Marburg: Travel Germany, Meet the World Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Overall it was an above average educational experience. The first half was very helpful for my German but also strenuous. The second half was less strenuous but gave extra time to travel.

On-site administration of your program

The program itself had a very good administration. The university as a whole was a buerocratic nightmare that rivals the US federal government in its ability to waste time and inability to coordinate with itself.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The dorm was considered one of the bad dorms by everyone who went to Marburg. The "student village" was a 20-30 minute walk from the train station, and farther from the downtown and most of the classes. A bus that students rode for free did travel there, but the hours of it were very random and it stopped running very early. My building had no internet, the fridge and freezer were filled with years of food forgotten by past students and rarely had any room, even after I cleaned most of the years expired food out. The bathrooms were clean enough though the shower drains were extremely slow. Most maintenance issues were solved within a few days. My room was big enough, though having few posessions most of the space went to waste. The neighborhood my dorm was next to was sketchy. The community center I passed on the way to the bus stop had all sorts of people sitting or laying around outside of it, and I was challenged to fights by people standing outside of it occasionally, despite never talking to them or looking at them. I was provided with a pillow and sheets but only 1 sheet fit the bed and the pillow was tiny and thin, so I ended up buying more sheets and pillows. The heating in the room worked well. The other residents of the dorm mostly kept to themselves. Most were international students who spoke little German and some English so I was forced to use English with them.

It was standard cafeteria food. Sometimes it was good sometimes it wasn't. The hours weren't great but I had plenty of meals provided.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Traveling was great, especially the free trains around Hessen, the group trips were a ton of fun

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The dorms are in a sketchy part of town, especially fuchspass, theres a few other weird parts of town but for the most part its safe enough. I had no health issues but those who did have health issues found the health care far superior.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

We would go into the town to practice interactions in various settings that we did not already know, for example; buying shoes or shopping in a pharmacy. Almost everyone spoke english and some got mad when we spoke German. This was very annoying.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• International Students
• Americans

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• Travel oppertunities
• the downtown of the city
• the classes

• Dorms
• internet access
• centrality of campus