Germany
Spring has sprung in Saxony
Spring came fast here in Dresden. It seemed like one week there was snow on the ground and the next the crocuses were blooming and the trees were starting to bud. My favorite part about spring is being able to comfortably go biking here. I ride to school every morning, and there is actually bike [...]
Dresden’s Delightful Neighbors
Field trips are amazing, especially when you are studying abroad. I talked about the local excursions to locations in Dresden last week, so now it’s time to share my bigger trips. Leipzig Leipzig is best known for being the home of Bach, who often worked and is buried in the cathedral on the left. However, [...]
Die Sonne schneit in schöner Sachsen
For those of you who speak German, that was not a typo. It snowed so much here in February that even my German teacher made the mistake of saying that the sun snows instead of saying that the sun shines. February 2013 was the darkest month on record. Regardless, the sun snows in beautiful Saxony. [...]
Biking in the Netherlands
Bikes. Bikes are everywhere in the Netherlands, and to me they have defined my experience here. Before I had come here, I hadn’t biked for years, and then only on the country road in my neighborhood. In the past week, I have biked through Dutch cities in all kinds of weather (sun, rain, snow, ice, [...]
Europa, ich komme gleich.
On Friday, I leave for Europe. I will be leaving Lafayette, my friends, and my family for half a year. While that seems like a long time, I still feel like I was in China yesterday, and I know the time will fly again this semester. My trip to Europe will be my fourth time [...]
Looking Back: Helgoland – The Fondest Memory
Sometimes, you lose track of important things. And sometimes, those things come back to mind at the most unexpected moments. During our last German Politics and Culture lecture today, we were asked to fill out an evaluation on the school-organized excursions we went on over the course of the semester. One of the questions was, [...]
Servery Boycott
I had originally planned to write another travel log for this entry. However, something very meaningful took place tonight here at Jacobs University, and I would like to share it with all of you. First, a little bit of background information about how the cafeteria/catering company here works. Residence halls at Jacobs are called colleges, [...]
Bergen-Belsen
The other exchange students and I visited the Bergen Belsen Memorial on Friday as part of our recent studies and discussions regarding German history and the Holocaust in our German Politics and Culture class. Bergen-Belsen was originally established as a prisoner of war camp by the Nazis in 1940. In 1943, it became a concentration [...]
Hallo aus Deutschland!
Greetings from Germany! My name is Xingjian Ma, but I go by Max. I am a Chemical Engineering major from Shenyang, China. I am from the class of 2014, and I am currently studying abroad at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany for one semester. One of my biggest hobbies is photography, so expect plenty of [...]