Student Exchange to Europe- Journey of a Lifetime- Part 1!
This is the first of a three-part series covering my student exchange journey to Europe in my MBA at IIM Calcutta.
I will like to shift gears a bit this week and talk about another topic very close to my heart- Traveling and exploring new places! I mean who does not love that. It is food for the soul, fuel for the mind and nostalgia for the heart :)
I plan to write a three-part series this time around on my student exchange experience to Europe somewhere around this time last year. As few of my juniors embark on this ‘one hell of an experience’ this might pump them up further and help me reminisce and think back on my most treasured memories!
I wrote this travel journal during my last week in Bordeaux France and republish it here.
So yes it is rightly said, all good things do sadly come to an end. As I sit in my cozy apartment in Bordeaux, France on the second last day of my exchange I pen down my thoughts and remember about the most beautiful moments in the past 4 months. So let’s begin!
Let’s rewind back to 4 months earlier when I was taking the flight from Delhi to Paris. With a whole group of Joka folks at the airport, it felt familiar although there was ample nervousness plus the excitement of living in a completely different continent far away from home for the next 4 months!! But as mentioned by our seniors and professors it would be a life changing experience and I was looking forward to having a wonderful time.
So we reached Paris in the evening, a good 5-hour delay thanks to Kuwait Airways! We had planned to reach our place in Bordeaux, 2 hours from Paris in the night itself. However navigating the entire Paris airport to search for the train station, activating our Eurail pass and finally finding out an English speaking fellow to explain our predicament itself took a couple of hours (sigh). All this meant that we missed our last train to Bordeaux and had to spend the night in Paris Airport itself. Oh boy, what a perfect start to the Eurotrip!! Most of the food shops had closed down and it was a relief to have packed home food to survive the night. I also found the food to be scarily expensive at the few open shops in the Airport as I was still in the mode of converting every item to Indian Rupee and evaluating its worth :p
Some initial wonders were also discovered that you could drink water from almost any tap and even from toilets! (Yes first-timers, the water system is that efficient and well maintained here) Thankfully we reached our Bordeaux train station successfully and the Melting Potes team (cultural team) from the college came to greet us and take us to our accommodation.
Our accommodation was on the 12th floor and looked superb considering the rent and its proximity to the college. Moreover, we pleasantly found out that our host would be traveling for the next 2 months which meant freedom to sleep anywhere, eat anytime and invite friends when we wanted to!
On our first day in Bordeaux, we went to explore our college, Kedge. It is then that we realized the true worth of internet and how absolutely dependent we all have become on it. For a 30 min walk from our place, we got lost multiple times, took directions from a few English speaking folks and walked a good 7–10kms for a couple of hours. But we did manage to find our college in the end and completed all the necessary orientation formalities!. The melting potes team again welcomed us in a very warm and friendly way to college and briefed us on important things for our stay in Bordeaux. All done and dusted it was time to start exploring Europe in style. Our first stop, well no doubt, it was the beautiful and romantic city of Paris :)
Trip 1: The Orientation ‘Paris’
Having got our Eurail pass activated, I and my flatmate were fueled up to explore Europe at nominal rail fares.
I set up the itinerary on the train for exploring Paris in 2 days. A goof up happened while visiting the Palace of Versailles where we accidentally went to Gare du Versailles which apparently was quite a distance from the Palace :p
Some of the great highlights from the trip include the Louvre which is great and extensive, to say the least. Art lovers can easily roam around for a couple of days here. I saw the famous and crowded ‘Mona Lisa’ although there are much better lesser appreciated paintings in the same room itself.
Palace of Versailles was visited the next day:p and the Royal Gardens were indeed splendid and breathtaking, so neatly maintained and impeccable layout. We lazed around at the Garden which had a beautiful stream running in front with families chilling out. It was a perfect place to relax and introspect.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the magnificent Eiffel Tower. We went there in the evening early enough to experience it both in the daylight and then as the sun set to experience its splendor. The lights show which runs for a couple of minutes after 9 pm is terrific, to say the least. It was also great to see many Indians selling beer and liquor around the place and competing amongst themselves on who sold more and the costliest ones! (guess the competitive spirit among Indians is inborn :p)
Things missed for next time: Disneyland (seriously man!!) And Catacombs
Trip 2: The Country Hoppers- Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels, Oslo, Stavanger
The weeklong break before the beginning of our course was to be utilized to the fullest and we planned to explore 3 countries!
First up we went to Bruges and it was one of the prettiest and most scenic places to visit on our trip. It is a small town and the entire place can be covered by walking which is more advisable. The lovely canals and streams complemented the beauty of this surreal place.
We ate some tasty waffles with whipped cream here (Bruges and Brussels are famous for waffles and chocolates). The place was full of them everywhere making it hard to keep our sweet teeth in check!
Our place of stay Charlie Rockets was also one of the most happening hostels with the majority of the other hostels being on the quieter side. Took the awesome canal ride here which is a must do. Next stop was Brussels, the most developed city in Europe but I frankly did not like the place much and it fell below expectations. The best thing here was probably Delirium Café where a group of us went to party. Quite a few of my friends got drunk, slipped and fell on chairs at the Café (hilarious!) and had to be taken back:p. Nevertheless, it was a pretty eventful night! We visited Parliamentarium the next day, the place where high-end dignitaries and officials of EU meet to discuss important policy affairs and stuff. The adjoining museum to it was an absolute marvel where technology has been so elegantly blended to add to the richness and heritage of the place and give visitors a time travel. Almost a day can be spent here easily and I wish I had more time to explore it better.
Things missed out on: Nothing noteworthy
Post this our next stop was the holy Amsterdam! The best place on this planet :) Having visited it twice, I feel that the place serves as a model example for other countries on how if you allow all the so-considered ‘bad things’ in society such as marijuana, hash, prostitution, but regulate it effectively, it is a win-win for the government, citizens and tourists. At first, it was surprising to see that ‘coffee shops’ sold all sorts of joints, space cake, and anything but coffee. There is also a Hash, Marijuana and Hemp museum for the weed lovers.
We met one of our college friends who was studying in Amsterdam one of the nights and lo and behold it was a night to remember. Took the canal ride here too and visited the much famed ‘I Amsterdam’.
Things missed out on: Anne Frank Huis (tried twice argh!)
Our last stop on this trip was to Norway. I remember a giant polar bear in a standing position greeting us as we came out of the Airport evoking a mix of curiosity and warm fuzziness.
Oslo was a nice place although expensive but what was truly a marvel is the lovely place called Stavanger. We had booked a beautiful cottage here for 2 days and the entire surrounding area was so picturesque that it is hard not to fall in love with the place! I remember that looking outside the window from our cottage resembled the idyllic countryside scenery we used to paint in school with greenery all around, warm sun, sheep grazing, horses relaxing and peace and serenity enveloping the place. If I had the ability like Voldemort I would have left one of my Horcruxes there just to be glad that a part of me still lived there (sorry non- Harry Potter fans).
One of the places to plan a retirement home indeed!! I also took my first cruise ride in a majestic white beauty en route to Pulpit Rock. Although the trek to Pulpit was arduous once we reached there it was a divine surreal beauty. Words cannot do justice to the place and it is best left to experience and get awestruck.
Things missed out on: Atlantic Road, Kjeragbolten, and Trolltunga
To be continued…
