Catch-up 1
It’s been a while since my last post (over two weeks!). Well Basicly since I moved in.. I promised more frequent posts and I know many of you have been eagerly waiting for more. Don’t be afraid, this won’t be a small summary (you noticed the “1″ didn’t you?). I got some time to write of all the things I can remember, alongside some pictures I took. Have fun!
Btw.: I like feedback, either via “Ask me anything” or via your prefered messenger of choice. Here goes nothing!
On Thursday and Friday (the days after I moved in, 29.09.2016 and 30.09.2016) not much has appended. On Thursday was the first introduction of all exchange students of “Kyodai” (short for “Kyoto Daigaku” = Kyoto University) by the city, which we didn’t know otherwise noone would’ve been there. The main points where how to ride your bike (you’re not allowed to turn right at a crossing [remember this is left hand traffic {I know I use too much brackets <Don’t tell my German teacher>}]), how to seperate waste (they’re even more rigourous than in Germany) and a short intro to all the bureaucracy stuff we have to do.
Because everyone will be asking how to turn right with a bicycle: Well, simply put you do the same as pedestrians. Switch to the pavement and wait at the first traffic light to turn green cross the street turn by 90˚ right and wait for the next traffic light to turn green. This costs a lot of time, so I’m costanstly looking for routes with as few right turns a possible ;)
Waste is not that bad as they make it seem like. Up until now I can say I got more than 3 mandatory introductions. Somehow they are sure we are doing it wrong, although they couldn’t possibly know it at the university.. (Is this slight Xenophobia?). Basicly, instead of the refund system for plastic bottles in Germany they have another bin in the kitchen. That’s it.
On Friday we got our Student IDs, and more documents hand in, forms to fill out, insurances (mandatory of course), and manuals. They don’t seem to bother with translating most parts of the websites, so they give us printed paper guides where to click and what information to enter. I never know what I’m actually doing. I could’ve sold my soul without noticing.. The bureaucracy game is on.
On a last note: I’m probably the only one that was bothered by the fact, that everyone had to hand in their passport and residence card! WTF? I tried to refuse, but had to hand it in at the end. Even copying it (That’s still illigal if it’s not neccessary and without censoring the serialnumber).
Oh and I fell asleep a few times during these lectures, that’s why there are no pictures.