Dear Diary,
It's been a while since last time so please forgive me. Now the time has become to take the next step on my TEOS journey through cultures, natures and universities. Many things has changed after the summer in Finland and now I have the possibility the meet another culture: the German efficiency. To be more precise, the next months until March will be spent in Marburg studying in the Philipps-Universität Marburg which is one of the oldest universities in Germany.
After arrival in Germany a couple of weeks ago the culture shock was palpable. No payments by card in the shops, no wifi anywhere or internet in the room, that I finally got 3 days after first promised (first three night slept in a campsite right next to a busy highway... so cosy), and service in the shops and camping areas rather rude. Luckily the good thing in this study program is that the "TEOS-family" will stick together so the social life is secured. But all-in -all the rumours about German efficiency seems to be something different that I consider efficient and common sense. Still the funniest thing is that people get used to stuff quite easily and that's just the way it is in here. However I won't start to practice of being rude and unfriendly, don't worry.
The second part of the shock started a week after arrival when our study group took off for a rowing trip in the river Neckar. Rowing 120km in 7 days from Lauffen to Heidelberg through vinyards, small towns with castles and nuclear power factories showed the rugged truth of German nature. There are no untouched land in Germany and it's fairly hard to find a place to camp without the noise of a highway, railway or the ringing of church bells. Still being as unorganized as a trip can be, we had great time and sometimes it's difficult even to remember that I am actually here to do a masters degree.
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| The city of Marburg |
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| Vineyards in Hessigheim |
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| Transcultural European Outdoor Studies - TEOS |
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| Row-row-row the boat, gently down the stream... |
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| Not a bad view from the tent |
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| A castle next to Wolfs canyon in Zwingenberg at dawn |
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| Yep, master student life is hard.. |
Now it's time to start a 3 weeks intensive German language course so maybe next time will be in German - or just multilingual pictures. :) And for potential visitors, the beer and wine is good and cheap! So just pick a weekend and feel free to join the party!
Stay tuned!
