Hello everyone!
I have officially arrived in Marburg and moved into
my new dorm. This is where I will live until June! My dorm is actually quite
nice, much bigger than I was expecting. I have my own room that is huge and I
have nothing to put in. I actually have a roommate who is from Germany and has
lived there for a while, but in the past week I have seen her 1 time. She spoke
little English, but was very nice and apparently goes home a lot because her
family lives less than an hour away. I kind of like having my "own"
apartment. We have a small kitchen and bathroom. I plan on eating here and
working on my cooking skills. I've already made noodles, pancakes, and fried
potatoes without setting anything on fire. Success!
There are only 3 other people from the program that
live in my dorm complex. The 50 of us in the program are scattered in 6
different dorms all over Marburg. This is kind of frustrating when I want to
visit friends in the other dorm because it is a 50 minute bus ride from my
dorm!
Our bus ride into the city is about 20 minutes
which is not bad compared to others. It is kind of nice to have that time to
listen to music and relax and not worry about driving! I am getting used to
using the bus and getting to know the schedule. I have ran more than once to be
on time. If this won't teach me to be on time I don't know what will.
On Thursday we started our first language class
which we have from 9-12:30 everyday for the next 6 weeks. I am in the 1.2 class
which is one step up from beginner so most people in my class know the basics
and are working on expanding grammar and vocab. I really like my teacher. She
is only 27 and is a French, History and Education major in hopes of teaching in
the gymnasium. Very cool!
On Saturday I went to Frankfurt with a couple of
the girls from my program. We took the train from Marburg and got to Frankfurt
in about an hour and a half. Apparently there are 3 types of trains: the IC
which is super fast, a medium train, and a slow train. We took the medium train
there and the slow one on the way back. You can TOTALLY tell the difference. It
took us over 2 hours to get home because this train stops at several small
towns along the way. Note to self- try to avoid this train if possible.
I would describe Frankfurt as a tourist city with
LOTS of shopping and markets. It was cool to see but I don't think I will need
to go back unless I want to do some major shopping or go to a soccer game
(which I hope to do!). We walked through a huge indoor food market and that I
swear sold anything you could think of food wise. It was so cool. All types of
fruits, nuts, and cheeses I had never heard of! And my favorite, free
samples:)
We are now in our second week of being in Marburg.
I am settling into a routine and starting to feel like I am really
"living" on my own. The weather has been nice, around 40 and 50
degrees (NO snow)
I'm sorry to all of you Wisconsin people for the
crappy weather!