Orientation and Disappointment
Saturday, September 6th, 2008So today was orientation for Leuphana Universitat, and I usually enjoy orientations. They usually give some good info, but this orientation was quite boring. It started out nice, with a gourmet breakfast buffet and a little scavenger hunt around the town, but then we had to deal with 3 hours of filling out visa applications. The worse part was that it should’ve only taken 20 minutes tops. I guess it was too difficult for some people to tell the difference between Vorname (first name) and Familienname (last name). People needed explaining three or four times on every form. Geburtsdatum (birthdate) was another one. How many times do people have to explain it to you before you remember it??? Three hours of my time wasted. I should’ve been down on the river having some beers…Something I did find interesting was the German recycling and energy conservation efforts. They spent more time talking about how to conserve energy than they did on how not to trash the rooms. Everything from taking 5 minute showers, to bundling up before going to sleep (instead of using the heater), to having five different recycling bins (plastics and aluminums, old paper, glass, compost, and other garbage). Apparently it’s a science figuring out which bin certain things go in. I kinda wish the US did more of this. Maybe we wouldn’t be so dependent on foreign nations for our energy…
After orientation, I had a little disappointment. I did make plans with some of the other students I met at orientation to go out later. But after orientation, I had to use the restroom and apparently missed the bus everyone else was on. Without phones, it’s pretty impossible to get a hold of anyone. So I went out alone to have a couple beers and figure out travel plans for the rest of my time here. I was on my way home around 9 pm, and met them right outside of the student housing…after walking 2 miles from downtown. Very disappointing. They were all ready to leave and go out and I was about to fall asleep on the road, so I had to turn down the return trip. That’s another thing… what town stops the buses at 7:30pm??
Anyways, I think tomorrow I’ll be focusing on getting a phone. Wait, everything is closed on Sundays. I guess Monday. I used to love the way that Europeans work to live, as opposed to living to work, but now that it’s going to be directly affecting me for the next 4 months, I kind of despise it. I know that’s bad, but seriously, EVERYTHING is closed. What the fuck do people do on Sundays??? Ok, I kinda sound grumpy on this post, so it’s time to go to sleep…
mrnational