Samata Shrestha shares beautiful memories from her short visit to Germany

I thought I woke up in wonderland. The houses were so neatly arranged in the midst of greenery that it looked so surreal from up above. I had flown some thousand miles to attend Summer Camp in Jacobs University. It was summer but felt like dead winter in Bremen. Plus, the rain was unpredictable. But I was overwhelmed that I was going to spend 14 more days in Germany.

The very next day, we went to Accelor Mittal. It is a steel company which also manufactures steel for Mercedes Benz. We were geared up in coats, headphones, goggles and caps for safety. The factory was immense and the work carried on spontaneously. We then headed towards the cafeteria where we were warmly greeted. When we got back to our dormitory, it was 10 pm but the sun had not set. That was kind of amusing to me.

I had the opportunity to travel to a small city called Groningen in Netherlands too. After four hours on a bus, we arrived in the city of bicycles. Tall and fair people dominated the windy land. At the top floor of Martini tower, some 260 steps up, the wind literally knocked us down. Then after the wind and rain, we had some peaceful time on a boat. I was surprised to see that people lived in boats too but it was not ordinary boats. Some were decorated with flowers, had functioning washing machines and in one of the boats, a guy was playing his guitar.

Hamburg is a bustling industrial city. We visited the fish market and gorged on fresh sea food. Then after our stomachs were full, we visited Miniature Wonderland where one could see the Grand Canyon or the City of Berlin. Everything was so small yet so precise that I pondered upon the time spent to make those realistic miniatures of almost everything which ranged from trains, airplanes (which was actually moving!), people, the sea et cetera.

Among all the cities I visited, Bremerhaven was my favourite. I loved the city for its museums — Klimahaus and German

Emigration Centre. The names may sound boring, and not all find the idea of visiting museums exciting but I loved every second of it. Inside the museum, we got to see, hear, smell and feel the places that were presented in the Klimahaus. It is a place that gives a real time experience about different climatic zones. The temperature was minus six degrees in the Antarctic region whereas when I travelled to Niger, it was a boiling 30 degree Celsius.

German Emigration Centre was more like a quest than a visit. In the name of Paul Lemke, I had to find him, and extract information about him. The characters were in fact real and the setting of the museum was precise and lively. Then the moment I was waiting for finally arrived — me by the sea. Raised in Nepal, I  always fantasised to be by the sea side. The endless boundary of the North Sea and the sunset still lingers in my memory.

Bremen downtown is perhaps the coolest place for shopping. However, I did most of my shopping at Rossmann because you get everything there and that too at cheap rates. Munching on waffles, we strolled around downtown absorbing the beautiful scenery. We had to take it all as the very next day we were shifting to Berlin!

Berlin was the other extreme of Bremen. It was so hot that we plunged into the river as soon as we arrived. We arrived at Berlin for a sailing course. It was a three day sailing course for us to inculcate the values of team work, mutual understanding and learn to be calm in nerve racking situations.

Our boat overturned but we turned the boat over and climbed back in it. It was a huge feat to accomplish which was only possible because we stayed calm. Most importantly, we learnt the technical aspects of sailing such as setting up the sail. We learnt different techniques of sailing such as trimming, reefing and even heeling.

Then in the afternoon, we visited the Reichstag building and learnt more about the constitution and history of Germany. We clicked some selfies at the famous Berlin Wall.

Soon my journey came to an end and with a heavy heart, I got on the plane taking as much  German air as possible. My heart was breaking.

Finally I was back in Nepal. My very first foreign trip wasone of a kind. Europe should definitely be on every traveller’s list.