First few days in Marburg

I finally have some time to write about the first few days here. I arrived in Marburg February 25th, 2013. The flight was good, but long, and navigating around the airport was pretty easy. From the Frankfurt airport I   took a train into Marburg with another student in the IUSP program. It was interesting getting our luggage around the train stations; it was almost funny. People were very helpful though, which was really nice. Once we got to the Marburg train station we met up with other students in the program and took a bus to where we were supposed to register. The town is a little different from what I expected, but it is so beautiful. There is a gorgeous church right next to where we have some of our classes. I really want to go inside of it one of these days. The first day was just paperwork and getting our dorm assignments and we took a small tour of the places we need to be familiar with throughout our time here. On the tour our guide showed us the tower that was the inspiration for Rapunzel, and there is another castle on a hill we can see. We also saw the Oberstadt which is just a higher level of the city where there are a bunch of restaurants, bars, and little shops where most of the students go out at night. The view from up there is so pretty. After the tour I got settled into my room and unpacked. I have my own room with plenty of storage and my own sink, and then there is a shared wash room and a separate shower. The building I live in is Wehrda. It is about a half hour bus ride from where our classes are. The first night I was really tired so I didn't go out.

The second day in Marburg we took our Language Placement Test for our language class. I only did the oral exam which made me realize how little German I know. I am obviously in the beginner course, but there are other people here who don't know German either. I know I will learn. We then took a tour of the Mensa, or the cafeteria, where we then had lunch. We had a break before our next thing to do, so a few of us went to get some coffee at a place called Paprica in the Oberstadt. The service here is so different from in California. The waitress didn't pay much attention to us and just let us stay there for a while until we asked to pay. After coffee we did some more paperwork, toured the city again, and then took our Visa pictures. After that we got some pizza and went to Kik (kind of a dollar store with random stuff) to get things that we needed. That night we had our welcome dinner with all of the students and administrators, and introduced ourselves to everyone. After that we went to a small bar called Sudhaus. We got some drinks and relaxed until we went to another bar close by called Hinkelstein. The smell when you walk in smells so strong of cigarette smoke. I'll have to get used to that. People call it the dungeon because it is underground and small. We met up with most of the other IUSP students. It was nice to get to know everyone and have some drinks. The service there is so different because they write down what you get on a coaster and then you bring it to the bartender at the end, which makes it so easy for people to just not pay. I tried my first Absinthe there. 

On February 27th we did some more paperwork to take care of our Visa. After that we got food in the Mensa and then went shopping for stuff we needed again. We went back to our dorms after that and I cleaned up my room a little bit. That night we went back to Sudhaus to watch a soccer game between two German teams. A whole bunch of us went which was really fun. I got my first real German meal, Bratwurst and Pomme Frites, and I was given a Beer and Coca-Cola which I would have never thought to order, but it was actually good. They also have banana juice here which sounds really weird but it is good! We stayed there for a while and then went to another bar and got a couple of drinks. Someone ordered us all a Rusty Nail which is the most disgusting drink ever. It has Tabasco in it, which made it really hard to drink. We all hated it. We went home early because we had to wake up really early for the next morning. 

Today we woke up early to go to turn in our paperwork to get our Visas. Everyone was exhausted, so we all ate and then went back to the dorms to nap. So not much has happened today. I have just been having a relaxed day so far. Tonight we went to dinner at the Mensa and then back to the dorms. We ended up going to Wehrda 15 to have dinner and then we all left to go to ESG which is a bar underneath a church that has 1 euro beer nights. After that we went to Trauma to dance. It had interesting music and two people were interpretive dancing when we got there. By the end of the night I had drank too much and felt sick. Classes start tomorrow, which I am looking forward to. 

Random notes:

-The weather here is really cold and there is snow on the ground. (Glad I brought my Northface jacket!)

-Learned the hard way to never again buy a phone at the airport. It is a rip-off.

-I don't have wifi in my room, so my phone apps don't work unless I am in the Mensa or another school building, but I have internet in my room.

-The food is pretty good. I haven't eaten a lot since I have been here though.

-Pandora and other websites don't work here, which sucks. 

-Everyone here is so nice and we all get along really well. There are people here from all over the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and China.

-Learned that you can walk around drinking beer around the city and not get in trouble, and they have beer sold in the Mensa. 

-I have a lot of work to do with my German language skills. 

-I am still getting used to the time difference too. I am 9 hours ahead of California.
-The smoke in the bars is making my clothes smell really bad. 

That was a really long entry, but I wanted to give you all an update, even if it's just random stuff I did!

Miss you all. Pictures to come!