Happy Halloween!!!

 

So today is October 31st, aka Halloween. I’ve never made a big deal of Halloween. I hate trick or treaters and I’ve always ended up either working or having a serious deadline to meet, resulting in me never having attended a Halloween bash.  

I was really excited about going to my first ever Halloween party, which took place last night in the university student bar. It was also my friend’s first party as well, so we were both set on doing it right. As I previously posted, we went to Frankfurt on the Friday to pick up some items to make a Halloween costume. She dressed up a evil vampire/witch wearing a purple wig, a sexy black dress and some very red lipstick. I was a cat.

The party was amazing. Normally the parties at the student bar, Schwarz Weiss, are very samey. Mediocre music, cheap drinks, the same bunch of people. But last night I really felt like I was in a proper club. They had gone all out on decorating the place. The ground floor was completely covered in real leaves and twigs, plus there was a cemetery. The atmosphere in the party room was immense, everyone had a great time. Some costumes were terrifying, and lots of people (particularly the zombies) stayed in character the whole night.

I really did have an amazing time, it’s disappointing that it only comes along once a year. I hope that there will be more parties like this at Schwarz Weiss in the future.

(p.s. in other news the clocks went back an hour last night. I hope everyone enjoyed their extra hour in bed. I was still partying haha)

An unusual series of events involving cat ears

 

I went to Frankfurt today with one of my Taiwanese friends to buy a costume for the Halloween party tomorrow. Like most girls my age I didn’t want to go totally scary, so I settled for something a bit more cute/sexy: a black cat.

So I bought myself some cat ears from Claire’s Accessories and then went off to some other shops to find some black clothes. In the meanwhile I managed to lose my friend. I searched for her for about 10mins in Zara but she was nowhere to be found. I rang her, no answer. So I decided to carry on shopping. A few stores down I found a black skirt and went to try it on in the changing rooms. It looked good, tried on the cat ears with it, still looked good, took of the skirt, got changed and went to pay for the skirt.

Have you noticed yet?

So i pay for the skirt, I leave the shop, try to phone my friend, still no answer. I walk down the busy shopping street and get stopped by two girls around the ages of 18-20. “Where did you buy those?” they say. “Huh? Sorry?” I answer. Then one of the girls pulls something off of my head. I assume its my hairband that I was wearing that day…it was the cat ears with the label still on!

I could have died of embarrassment there and then.

To my surprise the girls were really nice. One of them took the label off for me and asked where the shop was and how much they were. They then asked me where I was from and we exchanged mobile numbers. We talked for about 15mins and they were really keen on meeting up again. They want to improve their English and would love to help me improve my German. Its crazy but I guess you could say that cat ears are a real icebreaker in Germany.

It’s starting to look like Autumn

 

I came home to my woodland surrounded room this afternoon to be shocked by the explosion of orange, red and brown glaring at me from my window. With the severely cold weather we’ve been having in Germany lately, I was expecting Germany to just miss out Autumn and go straight into a freezing cold winter. But finally here it is, the evidence staring straight at me as I write this facing my window. Autumn/Fall/Herbst is here.

   I’m not usually such a big fan of Autumn, to be honest it’s my least favourite season, but I think this view has really won me over. I can only think of one word to use to describe it: Wunderschön!

My German haircut

 

It took a lot of bravery and self persuasion but I went and got my first haircut in Germany. I went to a little hairdressing salon called hair killers on my friend’s recommendation. The salon was a little unconventional. You needed to take a ticket and wait your turn, rather than book an appointment. I was lucky to only need to wait 10mins, my friend had to wait over an hour last week. I was really nervous about getting it done because I could of easily ended up agreeing to getting my hair shaved off with my lack of hairdressing vocabulary. Luckily my hair is nice. She didn’t cut it exactly how I asked her too, its shorter and has more layers, but it was much cheaper than a cut in the UK which sets me back £22, in Marburg it was just €13.

I really enjoyed just walking into the salon and getting my haircut then and there. I’m quite impatient so having to wait weeks to get my haircut, when my fringe is already poking me in the eyes, really gets on my nerves.

Overall a fairly successful day.   

Procrastination

 

I’m attempting to write my first ever essay in Ger,man. The title is “Was ist für mich Geschichte und Geschichtswissenschaft” (What does history and the study of history mean to me>?"). It’s not going very well at all, hence why I am blogging about it rather than writing the actual essay. The essay only needs to be one to two side of A4, but I’m really struggling to write an academic piece of writing in German. I have a new found respect for all of those international students who come to university in the UK and manage to succeed. You guys are truly inspirational. 

Orientation

Orientation seems a life time ago now, but I think it is important to blog about it for my own memory’s sake and also to inform others of the procedures.
Orientation in Marburg was a 4 day event from Wednesday 1st Sept-Saturday 4th. I arrived in Marburg on the first day of Orientation. The program started from 9am in the Milchbar (which is in the general mensa and administrative building. I arrived at 9.30 and found myself waiting in an hour long queue just to sign in and pay the 30€ participation fee. Everyone was given a 5€ breakfast voucher to use at the Bistro downstairs although many people, including myself, refused to leave the queue and thus missed out on a free breakfast.

• Tip: Bring something to eat and drink in anticipation of the lange Schlange

When I finally arrived at the sign in desk, a copy of my passport was made and I was handed a white orientation folder with my name on it. Next to my name was a group number (I was in group 1). I was guided to group 1’s table where I sat with a few others and was guided through the filling out of some forms.
I remember not really understanding what I was exactly filling out (it later turned out to be forms for a months bus pass and forms to declare residency),but all I did know was that everyone else were able to fill out the address section except me. This really worried me because as far as I was aware we were not going to find out where we were living until today, yet no one had told me where I was living but had obviously told the others. Thus I started to doubt whether or not I had actually applied for somewhere to live and what the hell I was going to do if I hadn’t. What I didn’t know at the time was that a lot of people in my group , mostly from Taiwan and Japan, were in a different program and have arrived a week before thus they had received their keys 7 days prior to orientation.

• Tip: Because of all the forms make sure you always have a pen, your passport, passport photos and plenty of cash.

I finally received my keys and then was taken in a mini bus to my accommodation.
The form filling and 5€ breakfast vouchers were everyday features of the program as was evening entertainment. The first night we were taken to a bar, the second was a party in the student run “club”  Schwarzweiss. On the Friday night one of our two group tutors took us to a sports bar to watch the football, Germany v Belgium. Saturday night was an even bigger party at Schwarzweiss to wrap everything up. Every group had to cook some food to take along and then lots of cheap alcohol was consumed. It was basically the highlight of the program.
Although the program isn’t necessary I would recommend it to people because a. it makes life a lot easier having people there to guide you through all of the painstaking processes that a new international student needs to go through, and b. it is a great way to make friends fast. The groups were very well mixed in terms of nationalities and programs of study. Without the program I most certainly wouldn’t have made the friendships that I have here in Marburg.

 

Being ill in Germany

Yes, I was right I am ill again. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain how I deal with being ill in Germany and a give a bit of advice to those who are worrying about what to do if they fall ill.

There is nothing worse than having a cold during your year abroad, especially when you are still trying to settle in. As you know this is the first week of the semester so I really need to be on top form. Therefore I need to do my best to control my temperature, sore throat and lethargy.

Here you can see my 4 essential items for combating the dreaded C word in Germany.

Item number 1 is “Müller Fructiv” Juice. When you are ill it is obviously very important to pack your body full of vitamins, and this is a delicious way to do it. I am a huge fan of these drinks and they are one of my top finds in Germany. The juice comes in many equally tantalising flavours (this one happens to be limited edition strawberry, lime and watermelon). The juice is pretty easy to find in supermarkets and is also sold in our university Bistro. What I love about it is that it tastes great and gives me an energy boost but also it is cheaper than other bottled drinks because the bottle doesn’t come with a Pfand (a deposit added onto the price to persuade you to recycle your bottle, something that I always forget to do!).  

Number 2 is a bottle of water. Fatigue, temperature and headaches are all symptoms of dehydration so I always make sure I have a bottle of water close by. Bottles of water are not so cheap here because of the Pfand so I mostly drink tap water. A lot of bottled water in Germany is fizzy, which I cannot stand so if I am going to buy a bottle of water I have to double check that its stilled. This is just a personal preference. :-)

Number 3 is a woolly scarf. I know that this probably sound like something that your grandma would suggest but the last time I was ill here (all of two weeks ago) I really noticed how much wearing a scarf helps. I just wrap it around my neck and instantly feel less cold and it regulates my body temperature. Also if you have a sore throat keeping your neck warm helps to stimulate blood flow and speeds up the heeling process.

Number 4 are some throat “sweets” I bought from the Apotheke last time I had a cold. I really recommend to anyone who is ill in Germany, whether it is a cold, tooth ache, vomiting etc to visit the Apotheke and to ask for advice. For anyone who has visited Germany before you will know just how easy it is to find an Apotheke. This is because Germans prefer to use them than go to the doctor (they don’t have the luxury of the NHS like us Brits). The woman behind the counter (a charming Chinese lady) was very helpful and friendly. I simply said “Hallo, mein Hals tut weh und ich habe keine Ahnung über welche Halspastille, die ich kaufe söllte” (Hi, my throat hurts and I haven’t got a clue which throat sweets to buy). She happily went behind the counter and got me a packet of “Dorithricin Halstabletten”. She then explained to me how often to use them and what they do. There tablets are great. I took one every 3 hours as I was told, and the next morning my throat was fine. They work by numbing the pain and then clearing up the infection. My throat didn’t feel as numb as it does when I use throat lozenges at home, but they were a lot more pleasant to suck on. These tablets are mints not lozenges so there is no strong taste and they leave you feeling confident that you don’t have the ill person breath.    

I realise that my 4 tips will not cure the common cold nor will they work on everyone but they sure have made my day more comfortable.

Keyboard Issues

I'm in the university library at the moment, after my second day of classes (which went well thank you) and I am having serious issues getting my head around this German keyboard. I feel ridiciously incompetent. I keep typing "z" instead of "y" because the Germans use a Qwertz keyboard rather than a Qwerty, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use the "@" key (I've had to resort to copying and pasting it from an email address I found on the university website.

Oh wow the stupid computer has finally realised that I am typing in English and not German. The red swiggly lines were really starting to annoy me.

Also I don't feel too good today. I don't know whether it's down to another night of insufficient sleep or whether I am coming down with something. I'm praying that it's the former. My mum wants me to search for a Pension in Marburg for her and my siblings to stay in when they come and visit in December and I really am not in the mood to do it. But I can't really complain because it's not as if she can do it herself since she can't speak a word of German. At least I have a free day to look forward to tomorrow and most likely a lie in.

My first day as a fully fledged Erasmusstudentin

 

I had an awful nights sleep last night, I think it was caused by a combination of nerves and stress. I woke up at 7am prompt, got myself ready and then arrived in the town centre an hour before my lessons started. The plan was to find the room of my second lecture (I’d never been in that building and only had a 30min gap to find it in between my only two lessons of the day), print off a handout and then make my way slowly to THE FIRST CLASS.

I managed to complete these tasks in about 20mins leaving me with 40mins to stand outside the seminar room, on my own, bored out of my skull and getting more and more nervous by the minute. The hallway that I was stood in had two doors, one for seminar room 1 and one for seminar room 2. Eventually a large group of German girls entered the hallway and gathered around the other door. Naturally I assumed that their class was in seminar room 1 and not 2 like me. This was my first lesson of the day. German students do not gather around the door of their seminar room like a overly keen eager beaver!

I was relieved to see a few familiar faces in my class. There was another girl from the UK, a girl from my pre-language course and my orienteering tutor. The format of the lecture was new to me because the class were a mixture people. Some studied linguistics, some German etc, some were bachelors others master students. The personalities of these people were just as random. There was one girl who used her laptop to view the handout but took notes with a writing pad (I don’t know especially why this was odd, but I found it odd), there was the boy who had to answer EVERY question, and then there was very peculiar girl who chose to sit casually at the side of the room on a bench, taking no notes at all, even though there were plenty of spare seats.

Then came lesson number two. Questtion and answer time takes part after the lecture finishes so if you need to talk to the lecturer you need to move fast otherwise be prepared to stand in a long queue with everyone else and their mother who wants some one to one time with the Prof. 

I was quite pleased with how the first lecture went, apart from regretting sitting at the back of the room.    Our professor was so softly spoken that I found it difficult to hear him at times. So I purposely sat close to the front in my second lecture, then comes lesson number 3. First years (or Ersties) never sit at the front!  Unlike the first lecture, my second lecture was only for first year students, I believe I was the only Erasmus student in the room, and I really felt like I stood out. Obviously next time I will know to sit with cool kids at the back but unfortunately I will not be able to hide the fact that I’m foreign because the electronic dictionary that sits at my desk and is permanently in use gives me away.

Before I forget, I also tried out a Yoga class today. It was PAINFUL! The teacher made us do things that I don’t think my body was ever made to do. I’m not sure if we are going to go back next week. I’m really only going as a way to keep in contact with a lovely Japanese girl I’ve met here. Its a real shame that we don’t have any classes together anymore, so this is our way of making up for it. Anyway Bedtime! :-)

So much pressure

I start proper university lesson tomorrow and I am very very nervous. I’ve signed up to do Geschichte der Sprachkontakte des Deutschen, Neurokognition des Sprachverstehens, Englische Geschichte im 16. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt im Mittelalter and Wissenschaftliche Schreiben. In most of those classes I will be alone, which obviously means I need to make more new friends. I know that this is a good thing and that finally I will have the chance make some real German friends but it is also very daunting.

I was hoping to have an early night, as a way of relaxing myself before the BIG DAY, but instead I am on Skype with my boyfriend who is having a hard time at the moment coming to the terms with the fact that he’s not going to see me for a long time. This upsets me because I feel really responsible for his unhappiness. It is me who has left him, me who is having the good time, me who is always too busy to talk to him. I find it hard to tell him this. I just keep getting angry and making things worse. I think its because my mind is so preoccupied with worrying about tomorrow. I feel so selfish and I just want him to know that I love him so much. I’m hoping everything will be better in the morning. Wish me luck for my first week of lessons.

Marburg an der Lahn

 

I’ve been living in Marburg for the past 46 days and I haven’t properly introduced it.

Marburg is a relatively small university town/city in the middle of the German state of Hessen situated on the river Lahn and is about an hours train journey away from Frankfurt. The city revolves around the university and is often given the motto “some towns have a university, but Marburg is a university.” The town is very appealing. The old town, die Oberstadt is very picturesque and typisch deutsch with its Fachwerkhäuser  (traditional German wooden houses) and its narrow cobblestone alley ways. The old part of Marburg is situated on a steep hill, hence why it is called Oberstadt (upper town) and at the top of the hill is a beautiful medieval castle towering over the city. Wherever you are in Marburg you have a wonderful view of the castle and Oberstadt. In my opinion the view is at its best early in the morning when the clouds are low and hugging the castle. It looks like something out of a fairytale.

 

Talking of fairytales Marburg is also a tourist attraction for people who are interested in the Brothers Grimm. Both Jacob and  Wilhelm studied at the Phillips University of Marburg and were residence of the town. The is a tower in the woods above Marburg which is called Spiegelust and this tower is supposedly the tower from the story of Rapunzel.

There are a lot of trees surrounding the city, which is something new to me. I know that there are woods and forests in the UK but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many trees in my life. My halls of residence are in fact situated in a wood. I admit it is nice to be located somewhere new, this year is all about new experiences, but I find it difficult to cope with the amount of spiders I find on a regular basis. Thus I have resorted to only opening the window when necessary, its been about a week now, simply because every time I do open it the creepy creatures sneak in.     

A weird point about Marburg is its use of lifts (or elevators if you are American). I arrived at Marburg train station on the 1st September with a 28Kg suitcase and looked frantically around for an Aufzug (lift) I could not believe that there was not a single lift in the train station. I then had the same dilemma when I arrived later that day in my halls of residence where I had to drag my suitcase up four flights of stairs to my room (excluding the 3 flights of stairs outside of the building). I remember looking at the state of my “brand new” suitcase when I finally arrived in my room. I thought to myself that this town seems so backwards. I later ate my words because that evening I found numerous lifts. They weren’t at the train station or in halls, but instead they were at the bottom of the hill, on which Oberstadt stands. Right there in the middle of the street are two lifts which take you up into Oberstadt. I was very impressed. Unlike my equally hilly university town in the UK where I find myself panting for breath as I walk from one street to the next, Marburg found the ideal solution.

I don’t really know what else to say about Marburg except for that it is peaceful and pleasant and I really enjoy living here. :-)

Good news, bad news

 

As an update to my previous post, I now have fast, faultless internet :D My neighbour was more than willing to share her internet with me, all I have to do is pay her €10 a month. At 25% of the price I was paying for the poor excuse of an internet connection, naturally I bit her hand off at the offer.

So yay that was the good news.

Bad news: Someone decided to leave faeces on the toilet seat in the girls’ toilets. This is either a very disgusting girl who needs to be exterminated or a very revolting male who cannot read the word “DAMEN” (women) printed clearly on the door. Who ever it was I am not amused and I really hope that this was a one off occurrence.

I’m off to an Erasmus party tonight and then to Munich tomorrow morning for five days. Its all very exciting.

Marburg is like rehab for internet addicts

 

My first few days in Marburg were spent without the internet. Unlike UK universities, Marburg uni doesn’t feel the need to supply an internet connection to all of its residencies. People living in the Studentendorf (student village) appear to be the lucky buggers who have internet access in their bedrooms, whilst the rest of us have to make our own arrangements. I was only internetless for 2 days but those days were hard. Now I’d never considered myself to be an online junkie, but I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had truly gone “cold turkey”. No internet meant no means of talking to my mum, no internet meant no way of taking my mind off of the prison like room that they call a bedroom, no internet meant I was trapped in this mean German reality.

Luckily for me I had read up about this internet problem on some blogs before arriving in Germany and had heard of a devise called a “surf-stick” – its a prepaid internet stick supplied by most leading phone companies, So on day 3 in Marburg I rushed around the shops trying to find a surf stick. I bought one, it was expensive, €40 for a months worth of internet, but I didn’t care.

Now although the internet is expensive, it is fast….well its fast when I use it anywhere except for in my halls of residence. Yes its sods law that I end up situated in the one part of town that receives very little mobile signal. This means that Skype has a 5-20 second delay, I can’t watch videos on Youtube, nor can I download music or upload photos onto Facebook. The internet often disconnects because of lack of signal and if it runs out of credit on a Saturday night then you will have to wait until Monday to reconnect with the world, as I tragically learnt this weekend. Nonetheless I’ve put up with it for a month and its better than not having any internet. I’m hoping to find someone in my hall to share internet with. Some people who are here for a few years buy their own contracts, modems and routers. I’ve put up a poster on the bulletin board asking if anyone would like to share with me and I will pay then how ever much a month they see fit, I’m also going to put a similar note underneath my neighbour’s door. Fingers crossed someone will come to my rescue. 

Heimweh and the dreaded “W-Curve”

I realised today that I’ve been here in Germany for more than a month. I flew here on the 31st August and it is now the 1st October. That in itself is a huge achievement. However this has been one of the hardest weeks for me so far.
Before we all departed on our year abroads, our university subjected us to a series of monotonous lectures in hope of preparing us for the positive and negative experiences which were to follow. In one lecture they introduced us to the “W-curve”, a representation of how our emotions would fluctuate during our time away from home. At the beginning we are happy and excited because everything is new, but then we crash down to reality as we realise that this is not a holiday and struggle to adapt to our new surroundings (i.e. culture shock). Then we settle in and enjoy ourselves, thus our emotions become more positive. Then we get home sick and then finally we except everything and are forever happy and content.
Now I like to refer to it as the “M-curve”. My first days in Germany were far from joyous. I spent all of my free time crying and contemplating giving up and returning to the UK.After the first week my perspective changed. I calmed down and I was able to take in the beauty of Marburg. I made amazing friends who kept me busy and I began to think of what a shame it was that I would only be here for 6 months.
So why the sudden change of heart? Why has this week been so hard?
Last week an amazing person from home visited me. Someone very close to my heart and I think it was waving goodbye to him at the departure gate that triggered off the negative perspective on being abroad. Ever since Saturday night I’ve wanted to go home. I want my mum and my dad. I want my siblings. Basically I’m homesick or as they say here “Ich habe Heimweh”. Being ill this week hasn’t helped either, nor has the absence of my closest friend here (she's off visiting family up north for 5 days). i know that things will get better, I know that these feelings will pass. I just don’t have anything to keep me busy at the moment and that is what is killing me.
God damn you year abroad, GOD DAMN YOU!