I always knew that I wanted to study abroad in Germany. That's why my freshman
year I started planning my semester abroad at the University of Marburg.
After taking in the beautiful views of my new home, some fellow students brought
me to my new dorm room. I got to live alone as everyone does in German dorms,
and my room had a walk-in closet, table, desk, chair, sink, and own Wi-Fi router.
The house mom would clean our sheets for us every week as well. One of the classes I
took while in Germany was a culture class. In this class we got to go inside
windmills to learn about renewable energy from the Marburg mayor, go to a
synagogue, mosque, and my personal favorite the Blista. The Blista is
the only solely blind school in Germany. That's why there are many blind
accommodations throughout the city like grooves on the sidewalk so that blind
people can feel it and move accordingly. We also got to experience being blind at
the Dunkel Cafe where they bring you downstairs into a completely dark
environment and you have to order, eat, and pay. For another part of our culture
class, we took three excursion to historic cities throughout Germany. First,
we went to Berlin where we got to see all of the landmarks and go on a tour
through the Reichstag. Then we went to Hamburg, which was very cool because we
were there on the port anniversary so there was a huge festival going on.
We also got to go on a harbor tour. The last trip was to Dresden where we got to see
the Saxon Alps, as well as go on a city tour, and see the differences between
West and East Germany. Another course I took was called the conversation course
where we just practiced our German speaking skills. As a part of this, we
took various excursions including a 13 mile hike to see the buildings that
Hansel and Gretel were based off of and a brewery tour. After classes and on the
weekends, we always found some fun things to do. We did many grill outs on the side
of the Lahn, the river that runs through Marburg, went to bars and experienced the
round tables where they have a keg in the middle and you get to pour your own
beer, and lastly made dinner together. The photo on the right happened during when
we made dinner one evening and my friend James had just bought lederhosen so he
dressed up like a German and our German friend Ina dressed up like an American.
On some weekends we decided to take trips to other German cities
since we had a bus pass that allowed us to get on any train within the state of Hessen.
We went to Heidelberg, Kassel, and Frankfurt.
My favorite was Heidelberg with the picturesque scenery. It was interesting to
see Frankfurt since it has the old German feel along with new industrial
buildings that can be seen in the top right photograph. On a few long weekends
my friends and I took trips outside of Germany. We went to Strasbourg, France
where we got to see the beautiful scenery and churches. I thought it was
funny that McDonald's there serves hot dogs.
We also went to Croatia where we went on a sailboat tour and saw the monument to
the Sun that consists of solar panels that light up at night. There was also a
sea organ that played music every time the waves hit it. Next, we went to three
different places within Spain where I got to see the big city of Madrid,
a classic Spanish town Toledo, and a coastal city of Alicante. We found this
random walkway outside in Alicante that was beautifully paved. The last place I
went was Prague. Here we experienced the local food and walked around seeing the
sights including the John Lennon wall. Some of the most important things I took
away from this experience were my lifelong friends. I've already seen some
of them multiple times since being back in the States.
We even took a road trip to see everyone when one of my German friends flew over
for a month to experience the American lifestyle. The other important takeaway
was my newfound appreciation for other cultures. I'll leave you with this video
that I took on a bridge in Prague.
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