pm we went in the airplane, it was
my first experience which is still fresh in my mind. Before takeoff, I went on
my seat which was on the window side, we were in a large group so, the quarter part of
the airplane was occupied by our group. Airplane travel for nearly about 3:15
an hour to Muscat from Kathmandu was very interesting. We remained in Muscat
international airport transit for 5 hours living in the terminal; again we
went for boarding to travel Frankfurt. At about 2:00 am local time in Muscat I .e. About 4: oo am in Nepal, we went to the Boeing which was highly
sophisticated and facilitated than before. it was our longest air travel which
lasted for about 7:10 hours from MIA to FIA ( Germany ). At about 7:00 am
in the morning, we reached there. Then, we got the immigration where the stamp
of arrived was pasted. Thereafter, we were in the 2nd terminal and there
were Nepalese persons who were there to accept us. Furthermore, we got
information about how to get in and get out of the train. I saw the real train
there for the first time ever in my life. To go in terminal 1 from terminal 2,
we took a skyline train which was in the aerial part. By the time we went, we were
very glad to see very huge building with beautifully decorated houses. As it
was wintertime, the temperature was very low. After staying for about an hour at
the airport we went to an underground train to go to the Hotel Everest which was
on Schonstrabe Street just 5 minutes walking from the main Hauptbahnhof. I
could see there that the streets were fully covered by the snow which made me
feel so interesting. After reaching the hotel, I went to our room which was
on the top floor with room no. 65. As we all were so tired, we become fresh and
started eating all the dry foods. After then we went for visiting outside in
the shopping mall named ‘Saturn’ (famous for the electrical item, monopoly market
in the whole country). Then, in the evening we went in the Chinese restaurant
and had a taste of Chinese dishes (which was very sweet rather than spicy and
salty). Then, afterward, we went in the various historical cities, Heidelberg,
Köln city; on New Year eve), Romer and Main River on different days. In
Heidelberg, we could see there a castle that was believed to be built during
world war. And in Köln city, we saw a very big cathedral, went inside and prayed to me. It was very artistic and fascinating which could attract any people
towards its amazing designing.
During
our about six days staying in Frankfurt, we visited almost more parts of the country we took food in cocos
restaurant and bar, for taking Nepali food
as the hotel was of Nepali who has been staying there for a long time.
Thereafter, on New Year's eve, we could see that the whole sky was full of light
and other fire sticks. On 1st Jan, we moved to Berlin from
Frankfurt. It was a long-distance about 9 hours of train travel after changing
five trains. After reaching Berlin, it was in Boxhagener that the hostel named A
& O hostel where our staying during Berlin stay was booked. We also got a wonderful hotel with Nepalese people where we enjoyed Nepalese food. We
visited various places like Karl-Marx alleys and others, we saw there a
parliamentary house, the house where the chancellor Angela Morkel stays, Europe’s
biggest Hauptbahnhof (i.e . 5 story ed Berlin Hauptbahnhof ). Berlin wall
(where there was controversy of two male character kissing), Brandenburg gate
(border between east and west Germany), VIP area with Sony center, Olympia
stadium where the final game of champions league 2015 was supposed to be held,
and many more places including the wall which were made on the remembrance of
Jews who were killed during the time of Hitler. We enjoyed our staying in
Berlin and visited Deutsche technical university which is recognized as a best
technical university in Germany and Deutsche Technik museum. On the 6th
Jan, we prepared to go for attending our program in Herzberg so that we became
ready at 5:00 am in the morning. (But due to some reason, we could not catch
our destined train so we needed to pay extra money i.e. 50 € = about Nepali Rs. 6000 by a fastest
train of Germany 185 km/hr ICE). But fortunately, we reached in time when we
reached in Herzberg; we were welcomed by the group of students which was so
interesting for us. After our program became successful where I along with my
friends showed our culture by Tamang selo in front of the city mayor Lutz
peters and Sofia Lorody (our sponsor from German Esperanto association) in
the hall of the city council. The program lasted for 2 hrs then, we started to
visit the castle and observed the museum describing the ancient period of Germany.
After then, we visited a school in Germany where we could see a very big
auditorium hall, high standard classrooms each connected with projectors and
others. In the evening time, we took a party meal in a Chinese restaurant with
more than 50 items. Then again we came back to Frankfurt by the same metro
train at 2:00 am in the morning in the same hotel. In the hotel, we were given
a welcome speech by the NRN general secretary cum the owner of the hotel
Everest, Mr. Kumar pant on 7th Jan we rested whole day and I
personally with brothers (Santosh and Upendra bro who stays in Germany) went
for shopping and sightseeing and on the same day also got an opportunity to
taste Vietnamese dish. There I got a wonderful opportunity to meet Nepalese
students staying in Frankfurt namely, Manish, Biraj , Santosh , Upendra , Yam
, Krishna, Sagar and from Berlin Bijay, Ashok, and Rupak brothers and with
sisters Prava, Navina, and Sabina. They helped us a lot with is still in my
mind. The day on which I stayed with brothers and sisters makes me feel very
happy. These moments can never be erased from
my mind and on 8th Jan, at about 9:00 pm( local time ), we
departed from Frankfurt and landed in TIA on 9th Jan at 4:00 pm
after about 3 hours transit in Muscat international airport but it was already
7:00 pm to reach in the room due to the late arrival of luggage. Finally, it was an
interesting trip to Germany though couldn’t go to France as mentioned in the
schedule.
Happy
trip(2014, Dec 27 to 2015 Jan 9)
