Tuesday morning I was woken by my alarm, having slept nearly 12 hours. I got up, took my time figuring out the clothing situation, headed down to breakfast a little before 9. I’d been told to come to school any time after 9:30 am to get my keys, so I ate a leisurely breakfast, mapped out where I was going online (ha. SO easy!) and headed out. My keys were quickly in-hand, as was info on how to access the building and use the network until the program starts. Sadly, my suitcase was not yet there. I told them to just email me when it came and set-back out for the hotel.
After gathering up my luggage and checking out, I walked to the dorm, headed in and up to the 2nd floor (which is, in the tradition of most of the world, actually the 3rd story), found my room and used my keys. Yay! I have a home!
I met Marita (super nice, from Canada, has been living in Germany for 6 years and lived in Japan for a year before that), made my bed and proceeded to unpack. Honestly, though, one of the best decisions I’ve made: to agree to buy my bedding from the dorm. Sheet, blanket, blanket cover, pillow and pillow case were all waiting for me. SO awesome.
Small problem: no internet. You have to fill in a paper, wait for a guy to come the next day to verify your MAC address and then wait until the following day for your connection to work. Oh. And: no wifi. No WIFI!! Somehow everyone in my group that I’ve met had the very, very clear expectation there would be wifi. No idea where we got that idea, but we have each been shocked in turn to discover it is not available.
More relevantly: no computer (wifi or otherwise) means no email, which means no idea when my suitcase arrives. Awwweeessssommme. So after I’d unpacked what I had, Marita and I went to the small shopping area and did groceries, then came back, then we went to the school to see if my suitcase was in (no) and to do some internet. Then she stayed and I came back, specifically to get to the dorm administration office during the 90 minute period. Although I managed to get lost on the way, taking the paths, I did make it back in the relevant period and got the form for the internet.
Wednesday I stayed home most of the day, waiting for the computer guy to come. The one exception was when Marita came back around noon and said my suitcase had arrived! Yay! I tell you, it was getting dire and I was freaking out about not having any clothes! She agreed to stay close in case the guy came, and I went to school and grabbed my case. SUCH a relief. Brought it back, unpacked it, I have more clothes than I feared, which is nice. One thing missing, and hopefully in the box I mailed myself? My work-appropriate shoes. Which I need on Tuesday. So I guess I’m going shoe shopping this weekend.
Computer guy showed around 3, did his thing in under 10 minutes, including chit chat, and I was finally free to leave … so I went to school and used the computers. Exciting, right? I actually stayed up late Tuesday, to see if the internet came on right at midnight. It hasn’t, sadly, so this will be posted tomorrow when I get up and have access. Which will hopefully be at the same time. And then I will figure out how to get downtown Hanover and where to go shopping. Yay, plans! I also need to make some progress on a self-assessment for the career center, so that’ll basically be my day.
All and all, it’s been a stressful few days, but everything is smoothing out now and, hopefully, will stay that way. It is starting to sink in that I’m here for a long haul, I think. I’m having less and less trouble thinking of work as my former-work, and the people there as former co-workers. It still makes me a little teary, as it was a good time in my life, but … here’s to the future. Prost!
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