Tsang's RISE Trip

Reflections and Highlights: It's a Wrap

Living and working here for the past three months has helped clear my mind and allowed me to learn about myself.

1.)
2.) Making friends and being social is a great way to keep yourself busy and out of boredom.
3.) You can really learn anything you want if you focus on it for 3 months
4.) I love traveling, but next time I am working in a foreign place, I would prefer to learn a little bit of the language before hand.
5.) I will never sacrifice cost for convenience in staying in a place ever again.
6.) I don't have to really drive everywhere all the time...there are these things called buses, bikes, and your feet that move you places.
7.) I'm not a fan of backpackers who associate with backpacking as the "cool" thing to do with their massive packs that are larger than themselves and hanging out with the other backpackers. (you really don't need more than 3-4 days clothes at a time)
9.) Always wander around and go the extra mile, you never know what path you might find.
10.) Nighttime is the best time to wander to avoid everybody at the major sites.
11.) Jack Bauer is awesome

I'm sure there are many more, but these are the ones I can think of right now.

Working and living in a foreign place is significantly different than travelling and staying in a place. As a resident you see the same locals over and over whether its the boss at work or the old lady at the bus stop every morning. Everything you say or do could be brought up again by the people you see so consistently. You relate and immerse yourself with the locals. When you are travelling, you always have that safety net of being able to leave if you don't like it.

For those in engineering, I've learnt a whole lot about a field that I had zero background going into EVEN though I'm a graduated engineering student from Queen's with my iron ring. There are no lines in the departments you chose because if there is a need to learn something for your project, you do it. I've spent the last 3 months reading code and simulating. The only background I had was a little experience with the programming software and programming. Quite an eye-opening experience when I received a 40 file program in MATLAB with integrated loops and triggers. Not to mention it was in German. Speaking of which, I've noticed that I can get by nowadays and understand the gist of most signs which was made obvious to me later. I would encourage anybody who's had an inkling to try something new to apply for RISE or any other international exchange and you will find QUITE an exhilarating experience.

Highlights of the places I visited
The following are my highlights off the top of my head of the places I enjoyed on my travels. I am not a serious beer drinker and found it pretty much the same. Much better taste than back home, but still prefer my water. I also don't like tourists and dirty hippie wannabe backpackers that think they are getting a "global" perspective.

Dortmund - Westfallenhalle, Westfallenpark, Syburg

Dusseldorf - chill out by the river

Cologne - Cathedral, chocolate museum's gift shop

Bonn - hike up to one of the castles in the city (couldn't remember where it was)

Prague - eat pizza for cheap, Vladstad fortress for sunset, Prague Castle at sunset, dawn on the Charles bridge, and the pendalum and university surrounding areas for walking at the top of the valley.

Heidelberg - Castle and philosopher's way night and day
personal highlight, jumping off a 40 foot dive tower several times until I had a sore body.
-for cheap hostel, the jergenburger hostel is nice

Amsterdam - Reichesmuseum (if fully open), Vondelpark, redlight district (quite a sight and listen careful to what people are saying to you), hanging out at the cafes.

Copenhagen and Surrounding Areas - LOVE THIS PLACE! Danish summers are memorable, full of beautiful people, and full of culture. Plus they are really friendly.
Christiania for some hippie culture history, the norreport for hanging out.
See Roskilde for its viking museum, Helsingor for Kronberg Castle (Hamlet's castle) and to see Sweden
Swimming in the Baltic.

Berlin - wandering aroudn the city at night, Checkpoint Charlie history, olympic stadium
-stayed at EastSeven hostel - LOVED IT!

Munich - (for beer drinkers) Deutches Museum, olympic stadium, probably VERY nice in the sun, Nyphemburger castle and castle grounds
-stayed at Wombat's -> good atmosphere, relatively clean, AWESOME location right at HBF

Fussen - take a day trip from Munich then hike up the mountain across the bridge for a GREAT view of the castle.

I'm sure there are many other great and fun things to do around here, but these are just some of the awesome memories I've taken home with me. Hope you enjoyed this chapter in my life and I hope some of you will venture out and try to duplicate or improve these shots I've posted. For a full collection, check out my facebook profile!

posted by ktsang @ 7:40 PM