Janmashtmi - festival of Lord Krishna's birthday

Yesterday on the 14th of August 2017 the so called festival ''Janmashtmi'' took place.

This festival is an annual event in the Hindu luni-solar calendar and is there in order to celebrate the birthday of Lord Krishna, one of the most famous gods in the Hindu religion.

The day started out regularly at school, however, at around 10.30am the orders from higher positions arrived saying that the school had to be closed down as all the other schools in India were having an off-day. So we traveled home again by bus.

In the afternoon nothing spectacular happened but in the evening my hostfamily and I visited 2 temples in the city, one being the temple I always have my yoga classes in. In both temples there were many people praying and worshipping. Walking barefoot is compulsory. By coming in and going out everybody receives a blessing on their forehead which is made out of saffron.
When leaving you receive a little bowl with fruits and halwa (Indian desert made up of grain).

In many temples there are also exhibitions with pictures and texts about Lord Krishna´s life.

It is believed that lord Krishna was born exactly at midnight so everyone is anxiously waiting for this moment. When the time has come fireworks start to go up in the sky and prayers and very loud music set in as well. Then there is a program for the whole night including prayer and dance sessions at 4.30am, 6.00am and 9.00am.

happy independence day

Hey guys,

so this is an actual post because today is the independence day of India. 

As you all may know or may not know India was under the rule of the British Empire for more than 200 years. On 15th of August 1947, exactly 70 years back, the parliament of the United Kingdom decided to give India it´s independence. Of course the aftermath of the British regiment still has a

big influence on how India works and functions. That is also why English is the 2nd official language next to Hindi.

To come back to the present I would like to share my day with you. 

In the morning I woke up at 5 as usual, took my bag (luckily only with a water bottle) and rode to school on the regular bus. In school the first thing we did was give our attendance and then go out to the sports grounds to hiss the Indian flag. After that the functions were held. These functions included dance shows, an inter-house competition*, instrumental appearances and award ceremonies.

I took part in both the inter-house competition for my house (red house-Mighty Marx) and in the instrumental part. I played the Tabla, a traditional Indian drum (well actually the´re 2 - one bigger one and a smaller one). 

Although we lost the competition by claiming 4th place the principal even namely mentioned me by saying how well I had played this instrument because I have only been learning it for about 4 weeks.

Later there was the award ceremony for the board toppers of the session 2016-17.

At around 10:45am the disposal bell rang and we could leave the school. Every student was allowed to pick up a little box with traditional (far too sweet for my taste) Indian sweets. 

As the day isn´t over yet I don´t know what I´ll be doing still but I definitely want to go to the market to buy an Indian flag!

goodbye party

My going away party took place on the 30th of June, 2017.

We had invited all of my friends and set up a party-lounge in the garden. food, drinks, everything was there. My dad even decorated the lounge as Indian as possible.
When my friends entered at about 2.30pm we first sat down and had some drinks and snacks while listening to music and chatting.

At about 3pm we started with the first activity which was a photo-scavenger hunt. Everyone had to join to groups of 3. There was a paper saying for example: Take a photo where everyone is wearing something green. On that paper there were about 15 of these instructions given and the team which was a) done first and b) won the judges´ (mom and dad) vote won the game.

After that we ordered a typical, not very liked by me, party food: pizza
In the meantime we had the present-session. On my invitation I had asked everyone to give a practical little present for me to take on my journey. I had to guess which present is from which person so that was quite funny.

After dinner and a little chill-time we started with the last activity: an auction.
All the people were requested to bring some things, old or new, used or unused, that they didn't´t need anymore but would be nice for others. We did the auction with monopoly-money -- every person got a specific amount for their free use. My dad was a very good auctioneer and everybody enjoyed a lot I think.

All in all the party was a great success and my friends went home with a big smile on their faces and good memories in their mind.

packing and last preparations before departure

The last weeks, months and days before departure just flew by like anything. We all had so much to do. Bringing my horse to Germany, seeing paediatricians, buying some essentials, and so many more things. I think especially in the last weeks before you leave you see all the things you still wanted to do. I for my part did a lot of things with my family such as climbing, cycling, sports in general, day trips to the lake or any other destination, short weekend trips to Italy which we all really enjoyed and so on.

It´s like I was sitting in my room yesterday thinking about what to pack but in reality it´s been over a month. Probably one of the 10 most life changing months in my life.

Alright enough of that. Now let´s get to the point: Who of you hasn't ever sat in front of their suitcase  thinking: ''my gosh what to pack now there is no time left!'' But no fear, Cosima is near! In this part I´ll tell you what and which bags I packed and also introduce you to some practical accessories I took along on my journey across the world. Let´s get started:

My bags:

Samsonite Paradiver Light, Yellow, size L
Great and handy bag with many pockets to store additional things. Water resistant and easy to clean.

American Tourister Bonair Spinner, carry on, Green
Hard case carry on bag in fresh color, 4 wheels, great for short vacations, plenty of space

1 backpack


basic clothing: 

Underwear, socks
4 t-shirts
5 long sleeve shirts/pullovers
1 sweatshirt with zipper
1 jumpsuit
raincoat, light winter coat, soft shell jacket
5 pairs of pants/leggings
sports clothes
3 pairs of shoes
scarf, headband
slippers for in the house
undershirts



practical travel accessories:

sunglasses
suncream
handy fan
own water bottle, it´s not safe to refill plastic bottles too many times!
whistle
little flashlight
nosespray
hand disinfection gel
washcloth
booklet wit most important tel. numbers + addresses
tissues
mini dictionary
plug adapter
hip pack
moneybelt
copy of passport, visa, medical documents
inflatable neck rest/travel pillow
eyeshades
watch
quick access food; muesli bars, etc.
umbrella
anti bacterial wipes
locks for your bags
pen, pencil, notebook


At the moment it´s raining very badly here so I´m not going to do that much today I guess. Probably some more blogposts will go online today.
I hope that I was able to help anyone out there who also struggles with packing or just simply give you a small sneak-peak of what I took along with me.
See you soon and thank you for reading!

preparation camp in Austria

So this will be the next event that happened before my departure: 

My preparation camp was conducted in the small town of Radstadt which is situated close to the Tauern-Mountains in Salzburg from the 14th to the 18th of June 2017. 

As my organisation (YFU) asks the exchange students not to give out lots of information about the content in order to make it a better experience for the next ''generation'' I will respect that.

The basic information is: 

• The supervisors are called teamers. Ours were: Mimi (exchange to France) , Raphi and Lilo (exchange to USA) , Malou (exchange to Denmark) , Mimi (exchange to Belgium) and last but not least Nala (exchange to Estonia)

• I stayed in a 6-bed room with 4 other girls

• we had food 3 times a day and in between there were always activities, games, sessions, etc.

• the overall theme was ''Harry Potter'' with us as the magicians in training

When we arrived on the very first day we were all very excited what the week would turn out to be like. Fun? Boring? Exhausting? Excellent? Well actually it was all of that at some point. Overall it was a great week packed with learning, fun and experiences that we will all take with us. My personal opinion is that YFU has a very good and detailed preparation. I enjoyed a lot.

new blog layout

Hey guys!

So first of all what you might have noticed is: yes, the title of this blog entry is in English. In fact I´ll be doing the whole blog in English from now on. Why? Well, as I have a big batch of international friends and family who would also like to read about my adventures and don´t speak German, English is the only way. Moreover the blog will reach out to so many more people if it is written in English rather than German. Okay, so that was that.
As you have probably noticed as well I haven´t posted any entry in a long time and I´m really sorry for that. I think I just had a lot going on and many things to prepare that I simply couldn't find time for writing here.
Since I´ve already been living in India for over a month now I´ll be writing the posts that I wanted to write earlier now and upload them one by one. Means the next posts won´t be up to date. After catching up on that information the entries will be much more fun and interesting. Promise.

Have a great day everyone!

न म श ट ए 

erster Kontakt zur Gastfamilie!

Hello, da bin ich wieder!
Wie im letzten Post bereits erwähnt, habe ich meine Gastfamilie bekommen. Am Tag nachdem ich sie bekommen habe, habe ich gleich eine E-Mail geschickt. Gestern kam dann die Antwort, da die Familie im Urlaub war, denn in Indien sind gerade Sommerferien. (Ich habe die Mail aber erst heute Morgen gelesen) Meine Gastmutter hat mir geschrieben, dass sie sich alle sehr auf mich freuen und mich gefragt, ob wir über WhatsApp schreiben sollen. Ich habe zugestimmt und sie haben sich dann gleich über WhatsApp gemeldet. Meine Gastfamilie ist wirklich, wirklich nett und ich freue mich schon sehr, sie endlich (in ca. 56 Tagen) zu treffen.

Das war´s auch schon von mir!