7th October 2005 - Day 4

This morning, I hiked down to the Bürgerburo again. This time round, I wanted to make an appointment with them so that I can apply for my Aufenthaltserlaubnis.

I reached there at 0834. There were already 5 people waiting outside. So I just joined the queue and waited. Finally when it was my turn, some idiot of an aunty equivalent claimed that she came first and just bulldozed her way through. Wow. So this is the civillised Europe we were talking about (The author realises that this is only a generalisation). Where people spit on the floor and the jobless pee on the streets (The author has made yet another generalisation)!

Anyway, I made the appointment. It's on the 9th of November. Wow. I thought I have to get it done like within a week of arrival. So much for stories about German efficiency. It got killed by German bureaucracy

After which, I went to the Postbank to get my account opened. Luckily it was quite smooth and the guy attending to me was pretty patient with my lousy German. There, I also paid the university the amount I was supposed to. Normally I would have to pay 3€ for the transaction. But since I've opened an account with them, this service is free (Nothing of note, it's the same in Singapore too).

And so I went to photocopy all my nonsense which will be handed in later for the Einschreibung. It costs 0.05€€ to photocopy one page. That is around 4 times as much as compared to doing it in NUS. I can already imagine the amount I'll have to pay for my notes when school starts. It's a crime to be poor and go on Student Exchange Program in Europe.

So to make it a lesser crime, I should make full use of this opportunity to observe how Germans (French, Spaniards, or whatsoeverlandyoucomefrom) work. Reports on the findings (or rather personal opinions) will be published sometime around the 2nd quarter of 2006 (yeah, right).

It was the same thing during the Einschreibung. Waiting and waiting and waiting. Forever waiting for something to happen. Anyway, I got myself matrikuliert und mein vorläugfige Studentenausweis bekommt. Simply, it means that I can now get my RZ account (computer account) and travel for free on Straßenbahn between 1900 to 0300. Wahhhh. The need for a bicycle becomes even clearer.

I went to the Mensa and had some pasta and a bowl of salad for lunch. Not too bad for 2€ I guess. Beggars can't be choosers.

After lunch, I strolled (I think I'll check the thesarus for more words related to walking) down to the Rechenzentrum to apply for my RZ account. A nice lady at the counter always makes things so much easier. I then spent the next hour at the Poolraum (playing pool). I decided to go back to hostel as the next meeting was at 1630.

After striding (that's a new one, courtesy of http://thesaurus.reference.com) for 30 mins or so, I reached the wonderful HaDiKo, which is where I live since I arrived. I took a small break and went out again at 1610.

It's funny. Seems like all the tutor were gone. Maybe they all buaya enough already. Nobody was there at the specified time and place. So, I went to do my own town excursion. Before I knew it, I found myself wandering to Ettlinger Tor, where I went on to buy some groceries and my dinner (and breakfast).

Then I took the same route back as I did earlier after getting the RZ account. I can't be bothered to time how many minutes.

Back in my hostel, I had bread and ham for dinner. It's pretty normal if you ask me. Last year, when I was with my Gastfamilie in Darmstadt, that's what they had for dinner. I have no problem with that (yet).

Jason caught me online and jio me to go driving around the town at midnight. However, he couldn't find the Auto he wanted and so he got a smaller one and we met at 2100 instead.

He drove me to Durlach, also in the district of Karlsruhe, up this hill, Turmberg, where it overlooked the city of Karlsruhe. Pretty much like going to Mt. Faber if you ask me. Just that there's no water body anywhere near.

After which he let me play around with the car, an Opel Corsa. It's a manual transmission car and I had to get used to it after 2 years of automatic transmission. Not too bad I think. The car was pretty smooth when I was changing the gears (it's not me that's good). It's a left hand drive (like all cars in Europe) and it did felt a bit weird. But I guess I was ok with it after a while.

So I'm going to take a shower now and sleep like a log after a long day of laufen.