"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