First week in Marburg

I've posted a lot about my travels outside of Marburg but I haven't posted much about Marburg, other than I arrived. (I'm still here). Marburg is a university town about an hour north of Frankfurt. The population of the town is somewhere around 80,000 pepeople where 40,000 of those people are students (sounds like Champaign, except German). Most of the town lives is dorms or guest houses, I live in a dorm. Unlike most university towns where the town is seperated into University and city....the university is spread out over the entire town, and sometimes expands into towns next door. Reason why....Ich habe keine Ahnung! (I have no idea, a phrase I use often.) Actually, I do have some idea. If you look on a 2-D map, the city seems quite compact, but if you look at a topological map, you realize that the building 0.5 km away is actually 0.5 km west and 0.25 up. The city is very very hilly, meaning that if you want to get anywhere, you have to take a bus or hike uphill. The city center is concentrated into a 1.0 km radius at the base of the hill, while everything else is spread out on the hill tops. The chemistry building appears to be 1 km away from the main train station, but in reality, you have to hike 2.0 km to get to the building or take a 6 km bus ride.

If you decide to hike though, the view is quite lovely. Germany is very green. This area of Germany receives 1-2 inches of rainfall every two days so things are always growing and the air is always fresh. The hiking paths are well marked with pine needles. In order to get to the bus stop, I actually have to hike along some of these paths, and its a highlight of my day. To get an idea of the town, I've posted some pictures on picassa.

I've also posted pictures of my train trip to Marburg (I slept in a 2 bed couchette) and my room in the dorm. My train trip to Marburg wasn't nearly as exciting as the train trip from Switzerland but one point is worth mentioning....sometimes is worth it to pay the extra money for a two person bed. My room was air conditioned, clean, and the attendant came to wake me up when my station was close. Much better than the italian train. Anyways...I'm going to stop blabbering and let you see the pictures. Enjoy!

Marburg Week 1

By popular request

Pictures of the blisters...by popular request. Beware...these pictures are pretty gross.. I posted the bandaged photo here....but you can see the other photos at the following link

BEWARE! These pictures are gross!

10 reasons to never take an italian train...but a really cool story anyways.

Okay...some of these things weren't caused my the italian train system but the swiss...but I place all the blame on the swiss system.

first...after hiking 22 miles on Saturday...I was still in a lot of pain on Sunday. I had booked a seat on a night train after hearing how wonderful the seats were. Everybody said that the seat (5 Euros) was worth more than the bed (50 Euros). So I took everyone's advice and booked a seat, although, I'm not sure a bed would have been much better.

So I left Andy at 10:13pm. My train then proceed from Martigny to Brig, where I was supposed to have a 10 minute layover before leaving on my next train. Shockingly, my swiss train was delayed 8 minutes (reasons never explained in any language) and the night train was already waiting on the tracks when my Swiss train arrived. I ended up running from one train to another (keep in mind that my knees would still hurt when I walked...even more so when I ran) and then running across the platform to find my seat...which ended up at the very front of the train. Thankfully, the train waited for everyone to board before leaving.

Upon boarding, I was greeted not by a clean air conditioned train (as promised by german rail systems), but an old, dirty, loud, un air conditioned train. My seat was not a nice normal train seat, but instead one seat in a room of 6 seats where 5 of the 6 seats was already occupied. :-/
If you aren't familiar with European trains, these rooms are set up so 3 seats face another 3 seats...supposedly its more comfortable to stare and play footsie at complete strangers instead of the back of their seat.

One of the seats was taken up by an older italian women, who, upon seeing that 4 young women would occupy the cabin, left to find space in another cabin or sleep in the lounge. I wish I had followed her. The four young women in the cabin included 25 year old me, a 22 year Swiss girl named Emily, and two Italian sisters named Deborah and Julia, who claimed they were 18 and 17 respectively. Deborah and Julia spoke Italian and French, Emily spoke German, French, some italian and English, while I spoke English and somewhat understood german and French. Deborah and Julia greeted Emily and I (we raced from the tardy Brig train to the night train together) with open arms and readily shared cold tea that their mom had packed for the trip. Deborah also tried to make us a sandwich, which we refused 5 times before she finally gave up.

Even though it was already midnight, Deborah and Julia wanted to talk the entire night....and they did, even though I had a pillow and I kept yawning. Julia especially wanted to practice English with me. So try to capture this image, four young women, on a hot and loud (the window was open) train, trying to carry on a conversation when no one understood all the languages, and trying to make hand gestures in a room lit only by starlight. Sentences began in Italian, shifted to French, and included one English word. Responses usually began in German or French,...then switched to Italian or English...then back to German or French. I don't think anyone actually knew what we were talking about until the sentence was repeated three times. Conversation topics (I think) ranged from family to boyfriends to politics to travel. Perhaps one or two other topics were discussed I'm not sure. This talking went on for over an hour...until around 1:30am Around 1:30, we decided to sleep, and Deborah decided that she needed to kick her sister out of her seat and take over three seats on one side of the train, leaving the rest of us to 'sleep' on the other side, staring at her. She did offer to let us put our feet on her side...which was not an option for me because my knees hurt so bad.

Around 1;35...right after we settled down...we apparantly crossed the swiss/german border, so the border guard came to see our passports. He collected our passports...and we all settled back down..apparently the train driver settled down as well because the train stayed at passport control for 45 minutes! This fact becomes important later....

We calmly settle back down until 4:30 am when a person comes running through the train asking for someone who speaks English. I say I did and she keeps asking about a train stop I know nothing about. it turns out she was supposed to get off at 4:30am and the train hadn't stopped, but no one told her why. It turns out the train was delayed for an hour...but NOT ONE EVER TOLD ANYONE! I didn't find this fact out until later when I woke up to my phone alarm at 5:50, because I was supposed to get off the train at 6:00 am in Frankfurt. The train stops at 6am comes and I go to get off the train...but I'm stopped when people point out the sign....at 6:00am the train had only reached Dresden...its was still an hour away from Frankfurt! BUT NO ONE TOLD US! If the older italian women hadn't grabbed my hand, I would have been stuck in Dresden for a few days.

The train arrived in FRankfurt at 6:55am. My train connection to Marburg left at 6:23am...which meant I missed my train...but no fear...there are twice hourly train between Frankfurt and marburg...The only problem was that I had no idea which of the 25 trains in the station would take me there. However, the train station had an internet kiosk (1 euro for 10 minutes) which allowed me to check the Deutschbahn website and figure out which train to catch. I eventually found a train and boarded.

I arrived in marburg one and a half hours later than expected. When I got home, I showered, changed, and ran to catch a bus so I could attend seminar at 10:15am. I don't remember much of the seminar except that the speaker had a cool history, I'll try to recite it sometime.

Well...that's the end of my scary train journey. I'm sure I'll think of other details but for now I have to run to catch the last bus home.

I will walk 500 miles.....

So, I didn't quite walk 500 miles (but don't tell that to my knees, they will disagree), but Andy and I did walk 22 miles on Saturday while ascending and descending over one mile!

Some of you know that my boyfriend has studied in Switzerland the past year. He was going to return to the states this week, so I decided to utilize my German/Swiss/Austria rail pass to go visit him. So I took a 7 and a half hour train ride from Marburg to Martigny, riding on 4 different types of trains (double decker German Inter Region, really fast InterCity Express, Swiss InterCity, and Swiss Inter Region) and hearing about 10 different languages in route. I arrived on Friday night to Andy in a tie-died t-shirt ready to take me to dinner and discuss our hike the next morning. I knew that this weekend was his last in Switzerland so I let him pick out the hike for the next day, which was a great (and not so smart idea). He picked out a hike that he was certain I wouldn't complete (great boyfriend). He was so convinced that I would make him turn around, that he only looked up the train schedule for our departure point and not the bus schedule for our return point (which became a problem later).

Anyways, we set off at 9am towards the St. Bernard Pass...and start climbing...and climbing...and climbing...then walking uphill...then climbing again. Eventually we reach a lake...and I realize that one hour into the hike, I've developed hot spots (never a good sign). I bandage up my heels, tighten up my laces...and proceed onward. I convince Andy to take a chair lift up the alps to this mountain (and to give my legs a break). We get some amazing views of the valley that holds Andy's village. (Pictures to follow soon). Then we hiked downhill some 300 feet to begin our path towards some pass...

We take our time, relishing the amazing Swiss countryside and breathtaking views (I really want to insert pictures here but they aren't available yet). But picture heaven...but drier and with snow and alpine flowers and you may be close. We make it up to what we think is the top of the pass and take the time to scale what we think is a big rock. It turns out...we weren't even a third of the way up the pass. Less than 30 minutes later, what we thought was a large rock...was barely visible from the 500 meters we had climbed. It took us 5 hours to reach the top of this pass..and in order to get there, we had to clamber over bolders the size of my parent's van and snow packed so tightly it was blue. We reach the "top" of the pass around 3pm and decide that we want lunch, so we scale around 300 boulders to the mid point of a peak to find some bolders arranged like a couch, where we sit down to dine on our high fiber bread and water (cuz somebody forgot to buy peanut butter and jelly at the store). While we dine, we partake of an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING view of a mile long glacier and snow-capped mountains. Behind our "couch" we saw the green, alpine flower filled valley from whence we came.

Thinking that the worst of the hike was over, we take our time with lunch and snap some cool photos before heading down the mountain. It turns out that the bolder and snow infested side was the "easy side". The trail on the other side consisted of a series of steep dirt trails where numerous hikers had already dislodged most of the footholds that we so desperately desired. The steep trail jack-knifed across the "sunny side" of the mountain (which meant we turned into giant lobsters) yet still dropped 1000 feet in under 2 hours!!! I feel once, but thankfully I fell backwards into soft dirt instead of forwards into the rocks. After about two hours...Andy kept saying...I think we're near the end , I think we're almost there. After about 5 times, I didn't believe him anymore. My knees and feet were screaming in pain but I knew that the only way to relieve them was to hike the rest of the day.

Which I'm glad we did hike, because about 2/3rds of the way down (while the trail merged with a small stream, testing the waterproofness of my boots), we came across a large herd of sheep grazing in the mountains. Andy was able to find one before it became bored and found its own grass.

Eventually we made it to the end of the pass, were we hiked the trail that Andy had taken Jenny, Bryce, Jon, and Chris on (yeah I finally got to see the glacier that everyone talked about). And then we walked to the bus stop, only to find out that we missed the last bus by 15 minutes (this is where Someone forgot to check the bus schedule before we left). With no real option but to walk back, Andy and I filled up our water bottles and started on the two hour downhill trek back to Martigny. Poor Andy had to deal with a lot of complaints and near tears as every step in my boots caused exruciating pain. My knees were so sore from walking down the mountain that at the end, I could only shuffle down the valley path. Even now, two days later, I can't walk downstairs with out cringing in pain, causing my labmates to speculate that I fell down the mountain instead of climbed down. (I only fell once). However, around 9:15pm, 12 hours after we set out, we finally arrived at Andy's apartment building. Too tired to walk much further, we willed our legs to the restaurant in front of his building and enjoyed some food (I was soooo hungry that I almost finished an entire pizza). Then we hobbled back to Andy's apartment where I bandaged up the enormous blisters on my feet. (picture not to follow due to the sensitivities of people reading this blog). I was so tired that I apparently fell asleep mid sentence.

Anyways....so that's the story of the 500 mile hike through the swiss alps. I'm really glad that Andy and I could hike to such a beautiful place and I'm extremely glad that I lived to tell the tale. Andy said that it was the longest time he had hiked since arriving in Switzerland and he was impressed that I could keep up (at least until the last 3 hours). I'm still healing and I still can't walk down stairs without cringing in pain and shoes are rather painful to wear no matter how many pairs of socks I put one..but I have some amazing memories and some great pictures that I hope to share sometime soon...once Andy figures out the problem with his camera.

Stay tuned for updates about my train ride home......otherwise known as the top 10 reasons to NEVER take an italian night train.

Safe in Marburg, the city of hills

I arrived safely in Marburg this morning. The train ride was smooth but I didn't sleep much. I had too much on my mind with work to do in Marburg and Andy's job offers. I arrived at the train station pretty exhausted and ready to collapse into a bed. But it turns out that my ride couldn't find me at the train station, despite the fact I was the only person with a HUGE suitcase and I was wearing a bright pink shirt.

So another lab person had to come find me. He searched for 10 minutes before finally finding me in front of the station wearing my bright pink shirt and hauling my enormous suitcase. Since this lab person didn't have a car or the keys to my flat, we had to take the bus from the Main Train station to the lab. During the long uphill ride, I tried to balance myself, a backpack, and two suitcases on the sharp turns. On one turn (conveniently close to the hospital), I lost my balance and crashed into the two suitcases and knocked over a baby carriage next to me. The entire bus burst into laughter (and rightly so) and I gingerly picked up two suitcases and a baby carriage (sans baby). If I was tired enough, I would have burst into tears, but instead, I was able to see the humour in the situation (I looked pretty ridiculous on top of two suitcases and a carriage) and I laughed along.

After recovering from my fall (my suitcase was padded so I didn't even develop a bruise), we arrived at the lab, only to discover that the lab was farther up a series of 30 stairs. Reuti, lab mate without a car, takes pity on me to carry the suitcase up half of the stairs. Then we trek the half kilometer to lab, which conveniently had an elevator. I arrived in the lab, hoping to find Robin (lab mate with car) to no avail. But I do meet three people in the lab, including Prof. Frenking, the professor that I will work with. Prof. Frenking said hello and then said "I don't have time to meet you today but I think I can fit you in for 30 minutes tomorrow morning". Is this the start of things to come? Probably......

After 20 minutes of wandering around aimlessly, meeting a guy from Tennessee who was dissapointed to NOT hear a Kentucky accent, and unpacking my laptop; Robin (lab mate with car), arrives and says that he can take me immediately or at 5pm...I take the immeadiately. We then find my flat, only to realize that it too...is uphill....I'm beginning to think that Marburg is a freak of nature... paths only go uphill and never lead downhill, especially when you have a large suitcase. Robin took pity on my tired and pathetic arms and carried the suitcase up the one flight of stairs. After unpacking a little, I fell into my bed for a much needed nap.

Now I'm safe in lab and already running calculations. :-) We'll see how long I can go on my 45 minute nap. Ciao!

Country Hopping and speaking german with a Slovak

Most people who know me at all, know that I have traveled quite a bit for a girl from rural Kentucky. Before I turned 21, I had already visited 5 countries and tried to learn 5 different languages. Its really amazing to think how much I have adapeted to international travel since then. In the past month, I have visited 6 countries and tried to learn 5 new languages. (Switzerland- French, Hungary-Maygar, Slovakia -Slovak, Czech Republic - Czech, Austria and Germany - Deutsch). I actually write this post while on my very first night train, somewhere in Vienna. I find it odd that I consider normal to not understand the conversations around me. Its odd that odd things (like cheese and sardines for lunch) are the new normal. On some trips, I froze at the thought at trying to communicate to someone who spoke one word of Engligh (yes) or who didn't speak English at all.

On the train from Bratislava to Vienna, I actually spoke over an hour with two Slovaks. I met Maria, a cook originally from middle Slovakia who now works months away from her family in Vienna. She visits Slovakia only for birthdays and holidays. I also met Stefan, the train attendent who kept trying to steer the conversation to sexual matters. The odd part about these people is that they didn't speak any English. The entire conversationw as carried out in Slovak or German. (which led to some pretty awkward pauses as I looked up phrases in my phrase book). I was sooo proud of myself, my first real conversation auf Deutsch. :-) I'm sure I will have many more.

Another thought struck me on the night train tonight. (my first night train ever). Every body has something to share, even though you might not understand it. Maria expressed sadness over missing her family. (she has three children, but she says they aren't boys and they aren't girls....so they would birls?). She also could tell me all about weight problems in central slovakia (she doesn't drink beer but she will drink wine). She also asked about my boyfriend and wanted to know how we spent so much time apart. It was amazing! This lady, 50 years old, and living halfway across the world had the same concerns as some of my friends in America. She also cared about me. later on the train, she helped me with my (very very heavy) suitcase and even gave me instructions for the train. It was great.

So now I end this post with a hope that I actually sleep on the train. The train still shakes a little but my bed looks comfortable and my roomate (Christina from Berlin) is extremely nice. I will add more when I arrive in Marburg. Guten Tag!

Going to Marburg

Oh, in case you didn't know. I'm leaving Slovakia on the night train for Marburg, Germany to work with the Frenking group. I'll post new messages once I arrive....and I'll catch up on photos from Andy's visit, Vienna, and Prague.