Full week in Göttingen

Well, last night was actually the one week anniversary of my arrival in my new place. Everything's gone very well, inspite of the typical anxiety that comes with wanting everything to go well, but not being sure it will. Britta picked me up at the trainstation, and Buck (her bearded collie) was waiting outside. He was not too sure why I was there, what all the suitcases were for, or whether he wanted me to be there, but since Britta was fine with it, he's warmed up pretty quickly. Our apartment has a smallish kitchen, with a washing machine, but no place to really sit - a living room with a table and chairs, as well as couches and a tv, and a door to the balcony. Then there's the shared bathroom and each of us have our own bedroom - mine faces south onto the courtyard, so there's always plenty of sun. My room was put together thoughtfully by the girl who lived here before, so there is plenty of room for books, clothes, and pictures.

This week I've just been working on getting set up. On Monday I went and met my contacts at the universtiy in person, and got a new list of things to take care of. I also set up a bank account here, and Britta let the apartment organization know I'm living here (which meant my name got put on the doorbell and mailbox by Thursday). I've gotten health insurance for american students living abroad, and got the waiver from the German health insuance I need for the university. I've been in touch with professors regarding the seminars I want to take, since I can't register until I'm officially a student. I also registered with the Einwohnermeldeamt and have submitted everything for my Aufenthaltstitel, so that I can stay longer than my tourist visa.

I've also checked out the closest grocery stores (which stay open until an amazing 10 or 11pm - would have been unheard of in Storkow, and is a benefit of living in a city that caters to students), and passed by at least a dozen bookstores, and have only bought 5 books - which I think is pretty good for me. It helps that Liv (the student whose room I'm staying in) has lots of books that I can also read for fun. It took a few days before I got the password for the wireless network, but now I have internet access via my laptop as well - which is some of the reason I've only gotten to writing now, before I had been using Britta's laptop, which was really nice of her, and something I didn't want to take too much advantage of.

Göttingen is a pretty easy city to like, I think. I've been exploring everything on foot - mostly because I didn't want to have a chance to have a bike accident right off the bat - and it's been no problem to get to the various places I needed to be. We've had wonderful weather, which has helped a lot.

Inspite of multiple Germans' informed opinion that it would take one to two weeks for the money from my American account to transfer to my account here, the transfer was sent Wednesday and arrived Friday morning, just like my banker in Nashville had said. That means that the last big "to-do" to get set up, pay my tuition and get my ID card, should be done by the middle of next week, in plenty of time for classes that start the following Tuesday.

I'm caught now in the strange place of not really having much I can do. I have a couple of books to read for my first seminar on Tuesday - and I just finished the longer one this morning (I bought them both last Saturday). It will have to take a little bit longer to start meeting more people here. Everyone I've met so far has been really really nice - but aside from Britta, they've all been just doing their job to talk to me. But, as with the other things I've gotten done this week - I have the time now to think about whether or not it will work, whether I will find nice people to spend time with - but faster than I can anticipate, all the "still to do"s will be done. Before that though, I will try and remember to write about the Easter market while it's still here - worth remembering.