The Tide of Paperwork

Alright, here we go again. It has now been one complete week at the Technical University of Braunscheig Germany, not that I would really know because most the week was spend running around and doing paper work. Unfortunately, this blog, and probably the next are going to be very boring but filled with good information for anyone planning a semester at Braunschweig. Not that this blog is overflowing with titillating content, space battles, suspense, or daring escapes anyway, but this will still be very dry. Unfortunately  I don't know if anything more could have been done with respect to several of these problems, but being informed is always beneficial.

One important thing for any incoming Braunschweig students to understand is that, just because you have received your letter of acceptance does not mean you are enrolled. There are several other steps that you must first take before you are enrolled as a student. The first thing that you need is to sign your living contract. If you are living in student housing this is a very simple process that is completed at the International-studies Office (IO). This is not directly needed to be enrolled but it is necessary for your health insurance. You must have a local address for your health insurance ans you must have you health insurance before being enrolled. By careening down that chain of logic, you therefor need your housing contract. After that, assuming I am remembering everything, all you need is to pay the student fee for the semester.

 The trick here is that they will not accept this money in cash, it must be a bank transfer, and you must therefor have an International bank account of one form or another. It is not so difficult to set up a bank account once you are here in Braunschweig but (as always) there are some pitfalls to be wary of. Fortunately  student accounts at the Deutsche Bank in Braunschweig are free to open and free to maintain, they do however have a minimum duration of 6 Months. I found this out the first day when I went in saying that I would be returning to America at the end of July. Do not lie, but this is a case where, by recommendation of the bank employees, it is better just not to mention it. After the transfer you are enrolled, you will receive a temporary student ID, and they will mail you the next step. I will let you know when I get there. Point of interest, there are several things that are included with the semester fee. There are a very wide number of activities that are completely covered by your fees and with your student ID (or temporary ID as the case may be) you can ride on any of the public transportation within Braunschweig for free. This makes it very worth while to get this taken care of as soon as you possibly can.

During the first week, you should expect to spend a lot of money. There is the student fee (roughly 200 euros) and the rent for April (roughly 300 euros), both of which must be payed for electronically  There is also the housing deposit that is equal to one month of rent but must be payed in cash on campus. Also, be aware that the office to pay at is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-11:00 am. Never forget that you need to eat and there will inevitably be expenses to make you housing more comfortable. Blankets, bed sheets, dishes, rat poison, office supplies, and whatever else you need. The housing is actually very nice. Seriously, there is no need for rat poison, it was just a joke. Next time (hopefully tomorrow), I will be talking about the difference between the setup of classes in Germany and the USA as well as some of the extra activities.