To Aachen and back to Mannheim

Schön kalt Stadt

                      

One of the our coldest nights yet in Mannheim was the night of the 24th of August. My husband and i, having applied to the same University, department, and Masters program, were both asked to attend the same enrollment day appointment at RWTH Aachen International affairs building "Super C" in the city of Aachen.

Aachen, located at the westernmost of Germany and sharing the border with Netherlands and Belgium, is a historical city and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. The city is identified by it's University -RWTH Aachen University-, and it's hot sulfur springs, which one can see and (smell) around the city in forms of water fountains and miniature pools. Aachen was devastated by a fire in 1656, since then it lost its political power and became attractive as a spa to it's visitors. During world war II, Aachen was the first German city to be captured, and was heavily destroyed, however, "Aachen Cathedral" was unscratched and is until now the main city's attraction. The cathedral was extended along history, leaving the observer with a unique mixture of building styles [s].

City hall (coronation building for 600 years for 30 German Kings and 12 Queens until 1531)

a Sulfur water miniature pool

We arrived Aachen at 7:15am after two train changes, from the luxurious-plane-like ICE train to the Regional train. Tired, sleepy and excited, all summed in me. I was in a confusion state of mind, gravity was pulling me to close my eyes, but the city's beauty was calling to be observed by revealing itself to us slowly as we walked towards the "Super C" building. My husband was charged with so much energy, i could notice him capturing the city's sites, dark stone roads, old and modern architecture and fresh nature, all in one eye blink. For me i was distracted with the freezing weather pouring in my skin under my light spring clothes, and all i was thinking about was reaching the building to get some warmth.

In one hour and a three-step process, we were officially enrolled in the university's Software System Engineering Masters program with about another 17 international guys and 2 other girls from different spot of the world.After we were done, my husband called a friend of ours in Aachen to meet us, and i was giving my self back some of the lost time and allowing the city to reflect all it's wonders into my eyes. We debated whether Aachen was smaller or larger than Mannheim, i voted smaller, and lost to my husband and Google.

It felt very nice to see our friend arriving, it is always so when one sees a close person in a foreign land. After the mutual greetings, she asked us about our plans, and having only two places we would like to see, she suggested we follow her in a small tour around the city's main sites. The old city, students hang out places, shopping center, main road, our to-be accommodation and finally directions to arrive to our department site. During the tour she stopped us at a small chocolate store where we purchased the "Aachner Printen", a sweet that Aachen is famous for, its a semi dry spice cake pieces dipped in different chocolate flavors, and it was a treat.

A chocolate shop showing the Aachner Printen in different beautiful forms

As we had most of the main sites covered and our accommodation and department locations attended to, it was time to relax. We went to one of the city's parks, laid on the cold greenery, closed our eyes, and listened to the city's voices. An old city that has a major youth inhabitants proportion. Before heading back home, we dinned in  a small neat Döner and took some memorial picture around the campus, we then sat for a nice chat and city review on a cup of coffee, and finally headed back to Mannheim.

We arrived home with the feeling of just leaving one.

To our friend, thank you.

Reading Emma ~ Jane Austen

"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." 

Jane Austen

A while ago my husband recommended Jane Austen's novels to become my new companion for the next few weeks. My approval was instant, as one of my favorable movies "Pride and Prejudice" is originally a novel of hers [s].

Jane Austen was a British writer borne in 1775 and lived to be 42 years old. She wrote six novels and one incomplete during her writing period, which spanned from her teenage years until she was about thirty-five years old and before she fell to illness. During her life time she gained some fame as a writer but not untile after her death was she regarded to be part of the English literature. It is thought that Jane fell in love twice, and was proposed to by a third, but was never wedded. "Emma", one of her novels, was published in her life in 1815. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.",  and she was right. After 89 pages i have retracted from admiring Emma to disliking her, and sharply criticizing her behavior [s].


However, "Emma" is a 448 page novel, and i'm still scratching the surface. During my initial reading i have been distracted by many vocabulary and sentences structures i believe to have departed from the modern English. The novel's events took time in the end of the eighteenth century and reflects an elite society where everyones keeps repeating the phrase "Oh! dear, yes dear" to express enthusiasm about such silly things if put in the context of the twenty-first century. But until i abandon the novel to lake of interest or complementation, i will hold my other thoughts and leave them to be redefined by further chapters in the book.

Becoming a Mannheimer

Its raining in Mannheim

This morning my husband and i woke up earlier than usual. It is the 30th of August today, that is, my student-visa extension appointment at Mannheim-Ausl?nderbeh?rde . Reaching the Ausl?nderbeh?rde building was not a troublesome, as He had the rout figured out on Google's maps before time. I was following him as he walked fast and with total confidence towards our destination as if we have been there before, a unique addition to make our lives easier made by Google.

We arrived ahead of time, and were instantly entered to the appliance office and asked for all the required papers. The later to be acknowledged as a very fast and easy process -if one has all the required papers right- was interrupted by the office lady who appeared to be an unpleasant women, her voice was laud quite like shouting, and her attitude was if it was the end of her work-day and we have come late!, moreover, given her knowledge of English and our moderate German, she insisted on addressing us all her questions in German and accepted from us only that. However, the trouble was put to an end soon, as i received my visa extensions and all my papers as well. And then we were off again on the rainy streets of Mannheim.

Fresh air sweeping between the rain drops encouraged me to spend a little more time in the city center, as i saw my Him going back to the language center. I stopped by a few shops and purchased an umbrella before i decided it was time to go home. A fairly pleasant day i would say.