Red Tape

So much red tape, it makes me sad. Seriously though, I've had to get about 10 signatures for 5 different forms in order to get 3 accounts, or something silly like that. It's mostly sorted now, I think, and it's actually quite cool - I'll have both a normal student card as well as a clinical student card!

I'm finding it very warm and humid, although everyone is saying that this is surprisingly cool for Heidelberg at this time of the year. They say that it was me, the Brit, who brought all the rain here. Probably.

Today was my first proper day in the lab: 9am-6pm, so not too bad at all. So far I've been working with Xenopus oocytes and have managed to do voltage clamp, RNA injections, changing the bath solution as well as make my own set of tips (possibly the most frustrating thing to do, ever, although apparently patch clamp is even worse!) Very much enjoying the lab so far - everyone is so kind and friendly and willing to help, even though I'm the idiot Brit who couldn't even bother to learn their language! Also, the Xenopus oocytes are so cute! Injections are like dinner time in Oliver Twist, because you can see them grow a little bit as you feed them, and they all wait in line. Moving them around is pretty much like playing hockey with them! (But on a slightly smaller scale with a slightly smaller hockey stick...) I think I may be a bit too much of a nerd.

So last time, I wrote about how cool my apartment was. I sort of take that back now. The lift broke. When you're up on 11th floor, that's really not so cool at all. It's a pretty long way to go:

Thanks to HTC Wildfire Camera

 However, what is cool is that on the first day I arrived, even though I had neither paid nor signed anything, I already had this on my letterbox! 

Thanks to HTC Wildfire Camera

That's German efficiency for you!!