Naveen's Journal

I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that I’ll be able to go to a Bryan Adams concert when I came to Germany! In fact, I didn’t even know about it till a week before the conert. Thanks to Shah Rukh Khan, and his later-got-cancelled-concert in Germany (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt) Temptations Reloaded, I had gone to buy tickets for which at Hugendubel – that I came to know that BA was performing in Berlin the next week, which was too much a temptation to resist. And tickets for the main standing hall being available for Euro 50 (Rs 3500 approx), it was still saving me a hell lot from the SRK concert (Euro 80!).

As I posted earlier, this concert was the main reason for my Berlin trip, and after checkin in the U-Inn Berlin hostel at Frankfurter Allee at around 6PM, I was off for the Velodrom, which was only 2 S-Bahn stops away from there. The excitement was clearly visible in the air, and all BA fans were busy shopping merchandise up for sale. I was pleasantly surprised to see that not many people were in there by that time (around 7 PM), which gave me the opportunity to base my ass very close to the stage (around 20 feet away ).

BA arrived at 9, leaving us to be tormented by some band for about 40 minutes before, but boy, wasn’t it worth the wait! The 2 giant screens on either side of the centerstage showed him coming out of the dark, flanked by a battery of bodyguards and files of screaming fans!

I think the pictures below and the videos of his performance in my following posts can speak a lot more than what i can write here.

I can’t thank myself enough for not coming back to Leipzig straight after the BA concert on Friday, and rather staying in Berlin for the weekend – to witness this great city soaked in history and culture, and also the famous famous Berlin Marathon 2008! Although I could not witness the legendary Haile Gebrselassie crossing the finish line and setting yet another world record (I was on the roof of the German Parliament when he was doing it), like he did in 2007, also at Berlin, it was quite an experience to be at the Brandenburg gate watching more than 40,000 runners start off, and then follow them around the city along famous Berlin landmarks.

The day before, I took a city tour conducted by the New Berlin Tours which I think is one of the best things this city has to offer! New Berlin Tours is a part of the Sandeman’s New Europe which conduct free and paid tours in many famous European cities, apart from providing accommodation booking and other travel related services. They have great guides who come from various parts of the world and walks of life and are actually volunteering there, they know the history of the places they show inside out and and do a great job in keeping the tourists engrossed throught the 4 hours of the tour.

Starting in front of the Starbucks cafe at Brandenburg Gate, which itself is the postcard of Berlin, we saw the Holocaust Memorial right beside it, followed by all major attractions in the vicinity, including Hitler’s bunker, the former headquarters of the Stasi, Berlin Wall, Topography of Terror, and then reaching Checkpoint Charlie. The latter is a really interesting and vibrant tourist spot which was 1 of the 3 checkpoints in the erstwhile divided Berlin.

Walking along the brickmarks of the Berlin Wall, we met hundreds of enthusiastic tourists and atheletes who had come to participate in the marathon the next day. Bebelplatz, the French and German Cathedrals, The Humboldt University (home to 29 Nobel winners!!), Unter din Linden and finally the imposing Berliner Dome brought to end a small but exhaustive trip of the great places to visit while in Berlin.

I was lucky enough to find accommodation in two of the many super-inexpensive but ultra comfortable hostels of Berlin for my 2 nights of stay, as Sunday being the Marathon day, there were hundreds of thousands of non Berliners in the city for the marathon, who had already booked most of them.

The characterists of Berlin which made me a fan of this city are its great cosmopolitan and international culture (for a change in Germany, I did not see raised eyebrows on talking in English!) and the balance which it has maintained between the new world sophistication and old world charm. The Fernsehturm (TV Tower) standing 350+ metres over the swanky Alexanderplatz makes for a great click when you stand in front of the Berliner Dome! The magnificent concept of the Reichstag (Deutsch Parliament) complex which allows ANYONE to walk in the German Parliament and go up to the top dome, which is an architecural masterpiece, astounded me completely. They not only talk of having transparency in the administration, they actually have it! The transport system of Berlin is as extensive as it can get with the S-Bahn (overhead rail/metro), U-Bahn (underground metro), trams, buses and every possible kind of transport networking the huge city that Berlin is. Not to mention costwise it is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe offering unlimited party options as well as great historical and cultural insights of Germany.

Thanks to my dear friend Giovanni Dicesare from Milano, with whom I spent the 3rd day and enjoyed the sunny weather

Last to last Sunday, I had the chance to be at Clara Zetkin Park to enjoy the carnival atmosphere for the 5 and 10 KM races sponsored by Sportscheck. Actually it was Ronny’s participation which excited me even more to go and see. He finished a commendable 15th with a time of around 39 mintes for the 10 KM, with winner clocking around 32 minutes. It has already pumped me enough to decide that I’ll be aprticipating in the Leipzig Marathon next year

Few pictures from the event -

So much has been happening here in Leipzig that I bareky get any time to think over the experiences and manifest them. Investment banks, consultancies , projects, exams.. huh! In the meantime I even got the chance to go to a 10 KM race event (details later) here at the Clara Zetkin Park which was a unique experience in itself!

And after my Financial Accounting exam tomorrow, I’m leaving for Berlin to see Bryan Adams perform live at the Velodrom !! Hope to have a great time at the concert and then Berlin tour with friends coming the next morning.

Will post back with media

Cheers

Well, if the beginning to my European sojourn is something to go by, then definitely it’ll be fun to be here for the next year. Before I could post some pictures of the beautiful city Leipzig is, and about other things here, I am compelled to write the experience we had yesterday. As part of our Welcoming event at HHL, Porsche organised a grand reception for HHL students, and it was a pretty long day having the great mix of business, strategy, fun and adventure! Starting the day with case studies and presentations on the Global warming issue, which is forcing the EU to bring CO2 emmission norms which’ll put cars like Porsche off the streets for sure, we had a gala lunch at the sophisticated Porsche facility in Leipzig which is the production center for all Cayene models. And after brainstorming during the afternoon on the CO2 issues and devicing strategies for Porsche, we were pleasantly surprised to know that the powerful beast Porsche Cayene Turbo was waiting for us at the Porsche Testing tracks, to give us the rides of our lifetime!

And what a ride it turned out to be! It’s impossible to explain the feeling that you get while bumping on those chicanes at almost 200 miles per hour! I was fortunate to be beside the driver, Manuel, and toook the following video. Also enjoy few pictures of the Porsche museum having all cars in its line – from the Carera GT2 to the Cayene to vintage sports cars!

Well, I know it would come as a surprise to most people who know me and are reading this, and also to some of my close friends also, that I’ve moved to Germany to pursue MBA from the HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management. And after landing here on the 28th of August, its been a week completed here!

Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even get the time to realize that I’ll be away from my country, family and friends for 1 year, and the last 1.5 months before coming turned out to be the most strenous days of my life so far!

As for Leipzig, its a historic city in the eastern state of Saxony and about an hour away from Berlin. Whatever I’ve explore of it so far, it seems to be a calm and nice place to stay and is extraordinarily beautiful with thousands of old buildings all around the city which have been renovated ornately after the reunification. Leipzig used to be one of the foremost industrial cities of Germany until the 2nd world war, with a great publishing industry, textile industry and obviously the Trade fair capital of the world. But since most of the city got destroyed in the WW, and thereafter in the GDR regime, Leipzig lost most of the industries, business and its old charm. However, it was in Leipzig that the peaceful protests started for the reunification in 1989, and thereafter its been a happy story with many industries coming back and city attaining past glory.

As for HHL, its an awesome place to be in and study, as we have a batch of students representing more than 12 countries from all around the world. The facilities are great and industry exposure unparalleled in Germany. With tie ups with BMW and Porsche (both having plants in Leipzig) and associations with almost every big German company, it surely is the place to learn your business!

I’d be posting pictures and more details of my wonderful stay here soon, and am looking forward to the Welcome events next Monday-Tuesday for M9 (our batch) having participation of JP Morgan CEO, trip to the Prosche Cayenne facilty and thereon!

Tchus! (Deutsch for bye )