Man, I need to get better about posting in my blog!
It has been a few weeks and things have just been so crazy. Last week, I thought I had everything so organized and knew when things were going to begin. I spent the whole days feeling like I had everything together.. then I found out that I missed the first day of the International Welcome Week!! I was so flustered! So after missing out on the very first day and the opportunity to tour around the campus, I was luckily able to make it to the last two days. Thankfully, the welcome week is just to inform students on basic work law, insurance, and other things I already had knowledge of.
After the welcome week, I met a few people in my program which is really nice because we get along so well together. I usually hang out with Maik and his friends, and now I have a small group of my own to explore the city with. Maik and I had a small get together with both groups of our friends this past week, which was nice and we all were able to go out to the club to dance and enjoy each other's company.
What we have been up to:
Maik's roommate moved out about a week ago and we were able to begin shopping for items we need in our apartment! This was a lot of fun. We bought new breakfast boards, new kitchen towels, and my favorite, a new coffee machine! I was SO excited to find it at a decent price because the coffee makers we use back home are much more expensive here. But, I found a 12 cup coffee maker for less than 30 USD!!
Maik and I have been on a food adventure this past week as well. We treated ourselves to burgers at our favorite burger place (Jamy's) and he also took me out to one of Darmstadt's nicer restaurants for some authentic German cuisine. We took a small trip to Frankfurt with Maik's friends last Sunday to get coffee and explore the city a bit. I have never seen much of Frankfurt aside from the airport and the car exhibition we saw my first week here. We were able to walk downtown and look at the architecture in the city, as well as enjoy the company of his friends and enjoy some much needed coffee.
I also was able to celebrate at one of the German Unity festivals in Mainz on Monday with my friends from the IMC program. It was interesting to see the festival because it was geared towards education about the various services throughout Germany and information about different interests and places. The festival was also full of various foods from all parts of Germany, music and interactive activities. The evening ended with some concerts which my friends stayed for, but I ended up going home a bit early for. This week, I have two introductory courses to take before beginning our program. We met on the Dieburg Campus today for information on Photoshop and Illustrator, and tomorrow we have a course in Video Production. It has been nice to meet people from all over the world, especially the people in my major. Just knowing we are all going through the same paperwork and being able to give advice to one another is really comforting.
Speaking of important paperwork,
I received my appointment for my visa in the mail the other day. My appointment is scheduled in about two weeks and I should receive my study/residence visa by the end of this year. This is very good news because it allows me to stay with no problems for the entire length of my program.
Next week is the beginning of both our school programs. On the 10th, we have our CampusRally and we are able to enroll in courses. We will be able to talk to the professors and get an idea of what each course has to offer. This will be nice because once I know my school schedule and what my courses are like, I will then be able to start planning the trips I will take back home to visit.
I would really love to get some feedback from everyone reading, so I am able to keep everyone more up to date on what they are wanting to hear about from me. Whether that be in a comment, email or message. Feel free to ask me questions about my trip, information you're wanting to know about the people, the culture, the language, the student process, anything! Thank you for reading!