First Week of Classes

Ok, it’s time to update my blog again. Let’s see if I can recount the last couple of days.

Monday, April 7th

Beginning of the Semester, the classes start….well for some, I found out Monday morning that my classes really only started on Tuesday. So I took the opportunity to go register with the Foreign Office as I am staying longer than 90 days and open a bank account. I spent half a day and accomplished absolutely nothing. At the Foreign Office the agents working there are just like your typical State Employee who feels empowered to make your life miserable; this turns out is true in any country of the world, even the hassle-free process oriented Germany. So the lady basically indicated that I needed a German bank statement showing that I have €2,500; apparently my Wells Fargo Bank statement, which by the way shows that I have way more than €2,500 was not sufficient. But at least she was kind enough to list down all the various photocopies I need to provide along with the bank statement, and of course not to forget the €50 fee. Well, I am definitely considering plan B: Leave the Schengen States Area for 2 days and get a new stamp in my passport in order to avoid the Red Tape. We’ll see which one I’ll do, but €50 is a good couple of nights out with friends around here, and since my business background tells me that might be too much of an opportunity cost, maybe it’s worth risking more trouble with the authorities for a few nights out with friends….just kidding.

At the bank, Sparkasse, I was informed that my account would be free till June 6th, but then it would cost me a few Euros/month as I will be 29 years old. Discrimination, anyone? Well, just the mere principle I declined their offer and decided to look elsewhere.

The one thing that I was able to accomplish on this day was to sign up for German Lessons, which begin next week. I found out that my first test of the semester would be a German Lessons Placement Test, to be taken on Tuesday.

Monday Night: Nick and I decided to go out walking around town. We ended up in a Cuban bar where I was laughed at while trying to speak German to the bartender, who by the way was obviously neither German nor Cuban……my guess would be he was Turkish. Never going there again…the place was empty and you don’t laugh at your customers buddy….I took it with a grain of salt, I wasn’t even mad, I was just thinking that Germans probably made fun of him when he first set foot here and now he’s looking for his payback.
We left the Cuban bar and headed to Grünfeld Pub. They were showing FC Köln game and we were the only non-Germans at the bar. We watched the 1st Half of the game, as much as we could see as the cigarette smoke was so thick……..we couldn’t handle it any longer after 45 min and headed home.

Tuesday, April 8th:

First Day of classes for me. Throughout my college career at Gustavus Adolphus College I believe I managed not to have an 8 o’clock class. This semester I have two; hopefully being used to getting up early for work will translate into being able to wake up twice a week at 7am to go to class. Wish me luck.
So the first class was Channel Management. And no it’s not about how you flip channels on TV, but about how companies decide to go to market, either by one channel or multiple. The professor is a nice German guy who finished his PhD in the US. He then taught at INSEAD for 8 years, one of the world’s top MBA schools. His opening lecture included a 15 minute bit about how German students in the classroom need to take more classes in English (as this one) because it’s no longer a “nice-to-have” job requirement in a Globalizing environment, but a “must-have”. It is interesting how the US professors say the opposite: “You need more than English nowadays”, and stress the importance of knowing another foreign language.

This class was a two 1.5hrs blocks with a ½ hour break in between. So I was done by 11:30 am. After class I headed home and did some grocery shopping. Paying with a credit card at the grocery store is not an option; only cash or a special type of debit card. Nothing too strange I guess, but when I think of Germany I think of it as one of the top developed Nations in the world, and maybe mistakenly assume that I won’t find too many differences from being in the US. Even though these subtle differences drive me a bit crazy, I am glad that the experience is apparently going to be deeper than I thought it would be.

My German Placement Test was in the afternoon. The administration of this test was really interesting. First off, we needed to go through a check-point before entering the room in order to prove our identity. Second, we had to leave coats, bags, and pretty much everything besides a pen either at the front or the back of the huge auditorium. A little too much overkill if you ask me, it’s not like I am going to be performing heart surgery by scoring well on a German Lessons placement test….or let’s hope that I don’t.
The test was ok. The first part was pretty simple. They read a text about Einstein, twice, and then handed us a sheet of paper with 10 questions to answer. No biggie.
The second part was awful. There were 5 different texts with omitted words, parts of words, etc on it. You had to fill in the blanks. I think I would have struggled with that kind of test even if it were given in English or Italian. Oh well, I just hope they don’t put me at the bottom of the barrel for classes as in the words of my work colleague Colbert “It is going to be suck”.

In the afternoon I went out for a nice run. After discovering the park chain the other day, today I discovered there are hill trails too. Unfortunately I decided I was fit enough to run up and down a few; I thought I was going to choke or cough up one of my lungs by the end of it….but I guess it was well worth it in the end.

In the evening, I went out to dinner with a couple of German friends….well, imported Germans. Alex is from Russia originally but has lived here for 17 years. Dieu is Vietnamese, but has lived here as long. Stefania is Italian born in Deutschland. We went to a Mexican Restaurant. The food was alright; it’s no Pancho Villa on Nicollet Avenue, but I think we’re really spoiled with good Mexican food in the States.

Wednesday, April 9th:

The day started with another 8am class. It was Retail Marketing. Fairly interesting subject, although most things are very intuitive, there are obviously different levels of understanding marketing in general. The professor mentioned how a German coffee chain is now in shambles as they never believed that Starbucks, an American company, could penetrate the German market and threaten its position, because Americans to start out with don’t have good coffee. Obviously, as the professor stated, this company was very wrong and very stupid not to act upon a great opportunity to spread across Europe before Starbucks came into picture.

The second class of the day was IFRS Financial Statements Analysis. This is a good class for me to take because all accounting I have had so far has focused on US GAAP regulations, but IFRS has become a Global Standard for financial reporting and therefore understanding the differences between it and the GAAP will help me out in the future as I believe even the US will have to adopt IFRS as most US Companies are operating abroad.

The last class of the day was Strategic Marketing in Retailing. As you can see, a lot of my work here is focusing on Retailing. The reason for this is twofold: one, I have not taken any such courses at Carslon; two learning about big conglomerates in the Retailing Industry from a European perspective will help me understand ways US companies need to act once they choose a new international market. So far there has been a lot of discussion about Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany.

Thursday, April 10th

No class today or tomorrow. I will eventually have classes on Thursdays but they are optional sessions. I did this on purpose so that I can have long weekends for traveling.
I took the opportunity today to go to Deutsche Bank and open an account. I was helped by an English speaking personal banker. The funny thing is, the process here is so long that it will take at least another week before I can even deposit any money on my new account. That’s very different than the US. Another difference: the funds on your account are covered up to 90% of €20,000 in case the bank becomes insolvent. FDIC in the US insures up to $100,000. In other words, do not put your life savings in a German bank, even though the risks that Deutsche Bank will become insolvent are slim. However, I read in the papers that this was the case with another smaller German bank in recent days.

I think I am going to go for a nice run today as it’s nice and sunny out….first real sunshine since I’ve come here, which is really nice. I was actually hot for once while walking outside and had to take my jacket off.

Well, I think that’s it for now, otherwise this will become War and Peace Part Deux.

Stasha