Hell of a week

I’ve been pretty busy this week, I had to find a place to stay, I had a party with my colleagues, I talked several hours with different people, found out my housemate is a better photographer than me, walked a gigantic dog and did several other things all of which were at least somewhat pleasant. But finally I have some time to share it all with you.

On wednesday we had a barbecue party at the office to celebrate the launch of www.man.eu. Some time ago I was very skeptical about mixing professional and personal life. Acutally I was still skeptical last week when I was in Poland. But here I don’t know too many (any that is ;) people and the guys at work will be my company for half a year or so. Besides… I really like them. I didn’t have a chance to have a meaningful conversation with all of them yet, but the ones I have had the conversation are really nice. And the party was really sweet - delicious food, German beer, gin & tonic, fun people.

I must confess I meet very, very nice people here. I don’t know if it’s because I am a foreigner or because they are like that, it doesn’t matter to me. The fact is I speak to different people all the time here, and I really like it. They seem to be interested in me and I am interested in them and their culture.

There are some really nice things about the company, besides the people. For example a “no noise” policy. There are basically two kinds of computers people have there. These are either gorgeous 24″ iMacs or IBM Thinkpad X-series. The very fist day I got there I was given a regular PC but after a couple of houres I was presented a X31. After a day or so I asked why do I use the laptop and not the PC and I was answerd that it made too much noise. [Obviously each and every laptop guy and girl has a docking station, regular mouse, keyboard and a monitor] I also like the fact that people there don’t usually talk. They work ;-) But if they are having their break they usually grab a cup of espresso or latte macchiatto and go to sit on the terrace and have a chat. Things like Illy coffee or cane sugar are standard at the company. The same thing goes with free Cocacola, but this is something I steer off from as I don’t intend to get fat anytime soon.

I live in a house in the suburbs of Munich. The place is called Greafelfing, it’s about 11km from downtown Munich, it’s still the first zone, circle no. 4*. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to Tuerkenstrasse 55, not bad at all I think. About 10 minutes walk to the Graefelfing train station (der Bahnhof), then about 20 minutes ride with the S6 S-bahn (fast suburban train), then I switch to U3 or U6 U-bahn on the Marienplatz train station, just 2 stops with the subway and I get off at the Universitaet station. Then two blocks walk and I’m done. No hassle, no trafic jams, I just have to get something to read in the S-bahn.

The room costs me around 320EUR, which is a bit much considering its standard and the distance to Munich. At least I think it’s a bit much, but I might be wrong. Yeah, the standards is a bit low, but there are all three things I asked for, that is, a bed, a washing machine and Internet access. But I’ll stay there just 6 weeks and I’ll have to move somewhere else, so I’ll amount to 6 different places to live in within one year.

I never lived in suburbs so it’s a really new experience for me. And I guess I like it. Right now I’m sitting in my garden, with my laptop on my laps, listen to music and write this blog post. Sweet. And all those surrounding here, really, really nice. This is kind of a place I would like my kids to grow up I think.

Yesterday I went jogging with my housemates. But it was not the jogging that was cool, but the place we jogged in. It was a really, really large park, more like a forest really. Part of the park is totally dark (we went jogging at about 10PM) and it’s quite an experience to jog in total darkness. BTW, lots of people jog in Germany. Maybe not in total darkness, but still.

And this whole ecology and health thing is a big deal here, which is very good. We’ve got 4 different trash cans and there is a special law that defines what can be called ecological food. In the same fashion I got an ecological fabric bag to bring my food home.

I’ve been here one week and so many things had happened. Apparently this whole idea about the internship was one of the best I had in some time. It feels more like a time off work and not the work itself. I am aware that it’s because everything is so new to me and eventually the novelty will wear off, but for now I am having hell of a time.

* Munich metropolitan area is divided into 4 zones, each of them into 4 circles. I guess anything outside of zone 1 is not really Munich anymore, as I live in circle no. 4 and it’s not Munich anymore I think.