The First Month:

So the 3^rd of October marked 1 month since I moved to Konstanz.  Its been great fun, with great people, in a great place.  Here are a few of the things I've learned:

Bu·reauc·ra·cy

noun, plural bu·reauc·ra·cies.

1.government by many bureaus, administrators, and petty officials.

2.the body of officials and administrators, especially of a government or government department.

3.excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus or administrators.

4.administration characterised by excessive red tape and routine.

 

Yes, I've got to that stage where I feel the need to write a blog post not only explaining the empire of the Beamte but also to recount my experiences with them, which hopefully will not turn into too much of a rant and might even serve to forward people yet to arrive in the Bundesländer.  

Top Form

So today is Friday, I arrived in on Monday, that's 5 days.  In that time I'm pretty sure I've filled out a dozen forms, written my address at least once on each of them (the current record is 3 seperate entries) and signed my life away more times that I care to think about. 
Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into an anti beauracracy rant - in fact you could consider it the opposite.  It is in fact going to be "thank goodness for the EU".  That's becuase most of my friends here are from outside the EU and thus need to do about double the paperwork and a special bank account for wich the details need to go to the immigration ministry.  So thanks to the EU not only am I annoying the Daily Mail (which can only be a good thing) I also have a couple more hours free of forms.

Arrival and the learning curve

So after two fantastic weeks in Switzerland getting Sunburned, soaked, up and down some alps and snowed on I did my change around and am now in sunny Konstanz.  I've met a few people and learned quite a bit too.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Beer by the liter is great, more than one however, probably isn't.
• I can impress people with my German
• The accomodation leaving all the crap in in it from the last owner is pretty handy - buying your own pots and pans and odd flavoured teas is a drag
• Just buying a sim card isn't that simple
• Even if you didn't when you went to uni, or to another continent for months it is still possible to get homesick.  I'm not usually one for it but this is quite a different type of 'on your own' than either of those, and its a bit odd.  

Thats all for now, today is the beginning of the long induction course so I'm sure I'll have much more to reflect on.