Some random thoughts.

Today after class I was buying rice at a Thai grocery shop, and while paying the lady asked where I am from. I told her Singapore and she replied that she thought I was from Thailand. She said I looked like a Thai, which I don't think so? That made me think of another incident on the plane from BKK to Frankfurt. The air stewardess asked me in Thai, if I was Thai. And when I stared blankly at her cos I did not understand her question, she blushed. And in Mannheim there was an exchange student from Thailand as well. When we first introduced, she was quite surprised to learn that I was from Singapore because she too, thought that I have the Thai look. Now I am wondering if I have been abducted before or not...

My first week of school was already over, although for 2 modules International Marketing and IT in Service Industry will only start this week. I have been thinking all through this week if I should drop Corporate Finance or not, and whether I will really benefit from taking the module. I have already mapped 5 modules already, and taking Corporate Finance would mean I take 6 modules. Now I have never came across anyone who's taking 6 modules on SEP. I think everyone would think I am crazy to do that since SEP should be taking a break from school. At first I was thinking of taking 6 modules in Mannheim so that my year 4 can be totally devoted to the 8 level 4000 econs modules. But now I am having second thoughts of taking Corporate finance here. I guess I am just too ambitious or that I am just worried that I will die under Basant or any level 4000 econs lecturer when I return. Maybe I should just drop Corporate Finance now and find some crap GEM/Breadth module back in NUS next sem and SU it, since I have 2 SUs left and I will never use them all up upon graduation no mater what. If only I can sell them for $1k, and I will gladly sell it.

On the other hand, there are 2 modules in Mannheim which I enjoyed a lot during the first lesson. One is obviously European Economic Integration. I feel that the lecturer is very good and I understood fully what he was trying to convey during the lecture. It is a real pity that I am only allowed to take 1 econs module in Mannheim, all because of my coordinator who's very calculative over module mapping. I really wanted to take the International Trade module in German here, but I can only choose between European or International Trade. Damn sian, always faced with such choices everytime!

The other module which I found it was not bad was the module on German financial market. There are only 22 students in this class and this course is really looking into the German stock, bond, commodity and fund market. And like financial econs which I took last sem at NUS, this course requires us to maintain a portfolio. What surprises me is that the lecturer actually said that you can put all your 100k Euro into Sparkonto (savings account) if you feel like it. That's like damn slack! But the exciting side of the course is that there will be 2 excursions, 1 to Straßburg which is in France near the German border where the European Parliament is, an another excursion to Frankfurt to visit the European Central Bank. Of course we gotta pay for both trips but I am sure that it will be an eye-opener. What an irony, since I have never visited MAS or SGX before. Also, to take this course, I had to pay 15 Euros, and I am purely doing it for enrichment since there are no modules in NUS that I can map this to. And if you are thinking whether there are good looking girls in this class, the answer is a dismaying no... its a male-dominated class.

Tomorrow I will be having English Linguistics (which I found terribly boring but taking it to fulfill requirements at NUS), International Marketing (which I am very sure that its gonna be flooded with exchange students like me), as well as German Grammar for level C1. I am looking forward for the last 2 lessons, in particular the German Grammar course (which I paid 15 Euros also, for enrichment, since I can't map it to German 6 at NUS).

And tonight I will bring this question to bed: Should I let go of Corporate Finance?

Würzburg

The last weekend trip before the semester officially started

I had to drag myself out of bed last Saturday morning, for the train leaves Mannheim at 8.37am, and if we miss it we gotta wait for 2 more hours, because Würzburg is about 3 hours away from Mannheim via train. There were althogether 6 of us Singaporeans. By the time we reached there it was already 11.30am. This time round, we did not have to actually navigate ourselfs because Xi Zhen who studies at the Uni of Würzburg actually brought us around. The Uni of Würzburg was also the Uni that Herr Chan, the lecturer who taught me German for Academic Purposes and often involves me in his Podcast, studied in > 20 years ago.

die Würzburger Residenz

Designed by several Baroque architects, it was completed in 1744. The Prince Bishops moved from the Marienburg Fortress(more to come later) to the Residenz when it was completed. The Residenz is also in the list of UN World Heritage List. The picture you see below was the fountain as well as part of the main entrance. The Residenz is also open for visit but a fee has to be charged (of less than 5 Euros for students I guess). At the same time, the Residenz has a lavish and splendid garden, of which I did not manage to see also. Anyway there is nothing much to see during this time of the year, which made me quite certain that like Heidelberg, I will return to Würzburg again sometime later of the year when the greenery starts coming out.

Kiliansdom (St Kilian's Cathedral)

I am not sure if you are sick and tired of seeing Cathedrals and Cathedrals in almost all of the posts. But this is really what Germany is really about. Castles, Palaces, Cathedrals, Old cities both preserved or restored after WW2. This Cathedral is about 950 years old, and the picture below is actually the back of the Cathedral and not the front.

An unexpected display at the basement of the Cathedral

Alte Mainbrücke (old Main Bridge)

The Main here does not refer to 'main' in English, as in 'central', rather it is called Main because it is a bridge over the river Main (pronouned as 'Mind' in English), an this is also the same river that goes all the way to Frankfurt, hence sometimes people refer to Frankfurt as 'Frankfurt am Main'. This bridge was errected around 1473 and according to Xi Zhen, it is the oldest bridge along the river Main. There are 12 Statues along both sides of the bridge, which were added around 1730.

altes Rathaus (old city hall) at the start of the bridge Some of the 12 Statues along the bridge
I thought these 2 were the most beautiful ones

Here you can see the altes Rathaus as well as the Kiliansdom in the background

Festung Marienberg (Fortress Marienberg)

The fort was already around since the ancient times (around 1000 BC), but over time more fortifications were added to the fortess. From 1253 - 1719 it was the seat of the Prince Bishops before they moved to the Residenz.

Entrance to the Fortress (still quite a long way up before the main gate)
Main Entrance into the inner core of the fortress.
You see here a tower as well as a church on the left inside the fortress...

as well as a water tower.... in which...
a 100 metre well can be found.

Inside the fortress church

A shot taken at the fortress garden.
From the fortress garden, you could strategically see the main Innenstadt of Würzburg. In the picture above you could actually see the alte Mainbrücke (the bridge with the 12 statues). I tried to take a pananoramic shot of what I saw....so the above is the left one..

... the centre...
...and the right

A charming city with less tourists as compared to Heidelberg

Actually these are the only few things that I saw on Saturday at Würzburg. If you pick up a Visitors Guide at the Hauptbahnhof, you could see that there are actually more sights to visit, and I am very certain that this will not be the last time I visit Würzburg again. After all, I badly wanted to enter the Residenz gardens but the season is not right yet.. as well as check out the Käppele, which is a Pilgrimage Church. And since I could travel free to Würzburg, I will do just that again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/16FebWRzburg

Visum welcome party

Bang to the start of the Semester.. and many more to come

Visum is the organisation in the Uni Mannheim for exchange students, and today was one of their biggest events, welcome party for exchange students, although well, you get a fair share of German students there as well. Totally squeezed to the max, we had to wait for half an hour to hang our coats at the counter. I think its too squeezy to be enjoyable.. but well.. parties are a norm in Germany, its like at least 2-3 every week and its hard to keep up with it. Anyway some pics and an interesting remark on where Singapore is.

"I know where Singapore is, it's a developing city in China right?"

... but at least its not as bad as the Taiwanese... who have heard people say that Taiwan is in Thailand.

die Universität

Studying in a Palace

Much of the university campus can be found in the Schloß (palace). It is of a baroque design and everyone seems to be proud of studying in a palace. Although not as grand as the Versailles Palace at the south of Paris, I heard one of the staff mention that this palace has "one more window" than Versailles. From the main entrance below, if you were to walk straight out of the gates for 5 minutes, you'd arrive at Paradeplatz (pronounced not as parade but "Pa-Ra-Duh"), which is the "orchard road of Mannheim".

The main entrance of the palace currently houses the law and economics faculty library. It has two wings, the east-wing and the west wing. So the whole design looks like a horseshoe acutally.

The east wing joined....

... to the main wing... which is joined to the...

... west wing.

Inside the palace. Notice that the ceiling is very high, as a result, to reach every higher level, we gotta climb up quite a long fleet of stairs. Also, the university receives a lot of donations from big firms (both German and MNCs) and as a result the lecture theatres are named after individual donors and the names of the firms, for eg: KMPG Hörsaal.

Outside the corridor of the west wing. Most students ride a bicycle to school, because of other faculties which are not in the palace itself as well as they live somewhere nearby.

The Palace Church

At the end of the west wing, you could see a Schlosskirche (Palace Church). It was built between 1720-1731 but was destroyed during WWII, and after which from 1952-1956 it was built up again to restore the way it used to look like.

It seemed that no students visit the church.

It was mentioned that Wolfgang Mozart used to attend services here and towards the end of 1777 he played the church organ.

The church ceiling

What a cultural place to study in! And to think the students (local and foreigners) only pay 500 Euros per Semester! Much more cheaper than NUS, well although it must be mentioned here that in the past university education is provided free from the state, which is why this 500 Euros has been quite an issue for some students. On a more sian note.... I have a lecture at 8.30am tml!

Lazy Sunday

Sundays in Germany are typically very lazy for people. All shops (except eateries) are closed because they are required by law to do so (according to the Uni Mannheim handbook). There is really no activity in the city area, the trams come only once every 30 minutes. Most people would thus stay at home, or go jogging or spazieren gehen (strolling or walking) in the woods with their dogs and then drink coffee in the afternoon.

The day was also quite slow for me, as I woke up pretty late and made myself sweep the floor and tidy up my place. In the afternoon I was on the phone most of the time as well as trying to organise what I'd be doing next week.

Dinner with Stan and the Singaporeans

Stan is a full time Malaysian Engineering Student at the Fachhochschule Mannheim (University of Applied Science, Mannheim) and lives 1 floor below me. I have seen him around before but today was the first time he jioed us out to Palm's for dinner. It was not a bad deal actually, because we had Spare Ribs buffet which was 9.90 Euros. The Spare Ribs was of unlimited helping and was very delicious. It came with Bratkatoffeln (roasted potatoes). I ordered a Schwarzbier (Black beer - like Stout) to go with it and it was very well worth the money, cos I went for a second helping as the pile of ribs would testify:

Schwarzbier, Spare-Ribs mit Bratkartoffeln

Potato with sour cream - check out the presentation in the aluminium foil

After the second helping of ribs

It was a great dinner, considering what I had for lunch above today.

Lessons are beginning this week, so this means my holidays are over. Although it is well-known that exchange students do not study, I do hope to learn something useful from my stint here, especially from Corporate Finance. I do not want to be like what I have been always doing at NUS, studying, mugging and getting A and then forget it totally clean once the next semester arrives.

Ladenburg

A small, quiet and peaceful town along the river Neckar

I never heard of this place before. Actually to be honest, places like Worms and Speyer were unknown to me before I came to Mannheim. I only heard that Heidelberg is near Mannheim, and Mannheim lies between Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen. And when I came here, because of the free semester ticket, we could travel to nearby places, and hence I got to hear about places like Speyer and Worms. Only a few mentioned Weinheim, no one whom I spoke to mentioned Ladenburg. And I do not remember seeing it in Lonely planet. And so I actually came across Ladenburg on the train on my way to Weinheim about 2 weeks ago. It was this image from the train that made me decide to take a look at this small town:

This view can be seen when the train crosses the Neckar river, however this shot was taken in Ladenburg when I was at the pedestrain side of the bridge itself. Those houses you see houses that people live in, and the tall tower the right hand side is the Wasserturm (water tower, which Mannheim also has one, a landmark that Mannheimers seem to be proud of)

Karl Benz (the Automobile designer, founder of the Benz company) lived here from 1901 till his death in 1929.

Certain parts of the city walls are still preserved, although the well below is obviously not in use.

Dalbergschule (Grundschule - something like primary school)

Markplatz und die Fachwerkhäuser (Market place and timbered houses)

Frankly speaking, most German cities have the same landmarks and street names, places like Markplatz, Bismarkplatz, Berliner Platz, Altstadt or street names like Hauptstraße, Bismarkstraße or Bahnhofstraße. And at the same time, most cities' Altstadt have about the same designs and things to see, such as the Rathaus, (city hall), Stadtbibliothek (city library), some Doms and Churches, a fountain or two, and the main street in which shops line up. Ladenburg is no exception. What caught my eye that day was however, I noticed that on almost all of the Fachwerkhäusern have the year in which they were constructed on them.

Markplatz with the St. Gallus Church behind

1598 - today an entrance to a bistro

1750 - today a shop (can't remember what it was selling)

1689

1603

1541

1577 - today a Apotheke (pharmacy like Guardian)

erbaut 1480 - constructed in 1480

Ladenburg is quite a small town with a population of less than 12000 people and not much activity taking place. As I walked around, I did not notice establishments like fast-food restaurants, cinemas, Spielothek (shops containing jackpot rooms or coin slot machines), Porn movies shop or discos. I admire the simplicity and slow pace of life there. As I was there in the late morning and walking around in the early afternoon, school had just dismissed and the students were all riding home on their bicycles. They were havin fun running around, guys chasing after girls, some kids going into the tall lalang grass to look for some insects to catch while another group of teens were trying to do flipovers by kicking on the treetrunk to flick themselves. Along the river, people were walking their dogs unleashed. In fact the dogs here were often unleashed and you see their owners bringing them everywhere - inside shopping centres, cafes, even on the buses and trains.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/12FebLadenburg