Coming to Stuttgart
Getting In
If you are coming from outside of Europe it is likely that you will be landing in Frankfurt (there is a train that takes you from the airport to the central station (Hauptbahnhof)). If you come from within Europe there is a low cost Airport in Baden Baden (that has ryanair: [1]). AVOID at all costs the trains in Germany, they are very expensive, instead try this bus company that goes between the main cities (usually stops at the main station, in Frankfurt it does): [2]. (you can buy the ticket online). To go from Baden Baden airport to Stuttgart, you need to pass through Karlsruhe, Meinfernbus will take you from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart, but to get to Karlsruhe you are advised to check [3] (here you will find the prices, hours, and all the information to make the cheapest trip from the airport to Karlsruhe). If you are dum and decided to catch the train with Deutsche Bahn, follow at least this advice and buy the ticket in advance since it is quite cheaper [4]. There is also the hypothesis that you are rich and you had the money to go directly to Stuttgart Airport, if that's the case, great for you, you rich asshole.
Ok, let's imagine now, that you have safely arrived in Stuttgart. There are 4 possible points you may be: Stuttgart Airport (if you are rich, or if you came by one of the lines of meinfernbus), Stuttgart Main Station (if you came by train), Stuttgart Zuffenhausen (if you come by meinfernbus that is the most likely stop), or Stuttgart Obertürkheim (other meinfernbus stop). From here you must know that there are several kinds of urban transportation in Stuttgart, but for now you only need to care about one: the S-bahn (which is the urban train system, NOT trams: those are the U-bahn). From all these locations you have S-bahn, and so does your destination the S-bahn station: Universität (this is the campus of engineering and science, which is located in the outskirts of stuttgart, politically under Vahingen, a moon of Stuttgart). The S-bahn map is quite clear and all stations are equipped with machines that can be set into english, so I won't get into detail here.
Probably your primary objective is to get into the residence Straußäcker III before the housemeister leaves (he will not stay there afterhours, ever!!! Stuttgart people are known as the LEAST nice people in Germany and it will be good for you to remember that). There are two exits from the S-bahn station Universität: one goes to the zentrum of the campus and the other goes to one of the main roads.
If you chose the one that goes to the main road, you can arrive to the residence by following the road in the direction you leave the S-bahn station (the station is underground), follow in that direction until you have passed two bus stops. The second bus stop is called Schrane. Once you have arrived at Schrane, turn right and follow through that path until you find a grey communist residence with a plate that says Welcome to Hell, joking, people are nice there, it actually says, Straußäcker III. In the opposite corner of the residence is the housemeister office, he does not speak english.
If you chose the one that goes to the zentrum, pray to god! (Although it is much more beautiful and useful path) You get out at this circle, where the main reference I can give you is the library, go in the library direction!!! After passing the entrance of the library, go in the BW bank direction! After passing through the BW bank, go through the kind of tunel on your front, pass a people's and bike's bridge. After passing this bridge turn left, and pass a metal (kind of scary, but safe) bridge, you should see by now a big building with the letters IZ in it across the bridge, that is the international center. Passing the IZ center and a pizzaria, you should see the grey buildings, turn right, through a passage that should have some trash containers and you shall arrive to the housemeister's office.
Check the link for information regarding the residence Straußäcker III [5]. And just for the record the residence is right in front of Straußäcker II.
Registration
God help you!! (and I'm an atheist) Prepare to know the Legendary German Bureaucratic System. If you are European, you will suffer, if you are non-EU you will die. There are some advice I can give you that will significantly improve your life:
1) Get a buddy from the IZ center to help you, for that you will need to give to the IZ center the date of your arrival in advance;
2) Even if you didn't get a buddy, go to the IZ center that is near the residence and they will give you there a package with the instructions of what you need to do and a lot of things;
3) For the first month you will need to move a lot, so the moment you get to stuttgart, despite the fact that it is expensive, get a monthly pass to move around in the transport system, just for the first month, it will compensate, believe me;
4) To go to Vahingen Rathaus catch the 82 in Schrane;
5) The closest post office is in Rohr, to go there catch the S-bahn, and when you go down the steps to get out of Rohr station, turn right, then go until the main road and turn left, walk a little bit up, when you see a supermarket, in the other side of the road there is a small papershop that is the post-office.
