Hello everybody, my name is Stuart and I am a Writing and Germanic Studies major. I’m participating in an exchange semester with Phillips-Universität Marburg and I’m finally here! After eighteen months of planning and dreaming, I am now writing this blog from my dorm room in Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. This past week has definitely had a very surreal quality to it, and I found myself needing a take a few days to recover from my jetlag and allow my mind to adjust to the fact that I AM IN GERMANY.
My goals for this exchange are to develop a fluency in German, and I felt that immersion would be the only way to achieve this as fully as I wanted to. So far, it’s working! After only a week, I can already tell that just being here is teaching me language skills that just can’t come as easily or as powerfully in a classroom setting. When I walk up to a door that says “Drucken”, that door only moves when I push on it. I am doing this hundreds of times a day now, and “Drucken” is no longer something I translate in my head, but is rather something that has pure meaning to me. (Same with the other side of that door, which says “Ziehen”, and as you probably guessed, isn’t budging until you pull it open) Ordering a wonderful little delight called a “Milchkaffee”, riding the bus past advertisements, checking for each store’s hours, and just listening to all of the conversations around me every day is developing and reinforcing my German, and all that I’m doing are simple, everyday tasks.
I read Rowan’s blog, and spoke to several other students who had gone on exchanges to Marburg before me, and I can add my own recommendations for preparing for an exchange, based on some things I did, and some things I now wish I had done. Firstly, don’t try to buy outlet converters at home. You will find exactly what you are looking for once you arrive in Germany, and it is 100% guaranteed to work if you buy it from here! I bought a charger for my iPhone and a new power cord for my laptop adapter after I arrived, and the converter I bought in Canada is sitting on my desk being all useless and stuff. Secondly, Internet in the student dorms in Marburg is pretty hit and miss, and unlike poor Rowan, I hit the jackpot, and found a cable-modem waiting for me in my room, but you can’t expect to have Internet as the dorms are spread out throughout the city and you won’t know where you are going to end up until you get here, and some dorms have Internet, and some don’t. Pretty much every student building I’ve been in has had WIFI though, so if you don’t get into a dorm with Internet, you may simply find yourself hanging out in other student buildings when you want to go online. I opted to bring my own smartphone from home, but I had to unlock it with my home company first. So if you’re currently getting cell service through Telus, for example, you will need to call Telus and then follow their instructions to unlock your phone before you can get a German SIM card for your Smart phone. I currently have a really reasonably priced pre-paid plan for my smart phone, which I can simply “top-up” any time I use up all my minutes. It’s way cheaper than my plan in Canada, and I’m always connected. (Except when I’m in a bar that’s in a 500 year old cellar with no cell service.) You may find that you are trying to meet up with people and plans are forming and changing on the fly all the time, so the ability to stay up to date no matter where you are may be very valuable, but you may find that you are completely fine with simply using WIFI to connect your phones/tablets/laptops. This is going to be a matter of personal choice. Thirdly, you are going to receive lots of helpful advice and instructions from the IUSP staff from Marburg. Follow their advice and instructions like it’s the gospel! German organization and efficiency lives up to the hype, believe me! I followed their instructions to the letter, and getting from the Frankfurt Airport to Marburg’s Hauptbahnhof was ridiculously easy. They have the process of getting students started with the IUSP program down to a science, and if you work with them, the experience is going to be so smooth, it will be like a purée. Fourthly, don’t be afraid to take it easy in your first week. Many people are going to be bursting at the seams to get out and get going, but taking a few days to rest and relax and let your body adjust to its new time zone, schedule, and environment will allow you to enjoy everything much more. You’re going to be doing a lot of walking in Marburg, much of it uphill too! You can walk through the Castle bleary eyed and exhausted on Tuesday, or refreshed and invigorated on Saturday. The castle has been there for 500 years and will be there for quite some time to come, so it’s entirely up to you, but taking the time to rest and relax will also stop you from getting too rundown and possibly sick.
So far, I’ve had the time of my life, and I’m just now finished with my first week! I can’t wait to see my language skills develop over the next four months, and am looking forward to the many adventures I’ll be having with my many new friends! Look for more from me on my studies and travels in the coming weeks and months! Tschüss!