The Students / Die Studenten

After weeks of waiting, the purpose of our time in Salzburg has finally arrived: the students. This semester there are nine students in all. Most will stay for the whole school year, and a few more will come for the second semester. All college juniors, they don't live with us. In fact, they don't live anywhere near us. There are a couple that live in the same area of the city, but most live across the river, far, far away. It is a welcome break from boarding school!

Peter has been immersed in orientation for the last four days. It has included some business (student id cards, opening bank accounts, registering with the city, filing for student insurance) and quite a bit of touring (the castle, Hellbrun palace, the salt mines, a celtic museum, a boat ride) as well as a lot of 'how to survive' type things (buses, grocery shopping, roommate woes). We've hosted two dinners and one breakfast and had a grand showing of The Sound of Music.

Our basement storage room has been filled with student bikes and bedding and hand-me-down kitchen wares since we arrived. We don't know what is down there that might belong to the apartment because it's been so buried in all this junk. Finally the bikes are all gone. No one seemed very interested in any of the other stuff, but maybe in a week or two when they realize they have no pots and pans to cook with or plates and silverware to eat with, they'll come back for the rest.

The university here gets off to a slow start. The official opening day is October 1, but nothing happens on October 1. In fact, the placement test for the students (and me) for German courses isn't until the 8th, and classes don't actually begin until the 9th or the 10th or even the 13th, in some cases. Since there's still time for fun, we will all head to Innsbruck for a three night adventure. More on that in a few days...