sommerakademie beginnt

Today was a different day in the life of this trip. In recent posts I have written about trips to unfamiliar places, things I've never seen. Well today I write about something all too familiar to me, class. As the title suggests, today was the beginning of the Summer Academy, an intensive German language course through the entire month of August, paying special attention to speaking and grammar. Yesterday, like I said, we took a placement test so that the faculty could put us in the best classes best fit for our needs. This morning, all 250 or so of us sat in our seats and waited for our names to be called. From there, we as a class (maybe about 10-15 per class) walked together to the castle and to our specific rooms. (Yes, here in Mannheim the school is referred to by all people as "the castle." Reminiscent of the Harry Potter days to me, but without robes)

I was put into class nine, an intermediate level course, just to my liking. I thought it would be a fairly good class, until my teacher started speaking German. Now most German classes I have ever taken usually begin with a good ol' fashioned "hello" or something in German, but this woman would just not stop. Thus, I began to realize that my class would in fact not be being taught in English, something that came as a huge surprise to me. Being speaking intensive, I was for the first time afraid of using my German, something that bothered me very much. However, as the time went on, the German language became easier to me. I understood the teacher very well and could communicate with my fellow classmates. At one point, it was like I was thinking in German, which is a strange concept to think about, but nevertheless I think it is something that the Academy is trying to impress upon all of us here. Our class began around 9, ending at 1030. A thirty minute break followed, with another intensive hour and a half following it. Three hours of German was quite the load, given that my last two German classes have been online. As I walked out, I found some of my friends, and we began our walk back to Deutsche Bank, where all of us needed to take care of some of our account businesses. I managed to capture this photo on the way out.

Me in front of my new University

This picture does not do it justice, as both wings spread out in either direction another 200 feet or so (I might be exaggerating just a little, but I'm not sure to tell you the truth.

The reason I needed to visit Deutsche Bank was because I still owed some money to the University, called a "semester contribution." I could not enroll nor complete the subsequent tasks without fulfilling this requirement. I used my German to communicate with the woman helping me, and it went almost perfectly. From here I walked back to the International Office to show them the proof of the transaction (it took almost twenty minutes to get to the bank, and another twenty to get back). Once proven, I officially enrolled into the University for the fall semester. I will receive my student card, as well as pay for my semester pass. This will also be shown on my card. It provides me with unlimited tram, bus, and train use for one semester. (The train will only be valid in a 60 mile circumference in all directions of the city). After all of this I gathered my things and met with a friend. We realized we were both going to the same location, a twenty five minute walk to the Govermental Center where we would have to obtain our residences permits for the city and then meet with the foreign office for the country of Germany. (two different tasks) Unfortunately upon arrival we saw that it was closed, and will be open tomorrow. It is often recommended to students that they put the date on the permit application of the day that they will be going to the center, or else the center will think that you've lived in the city a few days without authorization. As I left the International Office, I decided to write the date on my application. When I saw it was closed, I realized I may have put myself into a little bit of a pickle. This will be an interesting conversation with the authorities...On the way back I bought my own internet cord so that I could have internet without having to borrow someone else's cords.

After this I went back to my room for a little bit. I did some things for class (yes I do have homework), and began thinking of which excursions I wanted to go on as a part of the Summer Academy program. It wasn't very long before I contacted one of my friends on Facebook and arranged a dinner meeting with them in the city. I caught the tram, which stopped by their dorm as well, and they hopped on and joined me on our ride to the castle, from which point we would walk to our destination. We walked to a meeting point in the city, where my two other friends met one of their friends, and we all walked across the street to an interesting Italian restaurant. Their way of doing business is interesting. upon arrival, they give you a card that you must keep with you at all times. There are different stations that you can go to inside. After ordering something at each station, you must scan your card into some sort of a machine that puts the balance on your card. At the end of our meal (delicious pasta), we presented our cards to the cashier, at which point she scanned our cards and the amount came up. I think this was very smart because it kept a waitor or waitress from forgetting something or putting something accidently that you didn't get. It was a very organized matter, something that the Germans are known for. I was quite impressed. The restaurant was called Vapiano, and apparently it is quite popular here and in some places on the US, but I had never heard of it prior to this.

My friends' friend left us when we were finished, but the other three of us went to Mömax, a store where you can buy such things as pillows, carpets, lamps, and any other thing a lonely apartment room would need. Since my other two friends don't speak German, it was my job to help them with the workers, as well as tell them how much their purchases amounted to. In both cases the cashiers did not want to give out too many coins, so they asked if they had additional euro coins with them to make the change easier. I was able to translate this for them as well. It really feels good to have a slight grasp of the German language to help me in such situations.

The streets here are quite organized as well. The city is divided into blocks. The main blocks are listed as letters, beginning with A and ending with K. The different streets inside these blocks are in number format. For instance, the International Office is located at "L1." We had to walked to "K7" to get to the immigration office. With this, I've had no problem all week navigating to different places, and tonight was no different. It was beneficial to the other two, who needed a little more guidance.

A tiny square in between blocks

Block "N1", a good place for a quick picture



We arrived at our tram stop and rode back together until the other two had to get off at their stop. When I got out I decided to get a quick picture of the outside of my dorn. The closeup is my specific building, the fuller view is a different one, but almost to what mine looks like.

My specific building, Haus 6. My window would be to the left of the left most window on the highest floor.

Haus 5 across from mine. Almost a duplicate of my Haus 6.

Now I rest in my room. Tonight I will probably be attending a party at the bar that is located in my complex. I will be attending with a few friends. It has been a long day, but I feel like I have accomplished a lot. And with that, I will head out. Hope all is well back at home, and as always, much love to the USA from Germany!

Mein Zimmer
My room
The sink rests to the left of the large cabinet on the left side.

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