So I figure I have been here a week and the time has come to write a blog entry dedicated to life in Wittenberg/my experiences at school.
I live really close to the city center about 10-15 minutes away from the Leucorea (our University) by walking. Another girl from my program, named Maggie, also lives in the same apartment, and we each have our own bedrooms, which is nice. Really, our biggest problem so far was the last of wifi in the house, but we bought internet-sticks from Vodafone and now have internet at home.
Our host family (a woman and her boyfriend) are all right. They are different than anyone else I have stayed with before, and she is definitely quirky, but now that we have the internet, there is an escape for the constant need to find something to occupy ourselves with. Honestly, if Maggie hadn't also been here, I would have been very unhappy, so I am really grateful for her. We don't spend much time at home anyway because school keeps us busy. We leave home around 8:45 and have school all day until (usually) around 3 PM. Afterwards there are often other activities or we students go to one of the nearby bars/cafés and just hang out for a while before heading home for dinner.
For school we have a big project that is due on the last day that I am really not looking forward to. It is a powerpoint presentation and it has to be 10-15 minutes long auf deutsch. Usually anything auf deutsch is no big deal, but I speak for quickly, that I will need, like, 20+ minutes of material for your average person. Oh well. I know my topic already, so I am not too overwhelmed. I am going to do a survey on technology usage/reliance in Germany vs in America and poll people as to how often they use internet/are on facebook/watch TV etc.
Anyway... School itself is really easy and basically just a review of things I have known for years. It gets boring at times, but my fellow students are funny and nice, so I am satisfied. Plus I get to practice speaking a lot more, and I definitely find myself more willing to answer someone auf deutsch without over-thinking, which I tend to do. Also, our teacher is also a pretty chill dude (did I just say that?). He puts up with all of our silliness, even if he doesn't understand it all, which is nice, I suppose.
Wittenberg itself is a really nice place. The Altstadt is very beautiful and went untouched during WWII (I think), so a lot of the buildings are originals. There aren't a lot of people, so I see a lot of the same faces everyday, but I like it. All it is missing is an H&M, but according to the one tour guide, they are getting one next year, to which I say it's about time.
This weekend is the Luthers Hochzeitsfest (Luther's Wedding Festival) to celebrate Martin Luther's marriage to a nun. Apparently well over 100,000 people show up, so it will be interesting to see Wittenberg full of people all dressed in clothing from the middle ages. I anticipate taking many pictures.
Cori and I are also thinking of attending a church service in the church (die Stadtkirche) where Luther used to preach. I am not religious at all, but the church is so beautiful, and we think it would be cool to say that we went to church where Martin Luther used to preach regularly. Even if not to attend church, I will definitely go back to take pictures.
Yes well, I need to go get ready to go out tonight!
Tschüß!
Holland
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