Cookouts and Beer

Hi Everyone!

So I thought I would spend this post telling you all about my wonderful new friends and the fun things that we do to occupy our time. We only have 4.5 hours of class a day, which is a lot of German at once, but leaves us with plenty of time to explore Germany and German culture!! The wonderful organizer of our program is Raphael!

We love him! He has done a wonderful job organizing our program and deal with our endless whining about the internet (it took about a week for the internet in our dorms to start working, and you would have thought that the universe was ending from the amount of complaining we all--myself included--did)! One of my favorite things that he organizes are informal get togethers. In my last blog post, I spoke about our night tour of the city, which Raphael graciously organized and took us to some of his favorite bars. Two Thursdays ago he took us to one of his favorite beer gardens!

 

Joe, Stephen, and Rachel enjoying their beer

 

More of our group hanging out at the beer garden

We had a grand ole time. Chatting and drinking and eating the terrible food that one can buy at a beer garden. Our waitress was great! She chided those of us who were not drinking, saying that that's not what one does at a beer garden, one has to drink beer! She also continued speaking to us in German even when she realized it was not our first language (often many people will start speaking English to us because their English is better than our German, which always annoys me--I want to learn German!!). I even took a chance and ordered grüne bier (green beer), which only meant that it was organic (or bio as they say in Germany).

The next week Raphael's friend, Jose (who also helps organizing the Fulbright language class), had us all over for a cook out in the garden of his apartment building. His apartment building is one of the oldest buildings in Marburg and in the big hill in the middle of the city. So the view from the garden was pretty amazing!

We had a lovely time cooking food and chatting. I even grilled for the first time!

It was an absolutely wonderful way to spend an evening.

Another night, some of my friends and I decided to have a taco party! We all frantically ran around the grocery store trying to buy all of the ingredients required (probably looking and sounding like typical Americans in the process). Then met at my dorm (because the kitchen in it is the best stocked kitchen in Studentendorf) later that night to cook. We had a marvelous time! I made guacamole.

My friend, Joe, made salsa

And we all managed to piece together a fabulous meal. With odd ingredients like arugula and feta cheese to go in our tacos.

And we all had the most enjoyable time!

So that's all for now folks! I will write soon with more tales of my fabulous adventures!

Love,

Lizzie

I'm Here

Hi There!

I am so sorry that I have not been updating my blog regularly so far (this kind of seems like a repeat of last time right--I promise you that will not happen)! So this post will serve as a huge catch up on my life over the last 2 weeks.

August 7-10th

I left Newark and had a very pleasant flight. I met a girl in the airport, Chrissy, who is also in the Fulbright program, so we made our way to Marburg together. When we arrived in the Marburg hauptbahnhof (main train station), we were met by many people who helped with the first several days of the Fulbright Program. Then we were taken up this HUGE hill to the Studentendorf. The studentendorf consists of about 7 (ugly) dorms clustered together on the top of a hill overlooking Marburg.

And into my lovely (but small) dorm room.

For the next two days we were bombarded with information from our lovely German Fulbright Kommission organizers. We were fed really well! Which of course is the most important part. One night we had dinner at this lovely restaurant up on a hill right under the Schloss (castle).

August 11-12th

We started our language classes on Thursday the 11th. We were split into 4 classes and I was placed into level two. After several days I felt that this level was not challenging enough, so I along with three other classmates moved up to level 3. We have three hours of language class in the morning (if your eyes are exploding a bit from your head, that's usually how I feel after those three hours). Then we have a break for lunch and either have a culture class or another hour and a half of language class. It's been great so far! My classmates are amazing! We also have had two tours of the city: one during the day where we learned about the historical significance of the city and one at night, where we learned some different things about the city!

 

The Elizabethkirche

Elizabethkirche at night

Inside of the beautiful church

Most of the buildings in the old city looks like these

The brothers Grim lived here!

August 14th

On the first Sunday here, I visited the Schloss with several friends. We had lunch at the restaurant near the Schloss again! This time we ate on the balcony because a) it is much cheaper and b) the view is incredible. The food was amazing! It was very German...lots of cheese, potatoes, and cream. 

Then we explored the castle! We saw old German woodworking 

and a green room, with a man in a green shirt...

and an anatomy doll...

and really cool armor shields...

and this fantastic chapel that was painted in oranges and reds and pinks! Apparently the Elizabethkirche was originally painted like this...

August 14-21st

The next week went by VERY quickly! It was filled with classes and getting to know my fellow Fulbrighters, who are an amazing bunch! Everyone here is extremely interesting and smart! It is such a pleasure to be around them all! This past Saturday, the 20th, the whole group of us went canoeing! This turned out to be an adventure! Two people ran into a hornets nest of the river bank and both got stung pretty badly! This was a terrible start to our trip, but after a while we all relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

 Getting ready to go!

My lovely canoe partner, Rachel

We had a wonderful lunch at the half way point! All of the cheese and meats were made on a farm that we past during the canoe trip. There were lots of fresh vegetables and bread! It was sooo tasty! 

So that's been my first two weeks in Germany! I've had such a wonderful time and met so many great people! I can't wait to tell you more about my adventures! 

Love, 

Lizzie

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

Hello My Dear Readers,

I am about to embark upon a wonderful adventure. In 6 (ahhh) days I will be leaving for Germany! I am spending my last days in the US frantically packing! So I'm going a bit crazy.

I am excited (and a bit nervous)! On Sunday, I will take a flight directly to Frankfurt. Upon arrival I will have to navigate the German train system to Marburg

which could be very interesting!! Then I will have a 6-week language intensive program. I will have over 4 hours of language and cultural classes a day! It's going to be a very hectic time, but hopefully by the time I am done I will be able to speak German well.

I am excited to keep you all updated on my wonderful year!

Wish me luck on packing!!