zeGermans

Motherfuckers.
It's really the only word I can use to describe theBastards at my Uni, who have gone and royally fucked me in the VISA department.

The Story:

I was under the assumption that as an American citizen I could be here in the EU for at least three months before needing to obtain proper documentation. This is a fact that I checked not only with the German consulate in theStates, but also with my University and other students from the other side of thePond.

"All is well," everyone told me, "wait out your three months then either go to Switzerland or get a VISA."

So today, I got there early. I sat in the sweaty, sticky, and yellowing waiting room with a crowd of other Ausländer like myself and waited like a good girl until I met with a large pasty German woman who was probably much younger then she looked. She checks all my papers, leafing through my documented existence looking bored and a bit disgruntled. Then she tells me my papers are old. I am not allowed to study during my three months of 'visiting.' (I am however able to obtain an apartment, register that apartment, and then simply exist within Berlin proper.)

So I attempted to clarify what was explained to me prior to my appointment in this office. All I get from this woman is, "Du darfst nicht heir studieren oder arbeiten!" (You may not study or work here!)

After a lot of shrugging, shuffling of papers, asking around from one office to the next and then sending me back to time out in the waiting room - I got my damn VISA. So now, I'm in the clear until September but it isn't really necessary seeing as I leave Berlin in early August. Maybe this is a good thing for right now. I love it here, but the bureaucracy is a new kind of hideous.