what am I doing?

There have been moments where I think to myself: "Self, what am I doing here?" I had just one of those moments this evening. After going back to the university to register my room for internet (the first trip today was to the international center to register for my new student ID & to look around the campus), I went back to my new room (yea!) (first was to check-in & other formal stuff with the Hausmeister - aka Super) to try out the internet. No go. But then a lady from my flat walked by and asked (in Deutsch) if I had internet because she really needed it - so apparently es war kaputt.

So anyway, while in Möhringen (where I'm living), I decided to see the Kaufland right next to my building: 1)because this will be my grocery store 2) t0 figure out what I am buying to make an empty room a home & about how much I'm going to spend. This Kaufland, you see, is 2-stories and a basement for parking. It's like a grocery store plus kitchen ware, shoes, pet store, liquor store, deli, bakery, and some simple furniture & clothing. Oh my. This is where my "what am I doing here" showed up. As I try to map out the store, it felt like I was having to discover another new city ... and all in German. Then it hit me: "How am I going to cook anything? The directions are in German and my conversational German courses didn't cover these technical terms. How do you even share a kitchen with 5 other people?" And those thoughts continued for a bit. But then ... aha! "I'm here for 2 years. I'm so going to be a pro at this." So that's where I'm at right now. That and how much money I'm about to spend up front to start this life.

Well, tomorrow, I head back to the university to (hopefully) pick up a temp student ID and then to take my German Language Placement Exam. From what I can tell, it's about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours and (please God) multiple choice. The results of this exam will determine what level of Intensive language course I will be in. I'm not really worried though. It's actually kind of exciting to see how much I know and how much I can recall when I want to recall it.

So I'm here. Officially living in Germany. Officially becoming a graduate student. Und alles ist gut. (All is good).