My Residence Hall

In Marburg, I live in a residence hall called Christian-Wolff-Haus. Christian-Wolff-Haus is really a little community of residence halls, located in Cappel, which is a suburb of Marburg. From my hall, it takes about 25 minutes to get to class or the inner city by bus. There is a bus stop right outside my hall and a bus comes about every twenty minutes during the weekdays.

One perk about German residence halls is that it is unusual to have to share a room. That is not the only difference between Phillips University- Marburg’s residence halls and the residence halls at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire though.

For example, there is no front desk in Christian-Wolff-Haus. That means one is unable to conveniently purchase pizzas or snacks and must have their own food. One must also have their own cooking supplies. There is no place to barrow or “check out” pots, pans and other useful cooking utensils like in the residence halls at UW-Eau Claire. There are kitchens on each wing of every floor in the residence halls in Marburg. It is common to cook for oneself and friends when not going to the cafeteria to eat.

The biggest differences between Marburg and UW-Eau Claire are the other residents, the atmosphere of the hall and that my hall has a Student Kneipe or student bar. The other residents on my floor seem to be nice, however not very outgoing. They generally greet each other, then close their doors and only come out of their rooms to use the kitchen, the bathroom or to leave the building. It is very different from the dorms at UW-Eau Claire where there seems to be a sense of community among the residents.

The people on my wing are also both male and female, which is typical for the residence halls here. Males and females do not have separate wings, showers or bathrooms.

There are also no resident assistants in the halls in Marburg. Here one is responsible for onself. To me it feels much more like I am living in an apartment complex rather than in a residence hall. I enjoy the fact that I can come and go as I please and do not have to answer to anyone.

A bar is a common establishment in residence halls in Marburg and most hall communities have at least one that students have access to. For a couple of euros, one can drink a beer and sit with friends in the comfort of their own hall. As an American, I found having a bar in a residence hall pretty strange. The bar in my hall is located on the ground floor which also features a laundry room, library and a room with a television.

The difference that has impacted me the most is that free internet is not provided in my hall. The Philips University-Marburg does provide free internet in some of its dorms, however not in all of them. When I moved into Christian-Wolff-Haus, I was told to ask around my floor and see if anyone would mind sharing their wireless internet with me. This is a common practice among the students in Marburg and I was told to expect to pay anywhere from five to ten euros per month for internet.

After several failed attempts at sharing the internet with neighbors, my friend took me to a store to buy a surf stick. Luckily, it ended up working. A surf stick is a little thing that one plus into one’s USB port and functions like a cell phone. Of course, I have to pay for this service and it is not cheap. It cost me 70 euros for the surf stick and the first month of internet. After that, I pay a monthly charge of 25 euros for the service.

My room is small but I enjoy having my own space. If you are curious, view the video attached to this entry to see what my room and what the rest of my wing looks like.

S.N.