IUB – Segfault

The Intersession 2006-07

The Ahlen trip was wonderful but it had to come to an end and so it did and I was back to IUB. The first week of intersession was very boring to say the least, nearly everyone was home and there were only very few people on campus. And then there was the trouble of having to go to the College II servery to eat and that was the reason that I missed breakfast nearly everyday. There was literally nothing to do. Though we managed a trip to Hannover meanwhile. I guess it is even bad to call that a trip, that would be the wrong term for it. It was more of a hangout really, but it turned out to be nice.

With the start of the new year, people started to come back. Some people had BCCB labs and then there were some like me taking the Introduction to Law course. Guess that was probably not a cheerful reson to come back, but people did come back for that very reason.

And then there was the course, Introduction to Law. Guess it was a bit tiring to say the least with more that 6 hours of classes daily. We also had to prepare a presentation for it and write an essay as well. Inspired by exploits in the field of History of Science, I decided to do my essay in one night, and I did manage to do that, though I was not very satisfied with what I came up with. That is what happens if you leave stuff for the last minute.

But the best part of the intersession was still to come. We planned a trip to Amsterdam and we did go there, as planned. The trip was great to say the least, it was nice to be in a city where people actually spoke English. We tried different cuisines everyday, Mexican the first, Indian the second, Chinese the third and Italian on the fourth. But that was not the interesting part was it, the interesting part was to see people stoned on all kinds of stuff. As Keno and I were the only one who had their feet firmly on the ground, we had fun watching the others. But I think that Keno had a bit more fun that I did for I was even affected by the smoke of the stuff and he was unaffected by it. It was fun watching him ask the high guys silly question to see of they remembered stuff or were they completely gone.

But in general, the trip was great fun. It was very nice to be someplace other than the university with all your friends and being able to chill out. Hope we could do that more often, but with the workload at IUB, that would be nearly impossible.

And so with the Amsterdam trip, we were done with the intersession, and the new semester started. Guess it didn’t start that brightly for me as I had to write an exam for introduction to law on the first day of the new semester – the joys of taking an extra intersession course. But well, there will be a lot more exams in the intersession and I guess I wouldn’t have much to complain them.

Till then, life is as normal and peaceful at IUB as it could be!

Diwali at IUB

Yes, we Indians do enjoy our festivals, don’t we? And it was no surprise when we decided to celebrate Diwali at IUB this year as well. The preperations were done in collobration with the Nepali Population at IUB, which doubled the fun. The festival was held in the Krupp College common room, and we witnessed quite a turnout.

For me personaly, the celebrations started with me and Shikhar cooking papars. Ha! That was not difficult was it? All we had to was to put them in the microwave and then take them out when they were cooked. Though some of us who knew how to cook made better stuff such as Chhole, Chawal, Mixed Vegetables(yummy) and there was chicken for the sizeable population of the non-veggies. So, we ensured that the preferences of a lot may people were taken are of. The actual celebrations were quite fun as well. My host family were here as well, and they said that it was quite enjoyable, and we had a presentaion where we explained all about why we celebrate this wonderful festival. Though we couldn’t burn as many firecrackers as we do in India because of the different festivals in Germany, we still managed to have quite a gala time, attired as we were in our Indian clothes. And yes, it was quite a experience celebrating Diwali with such a diverse population which was not possible bak home. Oh, I wish all life at IUB was like this.

Krupp Open Tournament

Table Tennis – A sport which I enjoy immensely and yes I can proudly say that I am quite good at it. And when there was an opportunity to display my talents, I didn’t shy away from it. I didn’t fare well in the singles tournament and went down fighting in the third round. Though the doubles tournament was fun, me and my partner Umair, were quiet good for most of the people and we sailed to the finals of the tournament easily enough. We were lucky enough to be given a bye in the semi-finals as the other team didn’t turn up. (Maybe they were afraid of the South-Asian torpedoes, he!he!). Anyway, the finals was quite a contest and it went down to the wire. Each point was furiously contested for, each smashed blocked, each spin counter-spun. We were a set up, but the other team came back strongly and they managed to eke out the last two sets to win the game an take the trophy home. Sad as it was, we still managed to finish runners up and that was quite an achievement. Maybe next year, we would be able to improve and take the trophy home with us. Till then, good bye from the South-Asian torpedoes.

Though one of the best post-tournament highlights was playing a doubles game against Krenar and his friend from Macedonia with the Krupp College Master, on my side. Now, that was fun. He is an awesome player and together we managed to beat the other team quite comprehensively.

Indian food in Bremen

Mitul, Radhika, Hana and me went to an Indian gathering today. I personally am feeling wonderful. We took the train from IUB at 6:57 and reached hauptbahnof at 7:18. From the Hauptbahnof we took a tram to Roland center and from there the bus to our final destination.Upon entering the community hall I felt as if I was at a social gathering in India. To see people in Indian clothes here in Bremen was quite a wonderful experience, but the best part was undoubtedly the food. One really doesn’t realise what one has been missing until he gets a taste of it. As soon as the smell of the food wafted near me, my mouth started watering and my stomach grumbled and craved for food properly for the first time in a month. The food was really awesome – puris, aloo, chole, pulao, gobhi and not to forget the wonderful sweets – we even got a little jalebi – heavenly. I am feeling as if I had been starving for a month, and now I have finally got something to satisfy my Indian taste buds. Still, if there had been space enough in my stomach I would have eaten for as long as I could possibly do. Mine stomach was satisfied but my heart wasn’t. I mean, I am not going to get such utterly delicious food every other day, am I? There was some pretty decent Punjabi music being played and the atmosphere was totally homely. We left the place at around 9:30 and reached the University at 10:45. I have had some good days at IUB and some not so good. Yesterday night was not good, was it? Yassine and I were working on our EE homework till 5 in the morning, and only got 3 hours of sleep during the entire day. But if every day I sleep for only 3 hours and get typical Indian food, I would not mind it. For such food (or delicacies is the appropriate term) I would willingly stay awake the entire night. This has truly been my best day in Bremen.