My orientation leaders were Anja and Kalle. Once outside, they asked us who spoke German and who spoke English. Some people spoke no German, so from then on we spoke English. We walked to a bank to pay our social fee. On the walk I befriended Rosie (from England) and Niall (from South Africa). We were the only native English speakers in our group of 30. I only had US dollars, and the first bank did not exchange USD. Kalle took me to a second bank, but they also did not exchange USD. Finally, we went to a third bank where Kalle was a member. I gave him my $600 and he went inside to exchange it. They would only exchange $300 because apparently the other $300 was "damaged." I inspected the bills to find that "damaged" meant ink stains and folded corners. As I was looking for my debit card to withdraw some more euros, I discovered that I had lost my debit card. I left it at the ATM I used on base. As soon as I got internet, I texted Joe and asked him to check with the ATM. Luckily, someone had turned in my card, but the bank will not release the card to me until I get a piece of paper from my bank at home saying that I am who I say I am. Luckily around this time, it was early morning at home and my parents were able to go to the bank when it opened and email me the form. Joe will be bringing me to the bank tomorrow to collect my card. Thank god for friends!
After the bank, Anja and Kalle took us on a tour of the University. It's quite large. It's going to take me awhile to get adjusted and know where I am going. Our tour finished at the two insurance companies. We had to give them our proof of insurance so they could give us a sheet of paper that we needed to register for classes tomorrow. My DAAD scholarship provides me with German health insurance. I was supposed to have received a sheet of paper from the DAAD to present to the German health insurance company, but I have not. The first company would not provide me with the sheet I needed to register for classes and told me that I would have to wait 2 weeks to get it. I went to the other company and they informed me that the first company was "stupid" and "didn't know what they were doing." The second company then gave me the sheet I needed. Relieved would be an understatement.
We continued on to the Mensa (cafeteria) to get lunch. I got a whole plate of pasta and a salad for only 3,75 euros! I'm beginning to realize that stuff is actually relatively cheap here for students. During lunch I sat at a table with my orientation leaders, Rosie, Neal, and some others from Poland. Kalle told me that there would be bad weather tomorrow because I did not clean my plate. Silly Germans.
After lunch, we were allowed to leave if we didn't need to finalize our dorm contracts. I, however, did not want to do so because I would have nothing to do. I sat around until everyone finished and even signed up for a "Mix Tour" this weekend. I paid 40 euros and will spend Saturday and Sunday in Bad Kreuznach with 140 other students. We then went on another tour of campus. By this time, it was only myself, Rosie, and Eva (From Poland), along with Anja and Kalle. We walked through the botanical garden on campus and then over to the Mensa. We sat in the grass until it was time for us to go take our placement test.
The process of the placement test made me realize exactly how unorganized this university is. The test was to begin at 4pm and we did not start until 4:45pm. The placement test was possibly the most frustrating test I have ever taken. It consisted of four paragraphs. The first and last sentences were complete. For all the sentences in between, every other word was half missing. The missing portion would be equal to the part that was given, or with an additional letter. For example, if it said "Hi___," the blank could be 2 or 3 letters. In that case, the answer was "Hilfe." I'm fairly certain they designed that test to fail EVERYONE. My results of the test will determine if I am to take an intensive German grammar course before classes begin. They rank you based on your results and there are seven different levels. The top two levels are not required to take the intensive grammar courses. Walking out of that test, I knew I would be falling in the lower five. I have no idea why they thought that sort of test was the best way to determine fluency.
As the test ended, so did the first day of orientation. On the walk home I befriended Lina (from South Korea) and we had a nice chat in German on the walk off campus. I stopped at Aldi on my way home for some more food.I purchased some pasta, sauce and Kinder chocolate for only 4,45 euros! Once I got back, I packed up my laptop and headed to Starbucks, where I am currently writing to you. It took me approximately 45 minutes to find this Starbucks. It's in the Hbf (Hauptbahnhof), or train station. The Hbf is about a 20 minute walk from my dorm, assuming I don't get lost. I encountered two girls from orientation (also searching for Internet) and I sat with them for awhile. We discovered today that we may not be able to get Internet until tomorrow, or possibly not until Monday. Starbucks may become my second home in the meantime.
We have orientation again tomorrow. We will get our university log in and register for classes. I won't know my results of my placement test until Friday. If I did poorly enough on the placement test (which I'm sure I did), I'll be starting that intensive language course on Monday. We will also be registering with the police tomorrow and getting our student ticket. I should be done with this by the early afternoon, so I hope to get a German SIM card tomorrow, as well as collect my debit card and open a bank account. My DAAD scholarship requires me to open a German bank account so they can transfer my scholarship monthly. That should be a fun experience.
Well, it's nearly 9pm my time and I have to be up early again tomorrow. I'll write again when I can. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can actually walk around and take some good ones.
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