My first few days at Agnes Scott

Hi y'all,

Sorry guys, I'm kind of late again :-(

My schedule is just so packed with interesting things that I hardly find enough time to come to my room to sleep. Moreover, I encountered some problems to connect to the internet during the first few days. Eventually I found out that it's always a good idea to plug the cable into the right phone jack. And yes, I'm amazingly good at finding excuses ;-)

As we're having some free days over here because of Labor Day Weekend, I finally found enough time now to work on this :-)

Okay, I'll just start off with some basics:

For those of you who might want to send me something (old-fashioned letters, packages with loads of nice things in them,...) - my address:

Agnes Scott College; 141 East College Avenue; Mailbox 423; Decatur, GA, 30030; USA

I don't check my snail mail very often, though...so just be patient if you expect me to reply ;-)

If you still don't have a Skype account and want to talk to me anyway:

My mobile number is +1 (404) 966 74 72. Oh, by the way: You have to pay for incoming calls in the US, so it actually might be cheaper for me using my phone card to call you. And, once again: what the heck keeps you from getting Skype/MSN?? ;-)

Last, but not least: Some people asked me how to add comments to this blog without being a blogger yourself. You just have to click on the "_ Kommentar(e)" button at the bottom of each entry, write the comment into the blank white field on the right, select "Sonstiges" (or whatever the button in the middle is called in your language) as your identity, type in your name so that people know who you are (you don't have to add a website, though!), click on "Veröffentlichen/Post" and that's basically it.

Well, to begin with the "real part": I want to stay here for more than just four months!!! This campus is great, there is so much to do here and I just LOVE all of the people I've met so far!

I'll just try to do this in a chronological order for an easier understanding...

On August 19 (still in Austria, 2 days before my departure!) someone from the Office of Financial Aid sent me an email saying I still had balance due - and that I had to pay $250 as a late fee additionally to that, although I had already paid the ~ €1500 for the ISEP program. As you can imagine, I kind of panicked when I read it the next day and tried to resolve the issue by sending them an email, which resulted in having no time for packing. In the evening of August 20, I finally received an email from the office which said that I should just disregard the other mail, so I started packing my suitcases...at 10pm, with my plane taking off at 8.25am the next day. Having slept for less than an hour, I got up at 5 and packed the rest of my stuff. Then we finally headed to Graz (my mother and my sister brought me there). Coffee to wake up a little, saying goodbye,...

Flight to Vienna, relatively uneventful. 3 hours waiting on the airport. Glad to finally be able to get onto the plane to Atlanta. Takes us 11 hours to get there. Some nice people on the plane, otherwise boring, so I take advantage of the time to catch up on sleep and eat. By the way, I am pretty sure that Delta Air Lines employs some of the oldest flight attendants I have ever seen. My theory is that one of the requirements for being hired by them is to be 50+. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this because you hardly get to see flight attendants this age on other airlines' planes and it was good to see that they don't get fired as soon as they reach a certain age. Apart from that, they were really nice, too.

Once I had arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, I was already looking forward to meeting the girl who was supposed to pick me up and bring me to Agnes. I still remembered there were many procedures you have to go through on US airports, but I did not remember having had to spend this much time at Homeland Security's booth, passport and visa control, baggage control, etc. when I first came to the US years ago. I fear things really have changed a bit after September 11... :-(

Actually, I am not sure if these procedures would keep potential terrorists from entering the country, as the officer at my booth didn't even really check my passport. I was last in line because some people in front of me had needed interpreters for Spanish and Russian and these people took their time to come there. So I was basically left alone with two officers from Homeland Security, both of them in their fifties, when it was my turn. One of these officers complained about the other one always having the beautiful young ladies at his booth (he must have meant me although I did not look like a beautiful young lady at all after a day on the plane) and asked me why I hadn't come to his line. At this point "my" officer claimed it was his looks that had made me come to him. As the two of them were joking around pretty informally, I figured it would be okay to do the same, so I just said it had been difficult to decide between the two handsome gentlemen they were. This might have distracted the guy in my booth from fulfilling his duty a bit, because we just kept chatting for another 5 minutes before he sent me off without having had a close look at my passport. People really are friendly in the South :-)

One thing that definitely contributes to the amount of time you have to spend on the airport is that you have to claim your baggage twice. After having gotten off the plane and having passed Homeland Security, you have to get your suitcases and hand them in again for additional control. As you could have taken some things out of your suitcase, you and your handluggage get screened once more - shoes separately, of course, so you have to take them off. Thinking of the feet of some people I'd met on the plane, I really felt sorry for the officers there and moved on to the second baggage claim - at first walking, until I realized that it was more than one kilometer from where I was at. At this point, I decided to take the train. It still took me 10 minutes to get there. I should have listened to those people saying it was the world's busiest airport...

Then: once more waiting for my suitcases. Me: at the right belt (it had "Vienna" and the name of my flight on the monitor, so I was sure it was the right one!). My suitcases: on the wrong one. As I was the last one to arrive, I was a little scared at first that they might have taken them off the belt (after all, there could still be a bomb in them, even after having been checked three times! Hey, we're in the US...). The girl who was supposed to pick my up hadn't shown up so far either, so I became kind of worried. Fortunately, I glanced to the belt next to mine after 10 minutes and saw two red suitcases going round and round lonesomely. Not knowing what else to do, I went over and checked them. They really were mine, so I lifted them off the belt.

As soon as I was finished, a girl with a sign saying "Agnes Scott College" went up to me. She introduced herself as Kim (I took the picture before some play she participated in during orientation - normally, her hair is brown) and led me to her car while telling me many interesting things about herself and the college. When we stepped out the airport, I realized that I wouldn't need my long-sleeved shirts during the first week: the temperature was about 107 Fahrenheit (a little more than 40° Celsius) and the air is so humid that when I did laundry for the first time, it took my clothes three days to dry - after I had taken it out of the dryer!

Kim told me that we still had to wait for a girl from France, so she showed me around on the airport and we waited for her talking about just anything. By then, I was really looking forward to spending this semester in the US. After about 40 minutes, Sandra, the French girl, finally came up to us. We spent another 20 minutes talking and trying to figure out how to fit 4 huge suitcases into one little car and finally headed for Decatur - and Agnes Scott College.

When we finally arrived there, Kim and another girl showed us our rooms. Sandra and I both were going to live in Winship, which is one of the First Year's (in other schools they would be named Freshmen, but as we're in a Women's college...) residence halls. As she is American, my roommate had not arrived yet, she would come on Sunday with the other First Years. Of course, the pictures below were taken after I had decorated the room - by now, it looks a little different, though: we have curtains, Joanna, my roommate bought some posters as well and I finally got myself a blanket. Although I didn't really like my room at first, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else now that I've gotten used to it :-)

After leaving our stuff in the rooms, we went to Alston Student Center (everything on campus is within a 3 to 5 minute walking distance), where Nanmeng Yu (the International Student Orientation Coordinator who was born in China but lived in Kenya before coming to Agnes as an international student some years ago) gave us our welcome packages. After some small talk to get to know each other we go over to Evans Dining Hall to have some dinner. Very mexican, and although we can't really recognize what it is because it seems to be quite old, it tastes good. Then: going to bed - the first night at Agnes.

After having slept very well, my alarm goes off at 7am. At least that's what I think. Breakfast and Welcome at Alston should start at 8, so I get ready within 40 min and walk over to the student center. The only people I meet on the way are two employees carrying the breakfast trays, so I ask them where I had to go - after all, we hadn't gotten maps yet. They showed me all the way to the meeting room, but it was only when the woman asked me why I wanted to be there one hour early that I realized I hadn't set my clock correctly. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to do it shortly before falling asleep. Although I would have loved to sleep one hour more, I took advantage of the time and went back to my room to read.

When it finally was 7.50 - and this time, it really was 7.50 - I walked over to the room in Alston again, where I first met some of my fellow "internationals". We introduced ourselves, rearranged the tables together and waited for the others while having some breakfast. By the time all of them had arrived I had already given up trying to remember all of their names (for those of you who haven't noticed: I have a really hard time remembering names, and I have no idea how you're supposed to remember names you can't even pronounce...so it's even worse here). There were almost 30 people from all over the world (Austria, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, China, Columbia, France, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad) and each and every one of them seemed to be very nice. I had only met Julia before because she studies in Graz as well and we're with the same program, so it was very interesting to get to know all the others. I really enjoyed hearing so many different languages again. And one of the best things: Inés, one of the two Spanish girls and the Spanish Teaching Assistant (Fulbright Program), is from Alicante, so her native language is Catalán (well, actually it is Valenciano, but so far I don't hear any difference) and she instantly suggested being my Català teacher this semester :-)

Then the first day of Orientation officially started when Dr. Jennifer Lund, the Director of International Education, entered the room. People had told us that nobody has ever seen her having a bad mood, and now that I've known her for two and a half weeks, I really believe them. I guess, she's one of the most open-minded and kindest women I've ever met. During the first hours of the day, we get to know several other people, including Alexa Gaeta (the Assistant Director of Admission who had helped me with some questions via email before), Ms. Rosemary Levy Zumwalt (Dean of the College) and Clementine Hakizimana (a woman from Rwanda, who once came here as an international student and now works in the Office of International Education).

At lunchtime: buffet at Evans. This time fresh food.

Then back to Alston, where our Health Reports are being checked. I think I spent the last few weeks before coming here getting shots. Actually, I'm pretty sure I spent more money on immunization than on food during these weeks. Nevertheless, I still had to go to the Wellness Center (which, of course, is located on campus...if you need a doctor or psychological counseling, you just have to walk for 2 minutes to get there) to get the tuberculosis skin test, which has to be done in the US. So I spent about half an hour waiting there with all the other internationals. I wish they could have told me right away that the tuberculosis vaccination I had received as a child would react to the substance they injected beneath my skin, which would of course cause a positive result ;-)

After the doctor's, Jennifer Lund picked us up at the (main) loop, the street on campus which leads right up to Main (building), and drove us to the next Target store. After all, we would have to buy sheets (they lent us some for the first night), flip-flops for the shower stalls, lamps and detergent. On the way, Tehseen, a girl from Pakistan, comes out to me as bisexual (both of us had suspected the other one to be queer - I just love this Gaydar thing when it works...). Even though Jennifer had had to take some driving lessons for the brandnew Agnes Scott bus, she somehow underestimated the height of the vehicle and pulled down a metal sign indicating the maximum height to get through. After making sure that the expensive bus was okay, she just started laughing and tried to get through the barrier once more ("I ruined the sign anyway and it can't come down twice"). This time, the sign, which was dangling down from the beam on one chain instead of two, scratched along the side of the bus. But I guess luck comes to those who are optimistic, because the bus didn't have a single scratch once again. Nevertheless, Jennifer gave up and dropped us off in order to find someone she could confess her mistake to while we walked over to the store and bought the things we needed, which wasn't as easy as we had thought it would be. How are supposed to know which sheets you need, if everything is named "Twin", "Queen Size" or "King Size" and you don't even know how long your bed is in centimeters, not to mention in inches??

As Kroger's, a supermarket, was just around the corner and it was Signe's (from Sweden) birthday, we went over there to buy a birthday cake and a bottle of wine.

After some time, Jennifer picked us up again. Fortunately, she didn't have to pay anything for the sign. Back on campus, we went to a Pizza Party in Rebekah (building next to Main), where we finally met some of the American students (only the orientation team, athletes and internationals come to campus early). Some welcome speeches, huge amounts of pizza, nice people, too many names (for all of us, not just for me).

Then some of the European internationals and Tehseen from Pakistan walked to Avery, an apartment complex close to campus where Julia and Signe live, to celebrate her birthday. Cake, a mixture between sangría/bowle, getting to know each other better, having fun (picture on the left from left to right: Aurélie - French teaching assistant from France, myself, Inés from Catalunya, Silvia - German teaching assistant from Austria, Elisabeth from Germany and Tehseen from Pakistan; picture below from left to right: Aurélie, Signe from Sweden, Inés, Silvia, Julia from Graz, Tehseen, Elisabeth). This is the first time while being here I really consider myself European and not at all Austrian, because we kind of ended up in three different groups, although everyone likes everyone else and we would really love to get to know the girls from the other continents better. But somehow the Asian girls seem to spend more time with the other Asians, the African girls stick to each other (well, Alyssa from Trinidad is with them a lot too...now that I think of it, it might actually have to do with forming groups according to skin colors, which I find pretty shocking, because we see ourselves very much as international students and cosmopolitans, but this horrible pattern still persists) and the Europeans (and Tehseen) spend time among themselves. There really seem to be more similarities if you come from the same continent. Nevertheless, I want to spend much more time with the other girls, too. Strangely, almost all of us define ourselves as one group of international students when compared to US students, and we found more similarities among us than with US Americans (or at least some parts of the "American" behavior) in the beginning. This reminded me a lot of Social Psychology...It really seems to be easier to see yourself as part of an in-group if there is an out-group you can define yourself against to. And as sad as it is, people obviously strive to see themselves as part of a group even if there are no rational reasons for this behavior.

Next day (Thursday, August 23): Morning Gathering for general concerns with Jennifer Lund at Alston, breakfast at Evans, then introduction to the Library, explanation of the Social Security Number for those who need it (i.e, for those who work here during their stay), presentation of AMIS (Atlanta Ministry with International Students, a program for internationals; organizes an Atlanta tour and offers the possibility to find American friends and to spend Thanksgiving with an American family). Lunchbreak, internet explanations (my connection still didn't work at that time and it would take me another few days to get it started), banking and cell phone explanations, dinner at Evans as soon as we were finally done with all the orientation stuff. After dinner, we met at the loop to go for a coffee. Originally, we planned to go to Starbucks in Downtown Decatur, but it is closed for renovation, so we go to Javamonkey instead, a nice bar/café with live music every night which has become our favorite spot in Decatur by now.