Day 30 - More problems, and German Counterparts

06.03.12 - Dienstag, Tuesday

We caught the 9:10 bus to school, figuring starting early would be best. We get there, enter the office for the Studentenausweisen (Student ID cards) only to find that the printer was broken and she had no idea when it would be fixed. So, we figured we would head home and get something to eat then go to back. On our way back, we stopped a few places to buy somethings, namely shaving cream, which took two or three stores to find to find only one brand and one bottle, and I also bought a food scale. I'm trying to get myself accustomed to the portion sizes here.

This is what Universitaet Mannheim looks like... A castle!

We made it home, ate, and made our way back to the Hochschule. We arrived a little early to find a line, and that the printer was working! We were in and out without too much fuss and traveled home in hopes to register with the city and to get our semester tickets. Upon arriving home we exchanged a few e-mails and would be meeting with our advising professor later that day, and also two brothers who would be traveling to Ames in the fall. We were glad we were able to get a hold of him and meet him. Rachel and I wondered about who they might be while filling out some paperwork before we went to the Buergerdienst to anmelden (Citizen Service to register). We wandered over at about 3:30, figuring that their times were probably until 4 or 5.

One of the ticket purchasing  kiosks was painted.

We get there, it's closed for the day as of 12. It looked like it said they were open, but was only offering other locations for help. This was unfortunate because that means we would have to buy another 24 hour ticket. They're a great deal, but we were already going to be paying 133 euros for a semester ticket. We went home and went about our business until it was time to meet-up and go to the HS (Hochschule). We arrived, without problem, met the twin brothers who were of Italian decent but lived in Germany, who were going to start their masters in something Maschinenbau (Mechanical) Engineering related. I was then also told that John Deere was a great place to work and showed us where it was by pointing out a window to a building across the street [JD was also paying for their stay and giving them a car in America]. We were also told that we could buy a semester ticket in the building we had gotten our IDs in earlier. I felt terrible because Rachel was right and I didn't listen to her about it being the same building.

Weird office times, and for future reference.

We still didn't have classes ironed out after our meeting but we went home slightly more oriented, I suppose, and had fairly normal nights.

Sunset from the bathroom window of the  building we were meeting in...