Arriving in Cologne

Hi!

This is the very first post of our blog. We created this blog to share our experiences and thoughts about exchange here in Germany, and also to create nice memories which we can get back into easily. 

As all of you reading this blog might already know, we are two girls from Oulu, Finland. We arrived in Cologne on Sunday 24.8. and will stay here until Christmas. We are going to study International Business in Cologne Business School (CBS). In addition to studying, we are planning to travel around Germany and Europe and to have fun, of course!

This post is about arriving in Cologne.

We left Oulu on Sunday morning at 6 am. We needed to take train from Oulu to Helsinki because there were no cheap flights left. The train was 15 minutes late and we frustrated already in Oulu, if we are going to catch the plane. Luckily, the train arrived Tikkurila on time and Maiju's father took us to the airport. We got easily to the gate, but then we found out that our flight to Stockholm is going to be delayed. The flight was supposed to leave on 15.40, but the only information we got was "new information at 15.40".

Well, the flight finally left at 18.00 and we made it to Stockholm. Then we faced the next problem: How to fly to Frankfurt? Our connecting flight from Stockholm had already left. Luckily we were transferred to the next leaving flight and in the end there was no problem.

Train from Frankfurt to Cologne took only one hour, but it was extremely expensive. It cost about 140 € for us two.

"Flight to Stockholm is delayed.. Next information in 1000 hours"

Waiting for the plane at Helsinki-Vantaa airport

We arrived to the Köln Hauptbahnhof (Central Railway station) around midnight. Finally!!!
When we stepped out from the Hauptbahnof, an amazing sight confronted us. I think I (Maiju) was yelling because it was soooo beautiful! And what was it? Of course it was the Dom.

We took a cab to our new apartment. Cabs are by the way really cheap here: the starting cost was 3 € and the whole sum was 7,80€.
The guy who rents this apartment for us, was waiting here for us to arrive. He was really nice and friendly. We signed the rental agreements and made couple of money transactions to him (such as the rent and deposit). Then he left us and we were staying happy, but tired in our new home.

How much did it cost to travel from Oulu, Finland to Cologne, Germany?
Notice that this is only for one way and one person!

-VR Intercity train Oulu-Tikkurila 40 € (student ticket)
-SAS flight Helsinki-Stockholm-Frankfurt 123 €
-DB ICE train Frankfurt-Cologne 74,50 €
-Taxi Hbf-Rudolfplatz 7,80 € (well this was for both, but still..)

Total: 245,30 €

In the next post we will tell you about our first week in here!

Maiju and Jenna