Car2Go

Welcome to the new development of future mobility. Well in case you were wondering what sort of irrelevant foreword to this note that was, do bother no more, because it was the tag line introduced by Car2Go which is a service provider established in 2008 by Daimler AG in cooperation with the city administration of Ulm. As regards to this information, Car2Go service can only be found in Ulm and this is plainly just a start because Daimler AG aimed it merely as a small project whether it could work. When it does work, Daimler AG will also develop the similar service in other cities in Germany soon as well. First of all, I should stress that this is neither plugging nor publicity to certain service, but this will serve only as information for the readers about how interesting the whole idea behind the establishment of this company was. Basically, Car2Go is just no other than a general car rent company, such as Sixt, Budget Vermietung or others. However, unlike other companies which if you want to rent their car, you have to rent it at least for 24 hours and you still have to pay for the rent even if you don't drive it. Additionally, you have to pay for the fuel as well aside from the basic cost. With Car2Go, things are a bit different and the initial idea was to provide cars which can be rented by many people in a specific area, they can get in the car anywhere they want and the most amazing thing is, they only have to pay only when they actually use it. People behind this project intended to create something fresh, something new, something different which represents the individual form of urban mobility. At first, it might sound theoretically impossible and the concept will be much too complicated, especially when it comes to billing issue and what if when the car is being stolen, because people can get in anywhere they want and that means there will be no service desk or whatsoever. But those pessimisms are today just a matter of history since Daimler AG with cooperation with Ulm's city administration managed to pull out the visual interpretation on sheets of paper into a pure reality.

What they have done is painting 200 units of Smart Fortwo with white and the blue tridion frame, then garnishing them with "Car2Go" stickers all over the body. The amusing fact is, the principal of one can get in the car anywhere he/she likes is really applied, they had reserved several special parking slots for these cars and they are mostly in the city center. For instance in the main train station, Stadtzentrum, on street side and city administration building (Rathaus Ulm). To use this service, firstly you have to register your driving license at the lower ground of Stadhaus Ulm, which is just on the opposite of Ulmer Münster city center. There, just like any other registration, you will need to fill a form containing your name, address and that sort of private details. You might additionally require a debit card of a certain bank, because the rent will be collected every time you drive the car and Car2Go deduct it at the end of the month from your bank account. The registration takes just about 10 minutes and once it is finished, you will get a special chip which is duck taped to your driving license and it will be used as the car key to both lock and unlock the door. I tried the service several times and it works perfectly. I just had to stick my driving license to the car's windscreen and the special chip reader will register my identity to unlock the car. After car is unlocked, I just hop in, get the ignition key from the glove box, input my PIN number to the touch screen display, start the engine and set off. The car can be driven in or even out of town, however the rent can only be ended if the satellite navigation detects that the car is parked in Ulm. Otherwise, your car will be regarded as in use and the bill keeps running. If I have finished driving the car, I can park the car anywhere in Ulm I want as long as a parking space which is especially reserved for Car2Go; it is not a parking restricted area; it is a free parking slot. If I do stupidly leave the car in a slot which requires a parking ticket and wave off, the cost for towing the car or for paying the parking ticket will be charged to my account. Blimey! After turning the engine off, I simply put the ignition key back into the glove box, then stick my driving license again on the windscreen to lock the car.

"I would take into account that Daimler had channeled ingenuity"

Obviously as a sensible part of business interest, the rent is started when I unlock the car, not when I start the engine. So, that means even if I just sit in the car answering an incoming phone call with the engine turned off, the cost is actually still running. In case if I had to get out of a multi-storey car park building or refuel the car, Car2Go provides each a special card for refueling the car and getting out of the car park building. Price starts at 19 cents per minute and it gets cheaper when you drive longer, an hour drive costs an agreeable 9.90 Euro and a day costs 49 Euro at maximum. This is essentially quite a good value of money because the suggested rent has been included with insurance and fuel, which means one doesn't have to care about refuel cost because Car2Go pays for that. It is also asked to maintain the cleanliness of the car. In a stupid case if your dog vomits in the car, a whopping charge of 50 Euro to cleaning cost will be billed to the account. Speaking of billing, customers could check their driving record on the internet by logging into Car2Go website. Everything is clearly documented, including the location of where the start point and the destination; how far do the customers have driven the car; trip time; cost and etc. Customers can also make a reservation around 24 hours and tell the operator their current position, then they will locate the nearest available car. Car2Go claims that the nearest car takes no longer than a three-minute walk which is essentially a very bold claim because according to my experience, I required much more time than that. The reason is, Daimler only provided 200 units of Smart Fortwo around Ulm to support their project, however I figured out that there are currently more customers rather than available cars since sometime when I need one, I couldn’t find one that is available in the Car2Go reserved parking spots or any where on the street side. Even if one is available, it is sometime occupied or reserved for other customers. Moreover, the 200 cars are not all operated because some of them also need to undergo maintenance and cleaning in the workshop.

All things considered, this is in all probability a brilliant idea of how to offer a public transport and yet still combining the individual sense of driving in a car. I would take into account that Daimler had channeled ingenuity, which is an astonishing solution of how to enhance the mobility of urban community and with a support of modern technology, the service also has a clever organization in managing customers’ account, bills and necessary documentations without any niggling faults. It is also cheaper than any other car rent companies and more practical because the car can be parked everywhere where. Well literally not everywhere, but at least the car doesn’t have to be returned in a specific place. Additionally, it also saves our precious planet since people only drive the car when they really need it and not just clog the street with a massive car with only one passenger in it. I mean there are 200 cars available, there must be more customers than this figure and it is impossible that all customers need a car at the same time. So, this program also does well to environment and reduce carbon dioxide produced from the cars these days. As far as I can see, there are only two drawbacks: Daimler might need to add some more cars in the near future because I am sure the number of Car2Go members keeps growing every month. The other is this project should also be applied in other major cities as well, like Berlin, London and Paris. Or maybe even the much polluted city in other part of the world such as New Delhi, Mexico and Jakarta. It is genuinely a great idea and I absolutely support it. As I said and since this note is not a plugging, for more information please refer to Google and type Car2Go. Until the next posting, enjoy!

Soest - Ulm part 4: Blast Off.. Until the Blitz Bashes!

As a car enthusiast, I have always praised the joy of driving and reluctantly refused to use any form of public transport, except taxi and planes. The fact that I am slightly an individualist makes it even clearer because unlike in all public transport, one would have to share the space with some strangers and that is a trifle less uncomfortable. That was also the reason why I prefer driving a car instead of taking a train when I moved my whole belongings from Soest to Ulm. By the by, name anything form of public transport and I will always be able to capture their drawbacks. For instance, buses are not a quick transporter because they stop too frequently to pick up passengers; trains are fast, but it gets impractical if you have big luggage to carry; ships, well forget it because it makes you feel sick by their infinite travel time; if you go to Thailand or India, tricycles are also utilized as a public transporter and that is even worse. You will arrive with your face covered with smog and dust, due to their odd ingenuity of windowless vehicle design. I genuinely believe that only taxi and planes will do well, apart from the fact that crimes of robbery are occasionally happened in taxis and planes are sometime subjected to a delay. What I want you to have in mind is that cars are by all means more comfortable and faster than other land transportation options. As I have proved in the second series of this note, driving in Europe had turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences, particularly because Germany is the land of speed addicts and driving in the fast pace has always been an amusing theme to me. Sadly, driving fast appeared to be quite intriguing, especially when something on the side of the road which emitting blitz took some photographs of you and the license plate number..

And yes, I have been caught up by speed camera and should therefore pay 30 Euro for the speeding ticket. The occurrence was very obvious because it happened in the night and the blitz was quite a bit of surprise actually. I slammed on the brake as soon as the blitz flashed, it obviously wouldn't do any good because by that time the camera had got my picture and the registration number of the car, but I would say that it was just an instantaneous response to be taken and none of a big deal at all. In the speeding ticket (Zeugenfragebogen) issued by Regierungspräsidium Kassel which is the official authority of Kassel, I was informed that I was exceeding the allowed speed limit of 80kph by up to 24kph with tolerance of 5kph at some bridge around Kassel. Truth be told, this information is a revelation because I had no idea how fast I was going at that particular time, what makes it worst is I was not even concentrating on the road. If the authority asked me to reconstruct the occurrence, I would just tell them that it was very late in the night and I nearly fell into the welcome oblivion of sleep. So, remembering the speed limit was simply just a flash act, Hm.. There was the sign post showing a maximum speed of 80kph and the next minute I simply forgot it. Anyway, I want to stress on the fact that if the picture taken could have been sharper, you will find that I was not looking at the road. Instead, I was glancing at the route map on my right hand and everything was so clearly depicted because I also switched on the cabin lamp which made the car looked like a giant firefly with wheels. Meanwhile the camera took the shot at that exactly particular moment, a speeding driver with no safety consciousness to the road because he was looking at something else while he drove along in the Autobahn. Currently, I am requesting for a proper shot of the car to the Regierungspräsidium Kassel since the picture appeared in the invoice paper was somehow a bit blurred and scaled at a microscopic value.

"If I get caught of driving by myself, the authority will sue me. Blimey!"

In Germany, speeding fines can be differentiated based on several parameters. The cost depends on whether someone is driving in a town or on an Autobahn. It also differs based on how fast one exceeds the speed limit and in case you are interested with fines, the information regarding the violation to traffic signs (Ordnungswiedrigkeit) can be checked here. Speaking of getting caught by speed camera and aside from being fined, drivers who exceed the speed limit up to 21kph will also collect some points in their license, but since I am a foreigner and I was only 19kph faster than the allowable speed limit, I still haven't got any point in my license and I am still allowed to drive. Despite this, I was warned that I am not allowed to drive alone for the next six months, that means someone must be willing to be my passenger when I get caught the next time by the speed camera, in case if I do it again. If I get caught of driving by myself, the authority will sue me. Blimey! Honestly no idea about how disastrous the pressed charge against me would be, but it sounds like a massive exaggeration and that makes it not important at all. Anyway, I would like to explain more about the point in driving license because it is presumably more interesting. So basically, The point is again differentiated based on where and how bad you have violated the rule. A license driver holder, that's how the Germans refer to drivers, is considered for an agreeable 7 points at maximum. From 8 points up to 13 points, the license holder will be sent a warning notification by the authority and he/she will be recommended to attend a seminar of safety driving or some kind of it. From 14 points to 17 points, the warning notification and the seminar become a mandatory element aside from the fine. Then here is my favorite, when you pass 18 points, you are entitled to wave goodbye to your driving license. If you want to get one again, you have to repeat the whole driving test again which is preposterously expensive and takes a long time to accomplish. It gets even worse if you drive biblically faster than the speed limit because aside from collecting points, you will also be banned for driving any cars completely for a certain period.

The picture on the left hand side shows an actual form of speed camera in Germany. You can find this exact view on Bundeslandstrasse B1 in the direction Paderborn, just outside Soest border. By all means, I would say that 30 Euro is actually not a very enormous amount of money, not if I spend it for a dinner in a fancy restaurant and order a juicy lamb steak with oregano salad dressing on it. Instead, it was spent for some speeding act which appeared not faster than a dog could run; 19kph and that made it an utter waste. However, it was still worth the experience including and the most expensive photo shoot session of my whole life, I should perhaps find a frame to display it in my bedroom and nail it dead to the wall. Anyway, I would recommend those who enjoy driving at a fast pace to drive safely and obey the local rules, mainly because speed kills. However, I would also recommend them to get someone to sit on the passenger seat and the purpose is not so that they get to chat with someone lively. Instead, tell the passenger to keep an eye to the road as well, especially to a grey post on the side of the road with lens and blitz on it, so he or preferably she could remind you when there is a speed camera ahead. And on that surprising bombshell, this preposterous case is now finished and so is the series of "Soest - Ulm" notes. I certainly hope that the similar case will not happen again when I drive all the way back to Soest in July, particularly because a wise gentleman never falls twice. Until then, enjoy!

Soest - Ulm part 3: Crabby Car Rent Company

Dawn broke as a dark blue Volkswagen entering a parking space in Ulm, sheer silence welcomed the road-conqueror after fighting the uncomfortably noisy Golf Plus, dimmed street lights ignited the vague shadow of darkness, mystic mist along with thin haze surrounded the loneliness, frozen air speared tired skulls harshly, sound of crows from distance marked the new day in another land of grace. Knowing that you might need a barf bag after reading that pathetic poetry, I should supposedly cut the exaggeration out, although it did described how I started the first day in Ulm where there was no one around, partly because I arrived much too early than I was expected, to be exact 3 hours too early though. Anyway, back to the main topic of this note, I would describe that the first day in Ulm was quite dreary because I arrived in a body covered with incomparable drowsiness after all night driving, meanwhile I still had to keep my eyes open for at least the next eight hours because it was my first day of work! But this was just a niggling little thing as a result of exhaustion and was therefore not worth to be considered very much, until I found out what was about to happen in the next days as I tried to return the car to the car rent company, SIXT, back. Before you proceed on reading I would like to point out an actual fact that the mishap was not entirely SIXT’s fault and I was not an honest customer either, so be advised that the upcoming story shouldn’t be imitated by anyone else since this was not an exaggeration like the poet above and I am not joking, it might result in bankruptcy of this company and a not-least unemployment.

Of course, as a new resident of a city, I would have some paper works and stuffs to go through, such as organizing daily transport from where I live to the company; fixing internet connection; registering to the citizen office; and some other minute details. These major things obviously had to be finished as soon as possible mainly because they were quite top priorities, but at the day of my arrival I just didn’t want anything else aside from a bed. I would bravely admit that I almost fell asleep at my first day in the office and yet later on in the afternoon, I still had to unload my stuffs from the car and return the dull Volkswagen to SIXT office, albeit not of quite such importance to the world at large. I couldn’t simply just drive home, and then take a deep slumber. The drowsiness had really hammered me down that I asked my supervisor to get out of the office earlier in order to fix things I could do that day as soon as possible. Later on as I arrived at SIXT office, I asked at the personnel on the desk whether I should refuel the car by myself or I just pay more for the fuel, but then the business didn't work that way. Instead, SIXT charged me 3 Euro for every liter of fuel lacked in the tank. This cost had also been included with the service charge and what I mean with service charge here is driving the car to the nearest gas station which was just about 500m away from SIXT office. Mind you, the fuel cost assumption was almost 300% more expensive that the actual fuel price. Being startled by the ludicrous surcharge I decided to refueled the car by myself and frankly, I couldn’t work out a sensible reason of why people would pay much more for service charge rather than the fuel itself. After some inconsiderable minute of driving, I arrived at the gas station and immediately refueled the car with standard unleaded fuel which cost me around 28 Euro. But then on the way back to SIXT, I realized that I didn't actually brim the tank. However, the fuel indicator displayed just slightly below full position, I therefore declared that the car had an ostensibly full enough fuel. Back to SIXT office, I just handed the car keys and finished the administration, I was also informed that the rent deposit would be debited back to my bank account within one week. As I assumed that everything was cleared and in an urgent whim of a bed, I left the office and headed straight to home.

"This is actually the perfect case if you want to pick a quarrel with some German because you would definitely train your German skill."

Over the next week as I hadn’t managed to have a settled life, the first terrible ordeal started to kick in. Out of 92 Euro which was supposed to be returned, SIXT only debited half of this amount to my account and that was initially very puzzling because I thought that I had cleared things out. Until I printed out the rental bill, I discovered that SIXT actually charged me the additional rate for the cost of 13 liters petrol. To give you a proper perspective of how much unmistakable rubbish this was, I will let you know that this number of fuel is almost equal with a quarter tank of Golf Plus. This was plainly a load of cobblers because how could it be possible, that the fuel indicator actually displayed just slightly under the full position, meanwhile it needed 13 liters of petrol to get it full. I sincerely understand that this is plainly an awful contemplation, but any personnel at SIXT return station in Ulm could have driven the car to visit their grandmother somewhere in the middle of the town, reported that the car was lack of fuel and simply just charged the fuel on me. I didn’t care if they refused to examine the car condition while I had been in their office, but I supposed that further charge would not be taken into account after I stepped out the office. As bereavements go, I chalked the mishap up to some SIXT personnel’s incompetence during administration process and was quite ready to argue about this riff raff. Yet, I belatedly realized that aside from the last fuel receipt, I didn't have sufficient proof to support my argument. So, I could only sent the scanned file of the last fuel receipt to SIXT customer service and told them that it was just down to trust issues that I didn't ask for receipt in the first refueling because I plainly had no idea that this would happen. I also told them that I had blown in total more than 48 Euro just for the fuel cost of the car, meanwhile the simple fact was I couldn't even recall how much I had spent during the first refueling. But one thing for sure, I had jacked up the price a bit. Please don’t tell a living soul about this, I beg of you! Despite my minor mishap and in dread of losing customer's loyalty, I honestly believe that people at SIXT would rather burry their heads in the sand and give my money back, which might also be the reason why they debited the rest of rental deposit to my bank account within the next few days.

The whole process from I drove the car until I received the complete rental deposit took an implausibly two weeks long. However, this is actually the perfect case if you want to pick a quarrel with some German because you would definitely train your German skill and Goethe Institut Indonesien doesn’t offer this in any of their classes at all, not even in an intensive course. Though I used English most of the time to emphasize how unhappily disappointed I was with this occurrence. All in all, I sincerely thank SIXT for being very thoughtful and would say that they actually put customer satisfaction on their top priority. And by now after a deliberate consideration, I am about to take back what I have just said. Today, as I am finishing this note, I receive another daunting news from SIXT and this time, they really are the most irritating company in the world I have ever been dealing with, as I will point out in the next series in June. Until then, enjoy!

Soest - Ulm part 2: European Driving Experience

After making a short inspection to the overall electronic car functions such as lamps, indicator, heater and sat nav, I made my first driving experience on Germany by driving the car back to the hotel which was just about 15 minutes drive, then later on the very late night, I would drive more than 500 kilometers all the way to Ulm since I had to show myself in the office at 8.30 am. So on this basis, I would rather rest myself for a couple of hours before I set off. However, as the serotonin hormone of driving experience seemed to be out of nowhere injected to the bloodstream, I just couldn’t drawn myself to an oblivion of sleep, so I grabbed the car key, roadmaps (just in case if the GPS navigated me to Warsaw instead of Ulm), some bottles of orange juice and decided to hit the road early. Exactly 11.17 pm as what the onboard computer of the car shown and without any supplement of energy drink to conquer the drowsiness which might have attacked, I rolled the car onto the street. At first, it would obviously feel odd since you were not used to be in a left-hand-drive car. However, after spending about 5 minutes or so on the road, you will be able to adapt with the German traffic system and it was particularly because the Germans value the principal of safety driving highly. They enjoy speeding and driving in a fast pace, but they know where and when they are allowed to do so. Nevertheless, the phrase of “Rules are made to be broken” was also valid here and there was a very good example of it. I started from Hotel Böhm in Bad Sassendorf around 11.15 pm and made my way to Bundeslandstrasse B55 Paderborn which was spookily dark and empty. The B-roads were some sort of inter state roads which connect one province to the others and they were normally restricted a speed limit of 70 kph and it is not allowed to stop along this road unless for an emergency situation. Naturally, I respected the rules because I was a good foreigner, but then I found it absolutely irrelevant after some German who drove behind me in a hideous Mercedes estate dimmed me constantly! I then increased the speed steadily up until 140kph and yet, he overtook me and went faster than that! It was quite unbelievable and I was amazed that Germans could also be a rule breaker on the road.

I eventually left the B55 as I joined the Autobahn A44 direction Kassel and this was the first time as I drove along and I actually felt awake, partly because after seeing the distance information board on the right side of the lanes. It said that Kassel was “just” about 100km and I started to remember how tiring is the journey I took every week from Jakarta to Siemens Cilegon which has almost the similar distance. After a while, I started to feel hypnotized by the straightness of the road, even though the Autobahn surface was not as smooth as I thought. So I turned on the radio which played some odd-sounding traditional tunes and blasted the car up until 160kph. Even on this speed I still had to stay on the right lane, because based on the information I got from my friend who had lived in Germany for almost one year, all cars must always direct to the right lane and you only shift to the left lane to overtake other cars. After that, you should return to the right lane again. The speed limit in A44 was divided into several sections with a limit of 80kph and 120 kph. However, I still saw several drivers ignored the rules and drove faster, so I kept along with them. Mind you, it was a careless decision which moments later proved to be horribly wrong! Several kilometers just before I reached Kassel autobahn intersection and along with the fact that I had been quite in a drowsy state, I was suddenly surprised by a post emitting a blitz on the side of the road. It must have been the hateful speed camera and so after being alarmed, I stamped on the brake pedal to reduce the speed down to around 80kph and I was so disorientated that I hadn’t had the chance to take a quick look at the speedometer, so I didn’t how fast I was actually going. The thing that frightened me more was that when the camera emitted the blitz, I switched on the reading lamp in the cabin and I was not paying attention to the road, I took my eyes off the road to glance on the road map, looking for the next location of service station. If that thing ever generated an image, it would be a clear picture of me because the cabin was bright enough and a picture of I took my eyes of the road.

"This proved to be the finest and purest excitement which I ever had on the road."

Covered with a sense of drowsiness and being terrified by the speed camera, I continued my way to join the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in the entire Europe, the astonishing 946km long Autobahn A7. Firstly built in 1937, the A7 stretches all the way from north to south Germany and it splits the country almost evenly on both sides, it starts at the border to Denmark as an extension of Danish’s motorway and it ends up just about 18km from the Austria border. This is therefore the most important Autobahn in Germany since it connects with some other important cities in Germany such as Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart and Munich. What makes it more interesting to me, the A7 also has the longest stretch of no-speed-limit section compared to the other Autobahns. However, due to the previous incident and fatigue body, I preferred to set the cruise control at speed around 100 to 120 kph and it was also for a good reason of economical drive other than burning more fuel for speeding. The view of A7 at night was presumably quite amazing, apart from the fact that the there were no road lights or any form illumination, mainly because several sections of A7 are built on a surface which is much higher than the connecting cities, so you could actually see the radiant city lights as you drove along. Additionally, the A7 was built by crossing mountain areas and you would therefore drive through some tunnels, meanwhile several sections of A7 are also connected by bridges across beautiful slopes and valleys. Bottom line is, I reckon that it would present a beautiful view as you drive along during day time, it was such a shame that I was on the A7 when the sky was still dark. However, the beauty of A7 was not enough to retain my severe drowsiness, so after just about 150km on the road, I decided to pullover to a service station and welcome myself to a very brief oblivion of sleep.

30 minutes later, I rejoined the A7 and found myself still had around 200km to go before I drove through another Autobahn intersection. I believed that was the shortest sleep I ever had in my life and yet, it gave me quite an enough power to maintain my concentration on the road until about the next 150km, then two massive disasters came along: I nearly crashed a car which was unmistakably driven by someone who had no idea at all about the function of turning indicator, meanwhile the other one was I lost my cell-phone temporarily, well… sort of and these would be explained in the VW Golf Plus review page because it has no relation at all to this posting. Nevertheless, after another hour of driving I was approaching another Autobahn intersection and took the exit as the sat nav had instructed. However, since the Autobahn has no proper illumination even on the exit lane, I made an error by taking the wrong exit ramp which is divided into two directions. Knowing that I had taken the wrong way, I bravely stopped the car after entering the wrong lane about couple meters and drove backwards, and then I took the right exit ramp. This was preposterously an insane thing to do because the next day as I looked in the internet http://www.bmvbs.de/Verkehr-,1405.1494/Bussgeldkatalog.htm , I could have been fined up to 75 Euro for driving in the opposite direction of the Autobahn. Soon after this minute joke, I made the last change of Autobahn intersection by joining the A8 direction Stuttgart. Since I still had a lot of time to spare meanwhile I had reached the outside border of Ulm, I intentionally took the earlier Autobahn exit rather than I supposed to. I did it just to enjoy the driving excitement in the Bundeslandstrasse again because 4 hours in the Autobahn had turned out to be the dullest moment I had in the entire road trip. Amusingly, the sat nav knew that I had taken the wrong exit and it cleverly recalculated the route by finding another local road alternative. I just had to follow the instruction of the sat nav until I reach the destination.

The rest of the journey took place in the city of Ulm and my watch ticked to exactly 5.40am as I parked the car in front of the company building. I had arrived in one piece and yet I still had almost 3 hours before the scheduled time which was 8.30am. To sum up the, the overall trip had been filled with a fantastic view of Germany’s country side roads, some terrifying incidents, a heavy cobweb of drowsiness and they were packed altogether as the first driving experience in Europe. Of course, the overall route was not a petrol heads’ heaven considering the car itself was pathetic and I spent most of the time in the Autobahn; however this proved to be the finest and purest excitement which I ever had on the road and this note is therefore dedicated to remember those unforgettable moments. Until the next posting, enjoy!

Dedication. Modules. Boredom.

Quite often if you are a student and find yourself being accepted as an intern in an acceptably well-known, international company after a long search of one, I found that there are at least two responses coming along: the first response is undoubtedly sheer happyness, because if you aren't, you might need to look for a therapist whom you could consult about and deal with that oddness; meanwhile the second one is worry, worry of stepping into an unfamiliar environment, worry of upcoming problematic assignments, worry of balistic and cold-blooded superiors, worry of unwelcoming and unsympathetic co-workers, worry of doing something terribly wrong which might end up ruining your whole internship semester then so on. On the other hand, a heroic speech about dedication, responsibility and motivation has always tagged along with someone who is associated with a certain company, we always have the believe that working hard is the key to obtain career success and in fact it is true, because those who own multi billion industries today with immensely daily traded shares and bonds never build their business empire over a night. More often than not, they build it apparently with some sort of secret ingredients besides several positive human characters which I have mentioned above: tears, sweat and blood. Well, it might sound unnecessarily poetic and lame, however this is merely a description about someone who is constantly seeking an opportunity, in such way that he could improve and if possible, make a breakthrough through his works. Judging by the fact that I am still no more than a student which lives on my parent's money, I should suppose that it would be the exaggeration of the century if I gab too much about a billionare success story. Anyway, what I want to point out is that this sense of hard working and the eagerness to learn have proven to be essential if you want to be success. Factually, as a student who performs an internship semester, I would apply this value too during my internship period. Sadly, there is a slight problem coming along and it seems that I'm not the only one who experiences this little issue.. as I would explain in this note further.

Of course, I would apply the principal of hard working during my internship program as far as I could without making myself some sort of role model or a posh benchmark for other co-workers, showing that uhh look at that new intern! Constantly come first and go home last. Well there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact, it is actually fine by me as long as it is the true value of yours and you highly respect it, partly because you set your own standard of hard working and that makes you different from others. Meanwhile, the good things is that you don't have to be that way if you are not into it. Factually, I haven't been an outstanding intern in the house because I just spent two weeks out of five months here and currently on the progress of studying work details. However, after spending two weeks in my cubicle, I started to find that something has slowly killed my interest of company dedication, however please don't think that I am so ready to be fired, mainly because I'm not. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you the new contender to my hard working spirit: Boredom! Unlike the workers here who currently might be demotivated because of work time reduction from 160 hours per month down to 112 hours due to financial crisis, I am demotivated by a small activity which sparks a massive boredom. Apart from being a fresh intern, this thing does exist and also happens to some of my colleagues. I have been awfully thinking that you might have a ridicolous question like this: How could it be in the damn (Excuse me!) realms of possibility, working in an international company with lots of.. lots of stuff to learn and yet still finding yourself bored? The answer is presumably very simple, because things don't go as I expected. Naturally will not everything go according our initial expectations and it is plainly obvious to me, it goes without saying. Basically, I am not suggesting that I have made a wrong judgment about what kind of company would ever provide an interesting program for its intern, because I do have an assignment which needs to be analyzed, but I just can't see the point of being an intern if I don't learn something new everyday!

"I just can't see the point of being an intern if I don't learn something new everyday!"

To address my opinion in a more comprehensible way and frightfully not being smug to my previous achievement, I would describe it with a factual experience which I had when I worked as a mechanic assistant in a BMW Workshop four years ago. Unlike my position now as an intern in the department of system development and sitting with a group of well experienced engineers, being a mechanic assistant obviously won't give you a sense of pride or prestige. You can tell from the way they both looked so apart, engineers will dip themselves in a nice and clean cut shirt from Brook's Brother suit as they sign a work order with their Mont Blanc pen, meanwhile the mechanics will frequently be associated with oil smudge and overalls sewn by some cheap tailor behind a traditional market. Anyway, what I have learned so far is that being a mechanic assistant is much more fun than sitting in a room with a bunch of engineers. Firstly, please don't get me wrong, not that I don't have the sense to move forward or an expression of I-want-to-be-a-mechanic-assistant-for-the-rest-of-my-life, it's just the sheer learning experience that I had always enjoyed and I absolutely adore it! Back then, I only stopped working during lunch time or when in fact there was no car at all to be repaired, which happened very rarely. What's more, I had almost everyday something new to learn and cars to fiddle with. Well I'm not saying that BMW cars break down a lot with various types of problem or they are simply a metal workpiece of reparation bills, but the sheer fun just dominated everything and it was undilutedly a good motivation for me to keep improving. Moreover, the experience had been so thrilling to me that I actually applied again in the next year and it still felt exactly the same way. So, what is it about sitting in a room with engineers? Well, things always start with a reading session of theory modules and that means, your eyes will most of the time glued to the PC screen. I have always found that reading modules is a boring activity because it runs for weeks and truth be told, this note is even written during the work hour because I am currently in the anti-modules mode. The point is, reading modules generates an odd feeling and "Boredom" is the only word that could explain this feeling best. I believe once and for all that reading modules is essential, but it doesn't have to take for weeks long and I am saying it actually for an extremely good reason: I am sure that no one will ever have the intention to memorize the contents of the module at all. Why can't we just study them for couple days and head straight to work? Since as an intern, we would eventually returned to the work modules by ourselves if we face problems during our assignments.

To sum up then, I used to think that reading modules is a boring stuff for interns to do. Now though things have changed a bit and it gets worse, now I know that modules which have to be studied for weeks is the first thing that could have killed my work motivation. It is such a shame that people in the house has been welcoming and particularly my supervisor who have been so attentive and very nice to work with. Yet, the modules came along with no daily assignments and it had turned my blue days to dark grey. I just hope that the actual work will come in the third week and until then.. Enjoy!

Soest - Ulm part 1: Rent A Car

Deeply amused after knowing that I was accepted as an intern in a Japan headquarter based company which specializes itself in developing safety equipments such as seatbelt and airbag for passenger cars, I started to keep my self occupied by dealing with some official contracts, attending German class in the Fachhochschule and of course organizing a way how to transport myself and all my belongings to the city where I will work. To give you an idea about the whole journey, I will describe a bit about the city. So, this city is called Ulm and it is located in the province of Baden Württemberg. Separated to the well-known Stuttgart about 100km in south east direction, this city is quite special because this is also the city where the founder of relativity theory was born, I assume you know who he is and if you don’t, that is fine because he is not the limelight of this post. Additionally, you will also find here the tallest Gothic church ever built in the world, which is the Ulmer Münster. Please bear in mind that there is another higher historical religious establishment in Cologne, Kölner Dome and yet, it is a cathedral, not a church. So, back to the issue and as far as I was concerned, I had two choices on how I was going to reach this city: using standard public transport which is inevitably train again or I could spend a bit more money and trade it with a driving experience in Europe which I have never had before. The decision was actually quite simple to me because I had sorted some problems already if I took the train to Ulm: I had to drag my unbelievably heavy luggage along the way and it would be unpractical as well if I had to take a connecting train or maybe take a bus; there is also no special compartment in the train to place big suitcases which means I had to place my stuffs near the exit door of the train and it increased the possibility of criminal rip off; and foremost, I have always disliked public transport on land because they are somehow not convenient enough and a bit slow. Well, I supposed I would not say slow, but it is not as fast as driving a car. So the decision had been made: rent a car.

Basically, this was not the first attempt of mine to rent a car. Previously or about one month before this trip to be precise, I had reserved a car as well for a return trip from Ulm back to Soest after a job interview. I looked on-line to find a car rent company and there were some actually, but then I found one which seemed like an international car rent company and it is called Sixt. There are several reasons actually why I chose this company: it is not the cheapest and yet not the most expensive, so the price is presumably quite affordable, especially for a student like me; they provide cars based on your demand: how many days you would like to rent, what kind of car and where will you pick-up and drop-off the car; and lastly, the registration procedure was simple and quick, because it was done by on-line. Sadly, what I had described as simple and quick turned out to be an unpleasant disaster and a massive disappointment in which I was stumbled on the legality of my driving license. It was rejected and Sixt said that it was not an international driving license. Additionally, they said that if I still want to rent a car, I would be required to produce an official document which is the translation of my Indonesian driving license into English version.This was plainly ridiculous, even after I explained to them that my driver license was valid for 185 days after my arrival date in Germany and I did not make this up because I had actually confirmed the validity my driving license in the Soest Führerscheinstelle (some kind of local transport organization). What I found more annoying was that this translation can only be performed by ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V.) which is Europe's largest automobile club and mind this, I had to deliver my driver license to the center office of ADAC all the way to Berlin by myself, it can’t be posted because they might require your signature.. in which case I hope that there will be an invention one day how to transfer your hand signature real time and digitally. What’s more, this translation was biblically expensive, you will be charged for an administration and translation fee of 49 Euro, and that has not been included with transport cost to Berlin itself. Unhappily irritated by the complicated German paper works and the state of not-knowingness of the Sixt personnel, I therefore decided to call off the first car reservation.

"What I had described as simple and quick turned out to be an unpleasant disaster and a massive disappointment in which I was stumbled on the legality of my driving license."

Undoubtedly, the foregoing issue had killed my interest to rent a car from Sixt, but it would certainly not lessen my enthusiasm to drive a car in Germany, so this time I decided to have another go, except I was going native by having assistance from the Fachhochschule to deal with it. The next day I rang up the person in charge for student affair and explained my problems. A few days later, I was told that I could make an arrangement for the car rent company they had appointed and there should no problems at all since I just had to call the company to confirm my reservation. Thrilled by the positive news and loaded with positive thoughts, I went straight to the car rent office in Soest to ask what kind of car I would drive and boy.. I was somehow surprised after arriving at the office, partly because it was not bigger than a Kebab store near the Soest train station which I daily passed by. Meanwhile, there was also a small placated board with orange symbol which I was quite familiar with and it said: Sixt. Anyway, I would not give a damn on it because all I wanted to do was just drive and that was it, I shall put all administration things aside and let the professional in the FH dealt with it. Factually, it worked out! The reservation had been positive and no annoying squabbles or whatsoever about my driving license. On the reservation receipt, I would drive either an outdated Volkswagen Polo or a freshly introduced to the European market Ford Fiesta with an agreeable price of 39 Euro before 19% tax and I think that was quite well priced actually. The rest thing I was looking forward to do: just jammed my stuffs altogether and hit the road!

After a long and wasteful wait, then the day I was looking forward the most came: March, 31^st 2009 at 5 p.m., the pick-up time of the reserved car: the freshly released to the European market Ford Fiesta or the outdated Volkswagen Polo. With the debit card and driving license at the ready, I went on foot to the Sixt office which took about 30 minutes walk from the FH. However, I spotted something strange as I walked though the car park of Sixt: there was neither a Ford Fiesta nor a Volkswagen Polo. Covered with confused thought, I made my way into the office and asked about my reservation. I just had to hand my driving license and the reservation sheet (This will be obtained if the reservation is made directly in the Sixt office. If you make your reservation via internet, you might be required to print the reservation sheet which you will receive via your e-mail). After finishing the administration, then the bill came along. I was initially shocked since the rent had increased to a whopping 139 Euro instead of 46 Euro, but then things went clear because it was included with insurance deposit money in case you didn’t return the car in a proper condition. What I meant here with a proper condition is that the car must be returned in a clean state, I suppose there will be an extra charge if you also transport a dog, a cat or even a hamster along with you and it also must be returned with a full fuel tank, just as you take it on the first place. Having reviewed the rent contract instantly and with a careless sense since I wanted to take a look on the car immediately, I signed the contract. Then I was brought into two choices of cars and they were indeed not a Ford Fiesta or a Volkswagen Polo. Instead, they were a Volkswagen Golf Plus and a Smart Fortwo Coupe. Please be advised that changing ordered car seemed to be a natural habit of Sixt since some of my friends also experienced the same issue where the car they ordered was different with the car provided on the pick-up date. However, the good point was: the car had always come from an upper class or in other way, it was upgraded to a more expensive car. Back to my issue, I was particularly interested in Smart Fortwo since it was a unique and fun-to-drive car, it was also the diesel version and paired with pedal shift semi-automatic gearbox which made it more appealing for me. However, considering the massive size of my suitcase and a midsized handbag, Smart will just not be the perfect choice. So, I headed for the dark blue, dull-looking Golf Plus.