Living in Saarbrücken

As you know from my previous post, I'd be living in Saarbrücken, Germany, for a full year ahead. Here I'm gonna sum up the story since my departure to the busy first weeks with pictures ;)

The Departure - October 1st, 2017

The 22 hours flight from Medan - Kuala Lumpur - Dubai  - Frankfurt wasn't that bad since it wasn't my first solo travel to Europe so I already knew how it would be like. I was actually trying to bring as few goods as possible but my luggage still weighted 30 kg.

Love of my life. May Allah always grants them health and happiness.

Long wait for my connection flight at KLIA, Malaysia

Long flight be like: eat, sleep, watch a move, on repeat

Frankfurt Airport: one of the busiest airports in Europe

Frankfurt airport train station. Cool train station.

I had approximately 3 hours from my landing time until my train came. I had carefully estimated the time when I booked the train ticket because I didn't want to rush while carrying a 30 kg luggage and a 10 kg backpack, like what I did on my arrival in Italy. (read: The Departure and The Journey)

Just unlucky me, my train was expected to be late for 10 minutes. The problem is I had to change train at Mannheim station and moving to next platform with big luggage is not easy. If the train came late, I was afraid that I couldn't catch my train to Saarbrücken. I was waiting anxiously when it was announced that my train to Mannheim was expected to be late for 20 minutes then. There was no way I could manage to catch my connection train. So, I had to talk to the information service and they eventually gave me a paper showing alternative routes that I could take to get to Saarbrückenn. I'm not saying that Deutsche Bahn (DB) service is not really good, but it was my arrival and my first experience taking intercity train with DB. And I don't think I got a good first impression.

Anyway, moving to different platform at Mannheim station was rather a struggle for me because the platform that I was headed didn't have elevator/escalator (or I didn't see any). So, I had to lift up my luggage step by step. But I think I was stronger than 2 years ago when I changed train at Verona station. Or I just had more energy because I had a piece of pizza and a croissant while waiting for my late train in Frankfurt. xD

The New Home

I live very near to the city center, only separated by the river. It's a great location! I can also run or have a walk along the river side if I'm too stressed out by uni stuff xD

My room at Cusanushaus, a private student dorm. Such a tiny room (12 m2)
but I've got used to it by now and it's not that bad

View from my window. It faces the afternoon sun. Some say it's super hot during summer (we'll see).
But the opposite rooms facing the road are apparently too noisy. I prefer a peaceful room.

Strolling around the city

The city of Saarbrücken is not big. Around 80% part of the city was destroyed during WW2. Therefore, most of the buildings look rather modern, unlike typical European building that tourists may expect.

Saar River. Saarbrücken name itself is composed of Saar and Brücken (=bridges in Deutsch).
However, I heard that's not the reason why it's named Saarbrücken. 

As a reminder that I arrived in fall season. I love fall.

At the park by the river

Rathaus - the city hall

Some corner of the city

The old bridge (Alte Brücke), connecting Alt-Saarbrücken and St.Johann

Interesting 3D art

Gate of a church

Saarbrücken Schloss - The Castle. 

View of the city from the castle's side yard.

Officialization

Basically, this was what I did during my first 2 weeks in Germany.
I got help from the Uni and my senior, so I didn't find any big problem.

A package that I received after registering myself at Bürgeramt.
There were some useful coupons, such as free bus ticket for a week, or free zoo ticket.

Socializing

One of the advantages of studying in Germany is that there are many Indonesian students living here. There are currently 5 Indonesians living in my building. And I unintentionally had met some Indonesians in my first week. I won't be afraid of forgetting how to speak Indonesian :v

I also had met my university friends and seniors. They are cool and super friendly. Our class size is rather small, consisting only less than 20 students. Therefore we might know each other well and I expect we'll do many stuffs together, such as studying or hanging out.

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Can't wait to see how I'll spend my time here ^^. The city is not very big and Trento does have more beautiful scenery, in my opinion. But people are nice here. I expect doing interesting activities with my cool friends :D