Language Course and Orientation, teil I

Part I

Me and some Frauen who are also doing language/orientation. 

The map of Uni Konstanz. It's a total labrynth! Full of
twisting stairs and halls. Much like European towns.

17:46, Montag, 5 Maerz, 2012 - The first day of language course and orientation arrives and I'm nervous. Things are about to cost a lot as I pay fees and register for various things. I still need an alarm clock. The phone I am borrowing from Oskar won't work until I get a SIM card in it. Speaking of which, I should go for a walk to Kaufland and get that done now. I will choose the 9.99 euro per month plan with O2. With that comes 200 minutes to any deutsch network, 150 texts, 50 MB, and free calling to any other O2 phone. Extra texts are 0.09 euros and extra minutes are 0.25 euros. It is an unwritten agreement that all students use O2 so that calling is free here. I like that. Anyway 9.99 is fiddlesticks compared to Canada.

A view from Mensa (cafeteria) window. Food sucks, but
view rocks!

About my money woes: Waking up I was nervous. Arriving late because of my alarm, albeit with Oskar and Jowalkheim, I was nervous. When a man stood up and said that here was here to distribute Stipendiums I was anxious. A Stipendium is a scholarship. When he called my name I was super happy! 2000 euros! Suddenly, worries becames foolish things of the past. I hate money and how it can twist the mind. If only freedom and happiness were free. Well it seems in Germany these things are closer to free than most place. Vielen Dank Baden-Wuerttemberg Stipendium Fund! Ich lieb dich!

I needed the walk home. Time to take it all in.

I also found on my way home from the orientation two flower pots and some decorations for my room.

I'll explain what happened during orientation later. Now I must leave you and return beer cans for a deposit which should pay for my SIM card.

Tschuss,

07:10, Tuesday, 6 Maerz, 2012 - After making my way to Kaufland last night, where at I found O2 is only open 09:00 to 19:00, I figured out how to return my beer can deposit and used the cash to buy food. Watermelon from Costa Rica was only 1.29 euros per kilogram. It's an unusual comparison to Canadian dollars per pound which is how most things are stupidly advertised in Canada. We use metric! The comparison is (1.33CAN/EUR)/(2.2lb/kg)x(EUR/kg) = 0.60CAN/lb. So that watermelon from Costa Rica is costing me 0.774 Canadian dollars per pound. Can someone clarify if this is a good price back in Canada. Also, for red peppers.

So with still no SIM and thus no alarm I came home. I was greeted by Oskar and Jowalkheim. We went to another persons place to pre-drink and then out to several bars in the Altstadt. Many were smoke filled. When we came to the last one I did not feel like buying a beer. The old man who ran the place gave me one for free. I humbly accepted. I am thinking that I will writing him a thank you card and buy him some flowers. He had fresh flowers at every table. It was quite empty last night in most of the bars. Funny for a Montag (Monday) night. Most patrons were old white haired men wearing nice clothing, chattering amonst themselves, and watching the German female fussball (soccer) team kick Sweden's ass. Oskar and Jowalkheim cared not that their fellow Swedish girls were getting tromped.

So this morning I allowed myself to rise naturally and here I find myself at a nice and early start. I was a tad worried as I fell asleep since I had drank so much beer.

Today I can expect some of what I did yesterday: form filling (immigration, school registration, random no purpose papers, eye color, height, how often I think strange thought,...ect). The Germans love bureaucracy just as much as Hermes! It makes me laugh outside, though I cringe inside at the mountain of paper I have to fill in. However, today I expect that we will begin learning German at our respective levels. Yesterday we had all taken a placement test before the guided tour.

Not too much time here, must be there for 09:00 and I'd like to visit the garden first.