Erste Woche

Why hallo!

I have finally reached Dortmund, scratch that, I have been here a while now. I have finally decided to sit down and start "blogging".

 Why Blog? Well I partially blame my cousin Rachel. If she had not blogged about her semester in England last year, and had everyone excited about it, the thought may never have crossed my mind. But she did. And it did. And the thought was something along the lines of "Well now, blogging would be a splendid way to keep up with multiple people at once, or at least let them now what I am doing. And then my mom might not be questioned so much, leading her to want to question me more." Not that I have considered any of my mom's questioning a bad thing. But as bad as I am at keeping up with people... Well there came also to form a second reason, I am an engineer. Which means I am good with math, not words. So in an effort of self improvement, much like an athlete working out until they puke, I will force myself to write.

I made my way to Dortmund via DFW, London Heathrow (A lovely place to sit and people watch, so many people with various accents and languages, and home of my favorite annoucement, a Lady's voice that says very calmly with a British accent “For security reasons, unattended baggage will be removed and destroyed.”), and Duesseldorf (which the BA flight crew kept calling Dusseldorf; Duh instead of Dew).

I fell back in step easily once I landed. Getting a train ticket from the automatic machine at the Flughafenbahnhof only took TWO tries; I really did find the button for local services that fast.

An hour or so ride to the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof (photos taken today) and then two short U-bahn rides to my couchsurfing host.

Volker Pohlueke is the gentleman I am staying with.

He has a two room apartment in Borsigplatz, just to the north-east of central Dortmund. He works with some Chinese partners finding new technologies from around Germany, and taking care of legalities (licensing and what not) so they can be put to work in China (or such is my understanding from talking with him). He is also helping start a non-profit in the neighborhood. They provide office space and some resources for small enterprises to develop.

Since Wednesday I have been searching for a permanent place to stay and working out enrollment at the University. I have successfully, though not without a small amount of confusion on both ends, opened a Studentenvorteilskonto (free student bank account) and received my health insurance documentation. Good news, I completed my enrollment in the Masters program; bad news is the International Office is closed today, so I could not fully matriculate with the University.

Dortmund itself is along the Ruhr river in a traditional industrial region, due to the large amount of coal and iron ore mined here, known as the Ruhrgebiet. Close by are Essen, Duesseldorf, and Koeln (Cologne). 

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Most of the center of Dortmund was bombed out during the second World War, so many of the buildings are relatively new. One of the landmark sites in Dortmund is the Dortmunder U, a "Center for Art and Creativity".

I never did get in  last time, it and the Hauptbahnhof were under construction. Another landmark would be Signal Iduna Stadium, home of Borussia Dortmund. I have not been by there yet, so pictures will have to wait.

As I walked around just off the main shopping street in the center of the city today, I found this.

I so wanted to play in it to, but there were enough parents around that I did not want to cause any concern.

Technische Universitaete Dortmund (TU Dortmund) is the school I am going to be attending. They have an international Masters in Automation and Robotics taught in English. Talking with Ralf Burda, one of the program organizers, today, I am the first American to actually take part in the program (as was my understanding from talking with a Professor last year). They had an American accepted last year, but he did not choose to come. Some sites from the university, the turning TU sign.

And the Mensa (meaning cafeteria), home to many student services, but not the international office.

And now, as I sit charging my laptop, I have to wonder who designed my adapter plugs. Clearly not some one who has ever seen an European outlet as their designed shape did not fit.

Old rounded peg in a squarish hole, but a little bit of excessive plastic removal with a knife got it to fit.

Best thing since getting back to Germany? Either the Doener or the Brot (bread).

Worst thing? Definitely the smoking.

Tschuess,
 Nic