Oktoberfest: Muenchen 2011
Again, this is one of those events where I sit down to write and I think, "Where do I begin?" It is extremely difficult to encapsulate everything that has happened.
First off, Niki and I decided to head down together and stay with her host family that lives in a little town just outside of Munich to cut back on expenses. Our first train from Marburg to Frankfurt got cancelled so we hopped on another one headed in that direction. From there we got on the ICE to go straight to Munich. It was so crowded that we were not able to find any seats in the whole train. So, we ended up having to sit on the rock hard ground by the doors. One of the set backs, besides the lack of butt-cushioning, was that we had to get up every time the train stopped at a different station so others could get on. This meant that we were repeatedly snapped awake by awfully loud alarms indicating that the doors were opening. During this four hour train ride, I was able to make it through Beethoven's 6th Symphony, Schumann's Carnival, and the Sunset Boulevard soundtrack. The rest of the time I was sleeping with my eyes wide open watching the train move from 100 km/h, 200 km/h, 300 km/h.
When we reached the Munich Hauptbahnhof we were greeted by a FLOOD of Lederhosen. The station was completely packed with people dressed to the Bavarian nines. We headed straight to the S-bahn. It smelt like stale Oktoberfest (which, for obvious reasons, does not smell too lovely). We finally made it to Niki's host family's place and when I hit the pillow, I was lost to the world.
OKTOBERFEST
Our day started at 6.00 a.m. We got up, grabbed our things and started the 20 minute walk to the Bahnhof where we caught the next train and made the 20 minute ride to Hackerbruecke. The ride to Hackerbruecke just SCREAMED anticipation. At each stop, the doors would open and a wave of shouts, songs, and lederhosen would flood into the train. The doors would close... silence. Next stop, more waves of shouts, songs, and lederhosen. When we arrived at Hackerbruecke, we had no clue how to get to the biggest festival in Germany. Luckily, everyone else on the train and at the station was headed to the same spot. So, when in doubt... follow the Lederhosen. I felt like I was in a Bavarian Pride parade. Everywhere I looked I saw Lederhosen and Dirndls. And then... behold... WILLKOMMEN ZUM OKTOBERFEST. The festival grounds were nearly void of life except for those of us who arrived early to secure a spot in the tent. The ground was soggy from the intense power-hose cleaning session it had received a few hours before. The only traces of the previous night were found when we were waiting in line for the Augustiner tent. There, we beheld crates... and crates... and crates... and CRATES full of beer empty beer glasses piled next to a conveyer-belt looking washing machine.
(For those of you who do not know, there are multiple "tents" at Oktoberfest that can hold thousands of people.)
Luckily we arrived early enough to be towards the front of the line with thousands of people behind us. The line itself is something I have a difficult time explaining. So much anticipation and excitement... to drink beer. Just to drink beer. In front of me was a herd of Lederhosen and behind me was a group of Italians. By 9.20 in the morning they were letting little spurts of people go in at a time so the line would shuffle a foot or two every now and then. Whenever the line moved I couldn't help but laugh. I got smooshed up against the Lederhosen with the Italians pressed against my back. If I had lifted up my feet, I would have stayed in the same position. We finally got in and the tent was absolutely GIGANTIC. The Augustiner tent holds about 6,000 people. That's a lot of people, and that's a lot of beer. And this isn't even the biggest tent. I was told by some Germans that Augustiner is the best beer in Germany. They were not kidding. It was incredible. By 11 a.m., Niki and I were fully flung into the Oktoberfest spirit. The people, the cheering, the beer, the music... I just can't describe any of it. Just that I've never seen so many happy people in one place at one time. Later in the day and into the night, I'd notice that I have never seen so many "about-to-pass-out" drunk people in one place at one time.
After we left the tent, we went back to the homestead and took a nap. Then we went to downtown Munich for dinner. We ate at a little outdoor restaurant by the Glockenspiel where an outdoor concert was playing. Mozart and Rossini. Life was very good at that moment. After that we went to Hugendubel. It is a GIANT bookstore with 6 or so floors. There, I found a much needed English-German dictionary and... *drum roll* LORD OF THE RINGS IN GERMAN! AAAAAAH SO HAPPY!!! We walked around for a bit longer and then returned to Oktoberfest. This time it was dark out, so the fairgrounds were completely illuminated and Oktoberfest was at its height. The ground was now full of trash, broken steins, broken bottles, food, and so on. There were a ton of overpriced rides so I made my selections carefully. There were about 4 "horror ride-throughs" which were all HILARIOUS. Not going to lie, I screamed like a child. Definitely worth it. We then proceeded to stumble back to the S-bahn. As we were walking, I had the funny thought that in a few hours they would power-hose the festival grounds again and it would be like I had never been there. The next day, some other person would probably have the same thoughts and experience the same emotions I did that day.
The next morning we barely made it to the S-Bahn, and then it was so crowded that it was running slower than usual. This means that we made it to our train out of Munich with 1 minute to spare. It was intense. Again... we could not find a seat, and so we were yet again banished to the floor. This time with the aches and pains from the day before. I read The Lord of the Rings all the way to Frankfurt. We had a good 50 minutes there so we were able to get some food and relax for a couple minutes. When we got on the train from Frankfurt to Marburg, WE FINALLY GOT SEATS! Our butts were so grateful. We got back to Marburg at around 3.50 in the afternoon. The next bus headed to the Studentendorf didn't arrive for 30 minutes, so we sat at Fiona's and had a cup of tea. It was fun and relaxing to just kick back in a familiar place.
Oktoberfest is another one of those landmark events that i've continued to have while being in Germany. I don't know how i'll be able to go back to the States and function after all of this.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Great Berlin Post
As Led Zeppelin would say in Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp, "My my, Lordy lord." That is all I can think of as I try to start this post. I suppose I should start at the beginning, and when I get to the end... stop.
Friday: We took a tour bus instead of invading the Marburg Hauptbahnhof. It was slower, but we got to see a lot of the countryside surrounding Marburg and Berlin. It's so funny how quickly the landscape changes. Marburg is surrounded by hills and tall dark forests, but as you slowly move north eastward, the landscape changes from a fairytale facade to a pop-up book. Soft and shallow hills with small clusters of trees here and there with castles on every hill top completely surround you. I barely looked away from the window the whole 5 hour bus ride. Being a landscape-junky, it's hard to NOT look out at the incredible German countryside. As we neared Berlin, I could see the landscape gradually becoming flat with clouds of industry popping up all over the place.
The ride into Berlin was strange. And when I say strange, I mean it looked NOTHING like I thought it would. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, but going from somewhere like Marburg to Berlin... you may be able to understand why I didn't feel like I was in Germany any more. I suppose it was because everything is so entirely new. I also realized that this was the first time I was visiting a city that was so profoundly impacted by WWII as well as the Soviets.
Our hostel was situated right in the centre of the city on Johannisstrasse between Friedrichstrasse and Universitaetstrasse. The first night was open for us to do whatever we'd like. Erin has a friend who was born and raised in Berlin named Nina. With her, Erin, Nicole, Spencer, Niki, Emily, and myself all headed out to hunt for food and beer. We ate at this place called, Asia Gourmet at one of the stations because it was cheap and actually not that bad. Then we went to a place called, The Pub where Nina used to work. It was a do-it-yourself kind of place. It was here that I discovered I am AWFUL at pouring beer. Absolutely... awful. I can't seem to grasp the 45 degree thing. Goddamn you, Geometry. Anyway, went there and then road the train back to the hostel where we had a few beers. There I met a group of Irish guys, an Australian, two French guys, and a group of pot-smoking Austrians. Twas a great introduction to Berlin and to hostels.
Saturday: Bright and early in the morning we left for the "Classical Tour" of Berlin in 3 hours. During that drive we saw Potsdamer Platz, the Regierungsviertel, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, Kurfuerstendamm, Checkpoint Charlie, Galarie Lafayette, the Gendarmenmarkt, the Berlin Wall, and about 500 other awesome places. The next couple days we would get to explore these places more in depth on foot.
Lunch break consisted of us spending 45 minutes trying to find a bathroom. Then we remembered that Nina told us the night before to just use hotel bathrooms. Duh. So we chose the first hotel we saw and went in. You know a hotel is mighty expensive when its staircases are named after classical composers. After we waddled up the Rossini staircase to go to the Leonardo restroom, we found the Puccini toilets and pranced down the Beethoven staircase to exit through the Tchaikovsky doors.
Then we found a Vietnamese Restaurant that was cheap and seemed to fit us a bit better (i.e. no named doors or anything). As we sat and ate, the restaurant started playing Hawaiian music.
Erin: Dudes, why are they playing Hawaiian music?
Me: I don't know, maybe because we're at a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin.
After that we took a two and a half hour walk through of "Jewish Berlin." We walked down the Spandauer Vorstadt and got to see the famous Hackesche Hoefe. It was incredible to see some of the buildings that were still standing that had bullet holes from WWII covering them. What I thought was quite sad was that outside every Jewish building, the Polizei stood there. Apparently they HAD to because of neo-nazi idiots. There were tons and tons and tons of memorials.
My initial impression of Berlin as a city: it is a city of memorials.
Emily brought up an interesting point that all of these memorials had something to do with absence. And she was right, all of the memorials we ran into had something to do with absence.
Later that night (after a long nap), Erin, Spencer, Niki, Nicole, Katie, and I left to go to an old school Bavarian restaurant. We realized that most of the food we had in Berlin was... Asian. We decided that was blasphemous and searched for German food. Went to a place called Maximillions. Jesus. Christ. The restaurant is set up like a Bavarian Oktoberfest tent with long tables and blue and white decorations littering the entire building, with a live band and all. Turns out they were celebrating the beginning of Oktoberfest. We sat our asses down and ate all the Bratwurst and Sauerkraut that we could. The whole time watching a crowd of people in their 40's and 50's mosh in front of the band. Needless to say, we were the only ones there under the age of 35, but we definitely had a great time. I never thought that when I learned the German song, Ein Prosit, that i'd ever use it. I sang it a good 15 times with the crowd that night. We left that night completely satisfied. I don't know if i've ever felt that kind of satisfaction from an evening before.
Sunday: Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. So. Much. RAIN. We began the day at a soggy Checkpoint Charlie, we then made our way to Brandenburg Gate, Bernauer Strasse, Eastside Gallery, and the Potsdamer Platz. Our awesome tour guide, Wolfgang, lived in East Berlin during the Soviet occupation. He told us a story of when he found out the Berlin wall had been knocked open. That night in November he had a soccer practice and he and his teammates had just finished and got in a car to drive home when the radio turned on and said, "The Wall is open." He said it was nothing but disbelief until they got there. Personally, I can't imagine what kind of emotions would be flooding through a person's body when they see that giant hole in that 155km wall.
At lunchbreak Erin, Spencer, Galen, Nicole, Niki, and I went back to Friedrichstrasse to find Currywurst. It. Is. Amazing. I don't care if it is just meat with curry powder and ketchup. Good LAWDY. After that we headed to the Berlin Hohenschönhausen. It is the site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (aka Stasi). It's been a memorial since 1994 and, from 2000 on, has been an independent foundation under public law. Given that it has only been 20 years since this prison was in use, everything is definitely intact. It was almost like it had been (just cleaner). I thought it remarkable that I was standing somewhere that I had read thoroughly about months before. It was surreal to say the least and reminded me a lot of my visit to Dachau.
Later that evening we wanted to go all out seeing as how it was our last night in Berlin. We met up with Nina and took the S-Bahn to Southern Berlin where we went to a cheap Sushi place and then to bar. I had an enormous pina colada that must have been made by the Gods or something. Then we saw this flyer that said we could win a Jack Daniels t-shirt if we drank 2 of these lemonade-type drinks. We had to do it in 30 minutes seeing as how that's when the bar was closing. And we did. Oh... we did.
We hopped back on the S-Bahn and decided to change into our shirts while on the train. That was an experience. Falling over each other and hitting each side of the train and spinning off who knows what way. We got back to the hostel and decided to have a couple more beers. I ended up talking to this guy from France who asked me where in the US I was from and I told him Salt Lake City, Utah. He had a confused look and I told him the 2002 Olympics were there (that usually seems to be the best way for Europeans to know where I'm from). He didn't get it and asked me, "What major city is it near?" Uuuuuh.... I had never been asked that question before. Then I just decided to tell him that it was about 5-7 hours north of Las Vegas. "Ooooh, Vegas! I know, okay this is good!"
Then it was crash time.
Monday: The drive back was full of endless exhaustion. There was absolutely NO way of sleeping on that bus. It just wasn't made for that. So, I reverted back to the landscape. I sat there for hours watching little medieval kingdoms get closer and then pass away. Over and over and over again. Then the trees grew taller and the underbrush became more gnarled and dense: Aaah... we're close to Marburg. In fact we were just 24km's from Marburg at that time. It definitely has a distinct look to it. I found myself elated to be sleeping in my own bed again.
There are so many things from Berlin I wish I could express, but it's really impossible and this was my best shot.
Tschuess from Marburg!
Friday: We took a tour bus instead of invading the Marburg Hauptbahnhof. It was slower, but we got to see a lot of the countryside surrounding Marburg and Berlin. It's so funny how quickly the landscape changes. Marburg is surrounded by hills and tall dark forests, but as you slowly move north eastward, the landscape changes from a fairytale facade to a pop-up book. Soft and shallow hills with small clusters of trees here and there with castles on every hill top completely surround you. I barely looked away from the window the whole 5 hour bus ride. Being a landscape-junky, it's hard to NOT look out at the incredible German countryside. As we neared Berlin, I could see the landscape gradually becoming flat with clouds of industry popping up all over the place.
The ride into Berlin was strange. And when I say strange, I mean it looked NOTHING like I thought it would. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, but going from somewhere like Marburg to Berlin... you may be able to understand why I didn't feel like I was in Germany any more. I suppose it was because everything is so entirely new. I also realized that this was the first time I was visiting a city that was so profoundly impacted by WWII as well as the Soviets.
Our hostel was situated right in the centre of the city on Johannisstrasse between Friedrichstrasse and Universitaetstrasse. The first night was open for us to do whatever we'd like. Erin has a friend who was born and raised in Berlin named Nina. With her, Erin, Nicole, Spencer, Niki, Emily, and myself all headed out to hunt for food and beer. We ate at this place called, Asia Gourmet at one of the stations because it was cheap and actually not that bad. Then we went to a place called, The Pub where Nina used to work. It was a do-it-yourself kind of place. It was here that I discovered I am AWFUL at pouring beer. Absolutely... awful. I can't seem to grasp the 45 degree thing. Goddamn you, Geometry. Anyway, went there and then road the train back to the hostel where we had a few beers. There I met a group of Irish guys, an Australian, two French guys, and a group of pot-smoking Austrians. Twas a great introduction to Berlin and to hostels.
Saturday: Bright and early in the morning we left for the "Classical Tour" of Berlin in 3 hours. During that drive we saw Potsdamer Platz, the Regierungsviertel, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, Kurfuerstendamm, Checkpoint Charlie, Galarie Lafayette, the Gendarmenmarkt, the Berlin Wall, and about 500 other awesome places. The next couple days we would get to explore these places more in depth on foot.
Lunch break consisted of us spending 45 minutes trying to find a bathroom. Then we remembered that Nina told us the night before to just use hotel bathrooms. Duh. So we chose the first hotel we saw and went in. You know a hotel is mighty expensive when its staircases are named after classical composers. After we waddled up the Rossini staircase to go to the Leonardo restroom, we found the Puccini toilets and pranced down the Beethoven staircase to exit through the Tchaikovsky doors.
Then we found a Vietnamese Restaurant that was cheap and seemed to fit us a bit better (i.e. no named doors or anything). As we sat and ate, the restaurant started playing Hawaiian music.
Erin: Dudes, why are they playing Hawaiian music?
Me: I don't know, maybe because we're at a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin.
After that we took a two and a half hour walk through of "Jewish Berlin." We walked down the Spandauer Vorstadt and got to see the famous Hackesche Hoefe. It was incredible to see some of the buildings that were still standing that had bullet holes from WWII covering them. What I thought was quite sad was that outside every Jewish building, the Polizei stood there. Apparently they HAD to because of neo-nazi idiots. There were tons and tons and tons of memorials.
My initial impression of Berlin as a city: it is a city of memorials.
Emily brought up an interesting point that all of these memorials had something to do with absence. And she was right, all of the memorials we ran into had something to do with absence.
Later that night (after a long nap), Erin, Spencer, Niki, Nicole, Katie, and I left to go to an old school Bavarian restaurant. We realized that most of the food we had in Berlin was... Asian. We decided that was blasphemous and searched for German food. Went to a place called Maximillions. Jesus. Christ. The restaurant is set up like a Bavarian Oktoberfest tent with long tables and blue and white decorations littering the entire building, with a live band and all. Turns out they were celebrating the beginning of Oktoberfest. We sat our asses down and ate all the Bratwurst and Sauerkraut that we could. The whole time watching a crowd of people in their 40's and 50's mosh in front of the band. Needless to say, we were the only ones there under the age of 35, but we definitely had a great time. I never thought that when I learned the German song, Ein Prosit, that i'd ever use it. I sang it a good 15 times with the crowd that night. We left that night completely satisfied. I don't know if i've ever felt that kind of satisfaction from an evening before.
Sunday: Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. So. Much. RAIN. We began the day at a soggy Checkpoint Charlie, we then made our way to Brandenburg Gate, Bernauer Strasse, Eastside Gallery, and the Potsdamer Platz. Our awesome tour guide, Wolfgang, lived in East Berlin during the Soviet occupation. He told us a story of when he found out the Berlin wall had been knocked open. That night in November he had a soccer practice and he and his teammates had just finished and got in a car to drive home when the radio turned on and said, "The Wall is open." He said it was nothing but disbelief until they got there. Personally, I can't imagine what kind of emotions would be flooding through a person's body when they see that giant hole in that 155km wall.
At lunchbreak Erin, Spencer, Galen, Nicole, Niki, and I went back to Friedrichstrasse to find Currywurst. It. Is. Amazing. I don't care if it is just meat with curry powder and ketchup. Good LAWDY. After that we headed to the Berlin Hohenschönhausen. It is the site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (aka Stasi). It's been a memorial since 1994 and, from 2000 on, has been an independent foundation under public law. Given that it has only been 20 years since this prison was in use, everything is definitely intact. It was almost like it had been (just cleaner). I thought it remarkable that I was standing somewhere that I had read thoroughly about months before. It was surreal to say the least and reminded me a lot of my visit to Dachau.
Later that evening we wanted to go all out seeing as how it was our last night in Berlin. We met up with Nina and took the S-Bahn to Southern Berlin where we went to a cheap Sushi place and then to bar. I had an enormous pina colada that must have been made by the Gods or something. Then we saw this flyer that said we could win a Jack Daniels t-shirt if we drank 2 of these lemonade-type drinks. We had to do it in 30 minutes seeing as how that's when the bar was closing. And we did. Oh... we did.
We hopped back on the S-Bahn and decided to change into our shirts while on the train. That was an experience. Falling over each other and hitting each side of the train and spinning off who knows what way. We got back to the hostel and decided to have a couple more beers. I ended up talking to this guy from France who asked me where in the US I was from and I told him Salt Lake City, Utah. He had a confused look and I told him the 2002 Olympics were there (that usually seems to be the best way for Europeans to know where I'm from). He didn't get it and asked me, "What major city is it near?" Uuuuuh.... I had never been asked that question before. Then I just decided to tell him that it was about 5-7 hours north of Las Vegas. "Ooooh, Vegas! I know, okay this is good!"
Then it was crash time.
Monday: The drive back was full of endless exhaustion. There was absolutely NO way of sleeping on that bus. It just wasn't made for that. So, I reverted back to the landscape. I sat there for hours watching little medieval kingdoms get closer and then pass away. Over and over and over again. Then the trees grew taller and the underbrush became more gnarled and dense: Aaah... we're close to Marburg. In fact we were just 24km's from Marburg at that time. It definitely has a distinct look to it. I found myself elated to be sleeping in my own bed again.
There are so many things from Berlin I wish I could express, but it's really impossible and this was my best shot.
Tschuess from Marburg!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Visa-venture
Today we had classes as usual, but then a group of us had to proceed to the Stadtbüro to finish applying for a Visa. Talk about German dependence on mountains of paperwork...
We are all waiting in a room that seems to be the standard for state buildings (harsh lighting, cheap nasty seats, awkward echos, occasional slamming doors, and stomping of heels). We all sat in chairs facing "The Door." The door that, if opened, you could not see what was behind it until you were in there. We had to go one at a time and as each person came back out they would joke around about being interrogated by a giant squad of Polizei. My turn is up. Deep breaths. Just hold your passport and application. Whoops dropped it. Aight, we cool.
I open The Door and this intimidating looking Frau flags me down to her cubicle. We'll call her Frau Visa for the sake of anonymity. Brown hair, brown eyes, sharp face. Doesn't match her cubicle AT ALL. It's covered in plants. Lots and lots and lots of plants with little stuffed creatures like squirrels and bunnies. I sit down.
"Deutsch oder English?"
I told her it didn't matter.
"Okay, we try English. Pass?"
Hand her my passport. She snatches it and checks that the application fits the passport info.
"Now I collect information."
A few moments of paperwork later...
"Okay, now finger."
Me: Wie bitte?
"Um... how is it called... um... finger... mark?"
Me: Finger print?
"Ja, feengar preent! I am sorry, I use only my school English."
It was at this point I explained to her that she may switch to German because I can understand it just fine. Then her Brumhilda-German side began to melt and all of a sudden she fit her atmosphere. Yes, she became fluffy stuffed squirrels and bunnies.
A few finger prints, a pamphlet all about my elektronische Visa, and a short conversation about German vs. English later... I was out the door and on my way to the next Stadtbüro office where I had to register with the city of Marburg. Lady spoke NO English, which was fine. Lots of "bedeutet's"on my end, but it wasn't too bad at all. The rest of the day was spent doing homework at the Mensa and then going shopping for groceries. Tonight i'm going to get together with some people and watch, "Jesus Camp." Should be a grand old time.
Berlin on Friday!
Tschuess from Marburg!
We are all waiting in a room that seems to be the standard for state buildings (harsh lighting, cheap nasty seats, awkward echos, occasional slamming doors, and stomping of heels). We all sat in chairs facing "The Door." The door that, if opened, you could not see what was behind it until you were in there. We had to go one at a time and as each person came back out they would joke around about being interrogated by a giant squad of Polizei. My turn is up. Deep breaths. Just hold your passport and application. Whoops dropped it. Aight, we cool.
I open The Door and this intimidating looking Frau flags me down to her cubicle. We'll call her Frau Visa for the sake of anonymity. Brown hair, brown eyes, sharp face. Doesn't match her cubicle AT ALL. It's covered in plants. Lots and lots and lots of plants with little stuffed creatures like squirrels and bunnies. I sit down.
"Deutsch oder English?"
I told her it didn't matter.
"Okay, we try English. Pass?"
Hand her my passport. She snatches it and checks that the application fits the passport info.
"Now I collect information."
A few moments of paperwork later...
"Okay, now finger."
Me: Wie bitte?
"Um... how is it called... um... finger... mark?"
Me: Finger print?
"Ja, feengar preent! I am sorry, I use only my school English."
It was at this point I explained to her that she may switch to German because I can understand it just fine. Then her Brumhilda-German side began to melt and all of a sudden she fit her atmosphere. Yes, she became fluffy stuffed squirrels and bunnies.
A few finger prints, a pamphlet all about my elektronische Visa, and a short conversation about German vs. English later... I was out the door and on my way to the next Stadtbüro office where I had to register with the city of Marburg. Lady spoke NO English, which was fine. Lots of "bedeutet's"on my end, but it wasn't too bad at all. The rest of the day was spent doing homework at the Mensa and then going shopping for groceries. Tonight i'm going to get together with some people and watch, "Jesus Camp." Should be a grand old time.
Berlin on Friday!
Tschuess from Marburg!
Friday, September 9, 2011
First Full Week
First full week of being in Marburg is complete!
It went by very very very slowly. In a way, I hope it continues to do so. I find that the city is getting smaller and smaller, but there is still a lot that I have not seen. Classes are pretty fun. There are about 8 of us in the class now, and we've just been covering the basics. Our teacher doesn't seem to speak a lot of English seeing as how she has Google Translator on her laptop and it took Spencer and I forever to try and ask why Germans use sponges instead of erasers to erase words on the chalkboard. We never got an answer. Ah well, one of those mysteries that will perhaps manifest itself in the next year.
It takes going to Germany for me to realize how little German I know, and yet how much I DO know. I'm definitely missing a few key vocabulary words, but those are easily fixed. I can now moderately find my way around town. It's really nice being in Marburg where there are tens of thousands of international students. It's nice because the locals seem to be more patient with my German and they speak slowly enough. It gets frustrating because I can understand about 99.9% of what people are saying, but I am incapable of responding in the way that I would like. I'm sure that will come with time and work as well.
The weekend is definitely welcome. I am excited to sleep in and then be able to walk around the city without having anywhere to be. I'll probably grab my camera and get some shots of places I go a lot for reference (i.e. Mensa, Elizabethskircheschule, Rudolphsplatz). Right now I am at the Mensa so that I can use the internet.
Regarding the internet: Wi Fi does not exist at the Studentendorf. I have to have an Ethernet cable. Finally got a hold of an Internet Tutor, who registered the wrong IP address and then told me that my Ethernet cable is broken. I just bought another one and then hopefully I will have internet in my room. One big problem: only 15 gBytes a month. This means: Hardly any Skype. Facebook chat is a big stretch. This is why Germans are so goddamn smart. They don't spend hours in front of the computer socializing.
Tonight looks like a bunch of us are going out on the town. I'll update if anything worth writing about happens.
Tschuess from Marburg!
It went by very very very slowly. In a way, I hope it continues to do so. I find that the city is getting smaller and smaller, but there is still a lot that I have not seen. Classes are pretty fun. There are about 8 of us in the class now, and we've just been covering the basics. Our teacher doesn't seem to speak a lot of English seeing as how she has Google Translator on her laptop and it took Spencer and I forever to try and ask why Germans use sponges instead of erasers to erase words on the chalkboard. We never got an answer. Ah well, one of those mysteries that will perhaps manifest itself in the next year.
It takes going to Germany for me to realize how little German I know, and yet how much I DO know. I'm definitely missing a few key vocabulary words, but those are easily fixed. I can now moderately find my way around town. It's really nice being in Marburg where there are tens of thousands of international students. It's nice because the locals seem to be more patient with my German and they speak slowly enough. It gets frustrating because I can understand about 99.9% of what people are saying, but I am incapable of responding in the way that I would like. I'm sure that will come with time and work as well.
The weekend is definitely welcome. I am excited to sleep in and then be able to walk around the city without having anywhere to be. I'll probably grab my camera and get some shots of places I go a lot for reference (i.e. Mensa, Elizabethskircheschule, Rudolphsplatz). Right now I am at the Mensa so that I can use the internet.
Regarding the internet: Wi Fi does not exist at the Studentendorf. I have to have an Ethernet cable. Finally got a hold of an Internet Tutor, who registered the wrong IP address and then told me that my Ethernet cable is broken. I just bought another one and then hopefully I will have internet in my room. One big problem: only 15 gBytes a month. This means: Hardly any Skype. Facebook chat is a big stretch. This is why Germans are so goddamn smart. They don't spend hours in front of the computer socializing.
Tonight looks like a bunch of us are going out on the town. I'll update if anything worth writing about happens.
Tschuess from Marburg!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Progress
Yesterday (Sunday, 4th) was our first day without having to do anything. It was so nice not having to be in a hurry or waiting around for something/someone. First order of business was to sleep in. Emily and I met up around 13.00 to walk to town. Here is the main thing: nothing is open in Marburg on a Sunday. The only things that were open were a few bars and restaurants, and I really had no problem with that because I only really wanted to just sit and people watch. I did, however, get a little disappointed to find a couple of my newly found favorite bars to be closed. Bad form.
Majority of the day was spent on the Internet trying to figure out how to activate my prepaid cell phone. This is probably the worst process ever. There is no translation for all of the text, it’s all in German and I had no idea what was going on. I know basic account information, but this was going waaay too in depth. It’s a goddamn prepaid phone, you guys. Seriously. So I think I did everything correctly, now I’m just waiting for my phone to activate (which they said could take 24 hours and right now I’m at about 14/24 hours).
After this, Emily and I walked around Universitaet Strasse and found somewhere to go for lunch. Now, Emily and I both were talking to each other about how neither of us have been able to eat an entire meal in Germany yet. Reasons unknown, but we figured it was just nerves. Where we went had the first full meal either of us has eaten so far (and I think you may know where this is going): Doener.
The Doener’s we had were excellent, a little too much cabbage on it though. Other than that, it was absolutely fantastic. There is another burger/doener place called “Mr. King” so tempted to go there just because of the name. I’m doing much better at finding my way around to certain places. It will come with time, I’m sure. It almost seems funny that we could not find our way to the Bahnhof and had to ask those Brazilians. Even though it’s about a day or so later, I know how to find it. Especially after last night’s ventures.
When you want to go to Oberstadt there are two ways in which you can get there: walk up a bunch of hills, or walk for a while and then take a really crowded elevator. Honestly with the amount of walking we’ve been doing, we have been willing to just smoosh ourselves into the elevator with the other Germans and Tourists. What is entertaining about this elevator is how AWKWARD it is. Here you are touching belly button to belly button with the person across from you. You both know that you don’t speak each other’s language very well so you just sit there in silence touching bellybuttons. THEN… there is this voice that comes on the speakers when you reach the top that says, “Oberstadt” in this really high/ stereotypical German voice. It makes us laugh every time. I’ll try to get it on video at some point so that you’ll see what I mean.
On the topic of beer:
On the night of the 3rd a bunch of us (IUSP kids) drank and hung out in Katerina’s dorm balcony. It’s a very pretty location that looks over the city of Marburg (castle and all). By midnight we were all a bit bored and walked to town, beers in hand. Went to a great bar, hung out some more, met a nice girl named Lisa (Lee-zuh), and then went to a 24 hour restaurant where we discussed entropy. Oooof course.
A note on nature: The owls here are absolutely insane. I’m convinced. They sound like wookies and owls who had children that like to dive bomb each other. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen these owls dive bomb each other out of trees. It is funny yet sad, but a little terrifying because the noise they make is so crazy.
The most common bird in Marburg is the Crow. Which makes me really happy considering that Crows are my 2nd favorite kind of bird. They are EVERYWHERE. Pigeon population is minimal (strangely shocking for Europe). One of the guides told me that they have wild hedgehogs and my friend saw one. I NEED ONE RIGHT NOW.
Anyway, not much more to report. Going to sleep for a little bit more because it is 6.45 am and I have to meet a couple people to go down to language classes around 8.00.
Farewell from Marburg!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Marburg: The First Few Days
Basically the flight out to Germany was less than exciting. I slept a little bit on the plane, but not too much. I was due to meet up with another lone traveler at the Regionalbahnhof, but that didn’t happen because my flight out of Philadelphia left about an hour and half late. SO… wittle Maddie was left to fend for herself. Let me tell you this… it wasn’t very graceful. Airports freak me out like none other… German airports are the seventh circle of Dante’s Hell. Everything was also in English, but it will only tell you what is in the other room, so you have to choose a room and hope that you get to a room that leads to the room you need.
German customs: Good. God. Talk about big, bald, intimidating POLIZEI. STAMP “OKAY, GOOD!”
I found where to buy my ticket and walk up to order it and the guy sputters off in German. Here is my face: ?___? I say to him, “Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch.” Then he says in English, “Oh, I thought you German. That funny!” Yes. Hilarious. So I get my ticket and I walk down the stairs with my suitcase looking oh so conspicuous. I wasn’t sure what platform I was supposed to be on. I checked and rechecked my little notebook that had the recommended directions, but (as things go with me) it all turned into Chinese. I asked, auf Deutsch, this hippy guy if I was on the right platform and showed him my ticket. He responded saying, “Ja! Gleis eins! Nummer neun! Elf minuten!” He didn’t really say that, but that’s all I got out of the gibberish. Luckily it was exactly what I needed. Hippy Guy rolled me a cigarette as a gift and said, “Wilkommen!” Then he proceeded to tell me to wait three stops then get off the train.
So I road the S-Bahn to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Lost again. Where is Hippy Guy when you need him? I asked some college-age kid about where to go after this and he told me. At least… I THINK he told me. I didn’t really understand anything he said, but I nodded and thanked him and proceeded on my merry little way. I asked this other young looking guy, and he proceeded to tell me. He was understandable enough until at one point he said to me, “Es tut mir leid, ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch.” I looked at him and was like… “English?” And he said, “YES! I’m from London! Good god, you’re American aren’t you? I thought you were a German. That’s funny.” Yes. Hilarious. Again. Turns out I was still downstairs when I needed to be upstairs. I had 5 minutes to catch this train. Launching myself onto the escalators I went up and BEHOLD: FRANKFURT HAUPTBAHNHOF. Giant. Tourist-friendly. Hurray!
The train ride consisted of me slipping in and out of sleep. I fell asleep to Frankfurt passing me by and snapped awake to a bunch of fields with lots of flowers, but mostly farms. Sleep again. Then I woke up at the perfect moment to get my first glimpse of Marburg. It is situated on a hill that seems random, but considering the architecture of the land it makes sense. I just wondered why they chose THIS hill. Anyway, I get off at the Marburg an der Lahn stop and heard some English. Fellow IUSPers! Yay! We make our way to the front where we are greeted by Nora, who takes us to the Studentendorf. Hills. Hills. So many hills. We walk into the student center of the dorms to find other IUSPers exchanging awkward introductions. “What’s your name? Where are you from? Blah blah blah.” (Note, we’re STILL doing this.)
Next item: Paperwork. So. Much. Paperwork. I just wanted to go to my room and sleep. I started having a mini-freak out session in my room, but then I finally got to sleep. Two hours later I snapped awake and went back to the student center where I met up with Emily from Pennsylvania and Micah from Idaho. We were joined by a few others and went out on the town with a guide, which was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves. It is about a 15-20 minute bus ride to town. Our guide showed us where to get groceries, the atm, cheap stores, and a few of the main bars. He then took us up into Oberstadt. HELLO LOVE! When you Google Marburg, and you see those pictures of the old-school German buildings? It’s all that.
Then we went to the grocery store. If you know me, then you know that grocery stores scare me. Now, a GERMAN grocery store?! Yeah I walked out with apples, bananas, febreze (frischehauch), and Nutella. What we all didn’t know is that the buses that day stopped working at 8.09 p.m. It was now 9.00 and we had to walk back to the Studentendorf with whatever we bought. That was about… 35 or so minutes with the lot of us. That is when I had my first introduction to………………. THE HILL. It is evil. Pure. Evil. Steeper than Everest and the buses don’t go up it. And guess what? WE GET TO CLIMB UP IT EVERY DAY!!! Ah well, exercise puhpuhpuhpuh. I basically hit the pillow and was gone to the world.
The next morning I had to get up at 6.30 to take the bus to the Bahnhof. From there we proceeded to this building next to Elizabethskirche where we took a German Language placement exam. The first was a written test with multiple-choice questions and then an essay. The essay showed a picture and we were to describe what might have happened in the picture. It showed two parents with a little girl and a policeman all standing in a wrecked home. It had a lot of objects thrown about the room so that you could list off what might have happened to those objects. Well, I don’t for the life of me remember a lot of German vocabulary. I had to show that I wasn’t completely incapable of writing something in German, so I did a Maddie thing. I’m still wondering if it was the right decision or not. I started writing about how the little girl in the picture was not actually a little girl, but an evil dwarf who cannot stand cleanliness. The second part of the test was speaking and listening. It was held individually in a tiny room. The teacher had a list of questions and a sheet with grades on it. I walked in and we greeted each other in german and had small talk. Then she gave me a few plausible scenarios and asked me how I would react to the situation and what I would say (all in German, of course). It was intimidating to sit there and watch her circle “A, B, B, C.” as I would respond to her questions. I still don’t know what level of German I got into, I will find that out on Monday. The rest of the day we wandered around bits of each campus (German colleges are spread out in the town) and took biometric photos for our Visa’s. What’s funny is that, THEY HAVE TO BE BIOMETRIC! Or as the German’s kept repeating, “MUST BE DEE BIOMETREEK!” Later that night we went to this bar in Oberstadt called, Ginkelstein. It’s like a cavern, basically. It was made in 1519 and definitely looks like it. Low, rounded ceilings, old school place for a fire. Very humid. Very very very cool. After that we had to walk back to the Studentendorf. We got lost on the way, but luckily ran into a couple of really nice Brazilians who were able to show us where to go.
Today (Sept. 3rd) was absolute hell at the beginning. I was due to meet up with a few people around 9.30 so that we wouldn’t get lost going down to the city. I got up at 8.30 like a good child and then decided… oh, I can set my alarm and get a couple more minutes. Next time I wake up: 10.20. We were supposed to be down at the Mensa by 10.00 to fill out our Visa applications. Maddie ran. Maddie afraid. Maddie found her way to the Mensa! Hurrah! Luckily I was not the only late one, there were about 10 other people that had gotten lost on the bus routes including the people I was supposed to meet up with. Visa’d it up and then Sierra, Emma, Jackie, and I took off to explore Marburg because we had the rest of the day free. We decided to go back to Oberstadt and look around. From there we decided to hike up to the castle. It was tiring, but worth it. The view was absolutely incredible. I think I’m going to climb up it again tomorrow, this time with my camera. As we sat at the top, a little quartet came out of the castle and sat down to play. I had no clue what they were playing but it sounded like 16th century German music, which would make sense given the location. A bunch of fancy looking people in evening gowns with champagne glasses came out too and listened. We didn’t feel fancy enough and left to go to this really cool courtyard (which I will take pictures of tomorrow). I could still hear the music from down there so I sat down and listened. A group of 80 year old Bavarians walked up to me and asked directions, luckily enough I knew what they were talking about and was able to help them out. They tried to talk a bit more, but it was beyond me. I don’t know if it was the accent or just me, but I had no clue what they were saying. After this, our little group found our way back to the Biergarten an der Lahn where some sort of festival was going on (at least that’s what the sign said). It was a really mellow occasion. Everyone was just sitting by the Lahn drinking, smoking, and talking. A few people were in the river swimming, in canoes, or on surfboards with a paddle. I went to order a drink and the lady working there asked me what part of Germany I was from. I don’t know if she was being serious or not.
After that we went back to the dorms and here we have been relaxing since then. We are most likely going to go back to the Ginkelstein later this evening.
Tschuess from Marburg!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Greetings from Marburg!
(I know that grammar-savvy people will be reading this, just don't judge me)
There isn't much to say about the flights out to Marburg.
The train ride, however, was really cool. I was incredibly exhausted so I couldn't really keep my eyes open, but I managed to open them at just the right time. It was mostly fields, fields, and more fields. When my head hit the side of the window and I woke up, the train was turning around a corner and at the end of the corner... BAM. Marburg. Some random hill. It honestly looks JUST like the pictures.
First day was awful. Tired. Hungry. Sick. Then later that evening I went bumming around town with some people and felt 100 times better.
Anyway,
I will update more. Right now I am in the computer lab going through an "Internet-tutoren in den Studentenwohnheimen" and then we have to head out for visa application business.
There isn't much to say about the flights out to Marburg.
The train ride, however, was really cool. I was incredibly exhausted so I couldn't really keep my eyes open, but I managed to open them at just the right time. It was mostly fields, fields, and more fields. When my head hit the side of the window and I woke up, the train was turning around a corner and at the end of the corner... BAM. Marburg. Some random hill. It honestly looks JUST like the pictures.
First day was awful. Tired. Hungry. Sick. Then later that evening I went bumming around town with some people and felt 100 times better.
Anyway,
I will update more. Right now I am in the computer lab going through an "Internet-tutoren in den Studentenwohnheimen" and then we have to head out for visa application business.
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