Copilot first line suggestion: Today, I had a second date with EU. We went to a nice restaurant and had a great time. We talked about our interests and hobbies, and we found out that we have a lot in common. We both love traveling and trying new foods. We also both enjoy hiking and spending time outdoors.

neos plan

Absurd but accurate description of the second trip to EU. Food, traveling, and found a lot in common with EU. Everytime after leaving from her, I always miss her and the calm and strength she gives me. Before things get weirder, I should just say that I come back to EU to go to he D.A.T.E. conference, and then I went north to meet with CSJ, and we go together to the nurburgring. Hence the title: “Second Date with EU”.

The first stop was Milan. Dangerous feeling approaches me as soon as I get off the train, seeing a stolen suitcase with scattered clothes on the street is a clear sign for me – welcome to Italy. The cathedral was kinda cool, but not so impressive, may be I have seen way too many churches that I can’t tell. The alfa-romeo museum is mild, too long and way too difficult to go to, and the lack of quality exhibits – lack of the F1 car that Zhou drives and only 8C and 33 are really cool cars. However, the 10 euro sea-food pasta is really good and great value, just in comparison to the 10 euro Donor in Munich (wtf with the inflation?).

The second stop was Peschiera del Garda, a small town on the shore of Lake Garda. I went to Castello Scaligero di Sirmione by boats, go and return with different boats, which is a really nice experience. Really expensive places with too many german money. And the duck there eat ICE CREAM! Sitting in a roma ruins, thinking about the game “Odessay”, and the duck eating ice cream, I can’t help but feel a bit surreal.

After saying goodbye to those ducks and germans, we say hello to the asians in Verona. Small and interesting city, with lovely people. One young man, maybe a second-generation immigrant in the random park say to me “NI HAO” and give a high-five to me while I am eating chips and bear as dinner, that is random but classic my trip experience hhh. The only sad thing is that I am not the target audience of the DATE conference, as I am leaving the old research team, but that is also a great great news.

After a 8 hour flexbus to Munich, I come back to the place where I share memories with maybe my best friends, lili, jacob, and others, now think about it. But after landing, I feel more of a relief, that I can, survive with those things as memories rather than a sweet dreams. Is like come back to the places where you have the best memories after a long time, is really a bittersweet feeling. Motor-world is really cool and, again, while having a beer in the Viktualienmarket an old man come up talks to me about his family, how he comes to munich from a little town in the south every week. Classic my trip experience again, and I really enjoy those random interactions with locals.

After surviving another flexbus to Stuttgart, I come to the city where I though I would love the most, as they are the home of Mercedes and Porsche. However, I experienced some racism, which was disappointing, later I found out the westen germans are a bit different to the “our” easten kinds hhh. But the museums are really good, especially the Porsche one, and I am really glad that I can see the 918, 969, 911 GT, carrera GT, 919, 911 GT3 in real life. The really scray thing is that my phone screen went to “Danzen” mode just as we arrive at the Mercedes museum. Thank god I am with my friend CSJ (yes we meet up in stuttgrat), and I didn’t let to dead in the no where, and my friend will be a strange position to be at. Luckly the phone kinda worked for the remaining of the trip, and uses screen mirroring to my MAC, I have at least something to count on.

Then we use ICE train to go to Koln, first time for me to enjoy the speed and cleanness of ICE trains, but no the frist time to be disappointed by the delays of DB. The Cologne cathedral, the Hohenzollern bridge and Schweinshaxe is nice and romantic, so not ideal for two dudes. But the calm and relaxing atmosphere, the sun and the water, that is the memory I hold for Berlin, and now Cologne. We didn’t stay long, with some mishaps with the hotel and a visit to the MotorWorld and seeing Michael Schumarcher’s F1 cars. We rent a car, thought to be A5 coupe, but A5 Avant, a wagen.

With CSJ’s smart guidance, we went to Spa the very first day, and it happened to be a race weekend for classic cars — holy cow! Is that 250 GTO? GT40? 458 GT3 cars? And seeing all this for free? And we can go to the pit lane and even touch the cars!? this is the best day of my life. Feeling the roars and speed of those classics is a truely life-time experience.

But this isn’t the best day of my life, going to the nurburgring is. We showed up at exactly the right time, with a bike parade surrounding the whole town. We went for rent4ring to rent basic mini, only to found we can’t really pay the deposit. So we added coaches to our experience. The coach was really cool; he raced in the Nordschleife and involved in the development of some really cool cars, including some impressive performance vehicles. He even tell me the lap time of Yu7 Max which at the time is still closed to the public. Driving on the nordschleife and on a race track for the first time is really amazing, the bump, shake, and being thrown around as the car takes corners. This is really a nice experience, and I am really glad that I can share this with my friend CSJ. I was drowning in shock after driving on it. With a sub 11-min lap time and many yellow-flag and plenty of fast car to let they pass, this is the best day of my life.

The last day we went to Netherlands, because we found we have extra mileage on the rental car. We didn’t go to the track due to time constraints, but we went to the beach and enjoy the tulip flowers. The beach is horrible, even worse than the one in Shanghai, but the tulip flowers are really nice. After some fast driving, we departed as I took the airplane home and he return to Achen.

I stay in his Achen home for two days, living in his room-mate’s room. To be honest I am a bit shoke for how bad the kichen was, with little heat from the stove and a complete absence of a range hood. This is crazy for average chinese but norm for german-chinese students. I’m grateful for the extra comfort and extra experience I got for my flat in Berlin. Massive shout out to my friend CSJ for being such a great travel companion, and for sharing this amazing experience with me. I will always cherish the memories of this trip.

I later found out there was a terrorist attack in Barcelona — I had stayed there for only one night to transfer to a flight to Shanghai. This is crazy, as the world becomes more and more unsafe. Not that long ago, I come back from Mexico, and there is a massive shooting in the Pirámide del Sol, just a week ago. This is crazy, really, crazy. I hope the world becomes a safer place, and I am more grateful for the safety and security I have in my life. As I return to my normal PHD life and strive to start, work, on my research. (Yeah, I know I am kinda suck at it now but you know, I can’t win when things going smoothly).

So good. And so it ends. I am calmer and more confident thanks to this trip. Lets dance!

  • Life Goal reached: drive on the nurburgring
  • New Life Goal: graduate from PhD, with the current sub-goal as finish the current research