Background, Visa, Planning, etc.

How did I get this chance?


Bryan

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?
 
 

 
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.),