Orientation

Today was Orientation Day. It started at 2 o'clock, so I had plenty of relaxing time in the morning. The Bräckle family makes their own granola, so we had some of that for breakfast with some fruit. It was another amazing 60 degree sunny day. The temperature varies by at most 15 degrees throughout the whole 24 hour day, and the sun as so far never not shone. I believe some rain is on the way the next couple of days, which will be a bummer.

The silent street-car

I rode the Straßenbahn for the first time today, and I must say I was very impressed. The cars were perfectly oiled, didn't shake in the slightest, were perfectly clean, smelled good, and were very punctual. The U-Bahn stations were gorgeous, and I felt like I was in a fairy tale walking into the ones near the university.

Where are the hobbits?

I got on the Straßenbahn at Innsbrucker Platz, which is only a 5 minute walk from my apartment. The trains travel in a circle around the city, so I chose the clockwise-headed S45 to get on. I got off two stops later at Heidelberger Platz, which is a station that serves both the S-bahn and the U-bahn. I went down into a glorious subway station, which was very elaborately decorated.

Only a little piece of the Heidelberger Platz station

I rode this similarly silent car to Dahlem-Dorf, which is the station I showed above. This is at the northwest end of the FU-Berlin campus (which is really spread out over a VERY large area). I could have gotten off at the next stop and had a shorter walk, but I was early and wanted to see the area.

Pictured: a befuddling house

It turns out it is a gorgeous area with some really interesting houses and a lot of trees. The university is a mix of very modern with very old, which I like. Some of the houses were befuddling and others looked like quaint little family homes. After about a 15 minute walk, I arrived at the Rost- und Silberlaube, where the meeting was held. The buildings are so named because they are rust and silver colored...a very interesting mix in the middle of middle earth.

Rost- und Silberlaube

The orientation was fine, and we had some spätzle, but mostly uneventful. I have an interview tomorrow morning to determine what class I should be in for the first six weeks of language instruction.

We got a fun satchel for school though!

I came home to Christa cooking some fresh cherry marmalade (frische Kierschemarmelade) with the cherries Thomas picked yesterday. She has a lot of jars of it, so I am very excited to eat them during our coming breakfasts.

My breakfast being cooked by my host mom

As always, there are more photos in my Google album, here