Background, Visa, Planning, etc.
How did I get this chance?
It has been a childhood dream of mine to pay a visit to Europe. Such a dream became a promise for myself in my last year in high school in 1990, when I failed to qualify for the Chinese national team for the 22nd International Chemistry Olympiad held in Paris. I promised myself, within 10 years I will make it to Paris, somehow.
Six years later I found myself in Duke University, studying for a Ph.D. degree in Genetics. I arrived at Duke in late May of 1996 and started doing a rotation in Dr. Bryan Cullen's lab of molecular retrovirology. I did fairly well and apparently Bryan was impressed. To persuade me to come back to his lab after finishing all rotations, he promised me two things: 1) I will go to Germany in the summer of 97 for a conference on foamy retroviruses (which came true); 2) I will graduate with a Ph.D. degree from Duke within 4 year (which I hope will be true again). In early 1997, I returned to his lab.
How to get a visa to Germany and Schengen states?
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Jochen |
For an US citizen, going to Europe could sounds as easy as going to his own backyard. Different story for a Chinese citizen. Getting a visa to Germany took much longer than I expected. Here is the official requirement for a non-US citizen to get a visa to Germany. According to Schengen agreement, you can also enter other Schengen countries, (eg. Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) with the same visa. Italy may have joined the Schengen agreement too (check that out in case you want to visit Italy). I called the German consulate in Atlanta and asked them to send me application forms. I filled it out and sent it together with my passport, nortalized copies of invitation letter for the conference, round trip air ticket from Durham to Frankfurt, and so on. They sent it back half month later because I did not show them my green card (which I didn't have yet) or and valid visa to return to the US (my visa to enter US had expired one year ago). This meant I could not gurantee to return to the US after the conference therefore they would not give me a visa. So I had this dilemma: I have to have a US visa in order to get a German visa, but I can not get a US visa without leaving this country!! The international Office at Duke suggest me to go to Canada to apply for a US visa but I felt it ridiculous and was reluctant to do that. Fortunately there is a German student Jochen working in our lab during that time. He called the consulate for me, in German (that way the officers in the consulate were much more patient and friendly). Finally they agreed to give me a visa with a new I-20 form from Duke, which presumably will enable me to get a US visa in Germany. But they warned me that I might not have enough time to get a US visa in Germany and end up being sent back to China.
Planning the trip.
My visa only allowed me to go to Germany, France, Benelux countries, Spain and Portugal and I had 14 days including three days for the conference in the Black Forest. I bought an Eurorail youth (below 25 yrs old) 15 day pass from AAA. I planed to visit as many places as I could and make the best out of the pass which allows me to travel unlimitedly within 15 days. I gave up Spain and Portugal since they are so far away from Frankfurt. I would rather leave them for my next visit which should includes these two countries and Italy. I definitely would go to Paris at any cost, but other than that it's not so easy to decide what other places I want to go. I asked around for advice from those who had been to Europe, their suggestions were more or less consistent. Most people like Munich, Brugges (ancient port town in Belgium), Amsterdam, while Frankfurt, Brussels, big industrial cities in northern Germany (such as Hamburg) were clearly not their favourites. Bryan strongly suggested me to visit some small towns/cities in Germany, especially Rothenburg. He's right. Opinions about Berlin varied. But let me tell you, Berlin really worth visiting.
I would arrived on June 6th and must arrive at Freiburg on 13th for the conference, after that I have 3 more days before leaving on June 19th. So my original plan was to get my visa for the US as soon as I arrived in Frankfurt, then travel clockwise through Paris, Belgium, Netherlands, Cologne, and Berlin, then arriving at Heidelberg to meet Jochen there and go with him to the conference. After that I would make a small anti-clockwise trip through southern Germany (Munich, Nurnberg, Rothenberg, and Wurzberg) before departing from Frankfurt in the morning of June 19th.
The following checklist are things I did before leaving for Europe:
* Go to AAA, where you can get the following:
--- Map of Europe, including Europe as a whole continent and country maps.
--- Europe TourBook. It doesn't give you all the information you need but it's quite helpful for initial planing.
--- American Express Traveller's checks. It's better to have some of them in small amouts (like 20$ each), since sometimes you don't spend a lot of money in a small country like Belgium. When you leave one country you have to change the rest of the currency back to US$, which will cost you another transaction fee. Plan your budget carefully, the fewer times you do currency change the more transaction fee you save.
--- International driver's liscence. It could be used for driving in Europe or just for the purpose of ID.
--- There are some bruchures of Europe tour offered by big travel agencies. Take some of them and get an idea of what are the perfect places for taking wonderful pictures. There are free anyway.
--- You can also bought Eurorail pass there. You should buy the pass at least half month before the trip.
* Plan your luggage. You will thank yourself if you keep your luggage as simple as possible. It's wise to pack all your luggage into a big backpack, which could be stored in the locker at any train station. You should also prepare a small backpage which could be put into the big backpack. When you arrive at one city, you put all the essentials you need in this stop into the small backpack and leave the big one in the locker. Remember to bring the following:
---Photocopies of all your ID, important documents, important phone and FAX numbers, your Eurorail pass and flight ticket, your traveller's check receipt etc. Put your originals in your small backpack that always stay with you, leave photocopies with the big backpack. In case you lost something, the copies would not substitute the origional but they will help.
---Enough Films. Films are expensive in Europe, so remember to bring more than you think you will need. I brought 12 rolls, that's just barely enough. Bring spare batteries for your camera. A mini tripod is very useful, especifally when you travel alone or want to take pictures of night sceneries. Never trust other tourists to take good pictures of you. You have less than 20% of chance to get a satisfactory picture by randomly picking one to take picture for you, especially for guys as unattractive as me. :)
So what this means is if you want to make a permanent memories of you in front of the Arc de Triomphe, ask at least 5 people to take the picture for you. Try to catch those guys/gals with professional cameras. You will have a better bet on them.
---A portable umbrella.
---3-4 days of clothes. I washed my clothes the old-fashion way (by hand) in the hotel in Paris. But most of the time you should be able to find a laundary in the hotel. Remember to bring at least one heavy coat since the weather in Europe could be cold at night and early morning.
---At least two different credit card and some cash. It will be good if you can make some exchange of the first country you will stop before you leave for Europe. But generally you can make change as soon as you get to a airport terminal or train station. If you arrive very early in the morning or very late at night the exchange office might close though. Remember to ask for some coins when you make changes.
---Misc stuff: a pen, a spare watch if possible ( My watch died in Paris, I had to bought one there), an alarm clock so that you can have naps on short trip by train, spare eye glasses, commonly use drugs (like for flu, painreliever etc.),
