On a rainy day ( Part 1)

"Join those who sing, tell stories, enjoy life and have happiness in their eyes. Because happiness is contagious and always manages to keep people from being paralyzed by depression, loneliness and troubles." ( Paulo Coelho ).

It just feels like home. :D

KARLSRUHE - A young city in the heart of Europe ( Part 1)

It's quite funny that my sentiments toward Karlsruhe changed over time. About 5 months ago, when I knew that I would spend the first year in KIT, my immediate thought was that I should have written an email to the coordinator with a thousand reasons to change for another university in Sweden or in Italy. I don’t wanna live in the city where it’s crazily busy, crowded and loud, but the middle of nowhere would really suck. :D. Actually I had no choice and was slowly accepting the fact that I had to spend my first year in Europe here. But my mind has changed quickly. After having spent a few weeks, I come to a conclusion that I don't know anything before spending time living in this city. Yahooooey, it's just the right place for me. I have everything I need here: peace, safety, nature, no crime and sunshine. The quality of life is high and perfect for someone from one of the four Communist countries left in the world.

There is only one thing I dislike is that Karlsruhe is not a tourist city. It's often known as the "fan city" because there is a palace at the centre and 32 streets radiating out from it like the sun rays. But the palace's architecture itself lacks in impressiveness and luxury. It just seems friendly and open. North of the Schloss is a large park ( Schlossgarten) where people can walk, go on a picnic, play Frisbee, badminton or just lay out in the sun ( to get good tan? :P). I love walking alone in that garden on a sunny day, seeing the faces of people and trying to guess their feeling if they're happy or not. I simply feel cool and relaxing. But I know that the winter is coming and cold, rainy days sometimes get me down :(.

In front of the castle

The Schlossgarten

Markplatz is the central square. There is a Pyramid in front of the town hall on the Marlplatz. It's the symbol of this city and also the grave of its founder - Karl Wilhelm. However, I'm not sure if he feels comfortable in heaven because his grave is next to the public toilet. :(. You can get the main street - Kaiserstrasse - just 1 minute from Marlplatz and easily can find many shops and restaurants on both sides of the street. Because I didn't bring enough warm clothes from Vietnam, I had tough time walking along Kaiserstr. to find anything that fit me. :D. I wonder if I have any special characteristic that distinguishes me from hundred of Asian girls here. Hahaha

Markplatz

The Pyramid - The Symbol of Karlsruhe ???

A part of the town hall on Markplatz

I looked contented, right?

Maybe the next time I should visit the art museums here, especially the Centre for Art and Media Technology (ZKM).....

... Nobody can tell where in the world you will be. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves ...

P/S: I love this picture. She looked so peaceful . And this is one note my Vietnamese friend received from her boyfriend:

"......Heute im Bus hab ich eine ältere Frau gesehen und ich vermutete, dass sie Vietnamesin sein müsste (wegen der Nase ;) ) Sie hatte Salt'n'Pepper-Graue Haare. Und ich dachte mir, dass sieht echt gut aus und wünschte mir, dass ich noch so lange mit dir zusammen bin, dich auch so zu sehen (Dann fiel mir, dass du aus Eitelkeit vermutlich deine Haar)..."

It's so touching, right?

YELLOW SUBMARINE

"As we live a life of ease

Every one of us has all we need,

Sky of blue, and sea green,

In our yellow submarine."

I woke up at 3 AM and find that I can barely sleep again. Times flies quickly. It has been 2 weeks since the day I arrived in Karlsruhe. Yeah, it was a turning-point in my life and I'm till wondering what would be happening if I chose another country or chose to stay at home and continue my daily work at a really, really good company. The scene was totally different 5 months ago. That time, I had no idea what I was going to do for my life although I seemed to run it well. So that's it. Now I'm a fish out of water and have to find a way to swim in any circumstance. Definitely I love this small and peaceful city. I was tired of living in such a crowded and noisy city. Absolutely I understand that it's just the beginning phase of my time in Europe where everything is totally different from what I was familiar with for 23 years. For one thing, I don't try to create any fairy tale as being old enough to know prince never comes if I sit down and cry. Just cross my finger and be tougher.

One question is on my mind: " What do I want to do?". Let make a list:

To begin with, I always desired to study French coz I love its romantic and elegant accent. I was about to register a French course in Vietnam when I planned to pursue my Master degree in Lausanne. But I've changed my mind. I wish I can speak German. I failed in studying to play a kind of musical instruments, first the piano and then the violin ( I didn't have enough time and of course, effort :D ) but studying a language is something I can do for sure. ^^

Secondly, my track is Remote Sensing and Imaging, not Image and Digital Signal Processing. When I looked at the list of courses I would take, I found out that there would be a lot of challenge ahead. Too many courses of Electromagnetics, Microwave and Optics. I have 3 weeks before the semester begins and there will be a million tons of books I must read to rebuild a basic background of this field. T_T

Finally, I want to travel as much as possible. Let me choose - Italy? France? Greece? Turkey? Austria?.... or Egypt? . Yeah, I love all. It's my ambitious dream but this is what I want and explore. Four months ago when I quit my job, I traveled along Vietnam and figured out that I dreamed of being a world-traveler. I'm too young to settle down. Linh wrote to me that: " One drifter off to see the world" and I hope my Cancer friend can fulfill his dream soon in a country that is far away from me. I'm also thinking of Huyen and Thu. I hope they enjoy their new lives in US and Italy.

And at the moment my weary body is asking me to go to bed again. To finish, I quote one sentence from J.W. Goethe :“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”

"This bird had flown." ^^