Author Archives: leslieoctaviano

How to apply for a German student visa for Filipinos

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Applying for a student visa to a European university especially for a third-world passport holder is a nerve-wracking experience. There’s a lot of online resources detailing the process but I haven’t encountered a post for Filipino students in particular.  I made this article in the hopes of reducing any mental and emotional stress for other Filipino applicants. This also serves as my personal thank you to all the other Filipino students (such as Kathy Buenaventura and Leni Papa) who have helped me during the process.

Disclaimer: The process laid down below is specific to an application for a German student visa  (not for a language course or a student application visa) or any type of visa for that matter. 

STEP 1: Scheduling the appointment

Processing time for the student visa could take up to 6 months, including the waiting time for the visa interview schedule. Hence, it is important that you schedule the visa appointment as soon as you receive your acceptance to the German university of your choice. I personally waited for the scholarship grant before scheduling my visa appointment but I think it would’ve been a lot better had I scheduled it beforehand, the moment I received the acceptance letter from the German university. It’s better (and a lot easier) to cancel a visa appointment than schedule one.

To put things into perspective, the timeline for the processing of my visa went something like this:

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How-to-deal Shortcuts

Marcus Aurelius opens Book 2 (On the River Gran, among the Quadi) of Meditations with this sentiment:

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.

I understand where he’s coming from. But it’s a little too snooty and aggressive for my taste.

My go-to mental salve whenever I interact with someone being difficult:

  • That person’s adverse reaction is rooted on a deep level of insecurity or fear.
  • His environment cultivated / tolerated  such behavior.
  • He doesn’t have the resources to know better.

No one is an inherently bad person. Nobody.

Treehouse






Ili-Likha Artist Village, Baguio

Had lunch in this whimsical place during a short visit in Baguio for the Panagbenga Festival. 

What’s more endearing is we chanced upon this little gem only because we can’t pass through Session Road due to the festivities. In an age where checking Looloo precedes every culinary adventure, that is pretty refreshing. 

Let’s give this another try

A simple trick from the backyard astronomer: if you are having trouble seeing something, look slightly away from it. The most light-sensitive parts of our eyes (those we need to see dim objects) are on the edges of the region we normally use for focusing.

Eating animals has an invisible quality. Thinking about dogs, and their relationship to the animals we eat, is one way of looking askance and making something invisible visible. —Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer

I am on a 30-day pescatarian diet challenge! I say challenge because I come from a semi-paleo way of life and my body needs to adjust to this sudden absence of meat.

While I have no problem eating all the fish and vegetables in the world, I’ve come to realize that my food choices are largely determined by convenience (and sadly, our helper’s whim). This diet just made me more proactive in what I ingest, more conscious of what I do.

And that is always a good thing.

Drained

I’m not tired.
I’m not tired.
I’m not tired.

I am exhausted.

–

In other news, this week has got to be my most unprofessional week at work by far.

Conclusion: Civility requires a lot of energy.

Peter Pettigrew

Remember that scene in the Prisoner of Azakaban where Harry Potter let Peter Pettigrew lived after knowing that it was he who betrayed Harry’s parents? And then remember that moments later, Peter escaped to scuttle away back to the Dark Lord?

I recall Dumbledore saying that Peter will forever be indebted to Harry for sparing his life, that by virtue of that act of kindness, they have formed a connection, a life-long bond of some sort.

Sadly, I don’t think their moment/connection has been subsequently established in the book. Has it? Correct me if I’m wrong please.

Why am I saying this?

I feel like I’m investing in the wrong things recently. Maybe I, unlike Harry, should just eliminate Peter outright and avoid all these expectations of someday reaping what I sow.

–

Let the bridges I burn light the way?

Hello again

I’ve been surfing the web for the last couple of hours, running out of useless things to read. Suddenly, the urge to write appears. And it’s 1:35 AM. WHAT A CLICHE

Here are a couple of things that have happened in the last six months that I want to remember / am extremely thankful for:

  • White sands of Calaguas
  • The landslide madness in Sagada
  • Shaking hands with Carpio-Morales
  • Flow House Manila
  • Going to Osaka and Kyoto last October (drinking butterbeer twice; seeing the Hogwarts castle in the morning and at night; Shinkansen; wall adventure with Mia at the Osaka castle)
  • Discovering the Bonbon Club and Pepi Cubano with Mar
  • Watching the musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County (starring Mig Ayesa and Joanna Ampil)
  • Cliff diving (20ft) + surfing at La Union
  • Prado Farms at Lubao, Pampanga with Chiara
  • Learning table tennis
  • Hawaiian roller coaster ride with Tax MG2

This is mostly a brain dump of some sort. Hopefully this will encourage me to write another post again soon (don’t want my top post to be a compilation of the good stuff).

I’ve been learning a lot of things – about myself, tax, other people, and the world. I should try to write some of them down. For my sake more than anyone else.

PS: Just a sample of the pending questions swimming in my head.
– How can I remove the stigma that I’ve associated with taking pictures (aka vanity)?
– Will getting an iPhone solve all my problems?