I am very happy to have now recovered from being tired, wet and cold.
I got here at 6am Wednesday after a very long train ride and was unable to get a hold of my contact at the University here. It called and texted and emailed him but didn’t get a response. I later found out he was in Munich. While I was waiting for a response and for it to get later, I explored the city and search for free WiFi. It was cold and a little misty at times. I went back to the train station to drop off my things in a locker cause they were getting really heavy. I went out again and found the university’s library looked up on a map where the building I think I am supposed to work in might be and set off to find it. On my way there it rained hard and I could not find an umbrella anywhere. I had a poncho with me but that actually seemed to make things just as bad since it didn’t cover my jeans. Also I bought new shoes before I left the USA specifically for Europe. I have done so much walking already that they both have worn holes in them and water was getting in through the bottom. I finally found an umbrella at a pharmacy for 2 euro. Its a big umbrella and a good price… the catch is it has aspirin advertisement all over it. I really didn’t care about that especially at the time… but people sure were looking at me funny with both my poncho and that umbrella. After walking forever I found my building and the professor I knew and he was on his way out for a meeting. So I went to eat some food since I had yet to eat anything. It was quite the day.
I slept at the train station the night before since my Italian trains were delayed so many times that I got to Basel Switzerland and was stranded. I arrived there at 1230 in the morning and the next train was not until 6am. I actually didn’t really sleep at all. I ended up sitting in the train station talking to a Korean/Japanese lady who was living in the UK and moving to Germany for a couple hours to kill time.
I like Germany but going from country to country takes some adjusting that I didn’t have the patience for on zero sleep. I just left Italy where everything is pronounced phonetically one way to Germany where the same thing is pronounced completely different. I was just getting used to Italian when I switch back to German that I had to get used to before. I am trying to order food half asleep in GermEnglitalian. They just give me a crazy look, laugh and try to figure out what it is that I actually want.
After all this mess, I set off to try to find this house that I have arranged to look at and see if it looks like a place I want to stay… then hopefully get some sleep and warm dry clothes on. The room is in a place in Gundelfingen two stops north of Freiburg by train. Two older ladys live there and I have no internet. I could get a internet card for my laptop that uses the cellular networks. The card is 90€ and service is 8€/day with no contract. This is not too bad, but really not very affordable either. The plus side is that I would have fast internet while on the train in Germany.
I also bought some gummy bears that are enriched with vitamin C at this cool little black forest style gummy store I found. Hopefully that helps me keep from getting ill after the cold and rain. Yesterday I got a jacket from the Freiburg H&M store. That has helped also.
It was a long couple of days…. But I am doing well!
Entries (RSS)