Stefan de Haan – S3670848 (Erasmus Report Marburg)
In the wintersemester of 2020/2021, I did an Erasmus semester in Marburg. First I will tell a little bit about the courses that I finished. I followed four courses, worth 26 ECTS in total. Out of the four courses, I followed two in linguistics (semantics and phonology) and two in literature (medieval and modern). The courses were very interesting and gave me a lot of new insights. During courses, I attended the seminars every week and had to do homework. The professor were very helpful, when I didn't understand something. To get the points for the courses, I had to do two exams and write two papers and I also had to do a presentation. Sadly I only went to the university building two times, namely the first seminar of the modern german literature and the exam of the medieval german literature. However, I also enjoyed the classes online. A big advantage of having class online for example, is that you can get out of bed later. I do not think that not having present seminars had a ver big impact on my experience in Marburg. This experience was a very good addition to my knowledge of the German language. I got to know a lot of new people, and got to talk a lot of German to improve my language proficiency. As can be seen in the OLS Test, where I went from C1 to C2. Although in my opinion, I am still in between those two levels. I stayed in Marburg the whole period of my Erasmus. I am even still in Marburg right now, because it was so much fun and I am able to attend my seminars of the university of Groningen online. The best thing about the experience, in my opinion is getting to know new people and new cultures. I stayed in a residence of "Studentenwerk" which has about 150 Students per building and it's like a village of those buildings. That's why it's also called "Studentendorf" Studentvillage. So because of that, I got to know a lot of internationals but also native Germans. Now I know people from all over the world. At first I was afraid that I wouldn't make any
friends and be alone all the time during my erasmus, especially now with corona. The first week felt like one month to me, because I was simply used to be on my own, I always lived with my parents. But luckily I made friends quickly. On the first day, I already had dinner with my floor. I had a pretty big room, which was also really nice. The bathroom and showers were a little outdated though. I was also able to go to the library of the university, which was very big and very beautiful. And beautiful is also the word, with which I would describe Marburg. It's a relatively small city, but very aestheticly pleasing. Going up to the castle with friends and enjoying the view there at day and also night time was really nice. The old part of the city center is also really nice to visit. All in all, the Erasmus experience, was very nice and it was great to be able to attend this university and see what it's like to study at a german university. I am very thankful for this oppertunity in my life and will never forget it.
