The Jaded Africano Speaks

So, I am finally back in India! Mumbai! IITB! This, along with laziness, explains the large delay in me updating my blog.

I’ve spent the last couple of days re-adjusting to life back home. No driving on the right hand side of the road, no converting prices into euros and exclaiming how cheap stuff is (I will be broke soon if I continue to do that!) and no smiling in a friendly manner whenever a girl walks by (I shall suffer physical damage soon if I continue to do that!).

A couple of things I noted during this intern. They are in no particular order, and I may add stuff later as I remember more.

• The German word ‘kraft’ means force, energy and power. Go tell a physicist that!
• Spaniards, especially those on an Erasmus exchange program in south-west Germany, are always late for appointments.
• Introvert Peruvians who don’t talk at all, often turn out to be awesome dancers.
• Germans organise the best parties in the world.
• ‘Johnson’ is Valencian slang for a doper.
• Germans never share their food with others. At restaurants and even at lunch in the mess, it’s every person for him or herself. This attitude felt very alien to me, being an Indian, and especially being an IITian.
• When you’re travelling at 300 kmph in a thunderstorm, in a train, you can’t help but marvel at German engineering.
• The informal German word for ‘Goodbye” … Tschüss is very funny.
• Only the Spanish can take a dead pig, slap some salt on it and dump it in a cave for three years. And then consider it to be a delicacy. (Actually jamón isn’t bad, it’s pretty good …)