Getting the student ID is kind of weird… I’m guessing it’s different at each school but here’s my experience anyway.
I woke up, made some mad delicious eggs, and left the apartment. Transport was simple- straight up to the last stop on the 13 line. When I got to campus though all I could do was spin in circles. Mind you, this is only the 2nd time I’d set foot on campus (3rd if you count me walking in the front entrance and straight back out again with a friend fuming about the prematurely closed office). I finally found the international office and was pleased to see that there were only two other girls in there who seemed to be finishing up their paperwork. I waited. For a while.
Finally the girls left the office and the secretary turned her attention towards me. She reminded me a bit of Dolores Umbridge… not nearly as pink or evil, but there was still a familiar aire about her. Let’s call her Dolores from now on. Dolores was visibly displeased to find out that I was there for my student ID and I soon found out why. She grabbed a few things and made sure that I had payment- there was a little hesitation about my Bank of America card but she figured out that it wasn’t the same as American Express (not accepted by anyone anywhere) and off we went.
I followed Dolores all around the school. It’s all a blur now- I’m not sure where we went or how far we walked. There were stairs and outside courtyards and different colored buildings and crowded waiting rooms. We cut the line in front of a ticket window and they took my card to pay for my social security. It was 211€ which is $285 which is a lot. There are so many expenses here that I didn’t budget for before coming… I’ll do a separate blog post all about it soon. At this point they showed me a screen to verify the details of Calosce Paetow. I had a mini heart-attack but they fixed the spelling right away. Can you imagine paying that much and having huge complications later on because some bro behind the window put your name in wrong? Scary.
Next I was shooed towards a clump of people near a computer desk lady. I couldn’t tell who was waiting to do things and who was waiting for results… there were people sitting and standing and looking slightly zombieish… after a few minutes though Dolores came back and handed the computer lady what I guess was my file. Instead of having me sit down for a picture they just aimed the camera down at my photobooth picture (stapled to the form). So my photo ID pic is a pic of a pic. Fancy, huh?
That was kind of the end of the grand tour… Dolores brought me back to her office and gave me some pamphlets and papers. She told me what to do with each thingy and I didn’t really catch much of it. I think I was supposed to set up a student email account which I still haven’t done. I’ll add it to today’s to-do list! The rest of the day was nice… I had a great sandwich in the cafeteria and then took the train home. The street market was on so I bought myself a few cheap pairs of shoes- I desperately needed the sneakers (click to see old vs new) but the flats were just too pretty to pass by (mad cheap, too). I also bought some notebooks and a planner and groceries. By the time I got back to the apartment I was feeling so productive and wonderful I allowed myself to sit down and watch a buttload of Breaking Bad. It was a good day.
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