A beautiful morning

These are taken standing in front of the church building where I went to a worship service today, which is about 20 minutes away by foot from my dorm room. you can see the church in the Oberstadt, as well as the castle.

For Autumn (and anyone else interested) :)

For purposes of mail the old fashioned way :)

My address is:

Rebecca Ludvigsen

Geschwister Scholl Strasse

Jung Stilling Haus #5

Zimmer-Nr. 204

35039 Marburg

Deutschland

So, I forgot to say that we went to the one of the local radio stations here in town for our Thursday afternoon class. Our class will be producing and hour long radio program- speaking about whatever we want in German and playing whatever music we would like. This is definitely a first. We learned all about radio in Germany, equipment, and got a tour of the station. Essentially anyone can come here and produce a radio program for free. This place is in in old building that used to be part of the railroad, and trains still rush by and shake the building. Everything in there was OLD! They still use VHS, CD, mini-disc, and probably other forms of data recording that I am too young to know about. I couldn't believe they don't use I-tunes, or any type of computer player. Anywho, we learned how the soundboard works, and got to practice speaking on the radio, and controlling the music and microphone, etc.

On Saturday, we took a charter bus to Frankfurt. This weekend is the museum festival. You can buy a button for 4 Euro, and this gets you into all of the museums all weekend long. There are probably 25 museums in one little area of town by the river. There are also TONS of people that are drawn to this event, mainly for the festival events. There are hundreds of tents set up along both sides of the river selling food, alcohol, souvenirs, and really anything you can think of (I even saw a palm reading kiosk). I saw the Goethe house and museum, and walked around the festival taking it all in. There are also radio stations set up, and stages for live music, and poetry readings, well, anything I guess. We also had a city walking tour for 2 hours when we first got there. Frankfurt is the home of the tallest sky scraper in Europe, the Commerz building. It would be dwarfed in the US. It is a huge banking and trading city . Apfelwein is a big thing in Hessen, and I tried it mixed with Fanta, which cuts out the bitterness of the wine.

That evening, I hung out with Lizzy for a while, and showed her my "shoebox" of a room! She couldn't believe how small it was. I also started reading the book she gave me in German along side the english version online through Amazon. It is good, but I only read 9 pages since reading it in German is quite a long process! It is called Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher, or the city of the dreaming books.

This is the first Sunday we have had so far that is free of any trip or scheduled event. It is interesting when there is nothing open at all! I am going to the open air kino with Lizzy to see a French film dubbed in German.

See ya,

RL

Week 3!

Hallo!

I can't believe another week has already gone by. Jede Woche ist besser als die letzen. (Every week is better than the last). I guess I need to start with Monday, if I can remember everything!

I met Lizzy after class. She brought me eine Küche! Well, actually it was a pot, pan, wooden spoon, cutting board, and knife that she is allowing me to use. How nice! I have not had time to cook yet, but I hope to next week! She happened to be meeting a friend, and asked me to come along. We went in two different elevators that take you to the top of the city so that you don't have to climb endless numbers of hills and steps! Her friend lives in a WG (shared apartment) that overlooks the city- great view. He served us really good cake and coffee, and we sat around for a few hours talking German and English with two of her friends, which I think were named Fabian and Florian, but don't count on that! This was a nice way to spend a very rainy afternoon. Lizzy also gave me a fantasy novel to read by a German author! Should be good! That evening, I went home and ending up eating PB toast and pretzels-typical college dorm dinner.

On Tuesday, language class was really hard to get through...thinking and learning and speaking in a foreign language is draining! That evening, I looked around with a Fulbrighter in her quest to find flip flops. This was quite the challenge, and only found one or two stores with flip flops! Crazy! Everything summer is on sale now, and flips flops are super hard to come by.

Wednesday, we made HUGE progress.....I now have a bank account with Deutsche Bank!!! Nora spoke with DB and set up appointments for all all but about 2 people in our group. That is 30 Americans with little German knowledge attempting to set up a bank account! The employees were so nice, and they took our documents, copied them, and basically told us to sign on about 5 places. It was super easy, and I should have a working bank account with a debit card and a credit card by next week! You really can't do much in Germany without a bank account. There is no such thing as checks anymore. Everything is done via transfer. Z.B., you can set up direct withdrawal for your rent, your cell phone, etc. Also, if you want to pay a friend back, you just transfer money into their account online. You get a list of about 80 TAN numbers, which are essentially transfer numbers that allow you to transfer money online to another person's account (and you actually tell people your bank account number!) You pretty much need a bank account to function here! You also have to use a credit card if you want to purchase anything online. Btw, if you have Bank of America, you can withdraw money without a processing fee because they are affiliated with DB. I also discovered DM- it is like a CVS without the medicine part...and it was air conditioned! Omg, it was glorious!

That afternoon, I met Lizzy and her friends at Aldi. We bought groceries to make Musaka, a Greek dish that they always cook. It has potatoes, onions, eggplant, ground beef, cheese and cheese. While dinner was cooking, we road bikes to the video store. This was the first time I had ridden a bike in a city on a road, and I definitely had fears, but it was totally fun! We came back and ate dinner around a table with about 8 people, drank good wine, and ate lots of Musaka. Lots of fun, and good practice for my German! It has been really great to hang out with German students and get out of the Studentendorf!

Thursday, after another full day of language class, I came back to the dorm and chilled out. I went back to the worship service. This time, I could understand the the message much more! It was awesome to understand much more.

Friday, we got out of class at lunchtime. I picked up my first care package- Thanks Marianne! I also chilled out in the dorm. Downtime is a rare commodity around here! That evening, I took the bus to Rudolfsplatz to buy dinner at a backery. I also went to the grocery store to get some really good chocolate and a mini bottle of wine for the movie. I love that you can buy wine and drink it anywhere! I went back to the building we have class in with food and wine in tote, and watched Goodbye Lenin with everyone. Good movie. I had seen it before in my German film class, but forgot most of it. I recommend it. Good film concerning East and West Germany.

Well, I could write much more, but there is only so much time. I am starting to get settled in much more and getting used to living here. I am starting to think and speak in Danglish...sometimes I can't say anything because German and English get mixed up in my head and nothing ends of coming out!

Tomorrow we have a day trip to Frankfurt. Should be good!

Bis später,

Rebecca

A nice weekend!

After I last posted, the weather made a definite change for the better! The weather here in Marburg has been low 50s, hight 70s. After the rain cleared on Friday, the weekend was gorgeous! (And even chilly in the evenings!) What a welcomed change.

The worship service Thursday night was great. The service is held in this really old protestant church in the Altstadt (old city). It over looks Marburg- beautiful view. This church group is what we would call contemporary. They have worship music and a message on Thursday night, as well as bible studies Monday night and a service on Sunday morning. Most of the worship songs were German and the tunes were new to me. It was neat to worship the Lord in another language with people from all different places in this world! They even sang "Sanctuary", but it was translated into Deutsch. They also sang some songs in English, only one of which I was familiar with (Hillsong United, Might to Save). Regardless, it was awesome to be among believers and worship in another country and language. I could understand the gist of the message, but Germans talk so much faster than we are accustomed to hearing in language class! It was a good exercise for my listening comprehension skills. I introduced myself towards the beginning when they asked visitors to stand up. I spoke in German, and told everyone where I was from and what I was doing here. A German student came up to me after the service and introduced herself to me after hearing me speak for a minute. She was really nice, and we spoke German and English. She offered to hang out next week, so I am hoping that works out!

On Fridays, we get done with class at 12. I went out with Laura, a Fulbright student, to eat lunch and shop all afternoon. It was a lot of fun, despite the rain. I did more window shopping than actual shopping, but I did end up with a Sigg water bottle, european straightener, and a German dictionary (with the definitions all in German). That evening, the group went bar hopping. This was fun, but I did not last through the night with everyone. I had a few glasses of wine, but that was it! Maybe by the end of the year I will be able to drink beer...in the large quantity that it is served here.

On Saturday, I met Elisabeth and Sophia and we went to the Middle Ages festival. This comes once a year to Marburg, and I guess it would be like the Renaissance festival in Atlanta on a smaller scale (though I have never been). This was quite amusing and interesting. The people that put on this festival sleep in tents on site, and dress up in the medieval garb. I think they travel around Germany, putting on these festivals. They have arts, crafts, entertainment, and food that is all indicative of the times. When you buy cheese for example, they weigh it on a balance with weights old school style. There was a guy that made paper, a guy that made glasses, they had ceramic pottery and baskets...really anything you could think of. I tried mead (honey wine) for the first time. They also had a Fleisch station (meat), with deer bratwurst, and some type of bacon-like meat on a stick. When I think of Germany, I think of meat...

That evening, I went back to Elisabeth's apartment. Some of her friends came over, and we played two board games and ate a variety of snack food. It was fun speaking German, meeting other German students, and trying to understand what was going on . I got the hang of the game after a while, but had to have a lot of English explanation. It is one thing to study German, it is another to understand how to play a German card game you have never played in German! HaHa. I am really glad I was there. It was nice to spend the evening outside of the Studentendorf and in good company speaking German!

On Sunday we had another day trip. We went to Saalburg. Here Roman ruins have been restored and reconstructed to resemble a Roman camp. We had a tour guide, and she explained what the life of a Roman soldier was like. We got to try our hands at archery and javelin. If I had to find my dinner or kill my enemy via javelin or archery, I would either starve to death or be killed...Oh well. Love not war :) We also saw "Limes", the old border between the Roman empire and the Barbarians.

We had another "typisch Deutsch" meal. It was ok, but nothing to write home about...

Tomorrow, I might see The Proposal at the cineplex. All movies here are dubbed in German. No subtitles in German, just audio in German. Should be interesting.

I think my goal this week will be to figure out how to better navigate the grocery store and manage to cook something in our dorm kitchen. As a side note, so many products here are "bio", or organic. Rather than have a special organic section, the entire store is filled with organic products, and they don't necessarily cost more than those that are not labeled bio. In general, food contains fewer or no preservatives, and does not last as long.

So far, I have been impressed with how environmentally conscious the German system operates. (Though, sometimes this can be frustrating for us wasteful Americans). For example, you never find paper towels in bath rooms, you never get styrofoam to-go containers, and there is a very organized garbage/recycle system. Glass, plastic, paper, and organic waste. If you buy a bottle at a grocery store or cafe, glass or plastic, you get a refund for returning the bottle. This ensures it is recycled, and you have incentive to do so because you get money back. I even got 50 cents back at the festival for returning my leftover food to the trash can. This ensures that you won't leave your trash out. The fork was made of wood, and the "bowl" was cabbage leaves, so there is essentially only organic waste. I have already mentioned the lack of shopping bags in stores. There are many trees everywhere. They seem to only cut down trees if it is necessary for building space, rather than just clearing everything in site, which seems to be the norm now in the US. The windows are always large and without panes, so they let in a lot of light and lamps are not needed during the day.

Anyhow, these are just some of my observations.

Thanks for keeping up with me and tuning in to an American's perspective in Germany!

Love,

RL

HOT!

In case you thought Europe was cooler during the summer, think again! This is like thinking that New York has cooler summers than Atlanta because it is further north. Nope. Today the high was 91...That is so hot! And with no AC, whew...I was so glad Frank let us out of class early due to the heat! I opened the doors in class and took of my shoes so I could function. Can't wait for fall to come!

Tonight I am going to a worship service in town. Looking forward to that!

Last night, I hung out with Elisabeth. The university matched us up with a student here if we wanted to have a contact in town to get coffee or beer with, or whatever. She is a law student here at the university. I really enjoyed meeting her, and we spoke German for a few hours. Definitely good for me to speak the language with a native speaker! We determined we both don't really care for "German" food or beer, and that we both love red wine! She invited me to cook together at her apartment, and I am hoping we can make that happen. We are also going to a festival at the castle here in town this weekend. She also helped me sort through my apartment decision and fill out a form, which I am very thankful for!

Yesterday I talked with a few Fulbrighters about getting Mexican food, and how we really miss it. There are two "mexican" places here in town, so I think we will try it soon. We also had our culture class yesterday. We learned about German music and about German abbreviations. We had to go out on the street with a partner and asked people on the street if they could tell us what these acronyms meant! It was funny, and they were really nice about this "homework" we Americans had!

Not much else to report here. Still learning my way around the city, the culture, and the Fulbright program, but this week is going much smoother than last. I cannot believe that almost 2 weeks have past!

Tschüss!

RL

P.S. I will post pictures soon when I have time of Marburg!

Something new everyday

Since my last post, things have been looking up! I finally got internet on Monday (ethernet), so I can now connect to the world! It is so strange going without internet for a week. You should try it sometime...

Saturday night, I went grocery shopping for the first time at Tegut. I didn't know what most of the food items were or how to read the labels. I also didn't know what I should possibly make in the dorms in the "communal" kitchen...So, I bought a very random assortment of food. I filled up two Tegut canvas bags. For those of you who don't know, in Germany, you must bring your own bags to the store and bag your own groceries. This goes for most any store in Germany, be it the pharmacy (Apotheke), Schlecker (like a dollar tree with household goods) or anything really. You buy plastic or canvas bags for something like 15 cents. With all of my purchases in tote, and everything else I had bought for the day, I attempted to find the bus back to the Hauptbahnhof. This is the main train station, and happens to be half way to the Studentendorf (Student village). I got on the bus, and freaked out that I was on A3, not the 7. I find out later they are the same. I got off the next stop, and walked home thinking I would find another stop to get on the bus. By this point in the weekend, I hadn't really figured out the bus system, and didn't want to go somewhere I wasn't supposed to. Summary: I walked an hour home with two large bags of groceries and a big back pack full of things. I will never do that again!

On Sunday, we went to the Der Hessenpark, an open air museum . This is basically a reconstructed village that is intended to bring back to life the half-timber buildings and rural culture in Hesse of the 16 and 17th centuries. We had a tour guide, and then walked around on our own. Beginning in the 70s, original buildings were rebuilt and moved to this open air museum. It was super hot, but interesting. We all ate a late Mittagessen (lunch), with typical German food and a menu all in German! I ordered some entree with apple kraut, bread, and bratwurst. I have yet to warm up to German food, but maybe I have not found the right thing yet. The bus ride back was a nice hour long nap for most people, including myself.

Sunday night, I did my laundry for the first time. It was very time consuming, and I figured out the laundry system here, albeit expensive and complicated.

On Monday, I got internet wifi on campus for the first time! It was a glorious day. Later on, I was able to get ethernet. Now that I have a cell phone and internet that work, I feel so much better! We all applied for our residence permit, and got one of our first looks into the German bureaucratic system. This took an 1.5 hr to complete, and after sending away many precious documents, we should be permanent residents by next week! I went out to dinner with two people from the program, and we had a good time talking about the past week's events over Apfelwein.

Today I went to a local bakery and tried Schinkenkaese- a croissant like bread with bits of ham and cheese baked into it. Not too bad. We had German class essentially all day. I came home exhausted and took a nap before getting Indian food with a fellow Fulbrighter. This was my first time in an Indian restaurant- not bad. We also checked out another grocery store and managed to bring even more food back! I tried a cappuchino and Eis (like gelato). Neither was good...We asked for it to go, but then decided we wanted to sit down and eat because we had so many groceries. However, they quickly informed us that we were not allowed to sit because we indicated we wanted it to go. That was strange.

I am still hopeful that I can find something that is good here. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to buy in the grocery store or eat out?

If you skype, my user name is rludvigsen87.

I have definitely come a long way since I arrived here last Tuesday, but I have a long way to go to assimilate into this town and culture.

Thanks to all of you for keeping up with me and sending your thoughts and support!

Auf wiedersehen,

Rebecca

Oops

Sorry for all the grammar mistakes! I am still learning to use the German keyboard, which is slightly different the the US version.

"What doesn´t kill you makes you stronger"

It has been an entire week since I last posted, and much has occured since Monday. I would like to update more frequently, but it seems communicaton in Germany is much harder to come by in the US. However, I will try to document the last week.

On Tuesday, Jan drove me to the train station and helped me by a ticket from Frankfurt to Marburg. We said goodbye, and I waited until the train departed. A Turkish man helped me with my luggage. The Turkish in Germany are like Mexicans in the US. They come to Germany for work, and are often not as educated. They were invited in after the war to be guest workers to help rebuild the country. However, Germany did not really intend for them to be permanent citizens, and many Germans have negative feelings towards the Turks, just like many Americans feel the Mexicans benefit from the US greatly but they do not feel they should stay in the US. I personally have nothing against them, and was thankful to have luggage help and to speak German. He speaks no English, so we talked entirely in German on the train. That was a good confidence booster for my language skills.

I arrived an hour later in Marburg at noon. I had to take a duffel bag, 2 suitcases and a bookbag off the train. You should never travel with this much luggage on a train, but for me it was necessary given how long I will live here. So, I took everything off one by one, and realized this was not the right stop. I put everthing back on just intime to hop back in the train and ride for the next station. That could have been bad! I get off the train, this time at the right place, and soon realize that nothing will be very easy. I have to lug all my luggage down a staircase, and then up another staircase so that I will be on the city side of the station. NOT fun! Then, I meet up with some fulbrighters, and we wait for a bus to take us to the dorms. I was thinking this bus would be big enough for everyone. Nope. It only has room for 4 people's luggage since we have so much. So I wait on the next bus since there are so many of us. We get to the Studentendorf, where there are many dorm buildings. A german student helps me with the baggage and orients me in the dorm. This is a brand new dorm, with motion sensing lights that only come on when someone is moving in the hallway. No AC. AC cannot be found anywhere! Also, no elevator. I expected no air or stairs, but it makes life everyday a little harder! HAHA. My single dorm room is a box. One window, single bed, built in desk, bookshelf, closet and sink. The showers and toliets are communal, and there is a kitchen on each floor.

I proceeded to crash for 2 hours, and then met the rest of the group. A student led us to our orientation dinner. This was about a 30 minute or 40 minute walk. The fulbright staff introduced themselves, and we had a nice buffet dinner. That evening, we followed a few Fulbrighters from last year to the old city area. We sat outside at a cafe and had beer. I had Apfelwein for the first time. Not bad.

Wednesday was information overload!!! We learned about all kinds of things, and by the end of the day we were saturated with info. That evening, we walked up this huge hill. Marburg is very hillly. We walked in the rain (after everyone made an impulse buy at this shop on the way for umbrellas) up this steep, winding, cobblestone road all the way to the top of the mountain to an old castle. There is a restaruant there, and we all ate dinner and drank for a long time. German food is very heavy, often with lots of cream. Everyone left at their leisure, and I stuck around until most were gone. I walked back down this steep, winding road in the dark with another girl. We then walked home, which is about a 45 min walk from the castle back to the dorms. To say the least, I was exhausted the next morning.

Thursday was our first language course, and we were on our own for food from now on. I was placed in level 3 out of 4. Our teacher is young, and we only speak German in the class. We have class from 9 to 10:30 and then a coffee break. 11 to 12:30, break for lunch, and 2 to 4. All in all, lots of class time! That afternoon, I went around town with two guys from the program looking for basic items. I searched all over for contact solution, but was unsuccesful. We went to Media Markt, where you buy anything electronic. I bought a SIM card. We also went to Woolworth's for school supplies, and the Pharmacy because I needed medicine. That evening, I tried without success to find the one guy in all the the dorms that can set up internet for you. I also tried to register to SIM card, but it did not work that night. I met several guys that study here in my dorm. They let me use their computer and walked me though the SIM registration, and also helped me look (in vain) for Jan the internet guy. I met guys from Iran, Lebanon, Germany and somewhere else I do not remember. Mohammed cooked Iranian food, and we spoke mostly all in German. Very great way to improve your language skills. After 12:30, I had to leave even though I was enjoying our conversation. I went back to clean up my room and do my German homework. I got to bed late, and woke up early.

Here begins the worst day yet....
Friday morning, I woke up exhausted and feeling horrible. It seems my body is physically reacting to all this stress. I walked to my classroom (25 min) and found a bakery nearby since I have not had time to go shopping for food. I bought milk knowing that I dont care for milk in europe, as well as yogurt with fruit and a roll with lots of seeds on it. I do not really care for the German or european breakfast. I ended up throwing most of it away. I went to class, and was miserable the entire first period because of how physically bad I felt and how unconnected to world I was at this point. I desperately wanted and needed my phone to work for safety and emotional needs, and had no internet. I could not resisit crying in class. How embarassing. It is hard to concentrate on your studies when your basic needs are not met . Classic Maslov's hierarchy. I resolved to fix my physical ailments by going to the drug store during the break. I walk into the Drogerie, where you buy all the things we have at CVS without the pharmacy part. The sensor went off immediately, and a store worker asked me if I had anything in my pockets or if i was wearing something new. In the US, if you walk in a store and the sensor beeps, we ignore it. Here they must find the source, otherwise when you leave and it beeps they can assume you stole something. the woman wanted me to find whatever was making it go off. I fell apart in a drug store with a random german employee, sobbing because i could not handle one more unlucky thing or anything else that would go wrong. All of our conversation was in German, and she got out a huge wand to search me with in the back of the store. This was more than I could handle, and I realized that I failed to cut the sensor out of my jeans that so many stores sew into your clothes. i had to go to the bathroom to cut it out, and by this time had gotten nothing that i needed and had 15 minutes before class started. If you ever come to germany, make sure all of your clothes have had the sensor cut out to avoid humiliation.

I did find contact solution in this store, and I hope I never have to go back and see that lady who will now think of me as that American girl who fell apart crying in the back of the store....

I walked to the pharmacy, and explained through German and hand gestures I needed something like Pepcid. She gave me an equivalent, and I went back to class, late of course, due to the securiy issue.

After class, we walked to the Mensa (cafeteria). I had little appetite, and did not care much for the food. We had little time, because we had to meet the entire group at 2 for a city tour. I walked with a Fulbrighter there. Fulbright had arranged for a local tour guide to show us around and give lots of historical information about the town and its buildings. This would have been better, had I not been so worn out and stressed out. Not far into the tour, I got stung by a yellow jacket. It took me by surprise and stung like you know what. I start crying in the street in the middle of the tour, because by this point, i cannot take one more stressor. Our group leader and another Fulbright girl come with me to the pharmacy to get some cooling gel for stings. By this point, I am exhausted, in pain, and all I want to do is go home and talk with my parents and Will. I had been in Marburg 4 days with no internet or working cell phone. I went back to the dorm with this girl who offered to take me back and use her phone and internet. I was so embarassed that I became the girl who cries at a bee sting or in class or in the drug store. After our long trek home, involving lots of walking a a bus ride, we went to her room where i was able to skype will and my parents. The enjoyed a phone call with me in hysterics. I went back to my room, allowed myself to regroup and cry out my frustrations and pain. I tried entering my PIN number into my phone again, and it worked!

I now had phone access, and called my parents and Will immediately. This did wonders for my spirits to talk with them and to know I now have a means of communication in this country. I then decided I would try again to find the internet guy. I had to as a lawn maintenance guy to let me in his dorm, and then i waited for a while. After asking every guy that came in the dorm if he were Jan, I finally found him. He wanted us to come back an hour later at 10 (by this time 4 other people also wanted to get internet). I took a shower and cleaned up my room, and treked back over to his room. He helped 5 people with internet setup. This means he now has the information needed to put us in the system so that on Monday when the server is up he can enter our data in. Then, we have to do something additional on our computers. Wireless is not even an option, and some dorms do not even have ethernet. This whole internet thing boggles me. Apparently Germans do not need or value the internet 24.7. I went to bed, exhausted from the past 24 hours of defeat, but happy knowing that I had a phone that worked and had began the internet setup. By the way, I was very lucky I found Jan. He is leaving this weekend, and keeps no regualar hours in his dorm, so it was very important I found him soon.

This morning, I woke up after 12 hours of glorious sleep.I met the same girl who helped me yesterday with her phone and internet. We walked into town and had some Greek food, but not without another visit from a yellow jacket. Fortunately, we were not stung. Because AC is not used here, everyone keeps the doors and windows open. Also, screens do not exist. So, more often than not there are yellow jackets and bees inside. GREAT!!! I had to trap the thing in my Fanta .... oh well.

We had our biometric photos make at a department store. This means you cannot smile and that it essentially looks like a mug shot. We need these specific photos to apply for a resisident permit. We did more shopping in Ahren's, and also in several other places. We looked all over for a top up card for our cell phones ( I managed to use it all up last night since I had not talked to the US since Monday). We found the only place with our provider to buy more minutes, and the employees helped us reload our phone. by the way, you can contracts here are for two years, and you must have a bank account. We are stuck with pre paid phones.

I have learned a lot this week. The simplest things have become the most complicated and frustrating. The language and culture barrier makes it harder, but i have been amazed at how well I can understand and communicate in German. Everyday, accomplishing basic tasks becomes a big achievement!

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to tour an open air museum in Hessen. It has several builidings and homes that have been rebuilt to recreate the look and feel of Hessen several hundred years ago, along with people that do traditional arts and crafts that is indicitive of the area and its history.

My next task is to buy groceries, as essentially nothing is open on Sunday. Even on Saturday, many stores keep limited hours.

When I get my laptop internet activiated, I will soon upload pictures from the week. I know this post is very long, but so much has happened. Later I will comment on the people within the Fulbright program. Also, more to come about the German way...

If you got bored reading this, I am sorry! I had to get it all down before I forgot it. I think that next week can only get better!

Love from Germany,
Rebecca

Arrival in Germany- the beginning of my year!

Here is my first real blog post from Germany! I am in Jan's house currently. Jan is a friend of my cousin and agreed to pick me up from the airport this morning.

The flight was tolerable- I hardly got a wink of sleep, and there was some definite turbulence- Clara, you would not have liked it ;) But, nonetheless, Lufthansa got me to Frankfurt. As Brittany commented, 11 minutes late- but who's counting when you lose all sense of time? I had no problem getting my baggage, and after a little wandering around Jan and I met up. At the airport, they have luggage carts that fit onto the escalator. I had 2- 50lb suitcases, a carry on duffel, and a bookbag. Let's say it was good Jan and I both held on to the cart as we went down the escalator! We walked a good while inside the airport to the parking deck, where we managed to fill his Audi with all of my belongings. It was really hard to pack for a year with such restrictions!

We drove to the Dreieich-Buchschlag train station. We were supposed to meet a current Fulbrighter, Elizabeth, who has been so kind to offer me some of her things before she leaves for the US in 2 days. We could not contact each other by phone and could not see one another at the train station, so Jan and I decided to go to his house, where I proceeded to CRASH! I think I slept 2 hours. But, most importantly, I was able to skype with Mom, Dad, and Will. I essentially gave my parents a 5 AM wake up call, right before their alarm went off. Later on, Jan and I went back to a different train station- this time in Darmstadt. We finally met up with Elizabeth and off loaded 2 large bags of bed linens, towels, baking pans, and who knows what else. I was too tired to even look in the bags. We had a funny encounter at the post office when we tried to explain we wanted to ship all of this. They found a REALLY big box, and shipped it to Aachen for almost 10 Euro-that's about 14 dollars. I was expecting the rate to be much higher.

I came back, skpyped again (which has become my most recent hobby it seems!) Please let me know if you skype! It is such a good way to keep in touch for free! Now I am waiting on Jan to wake up- he was really tired today from partying all weekend... HaHa.

I haven't really spoke much German here- I get really shy about speaking since I don't say all the grammar right or speak fast enough. However, I am sure within the year I will have no problem.

Tomorrow I leave for Marburg.

Thanks to all of you for showing your support and thoughts through your phone calls, notes, emails, and facebook messages. I really appreciate having such a wonderful support network, even across the atlantic ocean and 6 or 7 hours time difference!

Tschüss!

Rebecca