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Fun Fact
Tumblr was named as a finalist in Lead411’s New York City Hot 125 in Aug 2010.
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Semester in Full Swing
Block Course! (highly recommend)
I took a block course called Marine Biology which was really cool. We had class Monday-Thursday from 9:15-12. I’m really glad I did it not only because it is going to be counted towards one of my minors but also because it means that now that it is done, I have so much time to focus on my 4 other classes. It was really good that the block course was at the beginning of the semester because it was over before my other classes really picked up which meant I wasn’t overwhelmed by other classes at the same time as taking this class. This class was pretty time consuming not only because there was so much class time but also because we had an exam every Monday meaning I would study a lot for those couple weekends. I felt like it was the perfect amount of time and small enough for me to meet some new people!
Soccer and Circuit Training
I know that in an earlier class I said that I was unable to sign up for soccer but I did actually ended up getting in because I just went and talked to the coach. He let me play for the day and afterwards he said it would be fine if I just joined. I did find that “advanced” soccer has a very wide range of skill level but still really fun! Circuit Training has also been really fun but there isn’t really time to talk to people and get to know people like there is in soccer.
International Day
This was an event that the University put on to advertise study abroad to the students in Tübingen. Every country had a table or two and students that were studying abroad in Tübingen or had studied abroad in that country ran the table. Most universities had sent pamphlets, posters and knickknacks to advertise their university. Sadly, there was nothing from UMass. It was a pretty fun event and I stayed for about 4 hours talking to people from all over the world.
Film festival
One of my friends had a tandem partner that invited her to the “Tübingen Film Festival” and she invited me to come along as well. We showed up in jeans and sweatshirts and were shocked to find that it was a black-tie event. We had no idea that it was a dress up event but it was fine and we were let into the “live viewing theater” instead of the normal theater because it was sold out. I had no idea what to expect and I was so surprised at how professional everything was. There were interviews and hosts throughout the whole thing. The films were created for a media studies class and the top ten were showed. There some really incredible ones I was very impressed. The theme was “terror” so there were many different interpretations resulting in very different films. It was super fun and I highly recommend going if you have time and want to see something different in Tübingen.
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Free fortress thing in Cork. (typical Irish sky)
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Ireland and Friends From Home
After visiting my grandparents, I flew from Hamburg to Dublin to visit my roommate that was studying abroad in Cork. I think that one of the few down sides to the program in Tübingen is that the semester timing is so different from many others. I only really overlapped with most of my friends who were studying abroad for two months and during that time a lot of them were doing finals work so they could not meet up spontaneously. I would recommend making travel plans with friends in other countries in advance to make sure that it works out. I have found that it is also an interesting transition when UMass gets out of school and everyone starts their summer right as you start your classes. I also found that it was hard for me once my high school friends were all together again and I couldn’t be with them. Overall though it was awesome to go see my roommate in Ireland and see where she had been studying for the past 4 months. I found that she had had a very different study abroad experience. Firstly, Ireland is SO expensive compared to Germany. In addition, Cork organized their dorms based on where the students came from. This meant that all of her roommates were from MA or NY. In this way, I am really glad that Tübingen sets up their dorms with all German students and one Erasmus student because I really wanted to get to meet Germans.
In Ireland I met up with two girls I met in Tübingen and we spent a day in Dublin and 3 in cork. I really liked Dublin because it had a crazy amount of live music at every restaurant and bar. We took a 4-hour bus to Cork from Dublin which was cost 20€ and stayed at my friend’s place. One of the days we were in cork we took a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher for 35€ (which was discounted by a hostel we stayed at). The tour was pretty interesting because the guide was really nice and informative. It did feel incredibly touristy and not authentic at all but it was a good way to get to the Cliffs of Moher. The tour bus had a giant leprechaun on it which was pretty embarrassing but also funny (pictured). The Clifs were pretty epic and apparently there were lots of puffins which we couldn’t really see because they were small specks on the side of the Cliffs. The entire bus tour took all day so afterwards we were all pretty exhausted. Overall, it was a great time.
This was my first time taking a RyanAir flight and it went pretty smoothly. They check bags for free if they are too big (but not giant) at the gate which I didn’t have to do and I took a small backpack. I used the RyanAir App to check in ahead of time which saved me like 70€ because they charge a check in fee and a printed ticket fee. My other friends who took the flight back with me however, were unable to check in on the app because they got a weird error message. They had to check in on a laptop and print out the tickets to avoid all the fees.
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Break part 1
Break part 1
After startkurs there is a two-week break before you can sign up for German as foreign language courses. (You get an appointment time on the last day of startkurs) During my break I spent the first week and a half visiting my grandparents. My grandparents live in the north of Germany, Aurich and Glücksburg so the trains took me a pretty long time. I bought a Bahnkarte 50 for students which is 8 euro a month for 3 months. It allows you to get 50% off many tickets so definitely worth it if you want to be traveling in Germany by train. Instead of trying to figure out all the train tickets I needed to buy, I went to the Tübingen Bahnhoff reiseburo and had a super nice man book all the tickets for me. I highly recommend this because I thought it is a lot less stressful. The trip to Aurich went perfectly and I got to my grandma’s right before Easter. Since I went to school in the US, I was never in Germany for any of the main holidays. My grandma, aunt and cousins all live in the country side with horses and chickens. I learned a lot about the traditions of the country side.
Note: During this time, the Hauptshule sport classes also open up and fill up extremely quickly. They have every sport that you can imagine from windsurfing to kayak basketball. Unfortunately, I was traveling when this happened so I couldn’t sign up for soccer as I had hoped. I did however sign up later for circuit training and jiu jitsu. I found that during the first week of sports a lot of the classes open up again so definitely put yourself on the waiting list if you don’t get into a class you wanted.
Easter
The first tradition that I encountered was the “Ostern Feuer” this is when everyone gets together at someone’s house and burn all the dead brush from the winter on Easter Sunday. These fires can be huge! We drank beers and had a nice BBQ with all the traditional German meats. It was a really fun time to be with family and celebrate Easter. Another German tradition is “eier kickin”. I’m not sure if this is also a tradition in the US but in northern Germany everyone does it. This is when two people take colored hardboiled eggs and hit them together. The one that cracks losses.
This day happened to also be very close to my cousins 30th birthday. There are some traditions I learned about this as well. In the countryside, an unwed 30-year-old man must fulfill some duties for the community. Apparently, your guy friends will come to your house to surprise you but take you to the Rathause. At the Rathause the boys will make a huge mess breaking plates and so on. The unwed man must then sweep everything up. Girls that turn 30 and are unwed must clean the door handles of the Rathause. In addition, the birthday person must give out drinks to all those that come to their house. There is also a tradition of giving a “geburtstag bogen” which you can see below. These are put in the front yard of the house and are given for birthdays and big anniversaries such as “silver, gold or diamond weddings”. These events are also often published in the local papers.
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Startkurs and Black Forest Orientation
Starkurs
The entrance exam was interesting but really nothing to stress about. Just do your best and you will be placed into a class that best fits you.
The biggest piece of advice I would give for the beginning of startkurs is to try to talk to as many people as possible. If you have to get a prepaid plan or bank account make some friends and go together. Going with someone else makes everything so much better. There is a full day of Bureaucracy during starkurs which is super helpful because all the students go together.
Startkurs is every weekday with a breakfast and lunch break. These breaks are a great way to meet people, especially those that aren’t in your class. All the classes take a trip to Bebenhausen and Stuttgart together. As I mentioned in my last post, Bebnhausen is beautiful!
Black Forest
Unfortunately, I was unable to go to Stuttgart because it was the Friday I had to travel to the Black Forest for the UMass orientation. I traveled with the three other girls in Tübingen and we took a Flixbus which was also reimbursed later on. Apparently, it has been one of the coldest winters in most of Europe so there was even snow when we got there. I also advise that you book your bus ticket with the other students from your university to make sure you all take the same bus. The orientation weekend was located in such a beautiful area. It was really interesting to talk to other students about their cities and towns. We also got authentic south German food at the hostel!
Important tip about bureaucracy
Something that wasn’t told to us at startkurds was that we should pay our matriculation fee (which comes in the mail and was 83.80 euro) as soon as possible. If you don’t pay it then there is a different paper that doesn’t come in the mail early enough to buy a semester ticket in April. If you do it later then you might just need to pay for multiple days of bus tickets until the semester one comes. Some other students had a lot of issues with their paperwork which was frustrating for them. If everyone else is getting papers in the mail but you aren’t, tell your teacher and try going to the studentwerk and see if they can help you.
Signing up Classes
Signing up for some classes is done by using a website called campus. The German as a foreign language classes however are done in person and you will be given an appointment date. Classes and how to sign up for them are also discussed in startkurs so don’t worry.
If the class is full by the time you get your login for CAMPUS don’t panic! Most classes reserve spots for international students so you will be able to email the professors with your mertikulation number and they can manually put you into the system.
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Bebenhausen by Anna.h.r.
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Bebenhausen by Anna.h.r.
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