Bürokratietag

The temperature has lowered ever so slightly here in Tübingen and there is a crispy, fall nip in the air. This has always been my favorite time of year, and when you can enjoy it sipping coffee in cafes and wandering the French, German, and Italian provincial market that has come to the city's Altstadt, it becomes ever so much more spectacular. There are, of course, differences in the changing of the seasons here in Germany. At Wesleyan, for example, I could tell the outside temperature by peering out the window and glancing at students walking across campus. Here, a visual weather check requires a lengthy study of the people walking down our street and then the subtraction of at least one layer. The Germans, or at least residents of Tübingen, seem to always be exceedingly bundled up, whether it involves an expertly and tightly tied scarf around the neck like a medical brace or a jacket I wouldn't remove from my closet until at least November. Fortunately, we have lovely, screen-less windows here, and I can simply swing it open into my room like a cupboard and stick my own nose out into the morning air. In defense of all of the bundling, it was a whopping 45 F this morning...chilly to say the least!

The other big difference that we have been steeling ourselves for is the way matters related to enrolling in the university are handled. At Wesleyan, a small and friendly button appears at the top of one's student portfolio--and let me tell you I was sorely tempted to push it when it reappeared in mine again this year. In Tübingen, things are not so simple. We have been attending our language course since Monday, and after my brief stint in a class level that was decidedly too low, I'm now properly settled in the highest level with Anya and some other lovely folks (though I must say my previous classmates are also quite wonderful). The schedule for tomorrow's class, instead of the usual division into Unterricht and Tutorium, simple reads "Bürokratietag". No, you're not mistaken even without basic knowledge of German. That directly translates as "Bureaucracy Day". Our Tutorium today consisted of filling out a number of forms with very long, official German words. Tomorrow, the full list of activities for students to independently complete consists of opening a German bank account, signing up for health insurance should one not be fully covered by their policy at home, registering as an official resident of Tübingen at the Bürgeramt, and enrolling in the university itself with a visit to a final office location near our class building and the payment of a slightly obnoxiously high fee (by German university standards). All of this must be completed by 11:30am, when the Unikasse (final location) closes for the weekend on Fridays, and takes one all over main part of the city. Fortunately, Anya and I have already opened bank accounts, and we set up our health insurance this afternoon after a helpful tip from a fellow classmate that the more central office location was open until 6 (six!), which is, by Tübingen standards, reasonably late. The plan for tomorrow, then, only includes visits to two separate locations, and we have come up with an ingenious plan to combat the headache caused by all of the filling out of forms, biometric photo acquiring, passport presenting, and fee paying; at lunch time, we will be enjoying enormous bechers (think a large Friendly's sundae glass, but bigger. and better) of gelato sundaes, followed by the latest chick flick starring Germany's version of Brad Pitt, Til Schweiger. If your name is Gilder, you may in fact be jealous. This will all be tied together with our international dinner, hosted by our Startkurs language program. Since American food in it's 'typical' form involves either soul food which we have no idea how to properly prepare or things appropriated from other culinary traditions, we have settled on a dessert contribution of chocolate cookies and brownies, neither of which are very present--or properly present--here in the land of most-things-baked. Those people who have been informed of the plan are particularly excited, so I think this will all be well-received.

Unfortunately, we have one more irritating task to complete tomorrow. It seems Deutsche Bahn has lost our names in their Bahncard system. We put down the wrong addresses when we registered for our cards at the airport train station in Frankfurt, so they said we would simply need to call the number on our receipts to change the information linked to our accounts. This is important, because when you buy the Bahncard in the station, you receive a paper ticket certifying your purchase for immediate use and then have to wait for your plastic card to arrive in the mail. We called last week (several days after our purchase) and were informed that our names were not yet in their system and still being processed. Interesting. We called today, and neither of our names could be found on their computers. Unfortunately, the paper copies of the cards do not bear the actual card numbers, so we were instructed to email copies of our paper cards with our names, dates of birth, and the address to which our cards should be sent. Naturally, this is all becoming a little ridiculous. Especially considering the trip we already had to make to the phone store today to clarify why our phones had suddenly stopped working. (The room numbers that we were originally told were not necessary for our phone billing, it turns out, are actually vital, and had to be reported before our service could be reactivated. At least E+ doesn't take the same office-closing lunch break as most places). I am, however, quite proud of the two (yes TWO), successful phone conversations I had with customer service agents today. I find communication in German in situations where I cannot see the person to whom I'm talking rather intimidating--we rely so much on seeing someone's face and mouth to fully understand them auditorally--and I only had to ask them to repeat things twice. Not only that, but I was able to make myself understood relatively easily. Big victory.

Check back for photos and updates from the provincial market! Anya and I bought delicious little pastry pockets from a wonderful French woman today, and I cannot wait to take photos of everything and sample all of the wine stands.