Hallo! So I am finally in Germany! After almost two and half long months of waiting, I arrived at 5 a.m. on Monday February 24.

These past two weeks has been extremely overwhelming and much has happened so I decided to break my first official “I’m in Germany” blog post into two parts: one part about the first week and the second part about week two.

From the moment I arrived in the Frankfurt Airport, I’ve been on the go.

Right when we got off the plane and through immigration, the fellow Penn Stater and I grabbed a train into the heart of the city while lugging our huge suitcases (mine was 22 KG, one KG over the weight limit.) On the train we muttered apologizes in a mix of broken German and English (even some French) to the unfortunate people who had to deal with us blocking the isle.

Once in the center of Frankfurt, we grabbed coffee and watched the sunrise over the beautiful train station that puts Grand Central to shame. After wandering for an hour or two we figured out how to buy train tickets and headed to Marburg, which is about an hour North of Frankfurt.

Marburg has many faces. To my surprise the city is not small. I would not describe it as big but when I pictured Marburg three weeks ago it was a quaint, cobblestoned hill with a castle and medieval looking houses.

Although there is that, there is so much more.

The Oberstadt, which is the hill part of the city, possesses cobblestone streets, adorable buildings each completely unique and each probably older than the foundation of our country. There are also bars, restaurants, little shops, a Game Stop (this amuses many people) and a beautiful castle that overlooks the city. During the day the streets are filled with vendors and people shopping. Musicians play the piano, the violin, the accordion and the saxophone to Bob Marley songs.

Through this section of Marburg, there are aesthetics that correlate with the Brother Grimms Fairy Tales including a wolf waterspout, seven stone dwarfs along the walls and giant metal flies next to the clock tower.

             The area of the city around the Oberstadt has a small-city feel with tons of restaurants, shops and movie theaters. The buildings are a mix between modern and medieval architecture. A river, where students can study and eat next to, breaks through the city and a giant church called Elisabathkirche serves as a focal point of the city and the university.

The school is spread out between these two areas with classes both in the castle, the giant Elizabethkirche and glass buildings through the streets. Within the past weeks I have managed to gets lost multiple times but never felt nervous or scared. It’s an adventure and I am learning my way around. Everyone I have encountered here is very friendly and willing to help.

I have hiked almost everyday without ever really pre planning it. Last Saturday, I climbed up a tower that inspired the story for Rapunzel. The other day, fellow study abroad-ers and I just started following paths and eventually crossed through forests and fields and found ourselves in residential areas. Every time this happens, we always eventually figure out where we are and make the trek back to a bus stop to go home.

Classes started on Thursday February 27 and will be everyday for the next six weeks. I have a four-hour language course then two-hour cultural course everyday. Admittedly I was a little shocked with the course load but I have come to appreciate it. Knowing German would help this experience a lot. Almost every German person I have encountered speaks English very well but I have noticed there is a certain amount of respected given to those who try to speak German. When I talked to a German man about this he said that many times the Germans would help you along if you try to speak the language.

The school held our hands through the whole student Visa paperwork and anything else that was required to be in the country. I thought this was extremely helpful and convenient since I heard other students in other programs had issues with this.

Location: Marburg, Germany