Finally: Ines received her german drivers license! After many months of paperwork, studying, driving classes and roughly 700Euros later, I finally received my drivers license one week ago to the day!!!
Technically, my California license was only good for the first six months of being in Germany. After six months of arriving in Germany with a non-European drivers license - your right to operate a vehicle expires! I had signed up with a driving school in July who administers the written as well as the practical exam. It really is a completely different situation as in the US... especially the price! After roughly 6 driving classes, which according to my Tunisian instructor named Mohammed, were necessary to "come down from my driving level"...I was admitted to take the practical exam. Mohammed was so busy that sometimes weeks passed until I could get an appointment and the test last Wednesday seemed to loom over me like a dark cloud. There were so many horror stories I had heard about the german driving exam! A middle-aged woman right ahead of me on testing day actually failed the test and the instructor was not pleased at all! Lucky for me, the guy from the testing agency was mild mannered and I didn't even have to do any parking maneuvers. Admittedly, driving in Munich with its many narrow, one-way streets can be a harrowing experience as pedestrians and bicyclist are darting across the street like squirrels. I was glad to have guided the vessel (with a diesel engine) through the maze of pedestrians, bikes and parked cars without incident.
I was told that I would receive my new license right away, yet I was only handed a paper with the assurance of receiving it the next day. The office I was supposed to pick it up at was only open from 7AM-Noon, so I decided to be there as early as possible to avoid lines.
It happened to be a chilly morning with snow still piled up on the roadside. Ignorantly, I rode my bike to the department of public safety to pick up the long-awaited card. It was not all that far, yet facing the misty, foggy morning with temps slightly above freezing, the trip seemed never ending! Half-frozen, I arrived and was told that there was a mistake on my license and that it would take another 2 weeks for them to produce a new one! OH NO!! It could not be true! Being seriously dissapointed at this point, I was sent to another clerk in order to have this mistake corrected.
The lady, bless her heart, overruled the previous clerk and assured me that the license was fine as is!
Basically, the issue of dispute was the fact that it was nowhere mentioned on the license that I indeed was not a beginner, yet had been operating a car for 15 years! This could pose a problem for me as a newly issued license would include 2 years of probation for the driver, if a beginner. She assured me I would not have to go through probation. I hope she is right...
After all the back and forth and my frustration building, I was finally handed over the precious card and was also returned my original California license, which had been in their posession for months! Yipee!!! It was like seeing an old friend after a long time of absence....
So that's the story...and I am finally allowed to drive with a clear conscience and most importantly-legally!
