A Comedy of Errors

Temperature in
Houston, Texas is:

LINKS

Sign my Guestbook
(Powered by SignMyGuestbook.com)

MSN Encarta
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Morrow
"Take care of the minutes, and the hours and years will take care of themselves." -Anonymous
"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." -F.P. Jones

Profile | Contact Me | Archive | Newest | Diaryland

2004-04-26
Willkommen zu Bremen

10:44 a.m.

I know that I haven't posted since last week, but that's due to a ton of craziness. I crashed after finishing the report, but only managed about seven hours of sleep, not much after staying up forty hours. We had our presentation the next day, which went quite well. There were some awesome videos and animations included, thanks to some talented and insomniatic students on our team. After that, it was frantic packing and cleaning before heading off to say good-bye to my mates at The Irish Times. It was pretty hard, especially since three of them - Oliver, Erling, and Ayo - won't be back in July for graduation (they are staying longer in Australia). However, it didn't really kick in that we were parting ways, and it still really hasn't.

I stayed for a while and after figuring out how I could get the car back after Nick, Brooke, and Ruey took it to the train station at 4 a.m. with only one set of keys, I headed off because there was still a lot to do. The next day, I picked up the car, finished packing and cleaning (just barely), handed over my keys, and then hung out with Mark until Beth picked me up and we went to her place. We decided to not take naps because we figured that might only make things worse when we woke up. We didn't want to be rushed, and we could always stop on the way if need be, which, in fact, we ended up doing.

So, here we are in the lovely city of Bremen. After a seemingly-endless overnight drive (really only about six hours) from Strasbourg in an overstuffed VW Touran (thank goodness we ended up with a bigger car than originally planned; we never would have fit everything in a Golf, even with Beth the expert packer), we arrived Saturday morning despite exhaustion and defective directions. Met up with the housing agency and landlords (one of whom, thankfully, spoke English), unpacked, and managed to find the rental car agency after it took us thirty minutes to go three kilometers due to more defective directions; so much easier if we'd been told it was at the airport! Found our way only after I remembered that the street we were looking for, Flughafenstra�e, meant "airport street". Dropped the car off, took a taxi back, and then faced the unpleasant prospect of just what the heck to do with all of our stuff. Those of you who know me know that I have a lot of stuff, mostly clothes. Where it all comes from, I honestly don't know. I think it reproduces in the laundry basket.

A quick description of the apartment. It's very nice, on the first floor (second floor to Americans). There is a kitchen, hallway, main bedroom (mine), living room, bathroom, and a study which Beth has converted into her room. We have a washing machine, dishwasher (exciting!), microwave, large refrigerator, bathtub, big-screen TV, stereo, DVD/VHS player, surround-sound system, lots of plants, and a balcony. The only things really missing are curtains for my window, to be remedied soon by a trip to Ikea. It's very open and sunny. Beth and I are really pleased with it, and we are paying together only 15� more per month than I paid alone in Strasbourg for a flat not half as nice.

We have cable, too, and most of the channels are in German (we even watched The Simpsons in German), but there's one French artsy channel and two English channels - BBC and CNN. It's interesting to watch the world weather and think of who from ISU is where. We are so scattered - Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Thailand, Singapore, US (Houston, New Orleans, Tucson, LA, Greenbelt).

No internet or phone (yet). We're working on that. I do have an address, and if you want it, send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you.

Saturday afternoon after moving in, we were pretty tired so mainly chilled, explored the immediate area, and bought some groceries. Lots of kebab places around, a couple of pubs, a few Italian restaurants, bakeris, an internet cafe (that wasn't open, even though it said it was) a bank, an Asian food store, parks (yay), and some grocery stores of varying size, among others.

Yesterday, we walked to the train station, stopping at an (open) internet cafe on the way. At the station, we bought tram tickets and then checked out our work places. Both are right next to tram stops (as is our apartment), on the same line (6), but on opposite ends. We have to catch either the 10 or the 2 into town, and then get on the 6. It takes me about twenty minutes to get to work; Beth, about twelve. EADS is close to a Wal-Mart and Ikea, according to the map (to be confirmed today). I am also right next to the airport.

Today is my fist day. I already have an official badge. Soon, I'll be given a tour. Everyone here speaks English and is very nice. I've also been told that even if I did speak German, I would have a hard time of it because everyone would want to practice their English on me. I do want to learn German, though, so we'll see how it goes. So far, not speaking it very well hasn't been too much of a hindrance, and the only real trouble is getting used to the German keyboard; for example, the 'z' and 'y' keys are switched, and several others are different.

As for what I'm doing here, not sure just yet. It looks like a little of everything - documentation, testing, integration, etc. They work closely with my group in Houston, of which they were unaware, but were quite pleased when they found out.

I'm rather hungry. Most important thing: when is lunch? ;)

Previous | Next