Updating this blog has been much more challenging than I had imagined. I think this can be seen as proof of the amazing time that I am having. I am winning at life, losing at blogging :) I am exhausted from going non-stop for 2 weeks now, but I just can not tear myself away from the other exchange students or the new experiences. Our usual schedule is as follows.. 9am: paper work and/or city trip and site seeing, hanging out with everyone in the town center, Luisenplatz, to shop, eat, walk, then the day is finished up by going either the bar in our housing complex, Exil, one of the other clubs in Darmstadt, or to a spanish party in our complex which usually includes plenty of sangria and live guitar and kazoo playing until 5am. Tough life :)
Before arriving, I was excited to study design in a new country and to travel Europe, beyond this I had no real expectations. Being here for 2 weeks for orientation surrounded by all my new friends from around the world has completely exceeded everything I hoped this experience would be. Everyone has this hunger to learn from each other, experience new things and live life. Being in similar situations, in a new country without our family and friends, I think we have all become very close quickly. It's nice to have such a great group of people.
I also am very lucky to have wonderful, fun flatmates. I met the last of the 4 the other day, Marina. She seems very cool. She had just returned from a backpacking trip to Thailand. It´s nice to go back to my flat and have people to hang out with and talk to. Burkhard and I always end up talking for hours-about everything. I´m very sad that he is moving out soon. I´ve watched "Die Simpsons", their favorite show, with them a few times. The German voices are hilarious. My flatmates translate for me so I can understand the complex plot :) Actually I´ve been quite surprised at the amount of American things that have made there way over here- movies, music, restaraunts, tv shows. This leads to my thoughts on being an American abroad, but I will post this later.
Moving on, some things we have done recently include two city trips to Frankfurt and Heidelberg. As we walked through Frankfurt I was beaming, I love the culture, character and history of Europe. In Frankfurt we went to a flea market which had everything you could imagine-jewelry, shoes, books, bikes, nintendo games. I was especially drawn to the old books. I will have to go back when I can spend more time. I also like this little center we stopped at that had old german architecture, live music, german food, and apfelwein (apple wine). While in Frankfurt we all of course got Krakauer, the longest hot dog/ sausage I´ve ever seen with a bun only big enough to hold. Heidelberg was a lovely city as well. We hiked up to a castle that overlooked the city, the views were breathtaking (look for pictures soon).
Besides my love for the history and culture, I also find many of the differences in everyday life to be very smart. For now, the transportation system:
1. There are buses, trains, and trams, making it easy to get around without a car. (Also, tons of people ride bikes)
2. The tracks for the trams run through the middle of Luisenplatz, but are quite unobtrusive - just little tracks flat with the bricks. This makes it easy for the space to transform into a walk way when there is no tram. When a tram comes people simply move out of the way. Smart!
3. The brick sidewalks are split in half-grey bricks and red bricks. Red bricks are for bikers, grey for walking. Unobtrusive, subtle, yet gets the job done.
4. Tickets are bought at a machine before getting on the bus, however no one checks your ticket. You are kind of on the honor system, but sometimes there is control and people come check tickets. This system is nice because it saves time and everything runs smoother.
Another quick difference: WARM MILK! They keep their milk warm in cartons, then put it in the fridge after opening it. Warm milk freaks me out, who knew you could do that.
I tried hard to keep this short, but I have learned and experience so much in the past 2 weeks, I feel the need to share it all! Check the new link for Erasmus (exchange student) shared pictures to the left. I will update with millions when I return from Spain and Italy.
Tschuss for now,
Nikole
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