A long, but productive day

Today started early, again.  However, I was not ready to get up today! I woke up at 7, got ready and met Colby at 8.  As we rode on the train to Potsdam, I quickly realized that I was more nervous to go visit the ogre again than I had been about moving to a different country for 6 month.  My reasons:
1. I HATE confrontation
2. My German is nowhere near confrontation level
3. I want to have an apartment in Potsdam

After thinking about how dumb it was to let one person affect me so much, I started looking around the train and enjoying my favorite pastime: people watching.  Every person on the train was reading.  This is a huge difference from the U.S. No one here is playing on their phones, they all have a newspaper, a book, a kindle, or an iPad.  Out of 4 people sitting across from me, one was reading a German book, another read Harry Potter in English, another was reading a book in English, and the last was reading A Little House on the Prairie is English.  It is fascinating how languages are such a natural thing to learn (everywhere but in the U.S.).  After getting to Potsdam we went straight to the Studentenwerk. This time, the lady at the front looked puzzled when we said we were coming to see the ogre.  However, after I told her she said between 9 and 11 (we were there at 9:05 in order not to be late), she sent us in.  

I knocked.
I didn't hear a response.
I was sooo ready to walk away.
Colby says knock again.
I knock again.
No response.
Colby says open the door and see... there is construction, you might not be able to hear her.
I say HECK NO!!!!
Colby says, knock again.
I knock.
I wait.
Ogre opens the door.
I think "Oh snap she is going to hate me, I made her get up off of her desk and open the door."
She says hello
I start babbling in German about how my bank says you have the money, you have the money.
She says, "yes we have the money."
I am shocked beyond words and can hardly respond.
She shows me how they have the two transactions but didn't know they were from me.
I babble some more in German
She gives me the contract
I sign the contract
She babbles in German about policies and rules, next steps. She gives me the name of the guy who I think will have my keys.
I act like I understand every word.
We say goodbye and leaved shocked at her niceness (or rather lack of rudeness).

( Sorry for the way I wrote that scene, but it was unreal and there is no other way to explain it)

After leaving the office we walked to our breakfast spot from yesterday and killed time until our 11:00 appointment at the bank to open my account.  Breakfast was lovely again, and we planned out how after the bank we would head to my dorm and get the keys from this man, who we THINK has my key...

At eleven we head to the bank.  They seated us and asked us to wait for Herr. Heinze.  After about 5 minutes he comes in and we join him in his office where I babble some more in awful German and ask him if I can open an account.  He asked for my passport, my proof of study, and a piece of paper that is like a resident's card.  Well... I didn't have this resident's card. Sooooo.. he told me I had to do that first and set up and appointment for tomorrow.  Of course... Well we (actually Colby) asked where we could do that and the man was incredibly puzzled.  He had no idea how to give us directions... Thank goodness for iPhones.

After a 15 minute walk we arrived at the office.  The very organized German system had us in and out in less than 30 minutes.  The lady was very pleasant, gave me the piece of paper, said they would send me the card via mail, and changed my residence on my passport.  Before leaving, I will have to go back to get it changed.  After accomplishing this, which Colby said had been waaaay more complicated for him, I decided to try another bank and see if I could get an appointment today with them, instead of waiting till the next day.  Thankfully I found the sweetest lady and was able to do it today! The bank had a great option for students and again, I was in and out in less than 30 minutes! Wonderfully productive day!!!! And... all  in German. One thing  is for sure, my German is awful (if I was German I would laugh at me), but I can get my point across most of the time... even if I call a she a he and treat them informally.... WHATEVER! I'm trying here people!!!

Anywho... after setting up my account, I headed to the university to pick up my keys.  The bus ride took about 30 minutes, since I will apparently be living in the middle of nowhere! When we got there, the door said that office hours were from 8am-830am and 2pm - 2:30 pm... That's a joke right??? Well it was 1:45, and Colby was not about to wait... so he suggested I call the man's cellphone number that Frau ogreturnednice had given me.. Me? Call someone in German on my second day here? You've got to be kidding me!! Well.... he wasn't and I did.  Between my broken sentences, my lack of vocabulary, and his immediate attempt to speak English once I told him I was a student coming from America, I ended up setting up an appointment for tomorrow at 9am! How dumb am I !!! I didn't even ask if he had time today, all I could think to say was "whenever you have time." Ugh! And why would I agree to 9? That means I'll have to leave my house at like 7. Oh well! Whatever! Overall it was an incredibly productive day in Potsdam.  

After getting back to Berlin, Colby and I headed to a burger place and had some delicious burgers and fried, and I returned home to nap before my outing with my landlady.  After my short nap, I got dressed for the film premier we were attending and met her at a restaurant where she was eating dinner.   She is absolutely precious! We walked halfway to the theater, and then since she is sick we took a train the rest of the way.  She didn't have a ticked to ride the one stop so she did it illegally, what the Germans call "schwarzfahren" or literally riding black... Hm.... what a politically correct term.

The film premier was really cool! It was in the Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") the film was presented by a famous German director named Wim Wenders.  Clearly I knew who that was... or maybe not.  My ignorance never seizes to amaze me.  As Nina quickly started pointing out, the whole place was packed with famous German actors.  I will do my research and let y'all know who it was, because as expected... I have no idea... The famous director introduced the movie ( Sylvie Michel's die feine Unterschiede , which means something like the little differences).  The movie was cute, kind of strange ending, but good! After the movie Sylvie and the producers got up to talk and brought down all of the actors! It was super cool and I loved it! After speaking they all walked out and just hung out and spoke with people.  I was thrilled to find out that Nina was as confused as I was about one of the scenes... I thought it was a lost in translation situation, but apparently not! 

Overall, it was a great day and I am once again EXHAUSTED! Tomorrow I will be making my trip to Potsdam alone, so maybe I will get to read up on German history on the train! 

General observations from today:
1. My German grammar is worse than I thought
2. German dogs can go into any restaurant or store because they are SOOOO well behaved
3. People read A LOT
4. There are a million vietnamese restaurants
5. I'm obsessed with the organizational skills people have here.
6. Laughing is rare on the street.

Well, I'm off to bed! I promise more pictures and less words tomorrow! Bis morgen! (till tomorrow!)