Weihnachten, Prüfungen und das Ende des Semesters

Hello everyone. As some of you may know, Thomas and I are currently in Taiwan visiting Thomas' brother Matthias. I am taking the time here to report on the period between the last entry and the end of the semester. Cambodia and a small update on the current situation will follow...

On December 6th, the CDHAW end-of-year celebration took place, which also served as the welcome event for the first-year students. A group of 6 students led the evening. The two people on the left in the picture are Mortiz and Caroline, who are also doing a double bachelor's degree. There were some speeches and performances by the different clubs of Tongji University. It was a mixture of dance, theater, and singing and very interesting overall. Unfortunately, the majority was in Chinese and nothing was translated into German. With my Chinese course, we also made our contribution and sang the song '朋友' (péngyou) together with the president of the CDHAW at the beginning, which is a song that almost everyone in China knows and many people in the room sang along.

In addition, we supported Stephanie and her friend during their performance at the event. We know them because they have a café outside the campus and often cater for the CDHAW. They always have incredibly delicious food there.

Then Thomas, Matthias, and I went to the Christmas market at the Zeitgeist Restaurant in the center of Shanghai. It was quite small and cozy, but it got crowded in the evening, as you can see in the picture. We had some food and drank mulled wine, even though it didn't quite feel like Christmas yet because it was still warm. We also met two Chinese girls who want to study in Germany and they approached us in very good German. I'm curious if I will see them again when I get back home because they were considering studying German as a foreign language in Jena.

Then there was another Company Tour at Marquardt. This company produces, among other things, the multifunction buttons on VW steering wheels. We were given a guided tour of the production and office spaces, which I found very interesting. We also had personal conversations with each employee about possible internships, and since Marquardt personally plans and builds the production lines, they would have been a great fit for me. Unfortunately, they took too long to make me an offer, so I had to decline.

While the other Chinese courses used their last session for exam preparation, we cooked dumplings. This is one of the most typical Chinese dishes and is comparable to tortellini. Our teachers and some staff from the International Office showed us how to do it, and everyone helped and ate together. It was a nice way to end the lectures.

On the last weekend before Christmas, we went to the Porsche Christmas market at the Porsche Experience Center near the Shanghai Circuit, where the Formula 1 Grand Prix takes place in the summer. The market was similar to the Zeitgeist Christmas market because it was organized by the same organizer, but we could also walk around the building a bit, and the focus was mainly on the presentation of the new Porsche 911 Turbo, which we also got to ride in as passengers. The course consisted of straight sections, slaloms, and a bit of drifting. It was a lot of fun, and we were pressed into the seat quite strongly, especially during the start from a standing position, which was so powerful that my phone flew out of my hand and the video mostly shows the bottom of my seat.

Our December 24th looked a bit different this year than what we were used to. We had to submit the paper for Green Manufacturing early at 8 a.m., and after lunch, we had the Control Design exam. Only then could we think about Christmas. I received a Christmas package from Lisa and my mother with a few gifts, cookies, a stollen, and many other sweets, which I could finally finish unwrapping. But no one really felt Christmassy because the actual exams were still ahead, and there wasn't much time to think about other things. The most Christmassy things were the music playing while studying and the cookies we ate. In the evening of the 24th, I spent time with Thomas, Matthias, and Sebastian at the Teppanyaki restaurant and then at Bar Rouge.

On December 25th, we finally managed to organize the Feuerzangenbowle, as Thomas had ordered sugar cones from Germany. We made ourselves comfortable in Matthias' room with a projector, the stollen, lots of wine, and other sweets and watched the movie. It was a successful distraction and a relaxing evening.

On December 26th, the CDHAW organized a Christmas dinner for us at Hacker-Pschorr in the city center. There was live music, free drinks, and a large buffet with dumplings, schnitzel, salads, spaetzle, red cabbage, and pretty much everything that many of us had been missing for a long time.

Thomas and I celebrated New Year's Eve with Matthias, Alex, and Lino at the Boxing Cat Brewery in the Xintiandi district in downtown Shanghai. There was live music, delicious burgers, and good ales. So our evening was mainly spent eating, drinking, and playing cards. Around 3 o'clock, we were kicked out, and luckily we had booked a hotel nearby because the taxi line consisted of about 100 people. So we walked about half an hour in a slightly tipsy state until we reached the hotel and finally could sleep.

On January 6th, we had our last exam in AMT. Afterward, we were really glad to finally be done with all the nonsense, and I was especially happy because the next evening I finally went to Germany. But before that, we had to celebrate properly one last time. Since many people still had exams in the following days and the rest of the mechatronics students weren't interested, it ended up being just Sophie, Tiago, and me. We went to the Beehive in the city, which had just opened recently, and the party there was really good. In the end, we arrived back home at 6 o'clock.

On January 7th, I flew to Germany, where I stayed for about 2 weeks to see my girlfriend, family, and friends again because I had missed them all so much after such a long time. On January 23rd, I had to leave Germany with a heavy heart and boarded a flight to Cambodia with Thomas to spend some vacation time there before the internships in China started. But as we all know, things turned out a little differently than we had anticipated...

Sophie flew to Harbin 哈尔滨市 in northern China on the same day to see the Ice Festival there. Afterward, she went on a tour of Tibet (see picture).

Thomas went hiking with Alex and Lino in Zhangjiajie 张家界市 in the Avatar Mountains (see picture). They also visited the Three Gorges Dam Sānxiá Dàbà 三峡大壩 and ended up in Chongqing 重庆市 in the hot springs.

As mentioned before, none of us were particularly in the Christmas spirit this year, and even New Year's Eve was somehow different than usual. We mainly had our exams on our minds or had to prepare for some presentations. The latter kept us busy especially in the 2 weeks leading up to December 24th. In the end, each of us passed all the exams successfully, and we are satisfied and happy that it's over. Looking back, I realized that I could have invested significantly less time in studying and should have taken the opportunity to explore the country instead. It's a shame that we learned almost nothing in terms of academics this semester, but the overall experience is just as important, and the trip was definitely worth it.

In this sense, I wish all readers a happy new year and thank you once again for reading this blog :)

written by: Friedemann