So, the last 2 weeks also were coined by quite some travelling.
On November 11 we (Jérem, Tobias & I) left from campus around 12 for the train to Goa. Due to a traffic jam in Kozhikode we missed the train we had booked and had to go in general compartment instead. That was a REAL experience, lying on top of the luggage shelf for several hours with lots of people squeezed down below … we made the 220 kms to Mangalore in 6 hours and went for several beers & a burger there at Liquid Lounge (great place with good music – Jérem and I almost wanted to stay there instead of going to Goa 
). Around midnight we then took a sleeper bus to Goa, where we arrived around 9.30 in the morning and went to our hotel where we met with Carlo, Johanna, Christina & Luigi, who had gone with other trains …
we then went to the beach in Anjuna, where Jérem and Christina met some guys from their home universities and we spent the whole afternoon there. Coming back from the beach we wanted to rent some scooters near the beach and I managed to have my first accident in India, driving into a jewellery booth … still wondering if it was my stupidity or something going wrong with the scooter that made it happen … anyway. thx God, nothing severe happened, except for a few scratches for me and Tobias – so sorry for that man!!!
Later we met Anu and some of his friends, among them 2 Ukraine models, Irina & Inna. Some of us had met him on their trip to Mumbai, and went to an awesome Greek restaurant for dinner. Afterwards we went out to several clubs, the best of them being Club Cabana on top of a hill with an entry of 1,000 Rs and free drinks from there on … there we danced the hell out of the dancefloor until 5 or so … and then went to another club in Baga until sunrise. Before going back to the hotel we stopped at another place to have a “good-morning” beer … the whole long day, starting with the accident turned out not to be a good one at all – concerning another thing as well: only saying the essence (the person who’s concerned knows when/if reading): by the end of it I had managed to severely threaten a friendship thru disrespect. I feel very bad for that, and apologize for my behaviour. It acted wrong, and I am VERY SORRY for that.
After 3 hours of sleep we went to Baga beach the next day, where Christina & I chilled on the beach, while Jérem, Luigi & Tobias went for para-sailing and jet-skiing. This day was a pretty lazy one, taking into account that we came back from going out at 8 in the morning … in the evening Anu took us to another great restaurant in Baga, where we directly sat at the beach and enjoyed our food. Anu seemed a little worried cause 1 of his friends still was on the way from the day before – fortunately in the end he made it back to the hotel …
The last day in Goa we spent at Morjim beach, where we enjoyed the typical 3S of sun, sea & sand. In the evening we said good-bye to Goa and went to the railway station in Margao from where we made our trip back to Kozhikode, where a lot of work was waiting for me (writing 2 papers and preparing 4 cases within 2 days).
On 17th we again left from Kozhikode – this time to go for a study trip to Bangalore. The trip there was hell, spending more than 10 hours on the bus for around 360 kms. When we arrived at our hotel it was almost 2 am in the morning with the prospect of getting up in 5 hours again to begin our industry visits there. That day we first visited Tesco HSC, which mainly supports the operations in the UK, but also worldwide. In the afternoon we went to ITC (Indian Tobacco Company), which started as tobacco company 100 years ago and nowadays is a conglomerate of various branches. Though, we were shown the cigarette manufacturing on-site, where 12,000 cigarettes are produced each minute (!!!!).
In the evening we went to Hard Rock Café Bangalore for a proper steak and some beers. Afterwards we went to bed at the hotel as we all were quite tired from the short night before and the long day driving around Bangalore.
The 2nd day we visited Cognizant (a huge consulting company) and Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital, which is a specialist facility for cardiac surgery. The visit there was very moving, as it also accommodates the largest cardiac surgery department for kids in India with currently 56 kid patients. It is a tragedy to see that young lives already face such a big threat, and seeing babies being attached to all kind of machines … and much of it as a result of malnutrition of the parents – it breaks my heart and makes me wonder even more why on earth we can allow for people starving … the hospital does really great work and also provides a telemedicine facility where the doctors make remote diagnosis for patients in Asia and Africa. The founder, Dr. Shetty can just be called a visionary and great man!!!
In the evening we went to japanese restaurant Shiro for celebrating Johanna’s birthday. We had lots of awesome stuff like shashimi and co! though, all bars & restaurants in Bangalore have to close at 11 pm (!!) and it was close to be thrown out when we left at 2o past. Arthur had brought along a friend of his which he knows from studying in the Netherlands and we later had a couple of drinks at the hotel before we went to bed.
Sunday then was probably the worst travel experience I (and most of us) ever had. It took us 12.5 hours to go back to IIMK for the same 360 kms we came. I have never been that glad exiting a bus! The last 2 days have been dominated by work for uni. Writing a report on the industry visits in Bangalore and studying for the upcoming exams – and escaping from it for a couple of minutes writing this blog entry 
hope you’re all doing great!
keep strong in faith, be blessed & bless others!
cheers,
Gerhard
and remember:
… hurting others is like putting a nail into a plank: you can remove the nail and apologize, but the wound will remain – so be careful what you do and say, it always leaves something behind …
… sorry …
