When Bhavani Met Spree...

Little did I know, when I opted to learn "Technical German" as an additional credit in my college, that the first country for me to visit outside India will be Germany! In fact one of the reasons for me to choose Anna University over my local PSG Tech - is to get exposed to the cosmopolitan culture of Chennai and to feed my flair for languages! How much of those objectives got accomplished from my 4 year stint at AU I dont know, but I definitely got an introduction to the German language.

So, when my office, totally based in US, told me that I have to go to Germany, for a period of 3 months, I could simply not believe it. It is not the excitement of going abroad, but the excitement of going to Germany, a country that I have come to know so much through all the years with the history books and the language! Even after reaching there I cant believe it for a couple of days!

New country, new culture, new customs, new language and new people! I dont know how long did I roam around with a gaping mouth! Probably all the three months! If I start writing about Berlin, the city of my stay or my visits to Amsterdam or Norway, it will be a loooong post! I will reserve it for another day.

The well developed infrastructure, public transport, communication facilities, super hot figures (he he ..), artistic historic buildings, boring modern high rises, totally obedient commuters, ... contribute to the awe!

The loneliness, phone costs [ :( ], lack of social events (...why did you not go to pubs?...), lack of the sight of children, backpain are the shortcomings!

All in all, it was a different 3 months in my life, with so many new experiences and new learning everyday! There was shock, surprise, amazement, despair, depression, shame and joy - with one or the other of these extreme feelings constantly accompanying me all the time!

...and in the long run, I also became a foreign 'mappillai'! :-))