CyberGlove

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3 months

Without realizing I have already been in Europe for 3 months. Today my friend, Yihan, asked me what has living in Europe taught me or how have it changed me?

I can safely say for sure that my stay in Europe, especially Germany has made me realized the importance of punctuality. Well, I do know the importance of punctuality before I come here but its only here that I realized that I must really be early or on time if not, I'm dead!

One, the trains and buses leaves on the dot, not very often to see a late bus/train. Second, the Germans are very punctual people, very much so compared to Singaporeans. However the presence of a fixed time system for public transport has taught me to appreciate the convenience and high frequency of the Singapore's public transport. Here I could easily wait up to 20 or 30mins for missing a train/bus. The train from my hostel to TUM ME faculty only comes once every 20mins. It not the regional trains we are talking about here, but the U-bahn, Munich's subway.

I also appreciate how the Europeans value family life. On Sunday, families throng to the parks or some nice places of interest and spend time together. You will not see families hanging around shopping malls because the malls are not open on Sundays. It probably will be unthinkable for many Singaporeans to survive a Sunday with practically everything closed, supermarkets and malls, etc. I have yet to see a convenience store in Europe, no 7-11 or whatsoever. You either stay at home on Sunday, head out to one of the few restaurants and cafes opened or go to a park. I felt that it would be great if Singapore have something like that but probably not every Sunday though, that would be too much for a generation of window shoppers to take. Maybe once a month or even once a year would be great.

Cook more, ride more is what I think I would do when I return. Its fun to try out different recipes and healthier as well, though the washing dishes part is not fun at all. I would miss the opportunities I have when I can just organize an impromptu dinner at my place and within minutes everyone would arrive or having a BBQ in my backyard under the tree I only recently realized is a cherry tree (We plucked a few cherries today!). Maybe I should review this post again 3months later when I would already be back in Singapore and reflect upon what have changed and what I miss about Europe.

Summer

When I first arrived in Munich, it was snowing, the trees were bare and there wasn't much greenery in the city. Spring came and filled the city with greenery. Flowers shed their petals amid the breeze like snow. Now spring is leaving, the flowers developed into fruits as the season enters into summer. I realised that my backyard has a cherry tree when I saw the little red fruit on the tree and the ground below. You know summer is here when mosquitoes bigger than 50 sg cents appear out of nowhere. Yeap, they are THAT big here in Europe. Another hint that summer is here is when you see people sunbathing nude in the Englischer garden. Europe is always full of surprises!



Someone once said that there are 2 groups of people in the Literature world, those who have read the Lord of the Rings and those who will read it. I belong to the former with the trilogy lying in my room in Singapore now but I wished they were here with me in Munich right now.

I have heard from other people saying the LOTR is a boring book with excessive description of the environment and surroundings. Description, yes.... excessive, I don't think so. I felt that it was ok and a pretty good read for someone who hardly does. So do take a browse if you have the chance, you will be surprised.

It is said that 'The Hobbit' is coming soon on the big screen, it largely revolves around Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. It will talk about how Bilbo got the Ring from Smeagol and the most interesting part would probably be the Battle of Five Armies. It should be more interesting watching it than reading it though.

A dying Lust

These days as I speak to my fellow exchange students in Munich, it is inevitable to hear them talk about travel fatigue. Oh yes, you can get tired from travelling. Some of you reading this blog might find it hard to understand, especially if you have not spent more than a month holidaying.

If you have been keeping track of my 'Wanderlust' list on the left, I have been travelling quite a lot myself since I arrived in Europe in March. As you see more cities, been to more places of interest, its hard not to compare new ones with those you have already been to. European cities are pretty standard, there is always a city center with an administrative building (Rathaus in deutsch). Then there is always one or two churches/cathedrals that are more well-known. A few must-see museums which houses nothing but paintings and/or sculptures. The paintings get pretty boring after you been to a few museums, a large portion of the paintings always depicts the life of Jesus or important events for the Christians. At least one of the churches/cathedrals will almost always have a tall tower where people will be queuing to go up to have a panoromic view of the city. Then there is the palace where there is nice and pretty stuff to look at, e.g. Hall of mirrors (saw 3 of it already), some nice murals on the wall or bedroom and furnitures in gold, etc.

So when we travel to 10 cities, we do not generally see new things in all 10 cities. Many times its just the same old kind of places, maybe better maybe not. Thinking back, I once met 2 Malaysians on a Europe tour for 2 months, I wonder now how they can travel non-stop for 2 months.

After looking at Fussen, I am now more inclined towards discovering the nature side of Germany. Visiting mountains and forests, hiking and cycling, discovering the other side of Europe. Anyway the word Lust in german means interest.

Misconceptions about Singapore

When you sit down in front of your laptop on a long weekend in your room, somehow you remember the stuff you want to share with others, thus here comes another post to compensate for the weeks of inactivity.

As you travel around, people start asking where you are from and stuff and you start to know what others know about your country. Here are some of the common or biggest misconception people have about Singapore.

1) Singaporean chinese speaking Mandarin is pretty new to some of our chinese folks. Some thought that we only speak English while others express surprise at my fluency (I WAS in higher Chinese ok?)

2) Singaporeans do not like the English (the people of UK). I met this teacher from Manchester in Rome who felt that the fall of Singapore in WWII was a total disgrace on the British and thought that we Singaporeans hated the English because of it. You are always welcomed in Singapore, Martin!

3) Tourism is Singapore's only if not biggest source of revenue. Did I mention that 70% of the World's oil rigs are built by us(mentioned by some ME prof)? Surely we did not attain 5th in terms of highest foreign reserves based purely on 10mil visitors a year.

Another interesting incident

There is this new guy who came into our house 2 weeks ago, while interning in Munich. Last week he tried to bake those frozen pizza from the supermart without turning on the oven.

1) It cannot be fully his fault as you need to turn 2 knobs to turn the oven on.
2) However he failed to realise that the oven was not on after tens of minutes, all the while looking at a still frozen pizza and an oven not heated up.
3) When the oven was finally heated up thanks to my intervention, he had wanted to start eating the pizza while the cheese on top of the pizza had yet to melt = uncooked pizza.

A few days ago, he pulled another stunt. Approaching me for help after he failed to open the washing machine. I too failed to open the washing machine and suspected something was amiss. I realised that the washing machine was still filled with water, meaning it has yet to finish the entire procedure before someone switched it off. So I asked...

CX: There's still water inside, did you switch it off before it was done?

New guy: Yeah, I did.

CX: Then I guess you have to re-run the wash again and wait until its done.

New guy: I need to wash again??

CX: Yes, because its not done washing. What mode did you choose just now?

New guy: This one (the timer showed - 0:48), 48 seconds.

CX: 48 seconds?!? (Even hand wash cannot attain such speed!), Its 48 mins!

New guy: 48 MINUTES!?! It needs so long??

CX: (stares at him blankly)

New guy: Is there a faster one?

CX: Quick wash, 28 minutes.

New guy: Ok... thank you.


I had a good laugh after that. I figured that he must have switched off the washing machine by himself thinking that 48s have passed. Nicely done!

The Cycling routes

Universities in Munich do not have halls or residences the way NUS has. All student accommodation is handled by the Studentenwerk which houses the thousands of students in the numerous dormitories around the city. As such there is hardly any dormitories that are near the campuses unless its a rented apartment. As TUM is a rather long-established university, the main campus was near the city centre but subsequent expansions have to be done outside the city centre. There are 2 campuses I attend lessons in and unlike NUS, there are no shuttle buses here. Purchasing a monthly ticket would cost me roughly S$130 thus the next best option here would be to purchase a bicycle which cost me S$70 and I can still sell it at the end.


Route 1: Studentenstadt --> TUM main campus
Distance: 5.8km

First we go South through the residential area beside the student city before taking the straight road down towards the city centre.

Towards the city centre with the Siegetor in sight

The walking man statue which some german learners should recognise through NUS' german courses.

5 mins later will bring you to Siegetor, one of the old entrances to the city

Then passing through LMU which the TUM folks like to call it 'Lousy Munich University'.

Turning right into Theresienstrasse and going straight down will bring you to Arcisstrasse where TUM main campus is.

TUM Audimax, just a big hall like the ones we have in MPSH but they sell food and beer while there's no exams or events.

Total time taken: 20 (personal best when running late) - 30 (average)



Route 2: Studentenstadt --> TUM Garching
Distance: 11.2km


Going North towards Garching will bring us through the Freimann area where the big Flea market is (to be posted later).

Then coming out of Freimann, riding along a canal from the Isar river is a tiring stretch of straight and monotomous road.

5 mins later, riding through this stretch of road along the plantation will take at least another 5-10mins.

No idea what they are trying to plant now, it used to be a nice field of Canola plants.

Looking back, one will be able to see the wind turbine and a hint of the Allianz Arena which would have roughly mark the halfway point of the route.

Some sights along the way...

Almost there will be what you will be thinking once you see this fountain in the town centre of Garching.

Going through Lidl and Rewe outside the campus.

More fields, its really almost there...

It reads 'Technische Universität of München, Fakultät für Maschinenwesen' - Technical Univerisity of Munich, Mechanical Engineering Faculty. In TUM, ME has an entire block roughly half the size of the entire Engineering faculty in NUS, that's how big ME is in Munich.

Total time taken: 35 - 45 mins