Unlike many exchange experiences, the location of my University is in a tiny town. I’m talking 10,000 people split between 5 villages tiny; median age of 60 (and I’m not sure I’m exaggerating). A few of my friends and I were discussing this the other day; that EBS university wasn’t properly explained or even advertised to us before we came, and that even google maps wasn’t much in terms of a warning. This blog post is about the huge disclaimer to that sentence.
It’s true, when you look at the maps, Frankfurt is about a 30 minute drive away, “right around the corner” by any America standard–but it’s not close. With a car, sure, it’s reachable, but this is from an American perspective (and from what I can tell, Australian and Canadian as well). Here, there are cars, but only the Germans and French have them, and even then, someone has to drive home, right? The actuality of the situation is that you take a train, which takes you an hour and seven minutes, to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station), and from there you walk or take a bus to your destination. You’re probably thinking, “alright, not ideal but not a deal-breaker.” It’s true! Getting to Frankfurt or Wiesbaden or Mainz is never the issue, it’s about getting home. The last train arrives in oewi (Oestrich-Winkel) at 12:05 from all locations, the last bus leaves Wiesbaden at 2:40, and the last car is few and far between. Sure you can go out, but can you get home? For those who can’t wrap their head around the first train at 6 in the morning (yes clubs are open until then), the last bus is typically the answer, or staying in our lovely town.
When you think about your dream exchange, you think about travel, you think about adventure, you think about new experiences; you DON’T think about a sleepy village, nuzzled in wine country next to the river Rhine. I’m here to tell you that you should. Big cities are big cities, and yes, they offer more night options, bright lights and bustling streets–but they don’t offer you the opportunity to understand the culture. Here in Oestrich-Winkel, where the curfew is 10pm and the groceries are a 5 minute walk (there are a lot of them), students are a captive audience. There are only a few places to gather, so gather we do. Human interaction becomes your greatest form of entertainment, and personally, I love it. For such a small town, there are NEVER a shortage of things to do, and most of the time, you have TOO MANY options.
So yes, when you get here, you won’t be overwhelmed with city lights, but when you leave, you’ll be overcome with memories, and stories, and friendships. This place becomes your home in a way that a big city never can. You’ll learn to love the lazy Sundays where shops are closer, but you’ll also learn that if you take the train to Wiesbaden, you have a 9 minute turn-around before the train comes back to buy whatever your arms can carry from McDonals and Rossmans. You’ll get the disapproving grandma scolds and stares when you’re crossing a street when the sign is red or being too rowdy past bedtime, but you’ll also learn that your actions impact others, and that social responsibility is something that goes both ways; you’ll learn to covet this and, surprisingly, begin to wonder why your neighbors think that playing music past 22:00 is at all acceptable. There are things about living in a small town that city dwellers never get to experience.
So yes, when you get here, you’ll wonder how you ever made the choice to come, but when you leave, you’ll wonder how you will ever bring yourself to go.