Well, I finally got this blog up, but I haven’t been lazy up to now. I’ll sum up what I’ve done so far to get to India.
Once upon a time, in a company far, far away… (Autumn 2005, SAP)
It all started with the question: „Where am I going?“ No, not in my life (that’s a different issue), but for my time abroad. The usual answers (USA, China, …) didn’t quite appeal to me. At that time, I have been in the Service&Support department, located at the beautiful SAP location in St. Leon-Rot. Nice place, lots of green, canteen with a small river flowing through, …
Sorry, I’m drifting off. It was a fun time there, and they are cooperating with a department in India, at Bangalore. Now that got me thinking. India is a nice country, and I wanted to go there sometimes anyways. A co-student of mine, who had been to India, had a bunch of great experiences. And I had a good relation to my department manager…there’s nothing better than a bit of networking.
So I wrote a mail over there. And waited. I wrote another mail. I talked to my department manager, so he would put in a good word for me at the next conference call. As I should learn later, my application climbed quite a way through the hierarchy. Finally, I got a word: I’m in! It was now december 2005.
So, I booked my flight (see this post), and headed off to get my visa. I’m talking a bit more about it in this post. But I realized on thing: Never rely in your memory. I was absolutely sure that my passport would be valid for some time, but one look convinced me from the painful truth: I needed a new one.
So I went to get my pictures done at my „Haus- und Hoffotograf“ (my favourite photographer) and went to the city office. I must have a good instinct concerning photographers, since the employee there told me that mine is „about the only one who gets it right in the first try“. Lucky me! By now I have my very own biometric (?) passport with RFID chip, valid again for the next 6 years.
The Indian side also picked up pace, my request for a letter of invitation, which confirms that I will indeed be working at India, was replied to with said letter only half a day later. Thanks, guys!
Oh, yea, accomodation. I did not plan to live on the streets there ;-), so I got myself booked at the SAP guesthouse at Bangalore. The Indian HR department did this for me, so no trouble.
So, I’m sitting here, preparing my visum, and hoping for the very best. Phew. Quite a lengthy post, but I hope you’re up to date now. Any question? Post a comment, and I’ll do my very best to answer it.