GFB, it's not just a job...
Here's part two of what's been going on since after I made it into the first dorm. Pictures from Munich will happen when I get around to naming them all. I've also been working on a new layout, but not one involving frames, as I was told, "That's bad web design." (Like I care... ha... :] )
Visas and Housing
Apparently in Germany, in order for an American to stay for longer than 90 days, one must show proof that they're a student. This proccess, from what I can tell, is referred to as the "Anmeldung", and has taken us, (and is still taking us to this day), a ridiculously long amount of time. Most of the time involves filling out paperwork, in German obviously, and then waiting on it to be "processed". Unfortunatly, for the first few weeks here, none of us even had a permanent address, which can make filling out paperwork in any language an extremely difficult proposition. This considered, I suppose I'll explain the living situation before continuing with the Anmeldung.
We came here initially under the impression that we would have housing in what is easily enough named "Wohnheim G" (or Dorm G). This dorm is the only one in Zittau that has any sort of internet connectivity. As it turns out, the school itself and the housing for the University here in Zittau are unrelated entities. There were problems in fulfilling our request to be in Wohnheim G, since apparently everyone wants to be there too, and it therefore had little room for foreign students.
When we arrived, we were given keys to rooms in Wohnheim D. We each had single rooms, a shared bathroom, shower, and kitchen on each floor, and a reasonable amount of space. It was survivable, to say the least, and far from the worst dorm that the University has to offer. All things considered, we would've been just fine in that dorm, but Frau Urban, our contact person here, insisted on trying to fight the housing administration to get us into our previously requested arrangements. After about three weeks of frustration for all involved parties, we got moved into the new dorm.
The new dorm consists of two buildings, in which there are many apartment style living quarters. My apartment has a kitchen, a bathroom (with shower stall), and two rooms. I share my room with a guy named Alex, who is from Chemnitz. The other room is occupied by a girl named Daniella from Gorlitz. (about 20km from Zittau) Alex and I get along just fine, and Daniella is very nice, although I don't get to talk a whole lot with her as she isn't usually here during the week, and goes home for the weekends. Maybe one of these days I'll borrow John's camera, and take pictures of the place and my roomates so that everyone can have a better idea of what I'm talking about. Until then, though, text is the best it's going to get.
So after dealing with all of the trouble with getting an address, we were finally able to begin on the massive body of paperwork that had to be completed for us to legally remain in Germany. Firstly, we had to open German bank accounts. Then we had to wait for a couple of days for the accounts to become active. After having active accounts, we got to sign up for health insurance. With the proof of health insurance and bank account, we were able to get some sort of housing agreement drawn up so that we could begin to be charged for our rooms. After getting the housing agreement, we had to fill out some other piece of paper (I didn't even understand what it was) so that we could go downtown to register ourselves with the city of Zittau. Once registered, we had to pay some deposits, fill out some more papers, (all dependant on one another), and wait, once again, for everything to process. Once tha was done, we had to sign one last paper, twice, upon which we were finally "Matricluated" into the University. (And we actually received our student ID cards)
Now that we're matriculated, we only have one thing left to do. I'm not even sure what it is that this last task is accomplishing, but I know that it requires just about every single important piece of paper obtained thus far. (and our immatriculation numbers from our ID cards). Once that's done, hopefully tomorrow, or Tuesday of next week, I'll be official here in Germany. If all of that didn't sound like some sort of sick, real-time role playing game, I don't know what would. In any case, everyone I've talked to has said the same thing. Translated: "German Bureacracy is a pain in the ass."
Classes
As for classes here in Germany, all I'm taking is German. I'm enrolled in what is called the "Vorkurs" (fore-course) and it focuses on acquiring the "basics" of German. Doesn't sound too bad till you actually realize what all the class entails.
We started class the Monday after my arrival, 15.9.03, and were greeted with a shocking realization. It seems that just about all Americans that have come to study here in Zittau have been ridiculously behind everyone else as far as German language skills are concerned. The reason they even let us come here, I'm guessing, is that it affords their students the opportunity to study in the U.S. via the exchange set up between this Zittau/Gorlitz and NAU. In any case, we stink. The professor, Frau Schulz, made it perfectly clear within the first couple of days that the American students were "Guests", and that any grades were might procure would probably not be transferred back home. (Thank God) Albeit embarassing, it was the truth.
In any case, class starts everyday at 8:00 am, and all classes are in 90 minute sessions. We have three such sessions on Monday and Wednesday, with a half hour break for breakfast, and a 45 minute break for lunch. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, we have two sessions, again with a half hour break for breakfast. We only have the one teacher for everything, and basically spend our time doing reading and listening comprehension, working on grammar/vocab, and writing about random things in German.
All teaching is done in German, and therefore proved extremely frustrating for the first couple of weeks of class. It seems that the other students here, on average, have had at least four years of German in their home institutions. We, the Americans, were only required to have one year for admittance. (and I managed to get in with only one semester) The extra time, though, doesn't seem to have done much for their gramatical skills. The killer being that they have immensely large vocabularies, and so are able to understand what's being said, even if they couldn't reproduce it themselves. In any case, it's been tough, but we're getting better as time progresses. I figure that right about the time I'm ready to leave Germany, I should be doing reasonably well with German. (sigh)
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