From Thursday morning to Monday morning, I went on a (relatively) long trip along the Southern Germany border. For the first two days of the trip, it was the first time for me to travel alone. I came back very exhausted yesterday morning, and found that found that my boss had sent me so many e-mails while I am not around. (Somehow when I am around I don't get such e-mails...) He asked me to "try" turn on dual 2 and "no harm trying". Since there is "no harm trying", I really went to the computer cluster to try-- and I switched off the whole server instead...
Anyway, here's a map of where I went (double click the map if you really want to see the route):
And here are some pretty photos!
Offenburg:
Konstanz:
And I accidentally went into Switzerland in Konstanz:
Schloss Neuschwanstein in Füssen: It was a dream castle built by Ludwig II and it became the standard model for Disney's castles.
Marienplatz in Munich:
Berchtesgaden, where the Bravarian Alps is really beautiful:
And Lake Konigsee in Berchtesgaden:
And I forgot to bring photos of Salzburg, Austria.
Yesterday I went out to watch football. Euro 2008 Germany against Portugal. I don't have a TV cable in my room (that equals to I don't have a TV) ; so it actually took some effort because I needed to go out to watch and spent 1.6 euro on a cup of coca cola.
I am not that much of a football fan. I went to watch because the German people told me that Germany is going to lose. So I thought it was the last chance for me to see how crazy people are in this football country.
But Germany won. They won beautifully with a 3-2. Although everybody thinks they are losing.
The Germany players were very calm yesterday. They are using their brains and they cooperate. The goalkeeper was exceptionally steady and cool. In contrast, the Portugal players were getting a bit rush and agitated after Germany got in two goals at the beginning.
yeah it is always good to stay steady and calm as best as we can:)
Two days ago I got off the bus at a wrong stop. So I walked a bit to work. When I walked up to the bike lane, which is only about 2.5 meters higher than where I usually is, the view completely changed:
The real scenery is better than the ones in these pictures because a picture is just too small. It is just so vast and open, and so captivating.
This is the kind of scenery that I always love, but I don't have much chance to see this. However, when it is just outside the institute, I took me so much time to discover it. Every morning, I was turning right at the traffic junction. To discover this, all I had to do is to turn left and walk 20 steps. The problem was there was no motivation to turn left, so I turned right all the time, missing the great scenery.
Sometimes maybe we should just do the opposite of what we intend to do. We might discover something great that way.
After hibernating for one and a half week, I should really write something down now before this blog goes dead again...
So today is quite a bad day. Enid and I were planning to go to Paris but then the train reservation turned out to be really complicated. sigh. thank goodness Enid found that out. or else we will be stranded in Paris with no other plan.
So this weekend is for somewhere Germany again.
And my work is total crashing. none of the input file is working so I can't even build on something that is already working. and the computer keeps telling me mistakes that i didn't commit. even the default values are not working so I really have nothing to say......
But life is good. I am really enjoying germany and I really like the rhythm of life here. The food here tastes nice too, except that I don't understand all those german and i have been eating just whatever I got...sometimes it can be a really wrong choice. hmm I really regret that I have returned all I learnt from GER101 to Frau Meder :( Last sunday Enid brought me to ice-cream. I got a mango one. oh my gosh it tastes soooooooooooooooooo good. that was the best ice-cream that I have even had!
I feel relieved for Hillary that she is withdrawing from the campaign.
She must have been very tired already. She deserves a good rest. After all, politics and power are not what matter the most to her. Those are men's games.
Still, it is very inspiring to see a Wellesley alum who loves, cares and dedicates herself to children and the less fortunate in the world.
To Andrea:
Don't worry :) I am much less stressed now. For the past two days I have already had lots of fun. Things are going really well and I have become happier. I am sorry if my gloomy mood made you worried last week.
And I really haven't learnt Perl properly. For the past one semester I have been looking at your code when I try to write my code... Today I don't have your codes and things become so hard to figure out... :(
After spending my first day in Max-Planck Institute, I really feel that A*STAR still has a long long way to go... ... ... ... ... ...
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And here are some pretty photos!
And I forgot to bring photos of Salzburg, Austria. 
