Guten Abend Aus Deutschland!

Good Morning to you in America!

I have now been in Marburg for 2 days, and am loving every minute! It is incredibly busy; trying to learn the bus schedules, pay various charges to the Haus Frau (She is in charge of the dorm), starting my first day of school (!), and just trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I will be here for 6 months!

Here are a few pictures from my travels. The first was taken when we were waiting for the train at the Frankfurt airport, to take us to the Hauptbahnhof which would then bring us to Marburg. This is 7am in Marburg, midnight in Minnesota!

 Flughafen Frankfurt: Airport train station

Marburg is a very beautiful city, even when the sky is gray and it rains, you can't take away its fairytale charm. Die Oberstadt is the oldest part of the city, and is the most wonderful in my opinion. When you imagine a European town with winding cobblestone roads, unique architecture, and great history...thats Marburg. I took the picture below from Studentendorf (literally translated means student village, where mz dorm is located), which is on the opposite bluff as the Oberstadt. You can see the Landgrafen Schloss (Castle) at the top overlooking the city. The buildings directly below that make up the Oberstadt, and below those, in the valley lies the Unterstadt. 

After settling into our dorm rooms, a few of us ventured out to buy some groceries. I was very happy about finding brötchen and quark! They will make up my breakfast for the next week. 

I just had to document the cool cars in Germany! Though I would be terrified to drive here, the streets are so narrow, and when passing a bus there is very little room between...

 Another picture from the Oberstadt: Last night my group went to a restaurant called the Auflauf, there I ordered a "Grieschiches Auflauf" which was kind of like a greek casserole thing. Very delicious!

The christmas decorations in the city are also very fun... and magical at night.

Lomonosov-Haus, my new home for the next 5 months! It is a very old dorm, but my room is quaint and cozy. It is located on a bluff, so I climb very steep hills when I walk home from the bus stop. There is another stop, which is at the top of the hill and requires you to walk through a forest. It then opens to a road surrounded by more forest. Very cool but at night it is a bit dangerous! 

I started classes today and was placed in the stufe 2 (second level), basically I will be in this class for the next 6 weeks, focusing on grammar, reading, and speaking and then at the end will have a test and hopefully go on to the next level. There are 13 in my class, some students from America, Cameroon, Indonesia, China, and Palestine. It is interesting to converse with them when our common language is German. I really enjoy it. 

Now I must go to the bus stop to head back to my room, a few of us are making dinner tonight and then perhaps exploring more of the city. I do not yet have internet set up in my room but hopefully soon!

Ich wünsche euch ein schönen Tag noch!