Month: October 2014

As part of the International Undergraduate Studies Program at Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany, we were given the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Berlin. Leaving on Thursday, October 2 and returning on Sunday, October 5, we had two group tours and plenty of time to explore the city and enjoy the Berlin atmosphere.

Day of German Unity

The reason that we were able to leave class early and spend three days in Berlin was the public holiday, the Day of German Unity, on October 3. This holiday celebrates the reunification of Germany in 1990, at the end of the Cold War. As our tour guide told us, the day most people actually remember is November 9^th, 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, but this unfortunately occurred on the anniversary of a much more sinister German historical event: Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, in 1938. Because of this, they chose instead to celebrate the day reunification was officially completed. This did not prevent us from spending hours that day touring memorial sites of the Berlin Wall, of course.

The German Bundestag

Perhaps our biggest discovery in Berlin was our visit to the Bundestag. Having been to Berlin twice before, including spending a week there this summer studying the memorialization of the Holocaust, this is one of the few major landmarks I hadn’t been inside. The entrance security feels a bit like a US airport, but the atmosphere once inside is actually very relaxed. I was especially interested in decades-old graffiti left on the walls in Russian – while some of the more aggressive language was removed, the government decided to keep what they could of the graffiti for art’s and history’s sake. I can’t imagine such a thing happening at the Parliament in Victoria! We also got to sit inside the main debate room of the Lower House, complete with giant eagle model. The experience was a bit surreal.

Touring Berlin on bicycle

Something I never thought I’d do in Berlin was rent a bicycle and ride around aimlessly for seven hours, but that’s how many of us spent the afternoon after our city tour. I was shocked that helmets weren’t even available, but the woman renting us our bikes said we “wouldn’t need one” because of the holiday. I failed to see the connection between the two things, but luckily, there were no injuries in our group. By bike, it’s possible to see everything you could want to see in Berlin in one afternoon, and we rode by the Cathedral of Berlin, the main university buildings, the Spree River, the Bebelplatz book-burning memorial, the East Side Gallery, the Brandenburg Gate, and much more. We also stopped for incredible Vietnamese food along the way. If you’re looking for a variety of ethnic foods that more or less compares with Vancouver in Germany, Berlin is the place to be.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been adjusting to life in Marburg. With my language and culture courses nearing a close, and the regular semester beginning in just two weeks, I thought I’d talk a little bit more about life in Marburg and with the International Undergraduate Study Programme.

Culture classes

As a part of the IUSP program, I’ve been taking culture courses daily for the last two weeks, along with my morning language classes. The topics covered in these classes vary widely, and last Monday we had the opportunity to participate in a mock debate, a first for me. Split into partners, we represented the interests of particular countries in the 1990 2 + 4 agreement on the reunification of Germany. For this discussion, I got to represent the FRG, or West Germany, and argue for immediate unification and full sovereignty, against countries such as France and Great Britian, which were wary of Germany’s united power. In the end, we came to an agreement that differed greatly from the actual historical result, and through the process had many quiet side conversations and formed alliances. It was an exciting experience that made international politics all the more engaging.

Being vegetarian in Marburg

Recently, I made the decision to become pescatarian, which means that I eat fish, but not other meats. As a result, one of the first things I had to discover in Marburg was where to get food that I can eat. Meat is, of course, a major cultural staple in Germany, so this wasn’t immediately obvious. What I have discovered, though, is that as a university town, there are vegetarian options at almost every restaurant in Marburg, as well as major vegetarian aisles in grocery stores. I was able to find, for example, delicious veggie patties for a grill dinner hosted by my floor in residence. Perhaps my greatest discovery on this front, though, was a small vegan restaurant called Vegi Queen. Located just behind the main university cafeteria, this restaurant serves everything from vegan bratwurst to soy gyros, and is a great way to get a feel for the German food culture without actually eating meat. Other than this restaurant, veganism isn’t the easiest thing in Marburg, but being vegetarian certainly is no problem.

Social life

While keeping very busy with my hectic class schedule and other work, I have been able to explore some of the social aspects of Marburg as well. With student train passes for all of Hessen, there is more open to us than might be expected for such a small town, and my friends and I have explored options such as spending the night in Frankfurt for music festivals, going shopping in nearby Giessen, and roasting marshmallows just outside the Studentendorf dorms where there is a fire pit at the ready. The student residences are certainly a great place to be if you’re looking for parties, though less so if you’re hoping to sleep. My building is an international dorm, and so there is very little respect for quiet hours, even during the school week. People can be heard playing games, chatting loudly, and singing well into the night. I would recommend either getting a good pair of earplugs or, if you don’t have early classes, venturing into your residence kitchen to see what all the excitement is about. If nothing else, the multi-lingual conversation can be quite the experience.