Hanne

7 April 2009

The past two days have been filled with crazy bureocracy, German punctuality, a second league soccer game and losing my keys! Let us start with yesterday, to keep things in a nice chronological order. (I can only try this chronological thing and see how long it lasts, hope some of the German orderliness rubs off on me soon!)

So, Monday morning… Gabi accompanied me into the city to do all those setting up tasks that one must do before enrolling at uni, namely setting up a bank account, confirming my place in a dorm, registering with the police office (as you do!) and taking passport photos for my student id. We were actually all ready to go to the uni and then I realized I had no passport picture. Rather, I had left it on the floor of mum’s room back home in Auckland. Oops. So we found one of those instant camera places and I honestly look like a criminal in the picture! An absolute mugshot (would be perfect for a passport photo). I had to matriculate between 8.30 and 11.45am. Very precise. And you guessed it, I arrived at 11.46am! There were some very helpful students from the international office though and they helped me fill everything out, ready for today.

Then we had the first part of the orientation and I met some friends! Yay! Well, I met a girl from Denmark first then 2 from china, one from Finland, a guy from the US and a girl from Christchurch. Well, originally she comes from Pahiatua, near Palmerston North. Exotic. We went for a walk around the city and saw the uni buildings and then a group of us found out that Sportclub Freiburg was playing a home game so decided to try and get tickets. It was an exciting game because Freiburg are top of the second league and if they stay in the first to places they go into the first league, which apparently they do every season. In one year, out the next, but it was still exciting. To stand in a stadium with 15,500 other people and sing football songs… Awesome atmosphere. Oh, and one of their songs is the grand march from Verdi’s Aida. Yes, our old school song! THAT was weird to hear.

Today I met up with those guys again but first I had to get up EARLY. I could pick up the keys to my room only between 8am and 8.30am so Gabi dropped me at the hostel at 7.30am. I got the keys ok and went to look at the room, which felt strange, as if I was breaking in. There are four others in my pod, with shared kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is awesome, it is orange! And there are shelves and mess –Which is not so good for a kitchen but at least means there is life there. Then I went into my room . It is like a prison cell. Only bigger. Twice the size of NZ rooms I would say, but empty apart from a bed, desk and cupboard. No curtains even! But it is ok, Clara’s family said I can borrow some curtains and bed linen and I will put a map on the wall and my flag and maybe go to IKEA to get a rug. Colour is what it needs! And life! Maybe a pot plant. That will be a challenge, to see if I can keep it alive… It is quite likely to go the way of my venus try trap.

This afternoon we had another uni tour and I missed some of what was said, but learnt that you take 60 points to be full time. At least that is what the other European students told me. I will email the course coordinators tomorrow and ask if I can take Danish as a subject… 2 German 2 English 1 Danish, that would be super. I actually bought a list of courses from the book store because it is too complicated to look in the internet. It is weird that you have to buy it though, not like in NZ! I think it will be very useful though, as do the other international students I have met. We had a quick look through and then we hung out on the river bank like real Germans. And then I came home. And realized I had no key. >doh<. Luckily the neighbour has a spare, so I got to practice my formal German when I asked her if I could use it! And then? Well, I went for a walk and came home and felt happy that there are people here because people are the best thing ever! It is way better to sit somewhere alone when you know someone is going to come home. It is a pleasant aloneness, not lonely. I hope I can make my empty grey room in the yellow and orange student building not so lonely!

Ah well, that is why I am here I suppose, to try new things. And appreciate the fact that at home I have my own curtains!

Bis nächstes Mal,

Hanne