What an amazing odyssey....

Well...i know its been ages since i have written..and i guess the major reason was that during exchange there was so much to do..to travel to see to experience..that blogging appeared extremely mundane...even wen i was at 66 guisanstrasse (my address at st gallen..) i was busy doing things..and hence had never the patience to contemplate and pen down the amazing and totally varied experiences i have had over the three month period..sometimes unexpected sometimes well planned but every time totally enjoyable!

So now that i finally do have the time and the patience to write about the period from september 11 (yes thats the day wen i left iimb to start my exchange journey...nevermind the fact that the first ten days were spent in the comforting environs of home) to december 15...i am wondering how to begin...

on one hand i was thinking of writing out a chronological sequence of events..as and when they happened so that my memory also remains refreshed and on the other hand there was the urge to first quickly write about the happenings which were the most unusual and memorable at the same time...

however somewhere in my head i have the notion that unless i stick to a datewise sequence i may actually forget some stuff and that thought is scary..so i shall follow the tried and tested method and bring out an orderly recollection of my exchange experience...

but just to quickly recap...i visited 10 countries starting from good old england where i was from the 26th of september to the 3rd of october....the first 4 days were spent in london....26th spent on getting the much needed sleep and overcoming jet lag...27 th and 28th spent on seeing bits of london i hadnt seen....and ofcourse revisiting some really memorable places...
29th at oxford...30th and 1st and 2nd of october at lake district...

then we visited holland...3rd october landed in amsterdam schiphol airport...4th october went to the hague...5th october went across to belgium..this was an interesting stop over at brussels on our way to paris...which i will talk about later in detail...
from the 6th to the 8th of october i was in paris...ohhh wot an awesome place!!!
out of which 8th was spent at versailles and the bulk of 7th was spent in euro disney...
then on the 9th i reached st gallen..after a hectic 2 week tour of 5 countries...i was then midway thru my country tally

the first week at st gallen from the 10th to the 15th was spent in settling down..getting the hang of things like the transport system...over the weekend i explored the town..went to the lakes and the olma...the next week from the 17th to the 20th i attended class sincerely like a diligent student should..didnt want to take a risk that early in the term...and then pushed of to amazing austria on the 21st...was in innsbruck on the 21st...vienna on the 22nd and salzburg on the 23rd...reached bak in st gallen on the 24th morning after a minor adventure...

25th to 28th attended classes...and then pushed off to italy on the 29th...
was in milan on the 29th...venice on the 30th..rome on the 31st and 1st and then got bak via pisa on the 2nd....

from the 3rd to the 17th again i managed to attend a few events of the placement fortnight that happened at the university of st gallen....and also went to see zurich on the 11th..the highlight ofcourse was the meeting with Martina Hingis on the 3rd in st gallen :)..it was surely a dream come true for me...

then on the 18th went to basel and pushed off to munich after that..saw munich on the 19th and then went to fussen on the 20th to see the castle schloss neuschwanstein...also saw the dachau concentration camp near munich...

then on the 23rd i left for barcelona...took a nite train from zurich...reachedo n the 24th morning....saw the mind blowing beaches on the 24th, and the restof the great sites the city has to offer on the 25th..and on 26th morning...26th evening saw my first movie in europe...Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...27th returned to st gallen via montpellier and cerebre in france...

then had to give some awful exams on the 30th and 1st of december..due to which i had to cancel my planned trip to berlin....however made up for it by going to geneva on the 4th..staying there on the 5th and the 6th...reaching basel on 6th night..then leaving for luxemborg on the 7th morning...spending 7th and 8th there and getting back on the 8th nite...

spent the next few days in giving some more exams and presentations on the 12th and 13th...and eventually left st gallen on the 14th nite..reached zurich..and left for milan on the 15th..and then flew from milan to delhi on the 15th....salvation and the end of a long post :)

but ofcourse this is the appetizer for the main course which i guess will take many more posts to fully write about..till then..meine damen und herren...auf weidersehn!