Travel Update – Part 3: Die Wohnheimverwaltung

So, at this point in the adventure I’m standing outside the Wohnheimverwaltung waiting for them to open at 1:30.  Now, I’ve worked with German bureaucracy before, so I know that if the time says 1:30 then the time is 1:30 and no earlier – in fact, if they could get away with starting later they probably would, but their conscience would get the better of them and they would still manage to make it to the door before the clock struck 1:31.  I say this because there is little to no point in opening the doors to look inside before 1:30 if they say that they open at 1:30.  Seriously people, where do you think you are?



Anyway, when I got there the first time, there was nobody there, but when I came back from picking up the money for my deposit, there were two people there.  I decided to try to be nice and introduce myself, but both of them seemed more interested in each other.  I don’t remember either of their names – if I even got that much out of them – but I did find out that the woman was from America (Colorado to be specific) and that the gentleman was from England.  The girl from Colorado – we’ll call her Miss Colorado – also speaks some sort of Slavic language because her grandmother kept calling her to tell her that she had already called the Hausmeister to meet her at the dorm, and she was trying to explain to her grandmother that she had to pay her deposit first and whatever language she was speaking it sounded kinda like Russian.  Anyway, that’s not necessarily important to the story, but remember Miss Colorado because she will figure prominently in future stories.

As we were waiting, more people started to converge until there were about 20 or so people standing outside.  It was the brave German woman and her daughter who ventured to the door at about 1:29.  This was a smart decision because the door opened into a hallway with multiple doors coming off of it, which led to the various rooms and the people responsible for specific dorms.  As long as they were inside that meant that technically they were the first in line, inside the door, which meant that they were the first waited on.  That also meant that Miss Colorado and her new friend were stuck schlepping their luggage into this foyer area while people filed in passed them.

Once inside things went fairly smoothly.  I signed some paperwork, found out that they still can’t find the first month’s rent that I sent back at the beginning of August, and paid my deposit.  We’re still working with the cashiers to figure out where this money went, but we’ll figure it out I’m sure.  Anyway, they called the Hausmeister, and I had to meet him at 2:30.  At this point it was almost 2:00 and I’m way at the top of this hill and I’m not sure how I’m getting back down there.  Then I hear someone in the cashier’s office talking to Miss Colorado about how she’ll get her a cab to get down to the exact address that I’m going to.  Several thoughts went through my mind.  1) I am not riding in a cab with her.  She was not interested in talking to me when I showed up because she was too busy flirting with the Brit and I don’t have time for that.  2) Crap, she’s going to be in my dorm so I’m going to see her every day for the next year.  With all this in mind, I decided to take the bus, so I trundled down the hill and just missed the bus at 2:00.  This however meant that the next bus was going to get me to the train station at 2:27 and that left me 3 minutes to get to my dorm from the train station, and I hadn’t walked it yet, so I wasn’t 100% sure where I was going.  But whatever, I figured I would work it out.

I got on the bus and immediately realized that I didn’t have change for the ticket machine in the bus, so for the next couple of stops I asked people if they had change for a 5 – seriously it was pathetic – but I eventually got my ticket.  Here’s the thing about busses and bus tickets in Germany.  You can ride a bus without one because they don’t check when you get on – this is called Schwarzfahren.  However, you do not want to be on a bus without a ticket when they decide to board the bus and check everyone to make sure that you have tickets.  I had a friend visiting me in Heidelberg once when this happened, and not only is it embarrassing because they kick you off the bus, and you are clearly a criminal, but they also charge you a fine and I think the fine here is like 40 Euros.  I wouldn’t have worried about it on this bus trip, but because the first thing I did was go to the machine, and it was clear that I wasn’t able to buy a ticket, I didn’t want the bus driver pressing some hidden button indicating that he had a live one on the bus.

Anyway, I got to the train station and hurried in the direction I thought I should go, and lo and behold I found it. Standing outside was Miss Colorado with her bags propping the door open and waiting for the Hausmeister.  He was running late as well, so everything worked out.  The dorm in which I will be living for the next year is in the old part of the city, aka Altstadt.  The first two floors of the building are a University Cafeteria (Mensa) and the rest of the building is the dorm.  I’m never really sure how to talk about what floor I’m on – because technically I’m the 3rd floor of the building by the way Americans count, but the 2nd floor by the way the Germans count and the 1st floor of the dorm part of the building.

Here’s a diagram to help you out.

German	What is where	American
4. Stock	Studentenwohnheim – 3	5th Floor
3.Stock	Studentenwohnheim – 2	4th Floor
2. Stock	Studentenwohnheim – 1	3rd Floor
1. Stock	Mensa – 2	2nd Floor
Erdgeschoss	Mensa – 1	1st Floor

See how this could be confusing.  I mean I know what I tell people here (2nd Floor), but in my mind when I talk to people at home about it I often refer to floor as the 1st floor of the dorm, because, it is.  So there is of course no elevator, which means carrying bags up at least two possibly more flights of stairs, but such is life in Germany.  I helped Miss Colorado (from now on known as MC) get one of her bags to the 2nd floor because that’s where my room was, and the Hausmeister led me to my room.  I told her that I would come back to help her, but she managed it on her own.

My room is Spartan, but just fine.  There’s not really any great way to describe it, so just look at the pictures.  They do it the most justice.  It’s actually a huge room, but because I don’t have much furniture, and I’m not about to buy more, most of the space goes unused.  I suspect it’s a little hard to head in the winter, but I guess that’s why I have three radiators on the wall.

After moving in I met my other two roommates, Mr. Brazil and Miss Montana.  She’s nice and helpful.  She’s also trying to work on her German so will actually speak German.  Mr. Brazil speaks better English than German, so that’s his default go-to Language.  More about them and the actual city itself later.