15/07 Mannheim, Germany

Today was my last day in Mannheim but I still had not finished packing yet. I went to Wasseturm to buy clothes in Zara as it was on sale!! Then, around 2100, I got off at Altefeuerwache to walked to the river side. I sat down and wrote postcards to my friends before going back to Hong Kong. Swans were there as well!! The sunset was nice. It was so good to do simple things, write postcards and appreciate the beauty of sunset in Mannheim.

 
Time really flies.

All in all, I cannot believe my dream ultimately comes true. This 6-month exchange life in Germany undoubtedly started a brand new page of my life. I was exposed to so many new things and also challenges in these few months, which could never be experienced in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was a very hectic city and its fast-pace of life had been suffocating me for so long. I always wanted to escape from this freaking hectic life to find a heaven where I could inhale fresh air of relaxation, freedom and tranquility. Finally I made it and Germany became my home during my exchange. Germany brought me a multitude of fantastic memory that I will never forget in my whole life.
During my exchange, I explored thousands of things. Everything in Europe was a challenge to me because many things are outside of my comfort zone and I had to try to put aside my usual life in Hong Kong and accept new things on my own. If I did not do it, I would be the same and nothing was going to change on myself.

First, to people like me whose second language is English, it is quite hard to learn German. In fact, German is very different from English as it highly emphasizes the gender difference of every noun and its grammar is so complicated that people from Asia find it very challenging to learn. Nevertheless, I believe I will still keep learning German in Hong Kong even though there are mot many opportunities to learn and practice but knowing one more foreign language can improve my competitiveness for the future and also it may come in handy one day too.       

Second, my planning skill is improved greatly.  Before travelling, I needed to arrange how many days I should spend on each city, which hostel was cheaper but acceptable, well located, which transportation mode should be taken from one place too another place under consideration of price, duration, accessibility etc. and then bought tickets few weeks in advance as they were cheaper. During travel, if any of my plans went wrong, I had to make adjustments to try to stick to the old plan. And it was very common that sometimes only you wanted to go to certain country and the fear of going alone may make you turn it down. But, I did not mind going alone because you may explore more things than with company and I always uphold my belief that life is short that I have to make best of it and try different things even without company. That’s why I chose to go to Iceland alone. This trip brought us to magnificent natural landscapes that I will never forget in my life.

In short, I did not take it for granted as so far what I have achieved and experienced in the past 6 months was attributed to my continuing effort since admission to Community College. Nevertheless, if PolyU did not offer me this valuable opportunity, I believe nothing would have changed on me and I would feel proud of myself. Thank you PolyU!

I love Germany !!! :)