Euro Supermarkt!! Alles helal!! :):)

Guten Morgen alles!

Day 5, I went to Darmstadt again.. We left the student residence at 12noon.. We were supposed to see Frau Nothnagel in her office, BUT I forgot she works until 1pm.. I dont get it!! Why until 1pm??!

So we went to Darmstadt.. Walked to TU Darmstadt and we walked by the park.. The park is beside the uni, so it nice.. It's just open space, people were just walking around, cycling, walking their dogs etc..

This is one of the uni buildings.. Big, yeah?

The open green area.. I guess when it's warmer, we can just lie here and read a book or something..

This is Prince Georg's Garden.. Right now, it's not pretty.. haha!

There's this sundial thingy.. Any mathematicians wanna figure out how this works? Those that took Heaven Mathematics? Those that took Understanding the Universe? I can give you more photos of it.. haha!

Me, still in the garden.. hehe!

I have no idea what this is.. But its pretty, so wth! haha!

This must be a church, its near the uni..

We walked to another area, which I think is nice.. You'll see old folks playing some game here.. Dont know what la.. That's Gerardo btw..

Walid Jumblatt, here you go! Another photo of me! :p:p:p


This is a very nice church.. Its quite small.. I dont even know if there's people inside.. Lol!

This is near Luisenplatz.. Its the city centre..

I felt bad that I made Gerardo follow me to find the mosque.. An old lady I asked early said it was on Müller Straße, but I couldnt find it.. Its all residential buildings.. Perhaps its one of them.. Btw, we happened to be near there, thats why we tried finding the mosque.. Then I brought Gerardo to the lake.. And we walked along Soder Straße, so I know there happen to be one Muslim food place, according to the online website, zahibah.com.. So we ate there.. There, I asked the man about the mosque.. He couldnt tell me exactly where.. Then I asked about a supermarket with halal food.. He also dont know which road and how to give directions.. So I thought I'll need to ask someone else again.. And I asked about prayer times.. He actually gave me his whole calendar, with all the prayer times!! He was soooooo nice la!! He said he'll buy for himself another one tmr.. Soooo nice!! Then while we were eating, 3 men came in.. One was an ang-mo, btw.. They were all Muslims.. Very cool! They helped me alot.. Gave me directions, gave me an online website for prayer times in Germany.. And one of them, Ahmed, drove me and Gerardo to the halal supermarket! Euro Supermarkt! Alhamdulillah!! I was sooooooo happy!! And Ahmed also gave me the number of a Muslim Indon sister.. She lives in Darmstadt.. He told me to call her! I will.. Soon!! When I get my German no., insyaAllah... Alhamdulillah! All these while, Gerardo was so fasinated la! He's Catholic btw..

Anyway, I find it really interesting that it's difficult to find water! Water to drink!! I think we in Singapore take things for granted, like drinkable tapwater! I had to buy mineral water everytime!! Goodness! And interestingly, the bottle of water cost 0,19 euros, plus 0,25 euros.. That is like a deposit.. If you return the empty bottle, you'll get back your 0,25 euros! Power la! So environmentally-friendly! And of course, they dont give plastic bags at all! Either you bring your own bag, or buy one for 0,10 euros?? Thats the cheapest.. Its really cool! I like~....

Das ist alles! Tschus! [That's all! Bye!]

At the countryside...

Guten Morgen alles!

Today is Day 5.. Im just sitting here in the morning.. Woke up at 6.30am.. Thank goodness! Its later than usual.. Im slowly adjusting my body to the timing here.. It has been bad the past few days/ nights.. I'd wake up early and sleep early.. Lol!

Today will be another day in Darmstadt.. There's really nothing here, so we cant do much here.. I hate this place.. Its too far.. Gerardo said he'll ask his friend's friend to find a place for us in Darmstadt.. I wanna move out of here! Anyway, we'll be going to Darmstadt to see Frau Nothnagel, to ask if we can move into Darmstadt.. Pray for us!!

Yesterday yesterday yesterday.. We went to Darmstadt.. We walked around, looking for cheap places to buy our bedsheets, pillow and blanket.. We were also looking for cooking stuff.. There is seriously nothing in the kitchen.. No kettle even, to boil water.. No rice cooker, like duh! No pots.. No pans.. Nothing!! Goodness!! So I bought a pot.. I bought bedsheets.. We were walking around the whole time!!

Anyway, after buying them, we had to go home.. I made an appointment at 15:00 with the hostel guy to fix the lights in my room.. We waited at the busstop.. It was about 14:00, and the bus was scheduled to come at 14:15.. So while waiting, this old German lady actually asked for help.. She didnt know how to use the ticket machine, for the bus ticket.. I dont know much, but I think I sure know more than her! Lol! She asked how long I've been in Germany.. I said 3 days! She asked, 3 years?? She was surprised, and said my German was good! Lol! I was sooooo happy!! :D:D

We took the bus.. It took us more than half hour to reach Dieburg.. Guess what!?? We missed our stop!! Gerardo pressed the bell too late! Lol!! And remember I mentioned earlier that my student residence is at the ulu-est part of the town.. Yesh, its at the outer part of the town.. Sooooooooooo... The next stop was sooooooo far away!! It was already going to another town!! Lol!! We alighted at the next stop, which was already in the countryside.. Lol! I was already laughing to myself!! What a joke!!

We alighted and it was soooooooo freaking cold!! Coldest I've ever felt since I reached here!! And remember I mentioned at the bus interval was half hour or an hour?? Yesh.. The next bus was in an hour!!! OMG!!! What to do?? What to do?? It must be the unluckiest day ever!!

Then suddenly, there was an empty bus coming our way!! It stopped at our stop.. The bus driver actually asked if we wanted a lift to Dieburg!! OMG!!! I was soooooooooooooooooo happy!! Just as the day was getting worse, someone came to our rescue!! The people here are super nice la!! It happened to be the bus driver that dropped us at the countryside.. He was driving the bus back to Darmstadt I guess.. We're soooooo lucky!! We only sat there in the cold for about 10-15mins.. But he dropped us off just outside Dieburg.. We thought it was good enough la!! We walked back home.. It was okla, not too far.. Thank goodness!!

Im just sooo grateful.. Alhamdulillah!!

Back at the Quartier 56, I just ate maggi.. Nice, hot maggi.. And went to bed.. :):) Nice..... It was warm at night... :):) And to make up for the previous night, I slept with my lights on, until midnight [that was when I woke up again.. Lol!].. :):)

Meine Lampe ist kaputt!

Guten Morgen alles!

Yesterday, Day 3, I walked around.. Took more pics! There quite a number of interesting places, but I have yet to find out its significance etc.. I met Martina.. Btw, she's Bulgarian.. She's studying architecture and going to NUS next semester for an exchange programme.. Yeay! Same faculty as me, so means our friendship wont end here! hehe! She needed to go to see Frau Nothnagel.. So we waited and waited for the bus.. OMG!! I already bought my day ticket, which cost 3,60 euro!! And we found out that there was a strike!! No buses and trains for the whole day!! OMG!! This rarely happens in Darmstadt.. If there was also, it'll be for 2hours in the morning or during the peak period.. So this was a major one la.. Interesting!! So we had to walk to the international office.. I tell you, I've been walking sooooo much these past few days!! Soooo tiring!! I went to her house, which was near the office.. Its a one-room apartment.. Cool!

She had to leave me at the city centre after that because she had to go to school to do her project.. She cant bring me along because they might not be buses to go back later.. So I walked around and walked back to my youth hostel.. I bought strawberries and a 500ml soap for 1,64 euros!! Soooo cheap la!! Lol!! Dont know why the toiletries are sooo cheap! I sat by a small pond, which has a playground.. It was frozen in the morning, but during the late afternoon, you can see it already melting.. Then I moved to the lake nearby.. Interesting how they treat this lake as their swimming pool.. With the slide, and the swimming pool area and the diving area..

This is the frozen pond. There's a playground behind it. Not too beautiful a sight, because the colours around are sooo dull.. Dead trees, no leaves, no flowers.. Very boring looking..

Yup! The pond upclose.. :) The ice is actually very thin. Because I took this pic in the morning, and when I came by again in the evening, there was water.. Its melting.. So its a sign that spring is coming!! Spring, pls come quickly!! Im cold!! :s

This is the slide I told you about, in the previous entry too! hehe! Who's coming in the summer?? We can take this slide!! ;)

Yesh! Their 'swimming pool'! They just put the wooden planks around, and thus, it looks like a pool! I think its mainly for kids..

Diving area? I dont know, but do olympians practice here? Lol!

Just something interesting.. This is huge! The cross is super huge.. On the left of the building, if you can see, there's 1933.. And on the right, there's 1945.. Its pretty much about the war.. But what about it, ich weiss nicht[I dont know]..

Just a statue in front of it..

This is the 'Pädagog'.. Its definitely not a German building, because the words outside it looks French or Latin.. Oh wait,

'The former "Latin school" was built by S. Müller in 1628. Here the young
generation of the Landgraviate was prepared for the State University in
Gießen.'

This is the 'Stadtkirche', which means the city church.

'This church, mentioned for the first time in 1369, was chosen by Landgrave
Georg I, as the burial place fore his lineage. Worth seeing is the 9m high
alabaster epitaph, a memorial of his first wife.

This is 'Lugwigsplatz', literal translation [because there's no write-up on this in the tourist brouchure] is Lugwig's place.. Who is Lugwig? I have NO IDEA!! I see his name everywhere.. Lol!

SHOPPING!!! heheh!! oOps! This Karstadt place has everything!! It's like Isetan, or Tangs, or Robinsons.. Its a whole building on its own.. hehe! Oh but its quite expensive.. I think.. It's nice to just walk around inside.. Because the winter and spring clothes are really nice!! I like winter clothes!! But I dont like winter! :p:p

Just to show you how sad winter can be.. No leaves, flowers or fruits on trees, unlike Singapore..

And people park on the pavements.. I find this really interesting! Lol!! How much will we be fined in Singapore?

Ok, this is me by the frozen pond.. :)

That's all the pics for Day 3..

Then at 16:30, Karin, Thomas and Gerardo came.. And we went to Dieburg, the ulu town.. :p:p

Its Day 4! Im in Dieburg.. [pronounce di from 'di mana dia, anak kambing saya' and burg spelt the Malay bahasa baku way..] This student residence is sooooooooooooo far away from everything!! I dont like it! Dieburg is an ulu town near Darmstadt.. And Quartier 56 is at the ulu-est part of Dieburg!! I was walking from the supermarket back to my student reseidence just now, to buy food for breakfast, and I saw a signboard with 'Auf Wiedersehen!' [It means goodbye!!!] Soooo.... Can you imagine, Im actually living outside Dieburg!!! I had to walk 10min to the bustop.. Maybe 15min!! And another 10min to the supermarket!! And to make this worse.. The buses have schedules, and they come every half hour or one hour!! Sigh~... I miss Darmstadt already.. For the past 2 days, I took morning walks around the fairly busy and interesting city, with beautiful buildings and a lake.. Today I took a boring morning walk to the supermarket and back! Thats long enough..

Anyway, I have a mexican friend, Gerardo.. A nice guy.. I've been walking around with him in Dieburg.. Mainly to and fro the supermarket.. We walked to the supermarket last night, to find it closed at 6.30pm.. Dieburg is soooooo boring.. Just houses, which are far apart.. Nothing interesting!!

Oh and, last night was quiet, cold and dark.. I was the only one in my level.. It was soooo cold because I havent bought my pillow, blanket and bedsheets.. It was dark because the lights in the room is not working.. Kaputt!! [means spoilt!]

Finally I've reached!! :):)

Guten Tag alles!!

Im finally in Germany! This is Day 2 in Germany..

Alhamdulillah, the flights were alright.. No problems at all at the immigration or security checks.. Karin from Technische Universität Darmstadt (TUD) picked me up from the airport. She is sooo nice and bubbly! She was an exchange student to NUS 1.5 years ago, it was cool! She knew alot of things about Singapore, so it was super easy to relate with her.. I asked her alot! She said the lectures are super nice and flexible! She's a 5th year student, and I asked her bachelor's degree was how many years.. She said 5 years! But most wont finish in 5 years.. I asked why.. And she said it's possible, but you'll be studying and studying.. Internships are not taken into account.. [So Walid Jumblatt, dont buruk sangka!] She'll be graduating in after her 6th year.. :) Anyway, she said it was quite stressful for her at NUS.. Lol!

Karin was so cute, because she didnt know the airport, so we had to find the bus terminal... BTW the airport is really interesting because you can use the trolley even on the ordinary escalator! Lol!! We took the bus to Darmstadt.. I had to pay 7,20 euro!! So expensive for a short trip.. Then I found out that when I get my student travel pass, I can travel anywhere within a certain region (public transport only) for free! Private transport (like certain buses or trains) will still be charged, but at a lower price.. Apparently, I can go to Mannheim, Stuttgart or even Heidelberg for free! Maybe need to pay a few euros only.. So cool!! Now Im sooo excited to travel Germany, because its sooo cheap! :):)

Karin brought me straight to the youth hostel.. I'll be staying here for 2 nights, before I move to my student residence in Dieburg.. There seem to be some problems with the student residence in Darmstadt.. They didnt reserve ANY for the exchange students! Soooo mean!! The international office of TUD had a hard time, so they found us one in Dieburg.. Its a super small town.. Darmstadt is small, BUT Dieburg is even smaller!! LOL!! Im alright with it la.. It takes about 30mins to get to school.. I guess its ok..

Anyway, the youth hostel costs 24,40 euros per night!! That apparently is cheap in Germany! I thought it was so expensive!! I took a shared room, 4 beds.. But I only have 1 roommate.. I settled down etc.. Karin brought me a map of Darmstadt.. So she showed me nice places to go.. She showed me where to buy cheap groceries etc.. My hostel is beside a lake.. She said the lake is a family bathing place too.. So during the summer, families will come for a swim in the lake.. I stupidly asked her if I can swim in the lake now.. She said NO! And when I saw the lake, I understood why.. IT WAS FROZEN!! LOL!! Sooooo cool!! I felt like an idoit who has never seen a lake before!! But it doesn't look safe to skate on it, because the ice looks thin.. AND there's a slide!! The lake has a slide!! I soooooo wanna slide into the lake when its summer!! So cool!

There wasnt any network on my hp, so I rushed to use the internet.. 5,00 euros per 24 hours.. I think its okla.. I didnt do much after that.. I slept at about 7pm.. I slept the whole night because I was sooooo tired!! I didnt sleep that much on the plane.. Anyway, my roommate only came back later, while I was sleeping! I said hi, I dont know what nonsense things I said, then went back to sleep! She's Aleena, speaks Russian, German and little English.. But I still spoke to her in English! Lol! I'll try to speak German to her from now on..

Day 2, I woke up at 5.45am.. It was still dark.. It got bright at about 7.. Breakfast was provided, from 7-9am.. So early la! Lol! I was the only one there, and I sat by the window overseeing the lake.. It was nice.. Very serene..

Then I walked to the city centre.. Everthing wasnt open yet la.. So I walked to the TUD international office.. I reached the road, Dovilostrasse, at 9am.. TUD offices open at 9am btw.. I thought it was Dolivostrasse. 5.. I spent half an hour looking for the building! I walked around the buildings sooooo many times!! Then I finally found the building!! And it was a residential building.. I thought it wasnt right, something is wrong.. So I checked the map (Karin marked the exact place) and I checked the address.. It was Dolivostrasse. 15!! I walked around the building a few times la!! Gosh!! I was already freezing!! My toes were freezing! They were so numb!!

I met Frau Nothnagel in her office.. Just chat with her.. Karin was there.. I met a girl, who was waiting to meet Frau Nothnagel.. She's German and she's going on an exchange to NUS next semester!! So cool! We chatted, exchanged email addresses etc.. Im going out with her tmr.. Her name is Martina.. She's accompanying me buying bedsheets and pre-paid card! She said its the cheapest! hehe! She'll help me ask around where the mosques and halal restaurants are.. Anyway, TUD has a Muslim society, for Muslim students.. AND there's a mussolah on campus! Alhamdulillah!! I think Im sooo lucky! The people are sooo nice (so far).. I met nice people, like Karin and Martina.. And everything seems good now.. Im really glad to be here in Darmstadt.. Alhamdulillah! I hope everything will go smoothly for the months to come, insyaAllah..

Thats all for now.. :):)

p.s. I would like to thank the people that sent me to the airport! Thank you for coming down at midnight, to send me off!! I really appreciate it.. :):):) And to those that want to come down, but cant (because there's no bus or train), thank you.. :):):) And thank you for the well wishes! :):):)

p.p.s I apologise for the previous German entry.. If I write in German, I'll try to translate to English ya? :)

Here are some pics of Darmstadt.. Sorry it was too cold to take nice shots, and I actually gave up after awhile.. So there you go! A few pics only.. hehe! Oh, and I dunno the name of these places yet.. I just took whatever nice as I walked.. hehe!

Meine Unterkunft in Dieburg

Guten Tag alles!

Das ist meine Unterkunft in Deutschland. Das liegt in Dieburg, und nicht in Darmstadt. Und ich finde, dass 270,00 euro pro Monat ist sehr teuer! Aber das ist OK, weil Quartier 56 sehr schön ist!!! :):)

Ein modernes Wohnheim in der Nähe des Mediencampus Dieburg zwischen Stadt und Natur.

Ich bin aufgeregt!

3 days left...

It's already the 6th week for the NUS academic calander.. Time really past sooo quickly! What have I been doing? Honestly, I don't know.. But I know I've been busy.. Maybe I didn't spend my time efficiently..! haha! I rather not say that.. I think I've done alot this past 6 weeks.. I've been too busy, I guess that's why time past so fast.. lol!

I wish to blog abt them, but I wanna make this blog all about my trip.. So now, it'll be all about my pre-departure!

[Ok, Im very hungry now...]

Honestly, this whole thing about going away, being in a foreign land, being alone, travelling europe, studying in a foreign language etc hasn't sink in yet.. Yeah,Im still preparing for it.. Packing my bags, settle admin stuff.. But I don't feel much! It's just like doing another something important.. Sometimes I do feel excited! Sometimes I feel nervous..Sometimes I feel anxious.. But it'll only be for awhile.. lol! I guess I'll start feeling all these at the airport..

Since I got not much feeling now.. I'll just touch on what I might not (and most probably not) look forward to.. 1) Weather.. I hate the cold! 2) Being sick of the same food? Maybe not having enough food at the start? Terrible food? 3) Overspending, knowing I can spend like nobody's business! (Most prob, on food.. And maaaaaayybbbeeeeeeeeee shopping.. oOps!) Then I will have very little money to travel.. :s 4) Struggling with my modules!!

Family Amazing Race

Finally, the day has come! An amazing race organised for my family!

The day started at 11am.. Participants reached early, Alhamdulillah! There were 9 participants, broken up into 3 dynamic teams.. All the participants came with lots of energy and drive to win this race..

Team A: Kak Shahidda, Abang Shaaril, Salihin
Team B: my mummy, Shamimi, Sofea
Team C: Shaira, Alia, Alysha

We started with a puzzle game! The teams had a hard time with the puzzles at the start.. There were 4 similar pictures.. They look almost the same! All the 4 sets of puzzles were jumbled up and they had to form a picture.. They must only have 15 pieces at any one point! It was fun! The participants were really competitive and it set the pace for the rest of the race..

There were a total of 8 stations.. I was really amazed by the competitive spirit.. They were really sporting and fun! I didnt expect them to run the whole way, and they really did.. Seriously! I thought they'll end by 2pm, but they reached the final station at 1.10pm!! All reached about the same time.. It was really a race! Walid wanted to leave after the puzzle game, but he ended up staying with the teams for the whole race! He felt like joining them.. Lol!


Alhamdulillah, it really exceed my expectations! All planned within the week.. Recce was done just 2 days before! Lol! That also was not a full recce, because it rained halfway..

After the race, we just sat at Palm Valley.. Ate, played a few games like murderer and polar bear etc.. It was fun! We had flower judging too.. During the race, one of the task was to make a flower.. They were soooo pretty and creative!

I felt that the turnout was good.. All thanks to my publicity person: Ms Aini Jaafar, my very own mummy! She said it was a farewell thing for me, to get them to come! Lol! Pandainye ibu saya! She was also my food logistics I/C.. Everyone was well-fed, all thanks to her again! :)

Programmes-wise, my dear APD, Mr Walid Jumblatt, helped me with the programmes.. Thank you Walid, you did a great job! Everyone enjoyed themselves (I hope!)..

Brought to you by Shaza Amalina.