Eine Woche lange in Mannheim!

As I write this, it is Sunday, 19th Sept 2010, 11.19 a.m. Mannheim time. It’s also officially 1 week down at the Mannheim business school for me. It’s been long enough for me to think of 'M' as in 'Mannheim'; previously it used to be 'M' for 'Monkey'. :)

So, here then, is Anya reporting from Mannheim. Since I continue to be quite the lazy-person, most of these posts are back-dated. However, I really hope to do a better job of posting on time; there's nothing like the first impression.

So, here goes:

My journey to Mannheim started off on Saturday, 11^th Sept; 18.30 hours IST in Mumbai. My family, Sriram (my cousin) and Kshama (my friend) came to see me off at the airport. I had 33 kgs of check-in baggage, 1 hand-luggage of 9 kgs and a laptop bag of around 6 kgs. (Including the charger, CD pouch, etc.)

This was a Mumbai-Frankfurt flight on its way to Chicago. I was among the first 5 to check-in, just so that the baggage should not be an issue. However, the AI-personnel tried to throw his weight around; Check out the below conversation, post-weighing of the 2 check-in baggage, totalling to 33 kgs. The allowable weight was 30 kilos.

AI: So, your baggage is 3 kilos above the allowed limit.

Moi: Hmm, yes, actually I am a student, so there are some books etc.

AI: Hmmm, (major pregnant pause, as if he is about to decide a significant part of my future.) See, we already have given you 10 kgs extra as student, now you want 3 more kilos. Let me weigh the hand-baggage.

Moi: OK, sure.

AI: this is 16 kilos! I cannot allow it. You do know, that you are allowed only 8 kilos including the laptop?

(This was when I knew for sure, that he was just trying to rile me. So, in my best professional voice, I go…)

Moi: I was told that I could carry a hand-bag of 8 kilos + a laptop separately.

(Now, he realizes that I may be a student, but I know my rules. So he scans through my passport and probably looks at my other visas).

AI: Yes, but that still means only 12 kgs. You have 16 kgs in hand-baggage.

(At this point, I had to betray the love of my life; Dell and say the following)

Moi: You see, sir, this is a DELL and itself weighs about 4.5 kilos.

AI: (Still trying to rile me) Well, so what do we do now? I will allow the excess hand baggage. But what about the excess check in-baggage?

Moi: (in my best ‘I have travelled quite a bit, haven’t you heard of excess-baggage payment?’ voice) I could pay the excess baggage allowance.

AI: So, you are willing to pay 4 thousand rupees?

Moi: hmm, Duh, Ya

AI: hmmm, (Still trying to decide my fate) OK, don’t tell anyone my name, but I’ll let you go.

Moi: Oh, thank you Sir. ( I mean, I didn't even check his name!!! )

Jeez, this is SO annoying. The AI-personnel sure need training. All he had to do, in this case, was tell me the excess baggage charge, let me pay and go, without all this unnecessary talk.

Now, contrast this with my non-conversation at German-immigration at Frankfurt airport. People prior to me had to answer at least 2-3 questions. When my turn came, I showed the officer (very, very cute) my visa. He took a look at it, at me and let me pass with no questions asked. This, then, is the power of a student here. Or so, I’d like to believe. Either ways, it felt good to be acknowledged as a student and with respect.

Anyways, back to my journey to Mannheim. I breezed through immigration, security and then reached my favourite coffee shop in Mumbai airport while waiting to board; The Coffee bean and Tea Leaf Company. There is something deliciously sweet about waiting at the duty-free area, waiting to board your flight; just sipping a sinful ‘double-loaded chocolate’ with skimmed-milk (no fat-free pour moi) and watching the world go by. 

Which, in this case, was a very cute Russian family; 2-year old in tow, several IT-looking-people (TCS/ Wipro is my guess) en route to Chicago, tonnes of Singaporeans (there was a flight to Singapore at the same time), many single-person tables (both men and women) looking very very cool (am hoping I looked cool too; lol) and a certain travel-buzz in the air. While I messaged and chatted quite a bit, most of my time was spent just chilling. Am glad I didn’t eat anything; nothing can quite compare to a double-loaded chocolate :D

Boarding was fun as always; AI trie to bring about the process of boarding aisle-by-aisle. So, they announce ‘Rows 40-52 please come up for boarding. Others please remain seated’. Of course, my good ol’ friends in rows 1-30 have not much patience, so almost everyone is standing. Lol. There was also an excessive amount of security. My boarding pass and passport got checked by 3 different people before boarding the flight; senior AI officials, airport security and the Indian police. Did not like the way the direction our world is taking one bit :(

Anyways, once inside, I was more than pleasantly surprised. For one, I was able to place my cabin baggage on my own, very confidently, as if I do it for a living :D And 2, both the seats next to me were empty. And 3, ooh, AI now has personal in-flight entertainment! Yay! As I was settling in myself, and hoping the seats next to me stayed empty/ some very interesting people sit there, the passenger in the rear seat looks up to me and asks me whether the seats next to me were empty. I said ‘Yes, I suppose so’. He then goes, ‘Great, So I just might join you’. Oh well, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy: D The flight took off at around 01.30 a.m. , a bit delayed but it was all right in the end, I ate some, watched some TV [ Date night, no FRIENDS :( ], slept tonnes and we reached Frankfurt well in time; around 6 a.m. on 12^th September.

I collected my check-in baggage, breezed through entry-into-Germany and now had to take the train to Mannheim. Now, here, I realized the importance of listening to instructions. Based on my discussion with the information desk (In German, of course ;)), I was told to go 2 flights (of stairs) up. I entered the lift to reach the 3rd floor, and another couple did too; I somehow followed their lead and went 1 flight down instead of 2 flights-up. Where, there was a reasonable amount of chaos; a long line of 30 people at the DB-Reise Zentrum (Train reservation desk) and travellers from various places with baggage of all sizes and assortments. There were also 2 kiosks to buy tickets from; 1 for local and the other for inter-state. I tried them both, for about a ½ hour, also tried using my Citibank credit card which got rejected. Now, why would they not allow cash-based transactions, crazy and how!

Finally, after an hour or so of trying to complete a self-service transaction, I gave up and went 3 flights up to the original platform, as told to me by the Info-desk. Over there, I paid cash across the counter, and got myself 1 2^nd class ticket to Mannheim, in less than 5 minutes. Yay! A croissant and bottle of water later, I waited for the train am Gleis 5 (Platform 5). Now, I had 5 baggages and only 1 me. And thankfully 1 helpful co-passenger who helped me move the baggage inside the train in the 3 minutes it waited on the station. Point to note: I did not have to reserve a seat. In European trains, when you purchase a ticket, you don’t book a seat. You only book yourself a place on the train. Reserving a seat is usually 5 euros extra. Now, since the total journey time from FFM to Mannheim was just an hour, I did not have to reserve a seat; that way, I could have got into any of the 2^nd class compartments and sat on any of the spare seats. They usually are :) The only journeys where seat-reservation is mandatory is on night-trains. Anyways, since I had reserved a seat, I had to run a bit trying to find my coach/ seat. Thank God for friendly co-passengers.

I reached Mannheim train station at around 10 a.m., and had quite the scene trying to carry my luggage on my own via the escalator to the main entrance. Imagine a little person with a laptop bag on her shoulders, walking with a 4-wheeler baggage combined with a handbag. Then dragging a 2 wheeler baggage combined with an overall on its pulley. Quite the scene! Anyways, I called up the janitor of my apartment, who thankfully reached on time and, check-in formalities completed; I was officially home at 10.45 a.m. 

Now, first impressions first. My room is slightly larger than my bedroom back in Mumbai, a wardrobe to the right, an open cupboard to the left, a little further down- a bed right by the window. Next to the bed is my study-table, Then a slight partition that neatly divides the kitchen-area from the rest of room. Here, a little dining table facing the window [This is where I have my tea :)] and a mini-fridge and the cooking range. A little to the right is the bathroom. The walls are bare, the flooring rather basic, but once I unpacked and got out my magnets, 3 extra kilos of books, cards, knick-knacks, my trusty Dell and the coconut-barfi from home, it felt a lot more homey :) 

A hot water bath later, I made myself some Maggi, got the internet set-up done, logged on to the virtual world and was ready to settle in. A walk around the town made me realize it was a Sunday, so all stores were closed. I walked down to my college, just to get myself oriented, called home, walked to the station to get milk/ bread/ eggs, met an alumnus in the evening and made myself a very strange omelette/ scrambled eggs. The original idea was to make a boiled egg, which didn’t boil very well, so I scrambled it into an omelette with ginger-garlic paste. I packed my bags for day1 at college and slept off around 11 p.m.

Mannheim, I am home.