On Actually Being Here: A Post from the Past

08/19/09

Yes, that’s correct: I made it to Regensburg. The flight wasn’t too bad as I was seated next to a political science professor and he talked non-stop for 5 of the 7 hours and 40 minutes. But everything we talked about was pretty interesting. He actually moved from the states to Munich in 2000 so he was trying to give me some helpful tips. The in-flight movie was some Clive Owen/Sandra Bullock kinda deal so I didn’t even bother getting headphones (although when I flew with Delta, they gave us the headphones for free. Those cheap things aren’t worth paying for.) The in-flight dinner was a choice between chicken with gravy or pasta with a white cheese sauce (which I kind only surmise was a poor attempt at Alfredo sauce). I chose the chicken and ended up with a chicken/instant mashed potato/re-hydrated veggie deal all mixed in with the gravy, a 5 nut roll, a small salad with only Caesar dressing (which I tried and discovered I did not like), some brownie dessert thing, and (the best part) a whole can of Minute Maid cran-apple juice. Ever since leaving Philadelphia I have been literally dying of thirst. My mouth is constantly dry and I have a horrible headache (on top of jet lag). The trip to Regensburg wasn’t bad. After some confusion at the Munich airport (I couldn’t find the person I was supposed to meet), we made it to the bus that was to take us to the train that would eventually get us into Regensburg. I did take a quick nap on the bus, but I have been exhausted all day. The program director, John, told me he would be by at 2:30 or 3 and there was going to be some lunch with others who had arrived. But I’ve been so tired; I just slept on and off all day… I’m pretty sure I missed him. To top things off, I find out Radio Shack sold me a converter that, indeed, fits the prongs of the outlets over here, but it’s so large and bulky that it doesn’t allow for the prongs to go into the damn outlet. Thus, my cell phone, my ONLY means of communication at the moment has died on me and I am stuck without anyway to contact anyone. The residence hall is interesting. I wish Murray State would adopt housing such as this… but it would mean too much freedom and responsibility for students. Within an entire complex, there are houses. I’m in House 1A and I have to use a key to get into the main door that takes me into the stairwell that goes up three floors (and I’m on the third floor… I found that surprise while having to haul luggage up three flights of stairs). On each floor there are only two doors: One leads to rooms 1000-1016 and the second leads to rooms 1017-1036. My room is 3018 so I go through the second door. I have to use the same large key to open this door. My room is conveniently placed right next to the kitchen and across from the bath. My room is set away from the rest of the rooms; like I mentioned, room 3017 is the kitchen and it’s a shared kitchen that also leads out to a patio. My room has a bed with shelves overhead. There’s a nightstand with a lockable drawer and I have a HUGE wardrobe with cupboard on top and shelves and a bottom drawer. It also came complete with hangers, thank heavens. My meager desk is large and is next to the wardrobe; it is meager with only a top and four legs, but it does the job. As soon as school starts, it will be a good place to work. There’s a set of shelves on the wall nearest the foot of my bed along with a drawer underneath my bed. There is a lot of space between my bed and the window… it looks extremely bare. I’m sure regular students have a field day re-arranging a room… although I don’t know what the double rooms look like. There’s a lot of space to work with in the private room. The empty space I was talking about is big enough to put a futon next to the window; and I only say futon because it runs into the space underneath a shelf so the futon would allow for some height forgiveness. But a comfortable loveseat could easily fit there as well. The window is large and opens up just a little, so not a whole lot of air circulation and there’s no air conditioning here (although it is a tad more uncomfortable than I like after traveling so much, it’s pretty much like being back home in Murray where I only have a fan in my room). There is, however, a large heater. It’s the white kind with the coils and I’m pretty sure is gas run.Oh… but there are community baths. I had applied for a hall with private baths for the rooms, but the program changed some of the living arrangements. The fact it is across from my room helps a little, but it is still a little daunting for me… I don’t do well with sharing my hygienic space. The bathroom door opens to reveal two sides; to the immediate left and right there are WC’s (water closets = the toilet). The doors on my floor have been cutely segregated by gender via small sharpie drawings, one depicting a round-faceless figure wearing a dress and on the other door graces another expressionless character that sports a tie. There isn’t a urinal in the other one. I just think they made separate bathrooms to draw a line somewhere. The toilets are fun as well... and by fun I mean I try not to think about germs. It isn’t the whole toilet just the flushing mechanism which is a large button on the tank that you push. I try not to think about the germs crawling on that button. But then the hall splits into two again, each side containing one shower and two sinks with mirrors over them. There is a window and heater in each bath as well. What makes the community bath thing not so bad is the fact each section locks. The WC’s lock but then the two bath sections also have doors that lock; no fear of someone wanting to take a shower while you brush your teeth or vise versa. The community baths at Murray are far less elegant. And far more disgusting. I have ventured out; down the street and a street light away, there’s a little shopping area. There’s a small bakery (my wish has come true… less than a five minute walk for fresh bread! In Mexico I had a 15 minute walk to the school and then a 7 minute walk to the bakery), a newsstand, and a few other little things I didn’t really look at. I was more concerned about getting something to drink… anything. This thirst thing is a miserable issue at the moment. However, I had some issues about where to walk. There’s two sidewalks: one for walking the other for biking. It took me a few minutes to understand this although some people walk on the “bikewalk.” …and just an hour ago I realized my cell phone charger will work with an adapter…
Ugh. I’m going to bed. Cheers.