Ease of connectivity

Just to give you an idea of the weather here in Hamburg, I've decided to share a little:

So today was supposed to be my big day of classes and starting to infiltrate Bucerius. Only one occured, and with much success.

I'll start at the beginning, as it's a very good place to start. I don't think I'm used to this whole: first light at 4 am thing yet. That's right, I'm turning into a morning person. I knew those earlies at Karori were a sign. So I spent most of this morning getting myself amped and ready for German classes. I even read the dictionary and phrase book for some helpful tips. And although as it turns out my classes start tomorrow, I managed to accomplish many things today.

The first was that it only takes me about 45 minutes to walk into town from my place. Not bad really. I also discovered that shops here tend to open at 10 am, and banks at 9:30 am. I'm not sure they're morning people. That's right, I arrived in town at just before 8 am with nothing to do except wander and look at store opening times. I did, however, happen to spy the most interesting watch. I thought of my brother and texted him immediately. It was only 179 EUR.

I also discovered that to purchase a Vodafone sim card, I need to provide proof of residence, residential address, my passport, and a signed photograph of the Queen. Or at least that's what my dictionary told me. So I might hassle Felix into purchasing it for me.

The other interesting fact for the day is that bank tellers in Germany are just as pushy as in New Zealand sometimes. This one guy even wanted a tip of 1.50 EUR for me making a deposit, well I hope that's what it was considering I was putting money into their bank. Ok, so it wasn't a tip, but 1.50 EUR for making a deposit. A withdrawl I understand, but come on!

So I then headed to Bucerius, where I wanted to catch up with Jim and Professor Hilf. And I did. Jim is in good health and seemed glad to meet me (and I was too, first person I managed to have a proper English conversation with since Saturday - and I love the sound of my own voice, so how did I surive?). He's heading away for a holiday come Friday, so we'll be catching up when he gets back.

Professor Hilf was great fun. After sorting out who I was and what I was doing there, we proceeded to talk about what I wanted to do here at Bucerius, which was interrupted by his offer for icecream. Not wanting to be impolite, I ate it. Greedily. He really struck me as a great guy, and I've promised to catch up for lunch next week.

That then leads me to sorting out my laptop, and the reason for the title. I'm currently sitting outside Bucerius law school, on the lawn. All it took was two hours of messing round and trying to figure out how to get my laptop connected wirelessly. The IT guys were stuck. It only took someone to look at the Mac address to realise that there was a typo. But it works now, so I'm not complaining. And I get to sit in the sun while surfing the net.

My plan for the rest of the day is to just relax. My feet are rather blistered from my sandals and the amount of walking I've done over the last three days. So I'm treasuring this reprieve on the lawn. I'm usually a barefoot kind of guy, but I don't think Hamburg is used to my hippy styles, so I'll ease them into it.

No photos today. Well none that can be posted - I've been playing with my camera setting to see if I can't have some more fun. But it's to no avail.