Letter 03-2007. Evangelisches Studienhaus.

22^nd April 2007

Dear friends,

There is a lot to tell, so I will start with something, and rather continue with other subjects in later letters. The subject of today is Evangelisches Studienhaus, Evangelical Studenthouse, hereafter called ES, my home in Leipzig.

ES is situated in Stötteritz, southeast in Leipzig, 3-4 km from the centre, or Innenstadt, as it is called. Innenstadt is about as the Old City in Jerusalem, or a bit smaller (almost 1 km²?). The university is spread around in Innenstadt, and some places outside. The theological faculty is just west of the road around Innenstadt. I had to be told that Stötteritz is on a hill, I did not see it, - it is quite flat here. Tram 4 stops just outside ES, but I have been lucky to borrow a bike the last week, and I am looking for a cheep, used, I like biking. The distance between ES and the theological faculty is about the same as between Kringsjå and MF (where I lived and studied in Oslo), so walking is also possible. If anyone wants to write on paper, I can receive post: Sommerfelder Strasse 20, 16/1, 04299 Leipzig, Germany.

ES is divided in socalled WGs, Wohngemeinshaft, “flats“. There are 13 WGs in the house, each has 7 students. We have a room each and then we share kitchen and bathrooms. I live in WG5. “That is a good WG,“ a student said to me when I had moved in, and I felt it at once. There was a welcoming dinner a few days ago, and when I was about to make dinner last Saturday, I was stopped before I had started, and invited out on the small balcony for a barbeque. WG5 also has contacts (boyfriends) in other parts of the house, and one of them has made it possible for me to borrow a computer, so that I now am sitting in my room writing. I had thought of writing earlier, but WG5 is also to blame that I have not managed that. I thought of writing yesterday, but was invited out to a museum night, a yearly happening where the museums in Leipzig are open until midnight. It is not impossible that WG5 will be presented more in an own letter in a few weeks, the deserve that.

There are different events at ES. The first week there was an assembly where we who were new could present us, and there was information about rules and event in the house. There has also been a Eucharist and barbeque to celebrated the beginning of the semester. There are several weekly activities to join. Monday and Wednesday night there are prayers in the chapel. Each Friday morning there is an hour of Greek translation for those who want more than the studies can give them. About 50 % of the students living here study theology. We work on the Acts of the Apostles now. I have never thought of myself as very slow in the Greek lessons at MF, and have never said “pass“ and avoided to translate. But to translate from Greek to German still seems almost impossible to me. Much of the Greek I do not understand, and when I understand something, I do not know how it should be in German. But hopefully I both learn some Greek and some German from it.

There is a danger that there will be much theology when studying theology, living in an evangelical student house, attending church and also meeting the same theology students the other places I happen to be. I have not been so clever in finding alternative environments, but I think I can allow myself to be a bit theological this short semester. Something which is not so theological here at ES are the Sunday evenings with dance course. A week ago we had slow waltz (or English waltz as I have learnt to call it in Norway) and cha-cha-cha. I guess we will continue with them today in addition to learning something new. So now it is time to find the dance shoes.

For those who are interested in reading more about ES (in German), there is a homepage: http://www.ev-studienhaus-leipzig.de/1.php

Greetings from Hanne.