Lost and Illiterate

I realized today how difficult it is to get around when you are illiterate. I tried reading a sign today to determine how much a bus fare costed but there were just a bunch of German words with numbers next to them. Some of the fees were really low at 1.50 Euros and some were as high at 7 Euros! In the end, I asked a kind woman to tell me how much the fare was. Turns out it was 2.40 euros.

When the bus arrived, I put in 2.50 euros because I didn't have the right change. I was about to leave the front of the bus, but the bus driver called me back and he gave me change!!!! I was so fascinated that they actually gave me change, this has never happened before. In Hong Kong and San Francisco, they always ask for exact change or else they'll just take what extra you gave them. It's so awesome, if only the fare wasn't so expensive.

Most of the day today was just me being SUPER lost. I went out to the middle of nowhere to try to buy a used bike for 20-30 euros (so cheap!) because there was supposed to be a bike sale event there or something. By the time I got there in a really round about fashion, a nice old man told me the event was closed for some reason (no, it's not because I arrived late that it was closed). So I had to pay another 2.50 to get my ass back to the main station (Hauptbahnhof) so that I could meet some other RISE students in Mainz.

I tried to get a map from the station but the mini map the information center had did not cover the area where I was trying to get to. Assuming that I had a gist about where it might be, I started wandering along this street that should bring me to the the university. At some point I walked past the university apparently and continued going in the wrong direction. Since I was lost to the point where I had no idea where I was going, I asked two elderly women where I should go and they told me I was going in the totally wrong direction! Total fail. So they drew me a map and I had to walk 30 minutes until I got there :\ By the time I got to where I was supposed to meet the other RISE participants, I was 40 minutes late and they have already left obviously. The fact that my mobile phone (Handy in German...so cute) was not working did not help at all. Apparently they kept trying to call me but it did not go through. I thought I would be able to receive calls since I was able to take my PhD student's call yesterday. Guess not.

After being totally lost and stranded, I made my trek back to where I thought I could take the bus but then I realized I was totally too cheap to pay another 2.40 euros for 3 measly stops. So i began my long trek back to the main station. At some point, I passed by the University of Medicine. All the buildings that belonged to the University of Medicine had like the same label on them (UniversitatMedizin), and I wonder how they know which building they should go to.

I spy with my little eye a helical staircase :P

What I first thought was the only building for the Universitatmedizin.

Then I found more!

Anyways, long story short. I wandered a lot today and took some random pictures along the way. Got super tired and the soles of my feet hurt to the point where I wondered if I had blisters. Then I came home and had a nice nap :)

At night my flatmate, Marion, took me outside I finally tried some wine (weinshorle which is one to one riesling and water) from the art exhibition next door (the artists live upstairs from us) for 2 euros. I learned to clink my glass of wine against others while holding the stem to get the best sound from the clink. My wine glass was pretty full, so I was really worried that when I knock glass with others my glass would tip, fall, and break. So I don't think I did it properly :P

Afterwards, we wandered toward this place called Peng (http://www.pengland.de/?sp_events=blota-blota-museumsnacht-mark-bohle) and listened to this band called J.Stone Orchestra. They were quite good apparently because people were dancing to the music according to Marion. I thought it was pretty good but not something super mind blowing. The flat Peng was located in was very crowded with university students with them all dancing, smoking, and drinking (apparently, they couldn't sell alcohol there so they were giving it out for "free" but according to my roommate, you're expected to give a "donation" based on how much your drink should cost).

Anyways, I feel that I probably shouldn't bore you guys every day with my activities written in diary form. So when things settle down and I'm getting less culture shocked, I'll update weekly or something.