I HAVE INTERNET!

I have internet! I'm so happy!

Got in early on Wednesday. The flight wasn't horrible as I actually managed to sleep. My baggage was already there by the time I got through Passport Control, which was also easy, as was Customs.
I love German customs. Nothing to declare, just walk right through. So I did. TUMI (I'm attending TUM and TUMI is the international group within for exchange within) met me at the airport eventually... I had to wait a bit before she showed up because she was also picking up another student at a different terminal. This was Nicole, from Rhode Island, who speaks no German but is in the architecture program so this apparently doensn't matter, and who interned in St. Louis two summers ago. So the three of us took the train to my dorm and then dropped me off and Nicole was taken to her dorm.

I haven't unpacked yet so I'll send pictures later. The room is on the 4th floor in the Olympium Zentrum, which is the section of the city that was built for the Olympics in 72? (somewhere around there). It's now student housing and the main building (with pool, etc.) is for students. It's one of many student housing sections which are spread out all over the city. All the other exchange students are convienently in another section of housing, where I would have been if my application hadn't been messed up... long story there... but anyway.

So TUMI has orientation for the first two weeks. 1-5 pm is a daily German course. I'm in the upper level. I'm the only USA student in my class. Most are from France actually. All are from Europe. I'm also in the advanced class. We read texts and discuss in groups. It's not bad, actually, beside being a little long, but it keeps me busy. So that's what I did today and yesterday afternoon. Yesterday evening I tried to fix internet but it is an insanely difficult concept here (ethernet) which requires like 6 different numbers/codes, a few of which you must go to the student office to obtain which is convienently open from 9-12:30 daily. So fail on that one. For dinner I went to Erika's. She was an exchange student from Texas last year who liked it so much she transferred. There are also five Americans here from Georgia Tech, which apparently has quite the exchange with TUM. I met one of them, Alex, at Erika's. Came home, crashed.

This morning I met Erika to run some errands. We set up a German bank account for me and approved my health insurance. These were some long lines. Went to lunch with Erika, Alex (male) and two other US student, Alex (female), and Rob (who's in Chemistry). Headed to German class, then met Eli, the lady who picked us up from the airport, and Nicole, who was picked up with me. Eli took us to get a phone, so I now have a German SIM card but have not managed to unlock the phone yet. Haven't tried, actually. Went to dinner with Nicole and went shopping. Amusing pictures from shopping, but will post those later. Had to go shopping for the weekend because tomororw is the German Independence Day which, as a national holiday, means absolutetely everything is closed... except for Oktoberfest. So I'm going to Oktoberfest tomorrow early with Erika, Nicole and a friend of Erika's from Switzerland coming to visit. Unfortunately we're going very early (I'm meeting her at 7:15) because it gets crowded FAST!

So, with that being said, I'm off to bed. Wanted to leave an update. I'm safely here!