Last night was the official opening of the program, accompanied by a welcome dinner in modern German style with several types of soups and open-faced sandwiches. As drinking water with every meal is not so prevalent here as it is in the US, two choices for juice were offered as well.
I have been debating back and forth as to the necessity of a cell phone, primarily for local use. They tend to be inexpensive to acquire (20-40 Euro dollars), but the pay-as-you-go plans can add up, as even local calls are 9-15 Euro cents per minute. Based on the fact that I will (hopefully) have internet in my room soon, and I have Wi-Fi-access on campus, I’m not really sure as to the necessity of having a local number. Perhaps the only use would be to get in touch with other people in my program, most of whom I see on a daily basis (for now).
This brings to mind an important distinction that I had been told about, and have now seen for myself. On American university campuses, school spirit and a sort of camaraderie are typically rampant. The degree varies from school to school, but it is generally present in some way. Here in Germany, that same “oneness” is not present on campus. The feel is very much one of being there strictly for education. Certainly, many people make friends, but things like campus clubs and sports teams are not as popular. In fact, here in Marburg, the only sports teams are intramural-type city teams. None with the university.
This general feel one gets regarding the German university, as opposed to the American university, is a bit of a culture shock, because it can definitely leave one feeling slightly “alone.” Thankfully, even with the study abroad program alone, everyone else is feeling the same way, so it provides an unspoken basis for many friendships.
In terms of the group of study abroad students of which I am a part, there are about forty of us. Coming from all over the United States, there are several from California, about seven from Wisconsin, one from Idaho, one from DC, one from New Jersey, one from Kansas, and others. One of the girls in our program is from Australia, and we have about five people from Canada. All of us are here for different reasons, though many have German incorporated into their degrees, whether as a major, dual-major, minor, or a chosen concentration.
I am going to take some pictures now (Saturday), so hopefully when I post this blog there will be a photo post to accompany it!
Also, a bit of randomness that I had forgotten to mention…On my flight from San Francisco to London, when I got on the airplane, I was in the last group to board. As I wandered toward the back of the plane, which was setup in a 2 seats-aisle-four seats-aisle-2 seats configuration, I noticed that there was no Row 43 (my row) on the window side of the aisle down which I was walking. As it turns out, Row 43 is the very back row in a Boeing 777. Despite the rest of the airplane being full, I thought for a moment that I was the only one who had been seated in the back row (no one else was there yet, and the boarding was almost complete). As it ended up, I shared the row with two British guys from London and an Asian girl. While waiting in the airport in London, I saw the girl waiting in the same area and struck up a conversation. As it turned out, she was from Turlock (just south of the city where I am from, for those who do not know their California Central Valley geography), had been attending CSU Stanislaus (at which I have a few friends), and was on her way to Turin, Italy for a business study abroad program. Small world.
More small world… the study abroad program/coordinators/organisation I am going through is called CEPA. CEPA coordinated my housing and my entrance to the IUSP study abroad program here at Philipps-Universität Marburg (University of Marburg). Not all of the forty students in the IUSP program are going through CEPA. Some are dealing directly with IUSP, others through various study abroad organisations based in the US and/or affiliated with their home universities. Before I arrived, I was told that there was one other student in this term’s IUSP program who was going through CEPA. (Because of being in CEPA, we have our own special coordinator person here in Marburg, outside of the IUSP program.) It turned out that the other CEPA student was a girl from California who attends UC Davis.
I went and took some pictures of my residence, inside and out, that I will upload along with this post. Additionally, I was able to take some panoramic shots of my room in order to give you a better feel for the size and layout (thanks, Microsoft, for developing an awesome app for an Apple product). WARNING! Shameless plug: Microsoft has an app for iPhone/iPod Touch 4th Gen. called Photosynth that helps you take multiple pictures and stitch it into one panorama. If you have one of these devices, it is definitely worth checking out (and I would guess that they have it for Android and Windows Phone 7 devices as well).
It is now time for me to eat breakfast before catching the bus into town for a meeting where we are dealing with the acquisition of our student visas. Tschuss für Heute! (Bye for now!)
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