October 3: Guinness Record

Things start badly. This morning Iván told me that, in a letter the university had sent me months ago, they had given me an appointment to enroll. I searched for the cursed letter and it turns out my appointment was today at 14:00. To enroll, all the paperwork has to be completed beforehand—and I don’t even have a place to live yet. I left Iván’s flat at 7:30 (in the morning!) and went to the residence hall (once again guided by the freshly recharged GPS). I looked for the Hausmeister’s office (the building caretaker, who happens to be called Herr Borde). The man doesn’t live up to his name—he’s very friendly—and he explained that I would receive the keys at the Studentenwerk offices (the organization in charge of student accommodation and catering) after signing the contract. So at half past eight I went to the office, only to find out it wouldn’t open until ten. Waiting in the car, a slight tension began to build: I was already behind schedule. With German punctuality, they opened the doors at exactly ten. I signed the contract and received the keys. I went back to the residence and discovered my room—very large and very dirty. No time for anything else. I carried up the most important things from the car and went to register my address. At the registration office (in a shopping center near my house), there was a huge queue. Eleven thirty. At twelve I finished registering, slightly annoyed because they force you to declare your religion. In a country of Germany’s “prestige,” I’m not too keen on them having so much personal data about me (later they explained that they need to know your religion to determine where a percentage of your taxes goes). Then I rushed to the savings bank to open an account. They treated me like royalty. One thirty. I left the car at Alexanderplatz, in the center of Berlin, in a parking zone (not blue here). I paid until three. Since I still had some time, I bought a SIM card for my mobile phone. O2 again. I arrived a bit late at the university’s historic building, but it wasn’t a problem because there was a long queue anyway. At the office for international students, they arrange your health insurance on the spot (just by presenting the European Health Insurance Card). After waiting in line, I completed my enrollment in an instant. And even though I left at three thirty in the afternoon, I had set a record—I did all the paperwork in just five hours! When I got back to the car, they were giving me a parking ticket for overstaying. When the inspector saw me arrive, he started shouting at me, but I ignored him. I wasn’t too worried about the fine—if parking fines from Salamanca don’t make it to Ávila, I doubt the ones from Berlin will.

Before returning to the residence, I stopped at Lidl and bought some things for dinner that aren’t sold in Spain and that I missed from my time in Dresden.

Finally, here’s the odometer—I took a photo this morning while waiting to sign the room contract:

Odometer after

I can officially declare the outbound journey finished. Between Ávila and Berlin I drove: 47,024 − 44,145 = 2,879 kilometers, and used approximately four and a half tanks of petrol—around 225 liters.