It has been about three and a half weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened since then! I can barely believe it myself but since January 28th I have been in 5 different countries: Italy, Austria, Germany, Prague and Switzerland. Currently I am in Marburg, Germany with Britta and she had to go to class today so this gave me my first chance to update my blog. She was very good about giving me options of places to go and I chose Basic coffee next to the main train station. Despite having walked here about 6 times with Britta I got lost on my way, but of course I found it in the end.
I will now try to go back to 3 and a half weeks ago to when I was in Venice, it seems like so long ago but at the same time it feels like the time since then has gone so fast. Venice was a very unique and interesting experience for me. I went there by myself and stayed in a hostel: A Venice Museum. I spend my first two days exploring on my own, just walking around getting a feel for the very different city of Venice. Then the second night I was there I had dinner at the hostel with 11 different people from all over the world. There were people from Brazil, New Zealand, South Korea, England, Mexico, and Italy. I spent the rest of the night hanging out and talking with these people and it was an awesome experience to be able to talk with all of these people and share stories and experiences and things about our culture back home.
After Venice I had one of my most stressful travelling experiences on my way to Vienna to visit my bro the Dietz. I had to take 4 different means of transportation that took a total of 11 hours before I finally arrived in Vienna at 11:30 at night. Being tired after a long day of travel did not mean I got to go to bed however, I had to/got to go meet all of Dalton’s friends and have him try to explain to me a bit about the city. The beginning of my visit in Vienna started out sehr interresant. We went to a ballet on a Sunday afternoon, something I never thought I would go to. I wouldn’t say it was the most fun thing I’ve ever done but it was still cool to go to. During the week, Dalton had class and kind of a lot of work to do but we still managed to go skating in front of the Rathaus, go to the aquarium, get 50 cent cocktails, go to the biggest club in Vienna where I was treated to 50 Euros of free drinks because my birthday was in January, eat doeners, SCHNITZELTAG, see a marching band and just hang out in his apartment and meet his roommates and his friends.
After Vienna, I traveled to Leipzig to see my exchange student from high school that I hadn’t seen in two and a half years. Robert and his father greeted me at the train station and for the next week after that I spoke mostly German which was very hard but good for me. I found it took away a lot of my energy but I still tried to do as much as I could. The Lorenz’s hospitality is phenomenal. Bringing my bags down to my bedroom to find a basket full of German chocolate was a great way to make me feel welcome in their home once more. The first night I was there Robert took me to the place where the college kids in Leipzig hang out. It was cool to see that side of Leipzig because it’s a much different side of the city than what I saw when I was there before. During the week I got to meet his girlfriend Anni who is very nice, as well as some of his friends, and I got to meet up with another fellow GAPP student, Mareike, which was awesome to be able to catch up with her again. We also went to the Leipzig zoo, went rock climbing, watched many movies in German, played Siedlers von Catan, and enjoyed many delicious home-cooked meals! For the last three days of the week I was with Robert, the two of us embarked on a journey to Prague. Despite the minus 15-18 degree weather (around 0 F) I found Prague to be a beautiful city and we found a lot of stuff to do. It was enjoyable but by the end of the trip I was ready to return to Leipzig for the next day I would get to see Britta! It is sometimes hard for me to relax and enjoy what’s happening at that very moment because the next destination on my list is always an exciting one.
Britta did not lie when she said how beautiful the city of Marburg really was or that it reminded her of a fairytale. After travels to many big cities I find myself enjoying every minute in the quaint town of Marburg. This might, however, have something to do with the person I’m spending that time with. The first night here, Britta made me dinner: calzones, and let me tell you, those calzones were the truth. But seriously in terms most people will understand, her cooking lived up to the expectations she built for herself and she made me many delicious meals. The two days after the day I arrived in Marburg, Britta showed me around the city, we walked on the river and went to a German movie called Offroad. On Wednesday we spent the afternoon in Frankfurt and that night we were off to Zurich, Switzerland. The beginning of our travels were rough, hardly ever have my travels gone smoothly around here. Our first train was 5 minutes late and knowing we only had 4 minutes to transfer made the first hour of our trip quite stressful, but we tried to keep our composure. In the end we were 8 minutes late but luckily our connecting train waited for our train to get there before it left. 3 and a half hours later, half an hour past midnight, we arrived at our hostel, wet from the rain. Zurich was expensive but very fun! We seemed to keep getting rejected from everything we wanted to do but somehow we always found a way to have fun anyways. We walked around a lot, climbed a mountain, met some people at our hostel and hung out with them at night, went to a flea market, treated ourselves to an expensive yet delicious meal where the nice man next to us bought our drinks, and had a couple picnics in the middle of February. Even though Switzerland was fun, it was nice to return to Germany. Then in Marburg we experienced Karneval!
It is now my last day in Marburg and though I will be sad to leave, a new adventure awaits me in Freiburg. My program is finally starting and I am excited to for the main part of my journey to begin. I’m not sure what awaits me, but I am certain it will be an experience to remember.
