Jan 18 - Settled in!

Okay...so I decided to do a blog after all :)

Let's start with the trip here...this consisted of
1. A 9 hour flight - I slept pretty much the whole way after I told the little Indian man behind me who kept ordering whiskeys to stop shoving my chair (he did)
2. A very stressful 50 minute connection in Heathrow, in which I had to change terminals, go through security, and have my carry-on suitcase completely unpacked and checked/swabbed due to my little bottles of maple syrup (it was cool though because they gave me a bright orange pass thing that got me through all the lines)
3. A 1 hour flight to Dusseldorf - was neat because the skies were completely clear and the plane flew quite low, so I could see everywhere we flew over. To be honest, from what I saw, England, the Netherlands and North Germany are very flat and boring haha, at least from above
4. A German "sky train" ride from the airport to the train station. I felt like I was in the future! The technology here is crazy! It was a train thing that hung from a rail like some sort of amusement park ride.
5. A 1 hour train journey to Dueren(unfortunately it was too dark to see anything out the windows)
6. A ride from a lady I am working with at the research group (Anca) to my apartment, to find my landlady waiting right outside for me with my keys! I am happy to say that I made it all the way here with all my bags, and without paying any extra baggage or overweight fees! (WITH weight to spare!! woohoo!)

My landlady is super nice and speaks very good English, and my little studio apartment is perfect. It is actually equipped with everything I could possibly need (besides a real oven), and more! I have my own washer and dryer, iron, kettle, stove, toaster oven, microwave, cleaning supplies, cloths and towels/linen, garbage bags, dishes, etc!! It's actually a nice size too. There's even an extra bed that folds out of the IKEA wall unit (as does my bed)...in case anyone wants to visit! :) I am really happy with it! Even better, 2 blocks away is the bus stop for a bus that goes right to the research centre where I am working (which is about 5 km away). I am hoping to eventually find a used bike so that I don't have to bus, but for now it's convenient.

Anca (my supervisor here) is an angel. So kind and generous. She gave me a big bag of Lindt chocolates (apparently the factory is only 30 min away...I am doomed! :) ) and two wine glasses when I arrived. Right after taking me to my apartment the first night, she took me for a quick grocery shop, which I was very thankful for because boy was that load heavy! Fortunately we arrived 15 min before the grocery store closed. Groceries are SO CHEAP here! I couldn't believe it! A bag of red peppers for just over $1!! A block of guda and ementhal (?) cheese for each about $3!!! Wine for $3! Beer for 50 cents a bottle! (I will let you know later how tasty it is.) Anca also took me grocery shopping again today after work and gave me a ride home (good thing, because another heavy load with very important items such as TOILET PAPER, toothpaste and laundry detergent!) She is very kind and I look forward to working with her.

As for the town of Juelich...it is very small and has a factory right in the middle of it :S that produces sugar, so it doesn't look like it's going to be a super exciting place. Funny enough, although there are only one or two main streets, there was actually bumper to bumper traffic around 5pm the other day! Lots of trucks, perhaps transporting stuff from the factory? However, regardless of how boring the town looks, I am looking forward to some quiet small town life :). I plan to do lots of exploring once I obtain a bike. It's super flat here so biking will be really easy. There are also several fitness centres nearby where I saw people doing some kind of exercise class, so maybe I will sign up for yoga or something. I also hope to do a lot of physio (exercises and walk/runs) and learn some German with an online course I am taking, maybe read a bit... Because my sleep schedule is a bit messed up lately, I have been waking up quite early, so this morning I went for a walk/run in the pitch black at 6:45am! I actually really enjoyed it. Made a loop through the main part of Juelich in 20 minutes, without getting lost (phew!). Maybe I will try to maintain this sleep schedule... Fortunately (at least for the walk/runs) there is no snow and the temp is around 0-5 degrees.

Work so far...
The research centre here, Forschungszentrum Jeulich, is huge. There's all sorts of research going on here besides MRI. Lots of medical and physics-y stuff. Also lots of MRI scanners, which is good for me. It's weird though, I always feel like I am (once again) entering into some kind of futuristic sci-fi world when I go there. Entrance is very controlled and you have to have a badge, or otherwise a visitor pass to get in. I got what turned out to be a one-day pass on the first day, which I kept without knowing and used today. Someone at the gate even comes on the bus to check passes! Fortunately they didn't notice today that mine was expired... unfortunately I had to give it back when Anca gave me a ride home, so I will have to get another day pass tomorrow (still waiting on my own more permanent badge)... The place has a lot of levels of administrative bureaucracy as well. Anca said there are something like 2 admin people per every researcher, which seems crazy to me! I have already had to deal with a few levels with setting up my contract :S. Lots and lots of papers to sign, and yet still it is not complete. Boo.

There's also a fairly cheap cafeteria where EVERYONE eats. They all pile in, go pick out their food, pay with their swipe cards, sit, and then pile out after leaving their trays on conveyor belts. It's like an efficient factory. However, the food looks questionable to me...not sure if this goes for German food in general, or just this food in particular. Lots of sausages and strange bones of meat (pork knuckle or something???), and other greasy dishes. I was told that everyone from the centre went to lunch together there and it was a social thing, so I reluctantly gave up my home-made sandwich and went the first day. A very nice guy named Johannes put my meal on his swipe card. The little shop beside it had sandwiches (which in my opinion weren't amazing either...they put slices of egg on their tuna sandwiches - ew), so I got one of those. But, everyone at lunch was reallly nice and talkative so I am glad I went.

Today I went for lunch with another guy from my office, Daniel, and met his school friends who all live in Juelich - yay! I guess I should explain why I am excited about meeting people who live in Juelich...just about no one at the research centre does!!! It's very frustrating too because I have all sorts of questions, but everyone has been like - sorry, I live in Aachen and bus in, or sorry, I live in Cologne and drive in, or just about any town within an hour from here. But Daniel and his friends live here, and he has been very helpful - and he invited me to go to a bar with them tomorrow night! Yay!

Anyways, I guess I have written enough for now. This is what happens when I have completely free evenings! :)