Laundry

I’ve finally got Internet!!!!

I didn’t write an entry yesterday because I was actually too busy to. During our lunch break for class, Jessica (a girl from the University of Wyoming that was in my German 4 and 5 classes who is also here) and I went to talk to our advisor to buy bikes from him. He sells used bikes for really cheap. I finally bought one for 55 euros. I’m excited because now I can actually get around town without having to ride the bus everywhere, which requires planning around the bus schedule and money.

After our class ended, I went with Kayla and a couple of the other exchange students to the Studentenwerk (the place where they take care of room and board; I can’t think of the English word right now). They had to take care of somethings there. Then I came back to my room. I wasn’t in my room for very long when a girl I had met a couple of days ago (her name is Nairouz and she’s also a foreign student) on my floor knocked on my door. She had done some English homework and wanted to see if I could correct it for her. Of course, I did. It was a 2 page report in English that I corrected and helped her with, so it took quite a while. Then I had dinner and had to do some homework of my own for the class. I had to write a one page summary (in German of course) of what happened in a fairy tale that we went over in class. By the time all that was done, it was time for bed.

Today was equally as exciting. I went to class, then came back to my room afterwards. I was in desperate need of doing some laundry, so I went down the hall and asked Nairouz where the laundry room was. She showed me where it was and then asked if I had any laundry coins. To do laundry, I needed special laundry coins. Since I didn’t, we tried to go to the maintenance man’s office, where you buy the coins, but he wasn’t there. I ended up getting one from another girl on my floor that Nairouz knew. They cost 2 euros each, but she wouldn’t let me pay her for it. I thanked her and went back to my room. I was going to rearrange my room, so I started doing that. About 15 minutes into it, Nairouz knocked on my door again. She had gone to the store and, along with her groceries, she had gotten some rolls for me from a bakery. That was quite a surprise. Just as she was going back to her room, a delivery guy showed up with a package. The package wasn’t for me though, it was for 2 doors down. The problem is that there is no one 2 doors down. He asked me if I’d seen him and I told him no, so he left.

After I had finished rearranging my room (pictures here), I got my laundry and brought it down to the basement where the laundry room is. Then I realized that I didn’t have any laundry detergent. So I hauled my laundry back up to my room, walked back down and went to the store. When I got back and was on my way back down to the laundry room, I ran into Nairouz again. She had run into the maintenance man and was going to go down to his office (also in the basement) to get some coins specifically for me. We went there together and got the coins. I figured she was going to get some to, so I let her go first. She bought 2 coins then gave them to me. She wouldn’t let me pay her for them at all. I tried. And tried again. Then I thanked her a lot. She went back upstairs and I went and did laundry. That was fun. The wash machines are a lot different here than there. You have to set it by temperature, but the temperature of course is in degrees C. Of course, I don’t even really know how to use American washing machines, much less these. I just guessed and hoped it worked. It seemed to though. Later, I pulled out my clothes and as I type this, they are drying in the drying room (there are no driers).

We’ll see how the rest of the night goes. I still need to eat dinner and will do that as soon as the oven is available (there’s someone else making something now). Oh, and almost all of my music (all but one album) is now on iTunes here.