I´ve arrived!

So, here I am, wow-weeeee. It seems right to talk about my first impressions, but in a way, it doesn´t feel like the ´real` experience as actually started - I´m not yet in student accommodation but in a hotel until Monday, when I pick up my keys and meet my supervisor. Monday is D-Day (though I definitely shouldn´t mention the war). But, apart from that...first impressions are excellent! Yesterday my friend Carmen, who was a Regensburg ERASMUS student in one of my third year lab groups, picked me up from Munich airport and drove me and my fat, fat luggage to my hotel here in Regensburg; I don´t know how I would´ve managed without her, the only other option would´ve been the train, and everyone knows trains are fatfatluggage-ist. And the pavements in Regensburg are glazed with ice - the local news programme is calling it ´Blitzeis!!` and interviewing a spectrum of moustached residents about their slippery escapades; I was unsuitably amused - so distances carrying much more than oneself are a thought. But we got to the hotel ok, and then Carmen offered to show me around the outside of the university, it was closed because of a public holiday (Carmen told me that Bavaria observes a lot of religious holidays, so much so that there´s just about one day off every fortnight...sound´s like Riley´s life!). No getting around it, Üniversität Regensburg isn´t that pretty. Imagine a campus made up of different shapes and sizes of buildings very similar to the MacRobert building at King´s College. I think Aberdeen might have spoiled me for most other universities. But I know where the Chemistry department is now, and very importantly the Mensa (food hall). They also put stickers of big black birds on windows, to stop real birds flying into them...I like what I´ve seen so far of German logic. They even have parking spaces specifically for women in multi storey car parks, which are wider than normal and closer to exits...kiddin´ye not. That might be a double-edged sword, if that´s the right expression... Also, the current Pope was once a professor of theology here, and when he revisited Regensburg lately in his present capacity, the buildings he was to visit were nicely painted. Hehe.

I spent today generally wandering around - gingerly so, with my fellow pavement-trampers. Regensburg´s old town is lovely, lovely, lovely - Carmen said she hadn´t really realised that all the buildings were painted with pastel colours until I commented on it! Everything is so well-preserved, and it´s weird so see such evidently old buildings drafted into modern day consumerism, business etc. And they like their bread, and coffee, they sure do. I could´ve taken photos of everything - apart from anything else though, I thought I ought to have free hands when braving the ice, and I didn´t want to draw further attention to myself. You know, I felt very Scottish today; I don´t think I´ve the skin to blend in with the Bavarians. Or, maybe, the German. Oh dear. I doubt my knuckles would recover from the rapping they deserve from the German teachers I´ve had in life, after today. I mixed the perfect and imperfect tenses at least once, ouch.

Here is a picture to break up the blurb:

It´s the Steinerne Brücke (stone bridge) which was completed in 1146, and allowed for major trade routes to pass over the Danube for the first time - it´s in good shape!

Tomorrow shall hopefully hold more informed sightseeing. And Sunday is promising: I´ve been in touch with the ESG in Regensburg, which is a protestant Christian union, and discovered that every second Sunday they have English language services, led by a female Church of Scotland minister, and one of these services is happening this Sunday! Apparently, everything is shut here on Sundays and it´s very peaceful - looking forward to it!

P.S. Please excuse the apostrophes, I hadn´t really noticed before but English keyboards don´t add much of a slant to them, but German keyboards offer you ´or `, acute or grave accents. It´s interesting. Also, y swaps places with z. I´ve typed a lot of zou´s lately.