Travel Plans

In case you’re keeping score at home, here’s the nitty gritty for my journey this weekend:

Rotary booked me a flight from Frankfurt to Dresden (I’m the only scholar here for whom they did this – everyone else had to find their own train tickets), and I leave at 9am. It’s only an hour flight, subsequently putting me in Dresden at 10am, where I will be met by my host counselor. I will be staying with his family for the weekend until I can move into my dorm Monday morning. He’s married with three kids, ages 15, 18, and 20, so it should be a good weekend and they (at least he) seem like great people. It is such a comfort just to know that someone is there waiting for me on the other end – it makes a huge difference.

Since nothing is ever open on the weekends here, my first two weekdays will be crazy nuts. I have to move into my dorm, open a bank account, register for classes, and apply for my student visa – but I can’t register before I apply for my visa, and I can’t get a bank account before I register, but there’s no telling how long it will take to get a visa. Wednesday is a national holiday, Thursday is international student orientation, I’ll take the weekend to get settled, and then Monday classes begin!