1 month down, 10 to go...

And what have I learnt so far? 

Well I will have you know, quite a lot of things actually. 

Firstly I would like to say that my English is totally f***ed up, but I take this as a positive. Having 3 languages in my head and constantly switching between two has now taken it's toll. I am left most of the time...speechless or rather, wordless. Of course, most of the time it turns me into a bumbling wreck, but there are some (one at most) moments throughout the day when I feel genuinely chuffed that I, let's say, remembered the word 'abheben' (to withdraw cash) or 'schapps' which means shots (yes, the drinking kind). 

Secondly, I can now say I have more patience, in life in general. The whole road situation that I mentioned last week has contributed to this in many ways. E.g waiting for the little green man. Oh yes, it seems like I only ever want to cross the road in Marburg at really inconvenient times, i.e. when the red man is showing. Meaning, I have to wait for at least 2 mins on the side of the road for the fluorescent green gentleman to show his innocent yet smug face, as if he is saying "Yes Amy, you can cross now. I hope I didn't hold up your day too much (when in fact that was my whole aim all along)". But I'm not bitter about this at all.

Thirdly, my carbon footprint has definitely decreased since being in Germany. I mean, I did think this would happen as soon as I took one step onto Germany's well tossed soil anyway because it's known for being one of the most energy efficient nations in the world - FACT. But nevertheless, I either walk, bus, or train it. And I feel great! I mean obviously I don't feel that great when I'm on a packed, delayed, sweaty train from Frankfurt to Marburg on a Saturday evening (last night's escapades) but most of the time* the Offis or public transport are good. 

*It's SO BAD. Like really bad. Always delayed buses and trains, and Deutsche Bahn is worse than National Express/Rail put together. Rant over.

Lastly, I like to think that I have become more polite. I mean I say please and thank you about 20 times a day in Germany so I get points for that, right? But seriously though, it's common courtesy in Germany to say Bitte which means please after someone says Danke or thank you, to you. Equally if you are handing over money, it's right that you should say Bitte as you hand it over. Crazy I know, but they are a very polite here.

I am massively tired tonight and I have an exam tomorrow so bear with if most of what I have said tonight doesn't make much sense, or if you were expecting a massive de-brief on my week.I'm sorry! It's been MENTAL, but in a good way. To sum up in 5 words (because I love doing this and feel it gets to the point) HEIDELBERG, AUFLAUF, VINEYARD, WIESBADEN and APOTHEKEMUSEUM. Okay so that was technically 6 words, but the last one was definitely a highlight! (if you read last weeks blog you would know why, if you haven't then just ignore).

XXX

Apothekes und Shisha.

So this week has been another eye opener in the student town of Marburg...

and I have finally had a Currywurst! Yep, I strolled up to an Imbiss (chippy) and ordered my first Curry-sauce covered sausage (don't make jokes now, you dirty people) and for only 2.50 euros, it was bloody lovely! Bargain too. But that has not been the only first of the week. 

Last night (Saturday) a few friends and I went for our weekly night out, emphasis on the "weekly", uhuh I'm a changed woman now, I only drink once a week... Anyway, we went into town and stumbled across a lovely little Shisha bar called Sinbad's. As we walked into the smoke-filled, crypt like bar, I couldn't help but think I was actually in the Middle East due to the decor and the cool wall paintings. But then I heard the music. One word. Eminem. Yes, they were playing "hit" after "hit" of the american rap singer and also chucking in a few German rap singers - one who I actually quite liked called Jonesmann who's song "Warum bin ich hier" left me thinking exactly that...but anyway, the Shisha was great.

Afterwards we went to the Oberstadt (the old town) in Marburg and found a lovely like pub called Dungeon. Despite the name it was actually very pleasant. Well pleasant that is, until a German stag party walked into the underground bunker of a pub. What followed after I would rather not say on here because my parents read this, who then probably read it to my granny, but let me just say that my friends and I unwillingly saw a lot of German sausage last night - not the nice kind. 

Moving swiftly on. We soon left the "sausage" dungeon and went to a club called DESBARADO... get it? which was really good. Even if a single vodka and lemonade was 6 euros. Don't worry I didn't have one, I had a Bier. Sehr deutsch, oder? 

After about an hour in this trendy club, it was around 3am and my friends and I got the munchies so went on the search for Döner. And we found it, really quickly. Can I just say, IT IS THE BEST DRUNK FOOD. No joke, I had cheese with the kebab and that made it even better. The Imbiss wasn't too shabby either, even if they did blare out 1D the entire time we were in there. (I swear no eatery or bar I have been too this week has been able to set the right atmosphere with their choice of music, must be a german thing.)

Safe to say, this morning I was not feeling great. But I suppose there is no one else to blame other than myself. Ahh alcohol, until next weekend.

To cure my hangover, I should have probably got out of my pit of a bed and got some asprin, but could I be bothered? NO. Which leads me onto my next point of the week. Apothekes or pharmacys in english.

They are everywhere. I'm not kidding. On every street there is a pharmacy and it's kind of worrying. Why do the Germans need that many medical supplies so readily available? Are they permanently sick? I haven't yet been into one and I have an ongoing joke with a friend to not go in one all year if I can help it. But I suppose it's nice to know that if I did take a tumble and needed a plaster, help is not far away, at all.

Anyway, that is all from me this week. I am quite tired and might still be a little drunk whilst writing this so bear with. But I must go and study*. 

XXX

*By study, I mean watch the German elections and nurse my hangover with copious amounts of tea.

Some Marburgian Observations.

So this week, I thought I would share with you all...

Some cultural differences in Marburg which you would not find in Southampton or anywhere else in the UK.

First of all:

TRAFFIC LIGHTS.

Now in Germany, it is a fine-able offence to cross the road when the little red man is showing. Bit extreme right? But no, they are all about the green cross code over here, especially in Marburg because of the abundance of blind students here (Marburg is home to a really good school for the blind). The Germans themselves are really hot on road safety as well (despite not having a speed limit on the motorway) and it was only when I spoke to a German friend about it I realised how much we as Britons "dance with death" every time we cross the road. 

My nearest bus stop is situated on the german equivalent of an A road, meaning it's pretty much busy and fast moving traffic all day long. However to get to the bus stop, I, myself, have to risk my life. Dramatic, huh? But these are the death defying stunts I must go through each day just to get to my lectures. Anyways, I told my friend about what I was doing and she looked at me as if I had just slapped her or something. "WASSS?" she said "Aber Amy, das ist sooo gefaehrlich!" (That's so dangerous!). Yeah I know it's dangerous but what am I supposed to do? 

It was only later on in the day, that I found out there was a very safe looking subway that runs from my halls to the bus stop, avoiding this so-called "death trap" of a road. Super.

TIPS.

So since being here I haven't given out one single tip to a waiter/tress. And I kinda don't feel bad. Is that bad? But it's just not the done thing here. When you pay for something, the waiter/tress ask you whether you want to pay "zusammen oder getrennt?" (together or seperately). Being students we all want to pay separately and make sure that we aren't unnecessarily paying more than we have to and for this reason "getrennt" is my new favourite way to pay. But then how do you pay a tip? Leave some change left over? I suppose we could tip if we wanted too but the waiters/tresses don't give you daggers if you forget...

TRANSPORT.

Here in Marburg, for me, IS FREE. Trains, buses, trams, underground, all of it for free, because I am a student! Praise the Lord! 

I really think this is an idea England should adopt. It is nationally recognised that students are not rolling in it, and so why should we have to pay every day to get a 25 minute bus to lectures, when we are already paying astronomical amounts in tuition fees compared to the rest of Europe? We shouldn't. And so in Germany, we don't and it's so satisfying. 

However, I have got so used to travelling without spare change in my purse that when I got in a taxi last night, I didn't actually have enough money to pay for it. Embarrassing. And made worse by the fact I was sobering up from being at a Wine Festival all day, where copious amounts of fine wine was consumed. 

CANTEEN.

The "Mensa" (canteen) here at Marburg Uni is wunderbar. A main meal costs 1,95 euros or about £1.60 and for that you get a big plate of either salad or schnitzel or Currywurst + chips or some other german delicacy AND a side. A drink is extra but to be honest, it's still great value for money. 

    On a side note: the standard of living for a student in Germany is much cheaper than in the UK. I can live off about 50 euros a week here or £42. That's what I call a BAR-GAIN.

THE PURCHASING/CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.

First difference I noticed since being in Germany and probably one of the most important/beneficial for students in Marburg is the cheap booze. Seriously, a bottle of Licher (the local beer) is 2 euros and it's 5%. The cheapest (and actually drinkable) bottle of vodka (don't worry I can pronounce the name so it's good to drink) at the supermarket is equivalent to a fiver in the UK. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? 

I know. To be able to drink on the streets? Well you can do that here too! Yep, public drinking is A-OKAY in Germany. Can't wait to get home to drink? Well have no fear! Although you might not want to make a habit of this in case people actually start to think you are an alcoholic.

So far those have been the main things I have noticed since moving to Germany.

I am going to try and post more than once a week however things have been absolutely crazy this past fortnight. What have I done this week? In five words? FRANKFURT. AUFLAUF. KASSEL. WINE FESTIVAL.


So bis später!
XXX

My first ever post. Da-da-da-daaaaaa.

Well, this is exciting. 

I have a blog! Now, I don't know whether it's going to be a success but I thought I would write down my experiences in Marburg somewhere on the web (apart from on Facebook and Twitter) because my mum doesn't have either of those...

I'M IN MARBURG and I think the best way to describe this week is to do a break down of the week, so here goes...

Monday a.k.a nightmare day.

So I arrived in Marburg late (quel surprise) AND turned up at the wrong place despite it clearly stating on the sheet that I should have met someone at the train station after 2pm. My incompetence didn't stop there though because I managed to drop my suitcase pretty much every 5 meters due to the sheer weight of them and also because MARBURG IS SO HILLY, which lead to two very scraped ankles. Not fun.

Anyway when I eventually got to the Hauptbahnhof (main station) I was picked up by a lovely lady, who's name I can't remember so we shall just call her "ginger girl" or "GG" for short, who took me to the Notunterkunft (emergency accommodation). And yes, it was emergency. There was literally a bed and a bin. No shower either and the toilet and sink were comparable to that of which you would find in a petrol station...in Slough.

I didn't even bother to unpack, I didn't want my clothes to touch the floor of the room and I guessed I would only be there for one night as GG said that she would be able to give me my actual room keys the next day. So I sat with my Czech friend (again I didn't know her name) and we drank some god knows how old honey flavoured vodka that apparently "her grandad makes". It was actually quite nice for the first sip but then it just felt like I was swallowing fire so I quickly made an excuse and stopped drinking it.

To let off some steam though, the 4 other "Notunterkunft" gals and I went to this abandoned-warehouse-turned-cool-alternative-pub with the rest of the ERASMUS peeps and had a lovely evening! Met some great people and drank 4 bottles of Lichers which is a really tasty local beer. We also played human bingo, which just consisted of asking people random questions about their life and getting them to sign their name next to ones they had done until you had all the questions covered. Sounds tenuous but it was actually quite fun. Overall, it was a really nice end to what had been a hot, sweaty and frustrating first day in Marburg. But my week did get a lot better.

Tuesday-Thursday a.k.a the form-filling-out days.

So as you can probably guess from the title to this section, I filled out a lot of forms this week. I got a German bank account, a German SIM card, health insurance and became a Marburgian citizen! Hurrah! This was all really well done by the ERASMUS team and our tutors Lena and Kristin are the best, so thanks girls!

Wednesday was a particularly good day because I discovered AUFLAUF. Now AUFLAUF (I feel it needs to always be capitalised because of how frigging amazing it is) is a traditional Marburgian dish which is a bit like a pasta bake. BUT BETTER. You can choose what kind of pasta/potato you would like as a base and then choose a sauce and then choose the toppings. I had a lush "Nudeln-Curry" (curry pasta) with broccoli and onions and it was bloody incredible! AUFLAUF is the best thing I have ever eaten, yep bold statement but I don't care. Anyone that comes here is going to get personally escorted to Paprika (the best AUFLAUF place) by me and I will sit there and watch you eat it. Not in a creepy way, I just feel everyone needs to experience this at least once in their life.

Went on a tour on Thursday (I think) and that was cool, there's a lot of history in Marburg and the views are so stunning. It's like a fairy tale town with all the rolling valleys and the forests however I cannot and will not walk up to the castle because it is so high up and I am lazy. Trust me, the hour tour that we did was enough walking to last me a good few months. To top it all off, it was also 30 degrees C and I was wearing my thickest jeans and boots so I was sweating, a lot. But at least I learnt how Marburgian houses were built. FUN FACT*: the beams which support the houses in the Oberstadt (old town) cannot be cleaned because it ruins the quality of the wood. So there are just a lot of dirty houses.

*this fact is in no way fun.

Friday & Saturday a.k.a the party days.

Friday was the day of the international dinner and I had to make a "traditional" dish from my country. Almost instantly I thought of Scones (pronounced with an 'oh' sound, thank you)

Now those of you that know me well will know that I can't cook, at all. And so even the prospect of baking something as simple as scones scared me.

Main problem with making this bland dish in Germany is that they don't have one of the most vital ingredients. SELF RAISING FLOUR. Nope that's right. They have Flour (Mehl) and self-raising (Backpulver) and you just have to put them together and hope that whatever you are making, rises. So once I have made a dough, I needed a cutter. The girl (who's house we were cooking in) didn't have one, so I used a glass. And it worked quite well actually. After having put them in the the oven for 20 mins, I had what resembled 10 measley-biscuit-like ovals. Then I had to sort out the filling. For this I whisked some cream (too much) so that it curdled and I felt like things couldn't get much worse in the sauna of a kitchen right then. But never fear, because I had strawberry jam, which didn't really save the situation but at least it added some moisture to the dryish texture of the scones, if you could call them that.

BUT THEY ALL WENT when we took them to the international dinner, so take that Delia Smith. I can cook. Ish.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to a Jaegermeister party. Which involved, yep you guessed it, a lot of jaeger. But being an awkward international ERASMUS student that doesn't really know the "going out norms" in Marburg just yet, I went along to the party a tad too early. And me plus a few others were the only ones in there for a good hour. Which was fine, I just drank and drank and drank. And then danced a bit. Also FUN FACT*: they had a smoking room right next to the bar inside the club which you as a smoker or maybe ever a passive smoker/recently quit smoker could sit in and inhale the sweet fumes of death.

But apart from one of my group getting really drunk (you know who you are) all of us coped with the copious amounts of Jaeger pretty well and I woke up this morning with only a mild hangover! But we had AUFLAUF again just now so I am happy.

*this fact is not fun either really, sorry.

All in all this week has been tiring but at the same time really bloody funny and I think I have fallen for Marburg already.

Tomorrow I start an intensive 3 week language course, so let's hope that is fun and doesn't involve much German grammar because that shit is hard. Oktober Fest is also fast approaching but more details of plans to do with that will follow soon. For now sleep well everyone and thanks for reading this post (even if you just liked it on FB, thanks)

XXX