Let's have a look on of my favourite programs: Wirtschaftsinformatik (Information Systems) in Mannheim and apply the earlier defined criteria.
Let's start with their nice promotional video:
Program Content
Courses offered
The program consists of the following parts. You can find all modules in the modul catalogue. Interesting is that no course at all is mandatory, you can literally choose everything. That means on the other hand, you need an excellent advisor to stick together an individual plan.
1. Fundamentals (48 - 53 ECTS)
2. Specialization Track (21 ECTS)
3. Team Project (12 ECTS)
4. Softskills (9 ECTS)
5. Master Thesis (30 ECTS)
1. Fundamentals
Here you have the tracks Computer Science, Business Informatics and Business Administration. You are allowed to choose 2 moduls out of each of those tracks.
Honestly, the track Computer Science is a little disappointing. Only 4 moduls to choose from and I'm not sure whether the modul Algorithmics 1 (!) and Advanced Software Engineering would tell me anything new. Advanced Computer Networks looks interesting though.
It gets better when it comes to Business Informatics. The moduls Advanced Middleware and E-Business or Enterprise Systems are most interesting in my view.
When you look at business administration, you will know why Mannheim is famous for this. In this track you can choose out of at least 60 (!) different modules that contain Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management and Logistics.
2. Specialization Track
Here you finally decide in which direction you wanna go during your studies. We can decide between "Information Technology" (very technically, e.g. networks or IT security), "Development of Information Systems" (software development, process modelling etc.) and "Information Systems" (focus on overall understanding of IT in business, technology only on the surface).
Personally, I'm quite interested in the technical stuff, so IT or Development of IS would be for me.
3. Team Project
12 credits are given for a 1 year team project of your choice. Its content should be aligned with your specialization track and probably it makes sense to write the master thesis eventually about a similar topic, too.
I still need to ask if it's possible to do this project already in the first two terms in order to be able to go abroad in term 3.
4. Soft Skills
Besides the regular program you can earn credits by taking interesting holiday courses and additional courses dealing with topics like self development, intercultural awareness etc.
5. Master Thesis
I'd like to write the thesis in cooperation with a company or even abroad. Both should be possible in Mannheim.
Faculties involved
According to the website, the faculty of business and the facutly of IT / maths joined together to the "Center of Business Informatics". In fact there is not a real IT or computer science course available, everything is related to business. Wikipedia says, the faculty of Business Informatics exists only on trial, even though there were put in lots of money to build it up. I will double-check this information by uni advisors, since it is important that the faculty is considered to be a vital part of the uni.
The area "Imformation Systems" got 5 chairs. However, in total there are quite a few involved (Computer Science / IT) that teach courses as well.
Academic Focus
Look at the various research projects of the center.
Program Quality
Accreditation
Though ranked well, the program doesn't seem to be accreditated at all. The reason might be that the program is quite new, it just started off in the winter 2009, which is not necessarily a bad sign, but there might exist some confusion in the program structure as they lack of experience. I gonna ask current students to give me insider information about that.
Reputation
According to the HR ranking of Wirtschaftswoche, Mannheim is
- the top 2 in information systems (behind Darmstadt)
- the top 1 in business administration
- the top 10 in computer science
The Focus ranking puts Mannheim's computer science on rank 6.
At CHE Zeit ranking Mannheim's coomputer science is in the middle group in most aspects.
The Handelsblatt says Mannheim's business administration is on rank 1 in Germany.
Realize that those rankings refer actually to the bachelor programs, but it should be meaningful for the master as well.
THE ranking says Mannheim is not even amongst the top 200 worldwide (currently there are 14 Germany unis)
Admission
At least in the summer term it doesn't seem to be tough at all to get accepted. Department says they have more space than applicants, even though it seems to vary from term to term. Maybe they should improve their marketing a bit..
Infrastructure
They seem to have a lovely library, but I gonna check out how everything looks like in the place.
Program attendants
I found interesting student statistics, who is studying at the uni?
Out of the 9.300 students there are 1.150 foreigners, meaning around 12 %. This is quite a good number as the avarage in Germany is only 2 %.
When we take a look at the course itself (page 68), we count only 88 students in total, 15 of them were female. 61 students joined in the winter term 2009, and only 12 joined in the summer term 2010.
Internationality
The uni tries hard to maintain internationality and they seem to manage it quite well. For this reason, a change of the term dates has been established, terms start in February and September in order to adjust to most uni schedules in Europe and some worldwide. Many courses are taught in English, 12 % of all students in Mannheim are foreigners. According to the international office, the uni maintains 170 ERASMUS and 130 worldwide partnerships. In the Information Systems course alone there are 40 exchange programs offered, 8 of them in Asia (my main interest):
Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong (1-2 terms)
Japan: Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (1-2 terms)
Japan: Hitotsubashi University (1-2 terms)
Korea: Seoul National University (1 term)
Singapore: National University of Singapore (1-2 terms)
Taiwan: National Chiao Tung University, College of Management (1 term)
Taiwan: Tunghai University (1 term)
Taiwan: National Taiwan University (1 term)
Strange that there is no program in China, I gonna ask at the international office for more information.
A nice feature is the double degree in the Copenhagen Business School (Double Degree, 2 terms) which unfortunately seems to be only possible if you start studying in the winter term. I gonna try it though.
Environment
City
Surely Mannheim is not the nicest city in the world and also not a real "student city" like Münster or Tübingen. I was there one day and I found it surprisingly nice, since you will find the Neckar and the Rhein over there and they say there is a nice harbour too (I didnt visit it myself yet).
Main advantages:
- campus uni is located right next to the inner city
- lots of companies are located here (university has a lot of company contacts too)
- half an hour ride to Heidelberg and Frankfurt
- people I talked to on the streets are friendly and nice speaking a funny dialect, typically Southern Germany ;)
Also check out this promotional video for the whole region (mainly Mannheim, Heidelberg and Speyer). They even compare the region to New York.. After watching this, you can hardly refuse to live you whole life there ;)
Non-Uni
There are plenty of organizations established in Mannheim. Besides AIESEC, the student consultant INTEGRA e.V. and Arbeitsgruppe Börse seem interesting and definitely worth a try.
The uni sports program is OK, nothing compared to Münster though. I wonder if the courses are not very crowded. They even provide a board games program, of course I gonna join ;)
The Mannheim Entrepreneur Guide provides a community and regular events about entrepreneurship.
Loads of language courses are available as well.
Ultimately,....
I can say that the course of Mannheim is an extremely interesting opportunity. The city is not the most exciting one, but the inner city is awesome and they say a lot of party is possible as well. Out of question, it is the best business administration uni in Germany. Going abroad seems to be easy. The only thing that needs to be checked is wheter the Computer Science is just on trial and actually not wanted (they just love business) or if they take this part really seriously as well.
HOT candidate!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
How to pick the best Grad School
Back in Germany I enjoyed Christmas, seeing my family and friends again after more than one year abroad. It was just awesome so far. Cause I wanna start my masters this year, I started to do an intense research on all available programs in my major Information Systems (German Wirtschaftsinformatik).
I focused on German programs as programs in English speaking countries are usually not consecutive, which means the master programs start from zero and don't build up on the bachelor programs. I plan to go abroad though, so I gonna look in particular for international programs in Germany.
My Criteria
To have fairly well defined criteria about what is important is going to help to make a reasonable decision rather than just go with gut feelings. In the end the whole package should fit to my needs. This page helps to find criteria.
Program Content
- Courses offered: The most important factor. What does an university with excellent infrastructure and reputation help, if most courses are marketing related and I want IT? What I check is the complete range of provided courses. How many courses are selectable? How flexible is the whole program? How many seminars compared to lectures? How are the credit points distributed, how important are projects and the master thesis? How many semesters will you be studying?
- Faculties involved: Are main parts of the program in the computer science faculty? Or business administration? How many publications? How many professors are teaching? How good is their reputation? (prof research on meinprof.de and google scholar)
- Academic Focus: What is the core focus of the university? E.g. in my Bachelor program in Münster it was process management.
Program Quality
- Accreditation: Is the program accredited by at least one of the well-known German agencies? This database helps to find the information.
- Reputation: My source the following rankings:
- CHE universtiy ranking
- karriere.de
- Humboldt-Ranking (Internationality)
- Times Ranking (overall university reputation)
- Handelsblatt (only Business Administration)
- Admission: Is it tough to enter the program? The tougher the better, it usually means higher quality and better reputation. I use two criteria here:
- Requirements to enter the program, always published on the program pages of the universities
- Ratio of applicants and acceptances. In Germany institutes prefer to remain nontransparent and don't publish these information on their websites. A polite phone call can help though
- Infrastructure. How does the library look like? Are there lots of modern computer labs? These information are easiest to get when visiting the place or ask students actually studying there or Alumni.
- Program attendants. Take a look at the students attending the program. How many internationals? The more the better. How many students study there? The less the better since the atmosphere will be much more personal and efficient.
- Internationality. For me especially interesting, because I want to go at least 1 semester abroad, preferably USA or East Asia. Does the uni have partner unis in these countries? Does the program make it easy to go abroad? How about master thesis abroad? Is there even a double degree to earn? Usually these information should be available at the university's international office. Very important: Is the whole program in English or German? I strongly prefer English since I aim for an international career.
Environment
- City. How large is the city? (after a year in Bangkok, even Berlin seems small and quiet. I would prefer a big city with lots of cultural options, VERY small towns get sorted out). How expensive? How is the overall atmosphere? Are there a lot of interesting companies to get connections for later work?
- Uni Location. Is the university a campus or is it spread out in the whole city? I prefer the spread out version like in Münster or Karlsruhe, as it makes the city look more like a real student city. A campus is OK though, if it's not too far away or extremely ugly.
- Non-Uni. After a good while at the world's largest student organization AIESEC I would like to get in touch with another organization e.g. company consulting. Is this possible in the university?What about uni sports?
The programs I'm most interested in starting in the summer term:
Muenster: Information Systems international program, excellent reputation
Mannheim: Wirtschaftsinformatik partly English, well-known in business
TU Munich: Wirtschaftsinformatik part of the excellence cluster, strong in computer science
Erlangen-Nuernberg: International Information System not actually starting in summer, but possible to start off with Informatics and switch later
The programs also interesting but only starting in the winter term:
Augsburg: Finance and Information Management international excellence program, highly competitive and small classes
Hamburg: Wirtschaftsinformatik interesting topics to choose of: logistics and IT management
Useful books and links:
The programs also interesting but only starting in the winter term:
Augsburg: Finance and Information Management international excellence program, highly competitive and small classes
Hamburg: Wirtschaftsinformatik interesting topics to choose of: logistics and IT management
Useful books and links:
Not ordered yet, but probably valuable: Studienführer Wirtschaftsinformatik 09/10
Find programmes in Germany: Studis online
In the next days I will have a look at each of those programs based on my criteria.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Beating the TOEFL
Recently I needed to take an English exam to apply for grad school. There are quite a few options but I chose the TOEFL simply because it is the most famous test with most preparation material available. If you are in the same situation, you should seriously consider to take the IELTS test instead. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
For TOEFL, especially if you have not much preparation time (less than 1 week), I found out that following a few tips will help you a lot in succeeding:
1. In the TOEFL, 10 % of your success is based on your actual English skills, 90 % is based on your preparation on the specific tasks in the TOEFL. The good news: All tasks in the TOEFL follow exactly the same patterns all over again. Prepare exactly for these tasks. Don't spend even a second trying to improve your overall English skills or practicing tasks that are not part of the actual TOEFL test.
2. The TOEFL consists of four sections, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, all worth 30 points of your score. Focus on 2 sections you are weak in and spend most of your time practising these ones. E.g. my weak parts were reading and speaking.
3. Use the following instructions for each of the sections:
This section consists of a few texts that you need to understand in order to answer multiple choice questions. Don't read the full text, you won't have time for it! Instead, read only the first sentence of each paragraph and the first and last sentence of the last paragraph. Now you will be able to understand the big picture of the text and can start attacking the questions. For each question, you usually will need to read 5-7 lines.
- Listening:
Nothing special here, just practise tons of example tasks (see my literature recommendations in the end).
- Speaking:
Most people say this is the most difficult one. It contains of 6 different questions. My personal advice here: Watch these videos made by a US teacher and you will get a decent score. There are videos for each of the 6 questions. As for preparation, write down the templates this guy suggests in his videos and master them.
- Writing:
There are extremely helpful templates that you can memorize and use in the actual test. Again, watch the videos for this. Important detail: Your essay should have at least 350 words for question 1 and 450 words for question 2 in oder to get full score.
4. Most importantly, use the right material. It doesn't make sense to practise tasks that don't show up in the acual test. The best material I found was the following. You can find it all online or in your local library.
Must have
- As so often nowadays, free online ressources tend to get more useful than official books. For the speaking and writing sessions, definitely watch these videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/NoteFulldotcom . More ressources are available on the according website.
- The Princeton Review - Cracking the TOEFL iBT 2009 Edition. By far the best book I've found, with excellent tips for reading and writing section.
- ETS - TOEFL iBT: The Official ETS Study Guide. Some useful tips, but you'll mainly want to use this for the original practise tests. (you should avoid Kaplan's well-known book, as it doesn't use original TOEFL tasks and is therefore useless in most parts)
Nice to have
- Barron's TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test, 12th Edition. Get the CD with 7 full TOEFL tests to practice. Note that Speaking Questions 4 and 6 as well as Writing Question 1 are NOT original, skip those questions!
- TOEFL Vocabulary AudioLearn. Might be helpful for memorizing the specific words for Reading and Listening section.
5. Stay calm. Even if you have little time, you will be able to get a reasonable score if you stick to the above advice. So no worries and start practicing today! Good luck :)
For TOEFL, especially if you have not much preparation time (less than 1 week), I found out that following a few tips will help you a lot in succeeding:
1. In the TOEFL, 10 % of your success is based on your actual English skills, 90 % is based on your preparation on the specific tasks in the TOEFL. The good news: All tasks in the TOEFL follow exactly the same patterns all over again. Prepare exactly for these tasks. Don't spend even a second trying to improve your overall English skills or practicing tasks that are not part of the actual TOEFL test.
2. The TOEFL consists of four sections, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, all worth 30 points of your score. Focus on 2 sections you are weak in and spend most of your time practising these ones. E.g. my weak parts were reading and speaking.
3. Use the following instructions for each of the sections:
- Writing:
This section consists of a few texts that you need to understand in order to answer multiple choice questions. Don't read the full text, you won't have time for it! Instead, read only the first sentence of each paragraph and the first and last sentence of the last paragraph. Now you will be able to understand the big picture of the text and can start attacking the questions. For each question, you usually will need to read 5-7 lines.
- Listening:
Nothing special here, just practise tons of example tasks (see my literature recommendations in the end).
- Speaking:
Most people say this is the most difficult one. It contains of 6 different questions. My personal advice here: Watch these videos made by a US teacher and you will get a decent score. There are videos for each of the 6 questions. As for preparation, write down the templates this guy suggests in his videos and master them.
- Writing:
There are extremely helpful templates that you can memorize and use in the actual test. Again, watch the videos for this. Important detail: Your essay should have at least 350 words for question 1 and 450 words for question 2 in oder to get full score.
4. Most importantly, use the right material. It doesn't make sense to practise tasks that don't show up in the acual test. The best material I found was the following. You can find it all online or in your local library.
Must have
- As so often nowadays, free online ressources tend to get more useful than official books. For the speaking and writing sessions, definitely watch these videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/NoteFulldotcom . More ressources are available on the according website.
- The Princeton Review - Cracking the TOEFL iBT 2009 Edition. By far the best book I've found, with excellent tips for reading and writing section.
- ETS - TOEFL iBT: The Official ETS Study Guide. Some useful tips, but you'll mainly want to use this for the original practise tests. (you should avoid Kaplan's well-known book, as it doesn't use original TOEFL tasks and is therefore useless in most parts)
Nice to have
- Barron's TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test, 12th Edition. Get the CD with 7 full TOEFL tests to practice. Note that Speaking Questions 4 and 6 as well as Writing Question 1 are NOT original, skip those questions!
- TOEFL Vocabulary AudioLearn. Might be helpful for memorizing the specific words for Reading and Listening section.
5. Stay calm. Even if you have little time, you will be able to get a reasonable score if you stick to the above advice. So no worries and start practicing today! Good luck :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Laos Gambling & Hitchhiking
A Story about Gambling and Losing
Since Friday I'm off to visit my good friend Yuki a second time in Laos and then take a look at Vietnam. The time with Yuki is always a great fun, this time we were at a trade fair, where Yuki and his colleages had a booth for their ODOP products.
Actually what I wanna talk about is one of the stalls there that catched our attention. It was a so called Wheel of Fortune, a gambling thing. Gambling is in Laos quite popular, and it used to be in Thailand too, until it was forbidden and now you will find there neither casinos nor are there any kinds of card games allowed at all.
On this trade fair there were a couple of these gambling games, mostly quite unfair for the ones who play. In avarage you would lose 50% of your money. An exeption seemed to be the Wheel of Fortune, the chances to win seemed here even, if not favorable for the players (it's hard to tell because it is handmade as you see on the picture and so the sizes of the fields are not exactly identical)
The rules of the game are simple: First you put any amount of money on one of the areas surrounding the inner wheel. You can put as little as 500 Kip (5 Eurocent), no problem. Then you make the wheel rotate and wait until it gets slower and is finally stopped by the metallic entity you see on the left of the wheel. Now you win or lose depending on which part of the wheel the metallic entity hits. E.g. it hits the red part and you have 1.000 Kip on red, you will get 20.000 Kip (1 x 20). If it hits one of those nice animals, crab or spider, you get the amount you put in multiplied by the number of crabs or spiders drawn on the part of the wheel.
As both Yuki and I have a weakness for all sorts of games, we started playing. Yuki always put his money on both of the animals, whereas I distributed it between red or yellow and one animal. And we lost, and lost... and lost. Yuki won the first round around 4.000 Kip and lost after that literally every round. I won in one round 20.000 Kip, but lost even more often before and after. There were other people losing money as well, but one guy won conspicuously often. He made at least 4 times 20.000 Kip and seem to be really lucky, after all. As both Yuki and I were about to lose all our cash and became suspicious about what was going on, suddenly a policeman showed up, took all the cash in the game and pulled the game master away. For a moment I was too perplex to react quickly, I was also not even sure if we actually had done something officially illegal (which was of course not).
At the moment I realized that the game was a scam and the wheel was rigged, it was too late and both policeman and game master were gone with the wind and had most likely devided the cash (I'm sure the guy had some sort of deal with the police). The other guy who won unnaturally much must have been his partner in order to attract new customers. We as foreigners were of course their main targets. Ashamed and defeated we still try to figure out how they could rig the wheel, since we had pulled it ourselves and we lost anyway. Was it a magnet, some sort of rope under the board? My tipp is that the metallic entity could be actually moved back and forth by a very thin transparent rope and if it's moved one milimeter it will change the outcome of the game and it can't possibly be seen by the human eye. This could have been done by the game master himself even though we watched him closely (he hardly needs to move). Whatever, if you have any other suggestion on how it might have worked please drop a comment!
Truck-Hitchhiking
Actually traveling in Laos is pretty easy and comfortable. However, sometimes it doesn't work out the way you planned.
After visiting Yuki in Savannakhet, I went on to the South of Loas, in a city called Pakse. I wanted to move on already the next day, so I asked the friendly lady at the bus station for a ticket to Hue, Vietnam tomorrow evening. She wrote it herself with date and time, I paid, everyting fine I thought.
Well, the next day I enjoyed a beautiful day motorcycling around Pakse to the largest waterfall in Laos (120 meter) and another even nicer one. Later in the day I watched the amazing What Phou Champasak, which is since 2001 an UNESCO world heritage side and definitely worth a trip, even if you are not into old temples.
From here, it started to be more fun, because the other driver who was only 23 and could speak Thai fluently joined us in our truck. With him as translater, I leaned quite a few interesting things:
- These drivers weren't as dodgy as they seemed to me first, but actually quite friendly and fun. We became best friends, exchanged phone numbers and in the end I didn't even have to pay the 80.000 Kip fee.
- In fact, they exported a coffee called Arabica, which is very common in the area around Pakse. Popular and expensive as well. Police and land owners keep bothering all truck drivers in Laos (not in Vietnam at all) and get them to pay, regardless if their documents are correct or not. The amount you'll pay depends on your bargaining skills, your time and your patience.
- I learned my first Vietnamese words, starting with "Doo Ma" which means as much as "Fuck your mother". However, they demanded that this phrase is not offensive at all and everyone uses it over there.
- In the truck drivers' opinion all Vietnamese people are unfriendly and mean.
Anyways, at 10.30 a.m. we reached the border crossing named Lao Bao, drank a nice coffee and Red Bull and had to say a sad goodbye. Five minutes later I was ripped off by the ladies that exchange money, because I didn't know the exact rates, but at least I got my stamp for Vietnam and could work my way further to Hue, where I am now.
I'm looking forward to a good shower and todays party can start I guess!
Since Friday I'm off to visit my good friend Yuki a second time in Laos and then take a look at Vietnam. The time with Yuki is always a great fun, this time we were at a trade fair, where Yuki and his colleages had a booth for their ODOP products.
 |
| Yuki is hungry as hell and kills his fried icecream. |
On this trade fair there were a couple of these gambling games, mostly quite unfair for the ones who play. In avarage you would lose 50% of your money. An exeption seemed to be the Wheel of Fortune, the chances to win seemed here even, if not favorable for the players (it's hard to tell because it is handmade as you see on the picture and so the sizes of the fields are not exactly identical)
 |
| The unfortunate Wheel of Fortune. |
As both Yuki and I have a weakness for all sorts of games, we started playing. Yuki always put his money on both of the animals, whereas I distributed it between red or yellow and one animal. And we lost, and lost... and lost. Yuki won the first round around 4.000 Kip and lost after that literally every round. I won in one round 20.000 Kip, but lost even more often before and after. There were other people losing money as well, but one guy won conspicuously often. He made at least 4 times 20.000 Kip and seem to be really lucky, after all. As both Yuki and I were about to lose all our cash and became suspicious about what was going on, suddenly a policeman showed up, took all the cash in the game and pulled the game master away. For a moment I was too perplex to react quickly, I was also not even sure if we actually had done something officially illegal (which was of course not).
At the moment I realized that the game was a scam and the wheel was rigged, it was too late and both policeman and game master were gone with the wind and had most likely devided the cash (I'm sure the guy had some sort of deal with the police). The other guy who won unnaturally much must have been his partner in order to attract new customers. We as foreigners were of course their main targets. Ashamed and defeated we still try to figure out how they could rig the wheel, since we had pulled it ourselves and we lost anyway. Was it a magnet, some sort of rope under the board? My tipp is that the metallic entity could be actually moved back and forth by a very thin transparent rope and if it's moved one milimeter it will change the outcome of the game and it can't possibly be seen by the human eye. This could have been done by the game master himself even though we watched him closely (he hardly needs to move). Whatever, if you have any other suggestion on how it might have worked please drop a comment!
Truck-Hitchhiking
Actually traveling in Laos is pretty easy and comfortable. However, sometimes it doesn't work out the way you planned.
After visiting Yuki in Savannakhet, I went on to the South of Loas, in a city called Pakse. I wanted to move on already the next day, so I asked the friendly lady at the bus station for a ticket to Hue, Vietnam tomorrow evening. She wrote it herself with date and time, I paid, everyting fine I thought.
Well, the next day I enjoyed a beautiful day motorcycling around Pakse to the largest waterfall in Laos (120 meter) and another even nicer one. Later in the day I watched the amazing What Phou Champasak, which is since 2001 an UNESCO world heritage side and definitely worth a trip, even if you are not into old temples.
 |
| Nice waterfall (forgot the name -_-) |
 |
| Enoying Loas noodle soup with 2 randomly met people. By the way, the noodle soup in Laos is called Foe and extremely delicious. The variety in Thailand is greater though. |
 |
| By ferry across the river Mekong. |
 |
| Jesus, what a view! On the top of Wat Phou. |
 |
| On my way back to Pakse by motorcycle. The road was aweful, I run out of gasoline and was late as well. In the end I arrived exactly on time 6.30 pm and got the next surpise... |
In the evening 6.30 pm I arrived at the bus station to start over to Vietnam Vietnam
So what to do next? I decided to go the whole hog and positioned myself at the street nearby and try hitchhiking. Unfortunately, it is already dark in Loas at 6.30 pm and Loas is not really the country where people go for a ride after noon. In other words, the street was completely empty. My last hope was a convoy of 2 trucks standing not too far away. And believe it or not, they were on their way to Vietnam! After a short discussion, they agreed to give me a lift to the Laos-Vietnam border for 80.000 Kip (around 8 Euro, bus was 15). Having said that we talk about a ride of more than 400 km on a Laos road this is a reasonable price and I didn't have much of a choice anyway. These guys were a little bit wary about a foreigner going alone to Vietnam and even asked for my passport but in the end we started the whole thing and I was sitting in the cockpit of the first truck between two truck drivers.
So what was the journey like? I can say it was not the most comfortable one in my life. In total, we needed more than 15 hours and the first couple of hours (in fact until 8 am next day) I felt somewhat bad about it.for a few reasons.
First, these truck drivers were quite rough persons in general. They smoked literally one cigarette every ten minutes and used the usually pretty soft sounding Lao language as if they wanted to kill some one with each sentence. One guy was quite silent and looked almost always sad or angry, the other one rather talkative and kept laughing insanely. We also had a major problem with communication, in fact I barely understood a word. Actually I don't have many language problems in Laos, because I speak Thai now fairly well and most people in Laos can speak Thai fluently. However, these two truck drivers didn't speak any Thai at all (not to mention English of course). Since Laos and Thai languages are similar (comparable to German / Dutch I guess) I could catch some phrases and words but our conversation was very limited to short small talks. I often heard the word "farang" in their conversations, which means "Westerner" so they obviously chatted about me. Would that now mean, "Let's knock this arrogant Farang out, take all cash and everything else and drop him off at the next corner?" At least it sounded like thtat, so I was a bit worried.
Second, every hour we were stopped by police or some mysterious guys and after shorter or longer discussion we had to pay a smaller or greater fee, spreading from 5.000 Kip to 50.000 Kip. So I started to wonder if these guys really transported coffee or drugs, women or anything like that.
Finally this truck was of course not quite a VIP bus and my legroom reminded me strongly on the public transport in Ghana..
Anyway exhausted by traveling I slept a good time like a baby. We also made a 3 hours break at a spot where even a hammock (Haengematte) was available.
 |
| This was my sleeping place from 1 to 4 am. It wasn't as nice as it look like though, because loads of insects kept disturbing my sleep. By the way sorry for not taking more pictures, I didn't want to offend my drivers too much.. |
 |
| On one of our countless payoff-stops. We didn't cross a village larger than 20 houses on our whole way. Mostly we were surrounded by flat land. |
Another 4 hours later, now 8 am in the next morning we reached a track spot with restaurant, actually it was more of a woodern lodge but anyway we got good soup and extremely strong Vietnamese coffee as well as Lao whiskey to start the day.
From here, it started to be more fun, because the other driver who was only 23 and could speak Thai fluently joined us in our truck. With him as translater, I leaned quite a few interesting things:
- These drivers weren't as dodgy as they seemed to me first, but actually quite friendly and fun. We became best friends, exchanged phone numbers and in the end I didn't even have to pay the 80.000 Kip fee.
- In fact, they exported a coffee called Arabica, which is very common in the area around Pakse. Popular and expensive as well. Police and land owners keep bothering all truck drivers in Laos (not in Vietnam at all) and get them to pay, regardless if their documents are correct or not. The amount you'll pay depends on your bargaining skills, your time and your patience.
- I learned my first Vietnamese words, starting with "Doo Ma" which means as much as "Fuck your mother". However, they demanded that this phrase is not offensive at all and everyone uses it over there.
- In the truck drivers' opinion all Vietnamese people are unfriendly and mean.
Anyways, at 10.30 a.m. we reached the border crossing named Lao Bao, drank a nice coffee and Red Bull and had to say a sad goodbye. Five minutes later I was ripped off by the ladies that exchange money, because I didn't know the exact rates, but at least I got my stamp for Vietnam and could work my way further to Hue, where I am now.
 |
| Eventually best friends: Enjoying a last coffee and Red Bull with my truck drivers. |
I'm looking forward to a good shower and todays party can start I guess!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Beautiful Thailand
Sai Yok Waterfalls
Even after almost a full year in Thailand there are lots of beautiful spots to discover. Together with the interns Emily und Koen (America and Belgium) plus two friends of Khwan, Tan and Of, we enjoyed a weekend in the West of Thailand, near the border to Burma.
Highligths:
Huge graveyard on our way to the waterfalls. Thousands of British, Australian and Dutch soldiers were killed by the Japanese during their WW2 invasion.
Even after almost a full year in Thailand there are lots of beautiful spots to discover. Together with the interns Emily und Koen (America and Belgium) plus two friends of Khwan, Tan and Of, we enjoyed a weekend in the West of Thailand, near the border to Burma.
Highligths:
Hot springs. The water in these basins is REALLY hot, after 10 minutes you’ll feel like dying, burning or sleeping. Fortunately nearby there was cold river to cool down.
We spent the night on a ferry and had truly delicious food for dinner, unforgettable!! And…..into the water!
Khwan looks like enjoying, doesn’t she..
Random pics
Tuesdays and Thursdays: Board gaming in the Mc Donalds near Chit Lom, huge fun even though mostly in Thai. These gamers seem to have played every single game ever produced, in every single edition.
Visiting Coca Cola Thailand together with Andy.
Huh?! Who’s that? Visit from Muenster, Germany: Basti, Nat’s boyfriend and Liza, fresh from Germany as well. After eating delicious Guai Diau, we headed over to an indie film festival. If you get bored in Bangkok, you are boring!
Wojciech, one of our interns from Poland after a bad motorcycle accident in the hospital.
One of our last meals in my old messy home. Now I live nearer to the city center and it has been taken over by 2 Indians and a Polish guy..
10 days conference in Hyderabed, India, with 700 delegates from more then 100 (!) countries. My roommates were from Malysia, Tanzania and Kenya. One highlight: Global village, all countries presented themselves at a booth and showed a typical performance.
Sightseeing in Hyderabad later on. Yet more crowded then Bangkok, most of the inhabitants are Muslims, celebrating Ramadhan in the picture. (Edit: Hyderabad expert Dave just told me that this is bullshit: The major religion is Hinudism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad,_India#Demographics)
Mumbai from the airplane.
With Khwan at the amazing Kao Yai national park. We saw not only monkeys, deers and elephants, but also a huge cobra that seemed to be quite angry and ready to bite. Luckily we could start the motorcycle quickly enough to escape!!
Yet another visa-run to Loas. I visited my Japanese friend Yuki there who used to work in AIESEC Thailand and works now for ODOP (one district one product). One example of a product is this delicious snail on the picture, supposed to taste great!
Recently I went to Loei, in the North of Thailand, on a 7 days mediation retreat. It was an experience I really don’t wanna miss. Even though we had to wake up 5 am and couldn’t eat at all after 12 pm!! The day included 4 hours of self development sessions and 5 hours of meditation. Compared to others this was quite a soft retreat (a friend from Alaska told me he was on a 10 days retreat with 10 hours mediation a day and complete silence!) . The area was in a peaceful valley surrounded by pure nature. We had two teaching and mentoring monks from the Netherlands and UK (both could speak Thai fluently. Believe it or not since then I’ve been meditating every day! You should try it out, it’s a nice way to attain happiness ;)
With Khun Ittipat, a thoughtful and empowering friend
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Think positive
Sometimes I ask myself, why am I here? I am 24 years old now and work full time in a student organization gaining a ridiculous low amount of money. My work is only rudimentally connected to my field of studies and I feel lost sometimes.
So what is the reason I'm still here?
I have the chance to live a part of my life in the most beautiful country in the world and spend time with the most beautiful girl in the world.
My team, Palita, Charmy, Zong and Dessy. Some of the brightest and greatest people I've ever met. I enjoy working with you together.
I'm young and already lead and manage an organization with 200 people.
I know people from literally all over the world. Never underestimate the power of networking.
I had the chance to shape the 5-years future of an organization together with 700 people from more than 100 countries.
I meet and negotiate with CEOs from the largest multinationals as part of my daily work.
I opened my mind and discovered perspectives I never even dreamt of one year ago. I discover myself and look in the future.
Life is full of choices. I will never regret any choice I made. Spending time for helping other people can never be a mistake.
Thank you for all people supporting me and helping me to be now where I am. In Thailand, in Germany, in Ghana and in other parts of the world. Family and friends is what matters the most to me.
In spite of everything: I miss Germany. I miss home. I miss my old and best friends. Not even 100 days and I will see you guys again. I cannot wait.
So what is the reason I'm still here?
I have the chance to live a part of my life in the most beautiful country in the world and spend time with the most beautiful girl in the world.
My team, Palita, Charmy, Zong and Dessy. Some of the brightest and greatest people I've ever met. I enjoy working with you together.
I'm young and already lead and manage an organization with 200 people.
I know people from literally all over the world. Never underestimate the power of networking.
I had the chance to shape the 5-years future of an organization together with 700 people from more than 100 countries.
I meet and negotiate with CEOs from the largest multinationals as part of my daily work.
I opened my mind and discovered perspectives I never even dreamt of one year ago. I discover myself and look in the future.
Life is full of choices. I will never regret any choice I made. Spending time for helping other people can never be a mistake.
Thank you for all people supporting me and helping me to be now where I am. In Thailand, in Germany, in Ghana and in other parts of the world. Family and friends is what matters the most to me.
In spite of everything: I miss Germany. I miss home. I miss my old and best friends. Not even 100 days and I will see you guys again. I cannot wait.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Stories from Thailand
Hi guys,
already 2.5 months back in Thailand! In June I started my 1-year term at AIESEC Thailand, a quite insane experience so far. As at the last time, scroll down to look at the pictures, if you are bored with reading exciting stories ;)
Clashes in Bangkok
Right after arriving, I got to know one of the saddest chapters in the Thai history. You might have heard about the conflict in the TV. Basically there are two policital competitors in Thailand, called Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts. The Yellow Shirts support currently the government, while the Red Shirts wanted to overturn the government in the last months.
For weeks, the red shirts blocked the Thanon Ratchadamri, one of the biggest and most important street in Bangkok and claimed the area as law-free zone. To keep away police and army, they built a wall of wheels and woodern sticks. From this base they organized protests that ended in many cases bloody, like one in Silom (inner city): two granades were thrown at a subway station right at noon, 2 people died.
Quite scary for us, since our office is a 5 minutes walk away from the closed area and on our way to the office we passed army with machine guns and protestors against the red shirts selling Thai flags, pipes etc. At the end of May the government stormed the law-free area with army forces. As a result the violence escalated and the red shirts occupied several places in Bangkok and burned down the Central World, one of the largest Shopping Mall right in the center of Bangkok. At this time there was a national curfew and no one of us was allowed to leave our houses before 9 pm.
Central World after the clashes.
Center One burned down as well.
During these time I started to use Twitter, I never took it very serious before, but with this tool you get the latest news minutes after, with photos, videos. Also this map was very helpful to see which areas where dangerous to go lately.
To stay in Bangkok at this time was not as dangerous as many poeple all over the world thought (scared by the news in TV), but still it was a scary and sad feeling to drive in the bus and see smoke and burning houses. We all hope this will never happen again, the political situation remains unclear though and in some provinces (not Bangkok) there is state of emergency.
The Thailand-India-Ivory Coast Story
I don't know wheater to laugh or to cry about this story. A guy from Ivory Coast (West Africa) staying in India contacted me a month ago to apply for an internship AIESEC is responsible for. Actually I was happy to talk to a guy so near to Ghana (he even used to live in Ghana). But then things turned worse.
The normal process to apply for an internship is to have an interview by Skype or phone between the candidates and the company and after the company accepted, the candidate books a flight and comes to the country.
But this guy couldn't wait and booked the flight immediately without having an interview or any backup plan. I told him before, it will be not easy for you to find a job quickly in Thailand, if you don't get this internship. His reply was, I'm the right person for this internship, I will get the job.
One week later I met him the first time in person. I remember the time, it was 2.20 pm. We had a lunch and talked about this and that and eventually he told me:
He: "Good news, at 3 pm I have an interview with the company" (I was fairly surprised, usually the interviews are arranged through AIESEC)
Me: "Wow cool! At which day?"
He: "It will be by today!"
Me: "What??? Where is it??" (It was 2.40 pm)
He: "I don't know exatly, somewhere around here:..." (he showed me his notes saying the company is at the other end of the town)
Me: "You never gonna make it till 3 pm, you will be at least 30 minutes left"
He: "No problem, they will understand it!"
I coudnt quite believe it, because this was his only very good chance to keep staying and have a nice time in Thailand! 4 days later it was clear that he didn't get the job. We tried to help him out and get him another job at a school in Bangkok (English teaching). We even arranged him an interview at 9 am with the director of this school. At the evening before I talked to him, that was the first time I became really angry. He told me he will not be able to make it at 9 am, because the traffic in Bangkok is so bad ha would have to wake up 5 am, etc. etc. I mean, this was his last chance to get a job in Thailand, and he demanded his 10 hours sleep in the night!?
So we cancelled the interview and I predicted him that was the last time I helped him.
2 weeks later he called me another time, telling me he wanted to fly back to India (and then back to Ivory Coast) and have a guess what happened? HE MISSED HIS FLIGHT, because of "bad traffic"!.....That is it so far, updates follow.
Lost-My-Wallet-Story
Arghhh! Some of my friends back in Münster or Tübingen might know it: I lose my wallet regularly, but I was amazingly lucky in the last years and always got it somehow back, by friendly foreigners, by myself or by the government.
Losing the wallet in a bus in Thailand, is a mistake you shouldnt make though. However I managed to leave it and seconds after getting off I realized it and took a taxi immediately. Unfortunetely the driver coudn't speak any English, so it took a while to explain him with my poor Thai to follow the orange bus number 77! As he realized it he run scared as well and accelerated massively. That might be the reason why he took the wrong way at the next intersection.
My situation was not the best at the moment: Now I realized that I had no money to pay the driver, my mobile phone had ran out of credit and the key for my house was in the wallet by the way (plus credit card, cash, driver licence and a couple of other cards).
The driver was the best example of Thai friendliness though: He understood that I didn't have money and switched the meter of. He even drove me through the half city for free to a bus station where I could try to catch up this unholy orange 77 bus and search for my wallet in there. (I noted the driver's phone number to call him later)
After two ours stopping busses and searching desperately for my wallet, I gave up. Luckily Khwan had called me in the meantime and we went home and called Pete in Germany to lock my credit card.
On 11 pm I got a call: "I have found your wallet, can you come to Mo Chit?"
Oh my god!! Lucky again! The bus driver had found the wallet and besides that he waited 2 hours for us to pick up the wallet, I love Thai honesty.. I even had to almost force him to take a couple of Baht as appreciation..
Visa Run in Laos
In order to renew my visa, I have to leave the country every 3 month. I have to admin it's a little bit annoying, but fun at the same time! Last month I went with Khwan to Laos, here some pictures:
Market in Laos. The food is similar like in Thailand, for me slightly less delicious though. Highlight: Cheap and excellent Laos Beer!
Yet another must-try: Grilled frogs! The meet itself is crab to be honest, but they filled the stomach with some herbs, which were awesome.
Kanuing at an amazing landscape
One highlight of the trip: Around 20 meter high swing over the river, after enjoying a flight in the air, the jump in the cold water is still pretty high and can hurt! Surpise: Even Khwan dared to fly a couple of times ;)
MC at AIESEC
Right after arriving from Ghana, I started my incredible work as MC at AIESEC. It is hard to describe this work properly, it is extremely challenging and unique, that's what I can say for sure after the first 2 months. If it is meet big companies (e.g. Coca Cola, Electrolux, HSBC, Reckitt Benckiser, Nielsen,...), facilitate training for and coaching our members, analysing the organization and planning the next year, organize and promote our next National Conference, developing new products, etc., there is no time to get bored.
I have a wonderful team as well, Charmy, Aum and Zong from Thailand and Dessy from Indonesia.
Fun at the office: On the right Dessy, then myself with a bad-taste-but-cool-shirt, Aum, Andy, Earth and Troy.
Headache topic: Work Permit and Visa Training at Chulalongkorn University
Board Games at Battlefield Bangkok
Some of my friends might know, I love to play each kind of board games, preferably the ones who last 8 hours minimum and are played by real gamers (freaks) :D
After month of total game abstinence I found my paradise: The only (!) gamer shop in Bangkok, and I bet it's the only one in Thailand as well: Battlefield Bangkok. Usually Thai people are neither big book readers nor big board game players, this shop is an exception. Every weekend you can find lots of both Thai and expacts to compete against eachother playing all different kinds of games.
Our second session there was Twilight Imperium, a really nice game, we used to play that back in Muenster as well a couple of times. Even though we couldn't finish I loved it so much and will repeat it definetely soon!
already 2.5 months back in Thailand! In June I started my 1-year term at AIESEC Thailand, a quite insane experience so far. As at the last time, scroll down to look at the pictures, if you are bored with reading exciting stories ;)
Clashes in Bangkok
Right after arriving, I got to know one of the saddest chapters in the Thai history. You might have heard about the conflict in the TV. Basically there are two policital competitors in Thailand, called Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts. The Yellow Shirts support currently the government, while the Red Shirts wanted to overturn the government in the last months.
For weeks, the red shirts blocked the Thanon Ratchadamri, one of the biggest and most important street in Bangkok and claimed the area as law-free zone. To keep away police and army, they built a wall of wheels and woodern sticks. From this base they organized protests that ended in many cases bloody, like one in Silom (inner city): two granades were thrown at a subway station right at noon, 2 people died.
Quite scary for us, since our office is a 5 minutes walk away from the closed area and on our way to the office we passed army with machine guns and protestors against the red shirts selling Thai flags, pipes etc. At the end of May the government stormed the law-free area with army forces. As a result the violence escalated and the red shirts occupied several places in Bangkok and burned down the Central World, one of the largest Shopping Mall right in the center of Bangkok. At this time there was a national curfew and no one of us was allowed to leave our houses before 9 pm.
Central World after the clashes.
Center One burned down as well.
During these time I started to use Twitter, I never took it very serious before, but with this tool you get the latest news minutes after, with photos, videos. Also this map was very helpful to see which areas where dangerous to go lately.
To stay in Bangkok at this time was not as dangerous as many poeple all over the world thought (scared by the news in TV), but still it was a scary and sad feeling to drive in the bus and see smoke and burning houses. We all hope this will never happen again, the political situation remains unclear though and in some provinces (not Bangkok) there is state of emergency.
The Thailand-India-Ivory Coast Story
I don't know wheater to laugh or to cry about this story. A guy from Ivory Coast (West Africa) staying in India contacted me a month ago to apply for an internship AIESEC is responsible for. Actually I was happy to talk to a guy so near to Ghana (he even used to live in Ghana). But then things turned worse.
The normal process to apply for an internship is to have an interview by Skype or phone between the candidates and the company and after the company accepted, the candidate books a flight and comes to the country.
But this guy couldn't wait and booked the flight immediately without having an interview or any backup plan. I told him before, it will be not easy for you to find a job quickly in Thailand, if you don't get this internship. His reply was, I'm the right person for this internship, I will get the job.
One week later I met him the first time in person. I remember the time, it was 2.20 pm. We had a lunch and talked about this and that and eventually he told me:
He: "Good news, at 3 pm I have an interview with the company" (I was fairly surprised, usually the interviews are arranged through AIESEC)
Me: "Wow cool! At which day?"
He: "It will be by today!"
Me: "What??? Where is it??" (It was 2.40 pm)
He: "I don't know exatly, somewhere around here:..." (he showed me his notes saying the company is at the other end of the town)
Me: "You never gonna make it till 3 pm, you will be at least 30 minutes left"
He: "No problem, they will understand it!"
I coudnt quite believe it, because this was his only very good chance to keep staying and have a nice time in Thailand! 4 days later it was clear that he didn't get the job. We tried to help him out and get him another job at a school in Bangkok (English teaching). We even arranged him an interview at 9 am with the director of this school. At the evening before I talked to him, that was the first time I became really angry. He told me he will not be able to make it at 9 am, because the traffic in Bangkok is so bad ha would have to wake up 5 am, etc. etc. I mean, this was his last chance to get a job in Thailand, and he demanded his 10 hours sleep in the night!?
So we cancelled the interview and I predicted him that was the last time I helped him.
2 weeks later he called me another time, telling me he wanted to fly back to India (and then back to Ivory Coast) and have a guess what happened? HE MISSED HIS FLIGHT, because of "bad traffic"!.....That is it so far, updates follow.
Lost-My-Wallet-Story
Arghhh! Some of my friends back in Münster or Tübingen might know it: I lose my wallet regularly, but I was amazingly lucky in the last years and always got it somehow back, by friendly foreigners, by myself or by the government.
Losing the wallet in a bus in Thailand, is a mistake you shouldnt make though. However I managed to leave it and seconds after getting off I realized it and took a taxi immediately. Unfortunetely the driver coudn't speak any English, so it took a while to explain him with my poor Thai to follow the orange bus number 77! As he realized it he run scared as well and accelerated massively. That might be the reason why he took the wrong way at the next intersection.
My situation was not the best at the moment: Now I realized that I had no money to pay the driver, my mobile phone had ran out of credit and the key for my house was in the wallet by the way (plus credit card, cash, driver licence and a couple of other cards).
The driver was the best example of Thai friendliness though: He understood that I didn't have money and switched the meter of. He even drove me through the half city for free to a bus station where I could try to catch up this unholy orange 77 bus and search for my wallet in there. (I noted the driver's phone number to call him later)
After two ours stopping busses and searching desperately for my wallet, I gave up. Luckily Khwan had called me in the meantime and we went home and called Pete in Germany to lock my credit card.
On 11 pm I got a call: "I have found your wallet, can you come to Mo Chit?"
Oh my god!! Lucky again! The bus driver had found the wallet and besides that he waited 2 hours for us to pick up the wallet, I love Thai honesty.. I even had to almost force him to take a couple of Baht as appreciation..
Visa Run in Laos
In order to renew my visa, I have to leave the country every 3 month. I have to admin it's a little bit annoying, but fun at the same time! Last month I went with Khwan to Laos, here some pictures:
Kanuing at an amazing landscape
One highlight of the trip: Around 20 meter high swing over the river, after enjoying a flight in the air, the jump in the cold water is still pretty high and can hurt! Surpise: Even Khwan dared to fly a couple of times ;)
MC at AIESEC
Right after arriving from Ghana, I started my incredible work as MC at AIESEC. It is hard to describe this work properly, it is extremely challenging and unique, that's what I can say for sure after the first 2 months. If it is meet big companies (e.g. Coca Cola, Electrolux, HSBC, Reckitt Benckiser, Nielsen,...), facilitate training for and coaching our members, analysing the organization and planning the next year, organize and promote our next National Conference, developing new products, etc., there is no time to get bored.
I have a wonderful team as well, Charmy, Aum and Zong from Thailand and Dessy from Indonesia.
Headache topic: Work Permit and Visa Training at Chulalongkorn University
Board Games at Battlefield Bangkok
Some of my friends might know, I love to play each kind of board games, preferably the ones who last 8 hours minimum and are played by real gamers (freaks) :D
After month of total game abstinence I found my paradise: The only (!) gamer shop in Bangkok, and I bet it's the only one in Thailand as well: Battlefield Bangkok. Usually Thai people are neither big book readers nor big board game players, this shop is an exception. Every weekend you can find lots of both Thai and expacts to compete against eachother playing all different kinds of games.
Our second session there was Twilight Imperium, a really nice game, we used to play that back in Muenster as well a couple of times. Even though we couldn't finish I loved it so much and will repeat it definetely soon!
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