paperwork and blah

I feel like I've been in a fog ever since I returned from Austria. For one, I was completely exhausted after the trip so it took a few days to recover. Second, all the Fulbrights left last week so I've been at a loss as to what I should do for fun. Third, Marburg has been under fog or rain for most of the last week. Because of the fog, I have a very very very difficult time waking up in the morning, which means when I do wake up (typically 2-3 hours later than I intended), I ended running around like crazy to get to place I wanted to be at 2 hours earlier. It stinks. (and my room stank for a little while after I spilled some machiato flavored soy milk on a pair of slippers, it took me 3 days to figure out the cause of the smell, phletcht)

In addition, my days have been rather boring. The highlight of the last 4 days was going to the registration office in the middle of town (20 min bus ride each way) to try to find Frau H., the Foreign student person (secretary, adminstrator, your guess is as good as mine). The first two times I visited the office with Frau H's name on the door, I was told (in german of course) that Frau H. was in orientation. When Frau H. returned, she would be in the office next door, the office with someone else's name on it. I tried to ask what day Frau H would return only to receive no response. The third time, I visited the office that did not have Frau H's name on the door. I start shoving paperwork in her hands and she looks at me like...what are you doing here? I show her my acceptance letter and said, I am new. She looks at me and says (in german of course), you need to visit Frau H, who is in the office with her name on it. My german skills were not too the point that I could explain that I went to her office because the person in Frau H's office told me that Frau H would be in the office without Frau H's name on it. Thus, she looked at me like I couldn't read (I can read a little German) or I was a rude American (I try hard not to live up to the stereotype).

So, I left the 'wrong' office to stand outside the office for Frau H. The door opens and out walks the lady who told me that I needed to go to the office next door. Guess who this lady is, its none other than Frau H! Frau H was in her office the whole time! The lady should be glad that my German was not good enough to start explaining my grieviences. Plus, I'd spent over 2 hours in the last week trying to finish this paperwork, so at this point I just wanted to finish the paperwork and get back to my room to shower (I woke up late, again, so I had to rush out of my room before showering) and then return to lab. After 10 minutes, my accounts were arranged and I finally received my semester ticket, which enables me to travel all over Hesse (including Kassel and Frankfurt) for free. :-)

So, that's how boring my life is right now. The highlight is succesfully filing my German university paperwork. Now that I have my semester ticket (and money in my German bank account), I can travel. Anyone want me to come visit? (preferably on the European continent)