Weeks 1 & 2 Update

So obviously, I have already sort of dropped the ball on my blog. But now that I’ve settled in and the wifi at my apartment is working (hopefully for good), I’m hoping to write more often! Last time I wrote, my dad and I were in Koblenz, moving me to Vallendar the next day. Right now, that seems like a long time ago, but I will try to hit on some highlights of my first two weeks in Germany!

Vallendar and WHU:

            Vallendar is a very small town on the Rhine River and it is a suburb of a larger town called Koblenz, which is a hub for over 700,000 people in the area. The inhabitants of Vallendar are made up of about half students and half senior citizens which makes has created a very interesting cultural dynamic. My apartment (which is great) is right next to the largest building and senior citizen home in the town.  I live less than five minutes from a very nice grocery store (that accepts visa!) and campus so it is very convenient. Because Vallendar is very small and has only a few restaurants, I have taken up cooking a little bit while I have been here There is a Kebab shop that is so good that I could eat at it every day but I try to resist it.  

            WHU is a very unique school. It has about 1,300 students, ten percent of which are exchange students. They have a special word for exchange students, “tauschies”, which is used with a friendly connotation and comes from the German word for exchange. I am taking seven classes this semester, which is a very light load in comparison to the typical 11-12 that the German students take. I am also taking a German class for fun so I can  pick up some of the language while I’m here! The University tries to create a “WHU spirit” on campus, which is hard to describe, but results in the German students being very kind and open to the exchange students. It also helps that every student at WHU is required to do an exchange semester so they know how it feels to be in our shoes.  There is also an integration team called “VIP” (Vallendar Integration Program) and an awesome International Relations Office that have had events for us almost every day since we’ve been here including a Scavenger Hunt, Pub Crawl, Ferry tour, two international dinner and other activities (Pictures below) to get us acquainted with eachother, the school and the area.

Koblenz Pubcrawl

Ferry and Scavenger Hunt

Another very interesting aspect of the WHU spirit and life is that different student groups raise money to throw parties on campus. For instance, last weekend the doctoral students threw a Hawaii themed party and next weekend the freshmen or  “quietschies” (no positive connotation there) are throwing an “Oops… I did it again” party (not sure what that means) this Saturday. As tauschies, we are responsible for throwing a party at the end of the semester. To raise money for this, we have a fundraiser/party/dinner every Tuesday at a café in Vallender. These fundraisers are called Tauschie Tuesdays and every week a different nationality hosts the event. We have had one so far, hosted by the Australians.

Sharing Sangria with fun straws at the Hawaii Party

Hiking:

            One thing about Vallendar is that the town is absolutely dead on Sundays. Because of this, the first Sunday that we were here, some of the exchange students and I went on a hike to a nearby “mountain”. It was a great bonding experience because we accidentally took an unconditional route and ended up climbing straight up the natural terrain instead of using the trail. One of the great parts about Vallendar is that people take their dogs absolutely everywhere, so we got to see lots of dogs on our hike.

 Climbing the natural terrain

Me at the top

Cologne:

            This first month, because our residence permits are not fully squared away, many of the tauschies have been and will continue to travel throughout Germany for these first few weeks. Last Saturday, a huge group of us went to Cologne  (Köln) to see the sights there. While in Cologne, we went climbed to the top of the Kolner Dom ( a beautiful Cathedral, 500+ steps to the top - Ouch!), visited the Lindt Chocolate Factory and museum and went to the 4711 store where the first cologne (as in perfume) comes from. We also walked along the Rhine, shopped a little, had authentic German food and tried Kölsch beer which is brewed in Cologne. It was a great day trip and a beautiful city.

The Future:

            I'm going to try and just hit the highlights of my stay because it would be impossible to write about everything that I’m doing here in Germany (and Europe). Some future plans are trips to Heidelberg(tomorrow), Hamburg and Bremen (next weekend), Munich and the castle that inspired the Disney Castle (2 weekends from now), Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam and London to visit Jessica and see Erich Church in concert. I will try to post more frequently, but until then, everything is going great for me, I have made some great friends and travel buddies and I love it here!

Tschüss!

Remy