anniversary of sorts...

Hi everyone!
Guess what today is...give up? It is the one year anniversary of Sam and my FIRST DATE!!! Isn't that crazy? One year ago tonight Sam took me out to the Dairy Queen in Bloomington where we ate ice cream and talked for hours...and now look where we are! It really is amazing to think about this incredible journey we've had in just one year's time.

We are trying to think of some fun (and inexpensive) little way to celebrate. Maybe a bottle of wine up at the castle to watch the sunset...maybe ice cream and a paddle boat ride down der Lahn (the river going through town). We'll see!

Let's see...

Sunday morning we went to church here in Marburg! There were 3 other Fulbrighters who went too. The church was beautiful! It was really just a huge white house/mansion they turned in to a church. Of course the entire thing was auf Deutch so I didn't understand a DARN thing but it felt good to be in church anyways. They did do one English worship song at the end. The people were very welcoming. We plan to return next Sunday. It was a non-denominational called Trifft-Christus Kirche (Meet Jesus Church).

Sunday afternoon we took a group excursion to a Museum- It was a reconstruction of a Roman camp. None of us quite understood the exact intentions of the Museum. Created by King William II in 1897 he just wanted the Germans to see where their history came from, I believe. So it was not actually a Roman camp although there were some materials (stones and such) that came from an actual camp. We got the official tour which was interesting but nothing too amazing. THEN came the fun...we got to throw javelin and do archery! Javelin throwing was much more challenging than anyone expected. I was one of 3 girls who got their javelin to stick in the ground. Sam's stuck once but the next time he won for distance! Then we went out to dinner to a very nice place and Fulbright paid : )

When we returned home Sunday night we had no electricity!! It was kind of late and we had no idea what to do or who to call. We went over to a friends and realized that all of the dorms lost electricty! Luckily someone had a number to call and a crew came out right away to fix it. There were a couple hours in the dark though. Only the light of a lap top screen!

Yesterday in culture class we learned a little bit about German history. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall! We learned that the colors of the German flag (Black, Red and Gold) were representative of the soldiers' uniforms (black uniforms with red decorations and gold buttons). We saw a very interesting documentary (in German) about people who escaped East Germany and told about what life was like there. Very fascinating, I had no idea!

Well, we are about to start the process of looking for an apartment in Mainz. Wish us luck! We have no idea what we are doing. We have about 4 weeks.

Bis später (till later),

Sam and Jam : )

2 weeks down...4 to go

We just finished our first full week of language class. It is pretty exhausting. By the time we get home at night, anywhere between 5 and 7 after we finish doing whatever errands we have for the day, we are beat! We typically just relax for awhile, cook dinner, do dishes, read our books or study Deutsch and then go to sleep! We're usually in bed by 10! It's pretty great. I am enjoying the schedule of early to bed early to rise!

Thursday was the hottest day in Marburg so far this summer. I think it was about 90 and really humid. Not fun for carrying backpacks and walking around a city with out any air conditioned refuges. Then Friday was 65 and heavy rain. Today is beautiful! We went on a journey around Marburg to find the 11 spots in the city where there is a statue of a character from one of the Brothers Grimm Fairytales. It was fun, we went with a few friends from the program.

Last night we had a scheduled bar hopping night with the whole group. It was fun but Sam and I headed home with our other couple friends around 11pm. Today we heard the rest of the group was out till 4am!! Glad we ditched out early : )

We have been spending time with another couple here from North Carolina. The husband actually grew up in Texas. He and his wife married when they were 20 years old. They have been married for 8 years now and have a 4 month old daughter. The four of us get along great. He is a New Testament scholar studying in Heidelberg this year which is only about an hour train ride from Mainz. We may visit them to celebrate Thanksgiving together.

Tomorrow we are going on a group excursion to a Roman fort. The only one in Europe they have reconstructed. Not sure what its all about but we will let you know later this week. Once again, we have no internet access in our apartment. So I will be updating whenever we can make it to the library here.

Hope all is well in the States. Sam is very very happy to hear about the latest addition to the Vikings. It's too bad we won't get to see any games this season. Well, gotta catch the bus!

Tschüss!

Things unique to Germany thus far

Hallo Freunden!

I thought I would compile a list of a few things that we have noticed thus far that are different from what we are used to in the U.S.

1. A great majority of people smoke. Everywhere.

2. 9 out of 10 cars we see on the road are hatchbacks. Usually VW, Audi or Mercedes.

3. No buildings we have been in have screens on the windows. Therefore, there are bugs everywhere, all the time.

4. Everyone drinks sparkling water, "mineralwasser mit gas". It is hard to get regular water in restaurants or grocery stores.

5. People do not smile very often.

6. Men wear capris. This one bothers Sam.

7. You have to pay for grocery bags so everyone brings their own.

8. You have to pay for a grocery cart.

9. The grocery stores sell things in different portions. All beverages in 1Liter bottles. Most food in small portions. For example we have yet to find a pack of lunch meat that would last us more then 2 days or a bag of chips to last more than a few lunches.

10. You do not have to tip the server when you go out to eat.

11. Public transportation is wonderful.

12. When people move they take everything with them. Including ovens, fridges, light bulbs-everything!

13. We have yet to be in a building with air conditioning!!!

That is all I can think of for now but I will keep updating as I realize more.

Well, the 5.5 hours in class each day is getting a little tough. We would rather be enjoying the great weather and exploring the city but we know learning the language is very important!

We were able to go on an "excursion" with the group of Fulbrighters on Sunday. We went to an open air museum about an hour from Marburg. It was an entire town of reconstructed buildings from the 15th century. We got to see homes, barns, schools and churches. The buildings were actually built in the 15th century but they were taken apart, moved to the museum and then reconstructed. It was very interesting to see how the people lived back then- simply!!!

You should be able to see the picture I posted of us with some friends in front of the windmill in the museum.

That's all for now. I'm going to do laundry and make dinner (how wifely right??)

Tschuss!

Marburg is in the state of Hessen

Wow, one whole week without internet and we feel completely disconnected from everything! I never thought I was so attached, but I think being in a foriegn country is a pretty good excuse.

Well it has been a crazy week. We arrived in Marburg last Tuesday morning. We dove right in with the Fulbright community. There are about 30 other individuals who are studying with the Fulbright program in Germany this year and we are all in Marburg for this language course. We also sat through many meetings about how this year is going to work. We learned about how to set up banking, a cell phone, housing, transportation and jsut about everything else we need to know. It was very comforting to get all of our questions answered.

Everyone is in a different level class, Sam and I are in level two. He might be moving up to three though. He is SO excited to be in class. He WANTED homework. For me, the class is hard but I'm glad I get to take it. It will be very helpful later on. We have class from 9-4 Mon-Fri with an hour lunch break. On Mon and Wed the portion after lunch is called a culture course. We havn't actually experienced that yet but it sounds interesting.

The first couple days here the Fulbright commission kind of wined and dined us. We had a couple buffets catered to where we had the informational meetings. Very traditional German food. They also took us to a very pretty resaurant on a steep hill overlooking the city right next to the CASTLE! Very fun.

The city of Marburg is absolutely beautiful. Very hilly. Winding, narrow, cobblestone streets through tons of little shops, bakeries and pubs. The buildings are gorgeous- the old timber framed kind. We have been up to the castle a couple times. It is enormous. We got to go on a city tour yesterday and learn about the fascinating history of Marburg. The oldest buildings in town date back to the 13 century!!! The Grimm Brothers went to school here!! They wrote many famous fairytales and there are spots scattered all over town with scenes from his stories.

We just got back from a pretty intense hike. There is this really cool tower built way on top of this hill just on the edge of the city. Sam and I decided we wanted to hike up there as soon as we saw it. Well, we did it. We went straight up the side of the hill. Sam basically ran up. It did not take too long but it was really tough. The tower was so worth it. We got to climb the stairs all the way to the top and look over the whole town. Amazing! The Castle was on the other side of town and it looked small from where we were. We could see the river and the cute homes and the two big cathedrals in town. We took the easier long winding paths on the way down. Much better to slow down and take in the scenery.

So, 5 more weeks in Marburg. Lots of studying to be done. German is a tough language! Hopefully we will find time to explore as well. Our camera should be here in the next week or two and then we can share our view!

Bis später!
That means- till later!
Tschüss!
That means- c ya!

Wilkommen!!

Well we made it! We are here in Mainz, Deutschland!

Our travels were very smooth, everything went great!

We have been staying in a dorm at the Insitute for European History. We have a small room for ourselves and a community kitchen, bathroom and living room to share with the rest of the poeple on our floor. There are about 8 Germans living on our floor, all studying history of various time periods. They are surprised to hear that I am staying here all year long with Sam even though I am not studying...We think it is surprising that they would expect me to live a year without my husband!

We have been suffering from some serious jet lag. Night 4 and I (Jamie) could still only make myself fall asleep by 5am! Sam was asleep at about 2:30am which is the best either of us have done so far.

From what we have seen of the city, it is beautiful! There is a beautiful big cathedral in the middle of town (right outside our window). There are tons of little shops all over and hardly any cars to be seen. The city is right on a hige river, the Rhein river. There are these cute resaurants on the banks with lights and chairs in the beach- fabulous!

Tomorrow we are leaving Mainz for the city of Marburg where we will be for the next 6 weeks taking a language course. After that we will be back in Mainz (hopefully in a larger apartment) until we come home! Except for whatever traveling in Europe we are able to do!

That's kind of it for now. We have been a little bored thus far as we are usually sleeping during the day. At night we play solitaire, charades (yes, you can do that with just 2 people) and read a lot!

Hope everyone is great in the U.S.!

Love from Deutschland!