Day 2 in Tübingen

9 o'clock. We gathered at GTC, setting out for a day's registration work. First, we go to a place (I can't read much German so far) to authenticate our admission letter and our bachelor degree. It is at the opposite side of the old physical institute. There were about a 50 people in it. With the advantage of our number, we occupied one officer, and squeezed all other unorganized students to the other office. Without feeling guilty, we efficiently finished this stop, heading to next stop- residency registration.

Then, we were brought to the City Hall to register our residency. (So beautiful that I regret I didn't bring camera with me.) There were about a thousand student there. It seemed that most foreign students came here and must figure out all problems they would meet by themselves. Hew!

Place we confirm our admission.

Fortunately, GTC( Graduate Training Center, the program I joined.) treated its students very well. They knew this kind of chaos happens every years, and has long become notorious for foreign students. Therefore, we assembled earlier at GTC and went there together, so we can cover each other's asses, and “petition” for a special priority. With the help of our German fellows, every time consuming, much-resented, allegedly-disastrous bureaucratic tasks were handled so adroitly that we managed to withdraw ourselves from the mess without loss of elegance.

We call it a day for today's paperwork. I joined Caitlin and Santiago to have a grocery shopping as Saturn- the biggest appliance& electronics shopping mall at Tübingen.

What is noticeable is there recycle system. They execute the environmental protection policy very thoroughly. Almost all package of their food are recyclable. They use recycled toilet paper, and biowaste (leftover) is gathered in a special bucket.   

recycling

Fruit I've never seen before

I bought a hair dryer and a face cleanse gel, bur apparently this place is not very cheap. so then I went to Kaufland, which is at the southern side of Neckar River. I bought my hangers there, and a pair of clogs as well. Here might be the cheapest place to shop in Tübingen.

I went back, store my food in my fridge, and take a good look at the bag which symbolize my first big shopping in Tübingen. 

And then, something happened.

When I went outside to check my mail box, the fire engine came. Everybody lived in my dorm building came out. Something triggered the fire alarm. I just finished reading my rent contract. Summoning fire engines cost 300 euro. Quite big a number, isn't it ?

It is so cold outside, so I went to a nearby building, where runs a student bar, Kuckuck . In a toilet, I saw a condom vending machine.  Uhmm. 

Universities in Taiwan can be more liberal. By the way, they also have cigarette vending machines around the campus.

Despite the fact that Tübingen is renowned for its tremendous possession of artifacts and historical buildings, it tolerate youngsters to graffiti almost everywhere, including walls which have stood there for 500 years, older than their grand grand fathers !  

I mean, when I was in Singapore, there not a single piece of trash on the ground, and nobody dare to break laws. It makes Singapore one of the most disciplined and therefore most civilized place to live.

In Germany, some people seems to despise laws. Sometimes you see people cross at a red light. Spotting these scenes really make it hard to relate the place to the fact that German is the most law obeying country in the world.

Well, that may be just the two place I visited in Germany, Frankfurt and Tübingen.  They couldn't represent the whole country.

What a amazing country, I will keep on my exploration in this beautiful while strange country.