Karlsruhe

It rained today. And it was warm. It was wet, sticky, and yet still warm enough that you never stop sweating, even in doors. It felt a lot like Virginia really. Except less colonial and with more medieviality (or is it medievalness?). Either way the rain sucked. I should have listened to my mother when she told me to pack a rain jacket. I hate when I’m wrong.

Karsruhe is an interesting place. It’s very Germanic and European. I was surprised to find out it was also very young. The “castle” (more like a residenz or a palace) that sits in the center of the radial city (think Washington DC) was built around 250 years ago, and so the city marks that time as its founding. That’s ridiculously young for a European town. Although I can hardly tell that it’s not a thousand years old, walking around. It’s incredible to me the way that a very third-millennium building can find itself nestled up between two buildings that are easily two hundred years old. In fact, the apartment that I am staying in has to be about a hundred years old or so. The interior and most of the exterior has been greatly remolded, but the style and the exterior stone work give away its age.

And if there’s anything that I know about Germany, it’s that there is always construction going on. Every time and everywhere you go, something is always under construction. It reminds me a lot of an organization that goes by a three letter acronym; they are always working on something, yet nothing ever seems to get done.

It’s very interesting walking around town. It might just be me, but I seem to be the only one who understands that cars can not only hit you when you cross in front of them, but that they will really mess you up when they do. It is the common practice for pedestrians to step confidently into the street, no matter how busy, and no matter how sternly the crossing signs seem to be telling them not to. And it also seems to be the common practice for drivers to go as fast as they can through any intersection and around any corner, no matter how many pedestrians may or may not be preparing to step into the street.

Today we opened my German Bank account. After going to two banks, who both said that they couldn’t open an account for just a couple of months, the door receptionist at the Deutsche Bank told us “naturally” when we asked if they could open an account for me. Now it is important to note that these three banks are no where near each other and we (my PhD host student and I) had already been walking around for about an hour or so. We were led to a woman working at a desk, and she again said that the account could be opened, and all she needed was a stamped statement from the city saying that I had checked in and was living here, which of course we didn’t have. So we left and went to a city office down the street where they directed us across the street to a different office. After waiting there for a few minutes, we met with an official who got me all signed in with the city. We went back to the Deutsche bank and got all set with the woman from before, but this time she told us that she needed to see my passport and that the copy I carried with me wasn’t going to do. She said that she could meet with us at three, but my host-student couldn’t meet then, so I had to go alone. Which wasn’t all that bad, because it turned out that the woman we were dealing with spoke English. Long story short (to late, I know), I am now the proud owner of a Deutsche Bank debit account. Woot for me!