One for the road

I'm leaving for Brussels in a couple of hours, so I thought I'd make a post before I go, for posterity more than anything.

I'll be in Brussels until the 23rd, when I'll get on a train (which I haven't booked yet) for Amsterdam, where I'll stay until the 26th. At that point, I'll get on another train which I haven't booked yet (although I thought I had), and get back to Berlin on the 27th, leaving a day and a half before the break ends.

I almost didn't have tickets, though, since Deutsche Bahn never sent them to me in 2-3 days (like they said they would), and apparently people like me can't book/print online tickets. I had assumed that I would get the tickets by today, but they never came, not even after I spent a few hours freaking out over the whole thing (although a package did come for Dorothee...). I also found out today that my tickets from Amsterdam to Berlin were never actually booked, because they didn't have the couchette that I requested, and wanted my confirmation that it was OK to put me in a seat. The email for that arrived Thursday night, but I didn't see it until today (not that it would have mattered, since the tickets wouldn't arrive in time anyways. The customer service guy that I got told me to buy new tickets and send the reciept that I have in for a refund, but Tom talked to the office again, so there's a new plan of action. And it's not 'go to the ticket center at the station and print my tickets out there.' No, for whatever reason, that's not possible.

I'm going to get on the train with my receipt, and hope that the conductor is smart enough to realize that I've paid and doesn't give me too much shit. If not, I pay the ticket price again, and send in the receipt for a refund.

This is some serious bullshit, and I think it's all because I'm a foreigner and don't have the appropriate card or whatever.

On the upside, my Hostel reservations turned out fine, by all appearances.

I'm going to make a final run-through of my pack and get some more money, so I'll wrap this up now. You might see some updates during my trip, though - both hostels have free internet access, I believe.

Guten Nacht.

Addendum: I recently found out that the first day for me to register courses for the Spring Semester is November 8th. That's hardly any time at all.