The Garden of Discordia

We had snow! It's not much left now, but the cold is definitely here. This means I really should get out and buy more warm sweaters (lost one during my Christmas vacation, one is frankly fugly from age and the other two get used a bit much) but since I hate shopping, I've so far only managed to grab yet another Die Ärzte sweater from the fan-merch store round the corner. Oh well, at least it looks warm and cosy.

Exam period is coming up, which means I need to do ALL THE STUDIES and I also have two presentations to do. Bohoo, stressy... That's one verbal exam, one written and two essays which I think (and hope, good lord) that I can hand in after the actual term is over.

To that, there is also the very last bit of the paperwork to extend my stay at Humboldt, but at least I'm guaranteed a place here now ^_^ But I had to print a paper, sign it, then I gotta scan it and send to the insurance person, then get a reply and lastly show that to the administration here. Uuuh...

Because I have so much to do and so little time I got a haircut. Not a complete waste of time, because it was getting messily long, and I was too tired to study more than the two hours I did today anyway. Now, no more haircuts until February has passed! If I can affordid then, however, I'll take the time to dye it in March.

And lastly, an anime blog I want to read in the future when I have time (hah): Karaconner. I need to catch up on the ANN editorials that I follow too and probably buy the latest volume of FMA. So much to read, so little time...

I've landed! I actually landed on Thursday but the internet connection's been wonky.

Which in a way was a good thing, since it meant I could spend most of these days running around town ^___^

The Good
My landlady seems really nice, my room is larger than I thought and the house is just wonderfully placed!

The window faces the garden, a lush half-wild little oasis (where, I just found out this morning, a goshawk moved in not long ago!) and the front of the house faces a mini-plaza. Which, honestly, mostly works like a parking lot but it's rather still and quiet. So, surrounded by our little isle of calm, we sit in the middle of Kreuzberg: Oranienstrasse round the corner, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, quirky shops, second-hand stuff, hairsalons that advertize their skill with punk styles, street art and lord knows what else. I ♥ it.

Have mostly spent the days running around shopping and exploring the area, which is totally neat. Also sleeping and reading, because I think a bit of pre-travel jitters loosened themselves by making me super tired. But today, I'm feeling quite perky and since it's saturday, I won't have to spend a couple of hours on the other activity that I've been doing since coming here. Which leads us on to...

The Not-So-Good
What is less smiley and more :( is the fact that I, despite two visits (and a lot of waiting) to two different Burgerämter (Citizens Office aka The Dread German Bureaucracy) I still haven't managed to register myself as a person living in Berlin. Which I must have to be able to enroll in school. You are seeing my problem, yes? Well, the first time they were stupid and couldn't find my landlady in their records. Of course, when she called them not 40 minutes later, they found her in a tick. I mean, what?

Then I tried another office, on her recommendation, and whaddya know, due to lack of personell they only had pre-booked meetings that day. Which they've apparantly been doing for all of August, a fact that none of the three people we talked to one the phone saw fit to mention even as we said the name of that office to two of them. *sigh*

On Monday, I'm trying the last of the three offices in this part of the city and if that doesn't work I'll go to the student union to ask for a native backup.