**As I'm typing I keep remembering more and more things so this one's pretty long and I didn't feel like proof reading**
The past few days have been some of the best days I've ever had. I met so many people and every single person is extremely nice and friendly. I've been hanging out with people from Alaska, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Canada and it's crazy to hear everyone's accents. They say I have a slight southern drawl and I can't seem to stop saying "ya'll" which they find hilarious. The people from Boston say "wicked" as in "wicked sick" and "wicked fun." It's wicked weird. The Canadians say "ay" which they say is used when you want to turn statement into a question. For example: this is good, ay? A Wisconsin accent is hard to explain but it's very noticeable. Alaskans don't really have an accent.
So getting around on the buses is pretty difficult. You have to get on the bus on a certain side of the street to get to our dorms and I've yet to figure it out. Everyone seems to be getting the hang of walking around and knowing where things are but I'm still clueless. Marburg is pretty small, so we can walk everywhere but we sometimes hop on a bus to get around town when it's raining or really cold. We always take a bus to and from the dorms during the day but we've had to walk to the dorms the past two nights because they stop running at 12:30pm. The walk takes about 15-20 depending on where we are in town and it's not too bad until we get to this massive hill. I actually start sweating in 30 degree weather.
The first day I met girls from Alaska and Wisconsin and we've been going around town together to get groceries and stuff and we've gotten lost so many times. We were told that if you get confused with the buses just get on bus 7 and it will just loop around and eventually get you where you need to go. On the second day we tried to go into town and we accidentally got on the bus that goes the long way. We figured we would just stay on wait for out stop. Well all of a sudden the bus stops, the lights go out, and we notice no one else is on the bus. The driver came up to us and said something German that we didn't understand and we thought he wanted out bus passes so we were frantically trying to get them out (if you don't have it its a 60 euro fine). It turns out he was making us get off the bus. He went back up to the front and we couldn't even figure out how to open the doors because they usually do automatically so we just stood there until he did it for us. We had no idea where we were and had to get on about 3 buses before we found a familiar area.
We finally made it to a Donner restaurant which I have since been to about 7 times already. It's gyro shaved really thin on a pita bread type thing and it's amazing. That same day we went there for lunch and it took us two hours to get into the right part of town (when it usually takes 12) so we ended up eating there again for dinner since it was the closest thing. Later on that night it was the only thing open so we went there a third time (I didn't eat the third time.)
We also got lost two days ago and we were looking for someone to ask for directions so we asked this guy. The other two girls have been taking German for years and know a good bit so I was standing behind the guy while they asked. The said excuse me and he said yes? and they suddenly looked at each other and looked embarrassed. I had no idea what was going on so just followed them as they quickly and quietly walked away. It turns out the guy was blind... and they were trying to point to a map for directions.
I've always wanted to live in a small town where you can walk everywhere so I'm in heaven. For some reason it feels so cool to walk around with my little cloth grocery bags. On Wednesday and Saturday there is a farmer's market type thing where they have tents all over with fruit and stuff out so I can't wait. We missed it on Saturday because we didn't know it ended at noon.
Yesterday I woke up and washed clothes. The washer was tiny but it at least had an english option. The dryer on the other hand was in German so it took a while to figure out. I must have put it on the wrong setting because it took forever to dry. I then went grocery shopping with Nicole Odekirk. Imagine how confusing that is. I've never really known anyone named Nicole so it's really weird. We've been hanging out since the first day so people just group us as the Nicole's but that means everyone knows our names and I'm having the hardest time remembering everyone else's. There are also two Nick's. So like last night for example there were two Nicoles and a Nick.
But anyway, after the Nicoles went grocery shopping we met in Sam's (From Alaska and listens to Metallica and Pantera. I didn't really give her a choice to be my friend.) floor kitchen and she made spaghetti and baklava for us and some people from my dorm and theirs. There are 4 of us from my dorm and 5 from another building so we went to the other building and basically took over the kitchen. We were pretty loud and had music on so everyone probably wanted to murder us. We went to a bar after which is so different than it is at LSU. Here you sit down and hang out. At LSU bars are more like clubs and dancing is basically mandatory. There are clubs here but I'll be sitting those nights out.
I haven't been able to update the blog in so long because I don't have internet in my dorm. Its ethernet instead of wifi and the cord doesn't fit into MacBook Airs so I need a converter and the one they sold me can't be used on Macs. I was told to go back and get a Mac one but they don't have it... I have data on my phone but I have no clue how much I'm using. There is a library by the cluster of dorms that has wifi which is where I am now. It's a library so I can't actually talk which means I can't Skype. Its been nasty weather the past couple days so I can't sit at the tables outside to Skype.
I really like being here because people don't have normal cell phones so we don't all sit around and play on them. We actually talk to each other. What an odd concept. Also, the only times I'm in my room is when I'm sleeping or getting ready which is so different than when I'm home.
It looks like I'll only have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday starting in April and most people are off at the very least on Monday and Friday. That means at least 4 day weekends and people seem to know other people all over Europe because their high schools had a lot of foreign exchange students. It looks like I'll be doing a lot of traveling. It also looks like I'll be coming back broke. I want to take every opportunity that my bank account will allow.
Today is Sunday and everything is closed which is really weird. I'm sitting in the library with some people I know but there are a bunch of people that actually go to school here who are studying for finals so we can't talk. I feel like I'm swallowing very loud.
On the bus we have gotten very used to being stared at. And I mean STARED at. I usually travel on the bus with Nicole, Sam, and Cassie (Massachusetts) and we talk at a normal volume but we are usually some of the only ones talking. Apparently the German way to ride a train is to look down and be quiet. At night when we head out its usually more of us at once (last night was 9 people) and people look at us as if we're aliens. Its hard remember that to a lot of people we're speaking a foreign language. They may be quiet on buses but German's very friendly. Everyone in the dorms say hello and no one gets frustrated when I can't speak German.
I hope the entire trip is like this because this is basically the most fun I've ever had and its only the first week. And here's a picture of us in a underground bunker turned into a bar. I'm not sure why I have an Adam's apple.
