I've landed!

We’re here! The last 24 hours have flown by. Our flights all went well, with the exception of our long flight over the ocean being an hour late. Lucky we still had enough time in Frankfurt to transfer planes, although it was a little close, and we arrived in Leipzig on time. Andrea and Dana, two students from our school, picked us up and drove us to our apartments. Andrea was especially fun to meet because she was the last German student to come to Athens through our exchange program several years ago.


I am living in a very very very old building that has had very few renovations. The doorways are all at least a foot thick and there is still plenty of chipping paint. Many of the buildings around my area of Halle are being restored, so since the renovated places are so much more expensive, all of the students live in the more original ones. The neat thing about this is that many of the students have painted them bright colors inside and added their own personality. My bathroom is bright blue with little birds painted around the sink and all the rooms have colorful trim. I have two rooms, a bedroom and a workroom, which are both pretty big. I was also delighted to find out that I do have internet connection in my apartment and hot-water!

A quick bit of history I learned about my building:
During Communist rule, all personal property (including my building) was possessed and owned by the government. After the wall fell however, the state faced the problem of finding the decedents of landowners so property could be returned to families. In the case of my building, and many others, when this happened there were already 20 or so decedents that were equally eligible to be given the building. Since no one had the money to buy any of the others out, the land is shared between all of these people. Because of this, we don’t really have a landlord or repairman. Rent is very cheep, and split 20 ways amongst the owners, but it is up to the students to fix things when they break.

After Beth and I dropped our bags off, Andrea and Dana drove us down to the castle so we could see the school and our studios. The Burg (our school’s nickname) is absolutely gorgeous. We were not there long enough to have a chance to take good pictures, but there will be images of the Burg on here very soon. The building is mostly stone with some yellow stucco segments. The ceramics area is quite large and Beth and I will both have tables in shared studio rooms. The other students and professor all seem very nice.

On the way home, we explored a little and picked up some groceries. Grocery shopping in a foreign country is a very interesting experience. It took us forever to make our minds up on what we wanted to buy, but I think as we learn more German and taste more foods shopping will get easier in the future. We also found a nice little market that has lots of healthy organic food. This was of particular interest to me since I am a vegetarian and they had many alternative sources of protein. When we got back to the apartment, Jenny my roommate was there so we talked for a while before Beth and I made dinner. She seems like a very fun person and I think she and I will get along very well. She is also fluent in English, which is always an added bonus.

Tomorrow we are already being whisked away to Berlin with one of the professors and several other students to see and exhibition from “The Burg” there and stay several nights with their friends. It should be a lot of fun, although I hope Beth and I are over jet-lag by then! Expect to not hear from me for several days since I am not taking my computer to Berlin with me. Auf Wiedersehn!

To the left is my work-room

my kitchen and my bedroom









Below is the view from my bedrom window.


Below is the coal furnace in my room.


Below is the church at the end of my road.
This church is important because all of the roads in
Halle run towards it and form a star shape