I didn't have class again on the second day. My only class on Wednesdays, a German grammar course, does not begin until next week, which I did not know until I had already arrived on campus and sat down in the classroom. However, I had much to do on campus, so I spent my afternoon running errands. Clare and Matt are also taking the grammar course, so once we realized that it doesn't start until next week, we headed over to the ZDV (Zentrum für Datenverarbeitung, aka, the data processing building) where we used the computers to fill out our course registration form. Instead of registering online like all the other students, international students have to fill out an actual form, get it signed by a few different people from different departments, and then turn it into the office of our department so that they can register us for courses. It's very frustrating and always annoying. While we were sitting in the ZDV, a girl approached me and asked how to print something, as she had just seen me do it. To the best of my knowledge, I explained it to her in very poor German. After we finished at the ZDV, Matt and I headed to the Mensa and got some lunch. Then, we began the complicated task of finding out who needed to sign our course registration forms. We probably walked around for an hour and a half trying to figure out who we needed to talk to and sign our papers. Most of the professors weren't there, as they didn't have office hours that day, but we eventually spoke to someone who told us who we needed. However, that person wasn't available then, so we had to go back during the professor's office hours.
Since I'm not a member of an EU country, I had to call the Foreigners Office to make an appointment with them. If you speak a second language, you know that phone calls are one of the most difficult thing to do. Just think about how much trouble you can have on the phone in your mother tongue, now multiply that by 50 and you have reached the difficulty level of a phone call in another language (also keep in mind that German is my third language). After saying, "wie bitte?" too many times to count, I finally was able to end the conversation. I have a meeting with them in a few weeks, and I have to bring some documents with me, though I'm not 100% sure which ones. I'm just glad that I finally called them and took care of that. After this awful phone call, I headed to the bookstore to get a book for one of my classes. Matt and I met up at the Philosophicum to find the right person in the English department so they could sign our course registration forms. As we were waiting, we met two German guys also waiting and had a nice conversation with them. It's awesome to make friends with actual Germans! I was also approached and asked for directions from a fellow student, yet again. He needed to know where a room was, and it ended up being in another building. Though he was asking me, the girls next to me answered his question and I didn't have a chance to embarrass myself.
Yesterday was the third day of class, and last class day this week for me. On my way to class, I was stopped again and asked for directions. The Philosophicum, the building where my major is housed, it a bit confusing and complicated to navigate. The girl who stopped me didn't know how to get to a classroom, so I did my best to explain to her how to get there. At this point, I'm beginning to think that I radiate confidence. Nothing else explains the sheer amount of people who ask me for directions. My class actually met this morning, so I had my first German class yesterday! The course is only for international students, and we will spend the semester reading Friedrich Dürrenmatt's, "Die Physiker." Marcella and Rosie are in the course with me, so that will help keep me sane. I think this course is going to be tedious and boring. We spent the entire hour and a half reading the first eight and a half pages of the play. Eight and a half pages!! In an hour and a half!!! The professor must have stopped every other sentence to explain or comment on something. He also went around the class and made us read aloud, which was embarrassing enough. I'm just glad that the course only meets once a week.
There is also a semester language course offered to exchange students depending on their level. It's like the intensive language course I took. The course is worth 6 ECTS points (German way of giving course credit, ranges from 2-6 depending on how much work is required). For my level, there were two different professors/time slots. I signed up for the one on Tuesday/Thursday, but I was put in the one on Thursday/Friday due to a limited number of seats in the class. Since I refuse to have Friday classes so that I can travel, I decided to take my chances and go to the Tuesday/Thursday course. I talked to the professor before class and told her that I was put in the other course but wanted to take part in hers. She told me that she wasn't sure, but that I could sit in on class for the first half (the class is 2.5 hours long, so they give us a 15 minute break in the middle) and then we would discuss the details during the break. Well, at least 7 people who were assigned to the class didn't show up, so she said that I could be in her course. I was unreasonably happy about this, but it was probably the first thing about classes that had gone my way since I got here. Once I had her word that I would be in her class, my journey to register for classes had ended. I will be taking 24 ECTS points this semester, or 5 courses. And the best part, no classes on Friday!! I met some new people in my class, including students from Serbia, Spain, and Croatia.I already really like this professor. She's funny, concise, and doesn't ramble. I think it's going to be a good semester!
Last night was also the first campus-wide party, called the Semestereröffnungsfete (SÖF). It took place at four different locations on campus. Thousands of students must have been there. There were bars set up at the locations and a DJ also was at each. Beforehand, Marcella, Matt and I met up at Clare's for some "pre-drinks," as the Brits say. We met Clare's roommate and some of her friends. We played "Ring of Fire" in German! We eventually headed to campus. The party was a bit overwhelming. It was essentially a bunch of different groups of friends hanging out on campus with some music in the background. Marcella, Clare, Matt and I met up with Jenny (England), Ben (Wales?), Toni-Lee (Northern Ireland), and Meeri (Finland). We hung out on campus for a few hours until most of us decided to go home.
Today I have to go to campus to finalize my course registration. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. Tomorrow I'm going to Heidelberg on one of the university-sponsored trips. It's only a day trip and we'll be leaving around 9:30am and getting back around 7pm. I'm sure it's going to be a blast!
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