Wandering Back in Time

It's a windy day in Marburg, but the sun is out, thankfully. If you don't have a jacket on, you might shiver a bit in the shade, but find a spot of sun near the Lahn River and it's enough to make you want to nap away the afternoon.

Maybe the clock has struck a new hour, and you hear the same bells that rung for knights and pilgrims in the medieval ages. You wonder just how many times the bells of the St. Elizabeth Church, consecrated in 1283, have rung since then. Probably more times than you have breathed...

You begin to ascend the hill on which most of Marburg is built, and eventually wander into the "Oberstadt", or Old City, and although these buildings may not date back to medieval times, they've been around longer than almost anything in America. The crowds are a little more sparse than they would be, since it's a Sunday, when almost every shop in town takes a day off. And who would want to work on a day like today? German voices saturate the air around you. Unless you already speak it, you listen in on conversations, trying to pick out a word or two, hoping you'll learn like a baby, since almost the only thing you recognize over the course of a half hour is "Yeah!" Or maybe it was French that that couple was speaking. You can't really tell between the locals and tourists, although it helps if they're wielding a giant, gaudy camera like yourself. A woman with a huge Nikon asks you something in German, to which you respond, "Es tut mir leid. Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut." (I'm sorry. My German is not very good.) She smiles at your attempt and starts talking to you about the flowers in English. You didn't expect there would be so much green everywhere either.

Of course, you can't stop by Marburg without visiting the castle that dominates the skyline. It's a steep climb, and on the way you stop to quench your thirst at a drinking fountain.

And although the castle is impressive, the view is even more so.

(I have no idea why there is a big red shoe parked in front of the castle, but I thought it was kind of interesting)

This is the city I'll be living in for the next few months. I received a very warm welcome from Prof. Dr. Marahiel and Julian, the professor and graduate student that I'll be working with. They picked me up at the Marburg train station and then Julian showed me around this beautiful city. Thankfully, I'm living in student housing here, and so I've also met some awesome people in the rooms around me. I wish I spoke more German! But I'm getting along, since I can talk to most people here in English. I haven't really delved into research yet, but don't worry! There will be more science in my next post!