Shit happens

Even though you be careful as you normally would, from time to time you would be caught off guard when executing your plans. This was the case yesterday when I went to "visit" Ulm, the place where my friend, ex UTM incoming trainee, was staying. Ulm is a small town with the tallest church steeple in the world at 161.53m. So big, i struggled to fit it in my cameras view finder. It was the birthplace of Albert Einstein, which is a big pride for ULMers. Anyway, I already emailed Mustafa on my trip to Ulm. He gave me his phone number. So the night before i came, i sms-ed him about where and when to meet. But for some reason he did not replied me. the next morning before i went i was thinking of rechecking the phone number he gave to me but in the rush to catch the train, i forgot. so it was a 4 hour journey with 2 changes of trains 1st in Heidelberg and 2nd in Stuttgart. actually i think the total journey was only a bit more than 2 hours but the stops were quite long.

so when i arrived at Ulm station, i tried to cal Mustafa a few times but to no avail. That was when i really thought that i entered the wrong number in phone. I tried to find an internet cafe but i couldn't. My only hope was for Mustafa to noticed that i have my mobile number in my email sign off. But i couldnt count on that, so i decided to go around Ulm by myself. With free maps at my disposal and a state transport ticket, this was more than possible.

So, armed with the map, i went around Ulm by myself. Ulm is a small city and the places of attractions were very close to each other so i just walked from each of the places. Its quite a nice place with a number of historical places. Too bad i didnt have a tour guide so i didn't get to know about the history of the places. But i was really astonished by the effort taken to conserve the environment. The rivers were so clean that u could take a swim in it and the streats were clean and its very hard to find any rubbish anywhere. I spent about 4 hours there before i finished my trip and decided that Mustafa was not going to call me. So, i embarked on my 4 hour journey back to Mannheim. Remember that i wanted to buy insoles for my shoes during the "shopping day"? Well i finally bought a pair of "gel" insoles that claim to be extra comfortable bla bla bla. what a bunch of bull droppings. half an hour through the journey it was already flat and was as comfortable as walking on pins and needles. What a waste of 15 euros.

Well my mistake this time was not preparing the necessary travel information and based my whole journey on the assumption that i will meet Mustafa, So i didn't have a backup plan. But its good thing that i could improvise and come up with my own travel plan, so the trip was not a lost cause. But it was a shame that i couldn't meet Mustafa.

But like what Mustafa said when he called me later that night... "shit happens"... and i would say, "shit happens, don't keep sniffing it"...

Ulm Münster

Ulm Münster is currently undergoing reconstruction