Monday was a big day. Sam, Lauren, and I walked from their
flat through town to school. It was the first time I’d seen campus since
arriving in Darmstadt, and the building we were to meet in a cool piece of
architecture. The multistory building is a simple extruded rectangle, but the
entrance façade has really cool sun shades that look like a beehive or cheese
grater.
We also finally met Nadja who is the coordinator for the
foreign exchange program, and all the other exchange students from around the
world. Russia, Paraguay, Jordan, USA, Spain, Hungary, and a couple other places
I can’t remember. The other design student in our group is from Paraguay, named
Andres. We received a bunch of paperwork, promo fliers, and a new h_da (the
school’s abbreviated name) bag to hold it all. After the meeting and a short
campus tour we were bussed to our new housing complex on the north east side of
town. It was cold, and it took a long time for everyone to get room assignments
and check out the rooms for quality checks. Some people had it worse than
others. One guy needed a new mattress because the one in his room was
disgusting, but they ended up giving him a new one still in the factory
wrapping. My room is simple with only a small litter of drywall on the floor
that should be easy to vacuum up. The living area is a mess, but my flat mates
Dimi and Simon told me that they’re in the middle of finals and that it will be
cleaned up soon. They’re nice guys and they speak English well.
Two And A Half Men was playing on TV in German. I can’t
escape America.
Rita took Chris and me back into town for Thai food and to
buy bedding. I totally blew it. I had taken my credit cards out of my wallet
for security reasons, then forgot to put them back in, so when I got to the
register to buy my bedding I didn’t have enough cash and was screwed. Rita
pulled through and bought my stuff with her credit card. I owe her BIGTIME. She
has been very kind, helpful, and understanding of our situation. I’ve been a bit tough, I can imaging, and
she’s remained in high spirits the whole time even though she’s been working
other jobs and is running on 10 hours of sleep in 3 days. Luckily, this morning
she can sleep in and doesn’t have to meet with us until the afternoon.
Tuesday was our first day of the German immersion course. I
was in the second level group, but quickly found out that I am not ready for
second level. I was lost the entire class, and was trying really hard to
understand even though the teacher was speaking clearly and slowly. “Ich verstehe
nicht,” was my answer to a lot of things. (I don’t understand.)
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