Accommodation
You can check this list to see where your appartment is. The Gescherweg is a street in Gievenbeck, a suburb west of Münster, and the university is half-way between the train station and the Gescherweg (check google maps). If you arrive in Münster by train you can take a bus: My colleagues tell me that the bus lines 11 and 12 leave from the bus terminal right in front of the train station (the train station has two sides, you have to leave in direction to the city centre ("Innenstadt")) and bring you to Gievenbeck. Upon arrival in Münster you can go directly to your appartment (try to contact Pierre Clare before you come here who is very likely to have your key and lives in the same building; be sure to have his telephone number). If you arrive on a week-day you can also try to go to the math department and meet the people of our work group in the fourth floor of the main building (check google maps). If worse comes to worse then you can call me on my private phone (I must say, however, that I don't have any key to any dormitory in Münster). My phone number is +49 (=Germany) 251 (=Münster) 1492 (Columbus) 911 (...).Some practical information
Accommodation:
The Studentenwerk in Münster, an organisation which provides accommodation for students and is also running several student restaurants, tells us that all rooms which they found for you are ready-furnished. The rooms have a fridge, a sink and two cooking plates, so in principle, you should be able to cook for yourself if you wish to do so. You have to bring your own towels, the Studentenwerk has bedcloths for you, but you should ask Pierre about how to obtain them.
Food:
There are several restaurants quite close to the math department and in the city centre. The most common place to have lunch is the Mensa (Latin for "table") run by the Studentenwerk. It is a canteen with changing menu, a salad bar, a pasta bar and a cafeteria. You can have a look at their weekly menu (click on "Essen & Trinken", then click on "Speisepläne"; if you click on the Union Jack then the menu will vanish...). If you want to translate this page into English (or any other language) then you can use google's translation service (which, by the way, provides less bizarre translations then the babelfish in this case). The food in the Mensa is quite cheap, you will get a lunch for around 3 Euro. First you have to obtain a "Mensacard" which allows you to pay in all Mensas. We try to arrange with the Studentenwerk that you get a Mensacard for students (who are entitled to some reduction as opposed to the employees of the university), but it is not sure whether this is going to work. Note that the Mensa is just a place for having lunch (or a late breakfast). The building is open on weekdays between 9am and 5pm, lunch is served between 11:30 and 2:15. Other restaurants will of course provide food also in the evenings and on week-ends.
Internet:
There are internet facilities in the dormitories, but you have to get a contract with some private company to use them (expensive and complicated): There is a semi-private company (also run by the Studentenwerk) called "Teleport" which is specialised in providing internet for students. The rates are 22 Euro per month for the cheapest DSL-6000 plan (note that in this case ordinary phone calls are quite expensive, but you can always use the internet to make phone calls...). You can contact Teleport via internet or go to their office in the dormitory at Steinfurter Straße 81, open daily from 12:00 to 13:00 (note that people in Germany (often) use 13:00 instead of 1pm).
On the other hand, you will have an office in our new annexe which features WiFi and LAN.
Shopping and holidays:
Shops are closed on sundays and on public holidays. There are some exceptions, e.g. bakeries, petrol stations and shops at train stations. Actually, there are several holidays in May and June: May 1st (May Day), May 21st ("Himmelfahrt" = Ascension Day), June 1st ("Pfingsten" = Pentecost) and June 11th ("Fronleichnam" = Corpus Christi). Also the Mensa will be closed on public holidays (and over the week-ends).
Tourist information:
You can click here for some information on Münster. You are going to obtain a little city map upon arrival...Travel information (how to get to Münster):
By plane:
If you arrive at Münster airport (FMO): The airport is located a bit north of Münster and is actually called "Flughafen Münster-Osnabrück" (it is a joint venture with the city of Osnabrück). In principle, you can take a taxi to get from the airport to Münster, but as this is rather expensive (ask for prices, but I'd guess that it is at least 40 Euro) you should consider taking the regulary bus to Münster train station (see below). Münster airport is rather small (just one terminal building) so it is really hard to get lost there...If you arrive at Düsseldorf airport (DUS): There are trains from Düsseldorf Flughafen to Münster as you can check on www.bahn.de . Be sure to enter "DUS" or "Dusseldorf airport", not just "Dusseldorf", because this would mean Düsseldorf city ("Hauptbahnhof") which is not the same station. To get from the train station at Düsseldorf airport to Münster you usually have to first take a regional train and then to change trains in Duisburg, Hamm, Essen or Dortmund; to get to Münster will take between 1,5 and 2 hours. To first get from the airport itself to "Düsseldorf airport train station" ("Bahnhof Düsseldorf Flughafen") you have to take the "SkyTrain", a sort of (shaky) monorail (or a bus if the monorail is not working). It is not expensive, but if you manage to buy a train ticket beforehand then the ticket for the SkyTrain is sometimes included. As the ticket system for trains in Germany is a science of its own I can't really tell you more right now...
By the way, if you have taken a Ryanair flight to Düsseldorf then it is very likely that you don't end up in Düsseldorf but a former military airport called "Airport Weeze" which is in the middle of nowhere. If anybody of you has booked a flight to Weeze please get in contact with us as soon as possible so we can work out a plan how you can get from there to Münster (e.g. you can take a bus to Essen and then a train to Münster).
If you arrive at Frankfurt airport (FRA): It is hard to miss, but be sure to walk to the train station "Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbf." as opposed to the regional train station "Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Regionalbf." Note that there is yet another train station called Frankfurt, namely Frankfurt city. This is not the train station at the airport as you might have guessed. There are direct trains from Frankfurt airport to Münster, but you can also consider taking a fast train to Cologne (or Dortmund) and change trains there. Check www.bahn.de . If you read this on the airport and it doesn't make sense to you then you might have taken a low cost flight to what is called "Frankfurt-Hahn airport". This is not Frankfurt airport and is not even close to Frankfurt. Have fun.
