May 13th - Birthday in Germany!

Aha! Finally my first blog post. There is so much that I have to write down, but I'll limit myself to the adventures that we had in the days around my 20th birthday - May 13th :) Here we go!

After a picturesque and calming two days in the Alps, hiking and reflecting, the group traveled back to Munich for our last days before traveling north. When we got back to the city and our hostel, we felt like it was home. One week during this trip feels like a month! It was comforting and sad to realize that we had one more day with a city that we had come to know and love. With one glance at our itinerary, however, I got excited to get to know other cities in Germany as well.

That night the whole group got to see Faust, one of the most well known works of Germany. The play adaptation that we saw was many things – some of them shocking, explicit, and alarming – but more than that it was an example of powerful German theater. The delivery of the rhymed lines blended in with the acting to create unique dialogs. The actors were versatile and expressive. The whole set, complete with cannons and a roof and different rooms, rotated and changed and became innumerable different scenes. We were all blown away by the entire performance, and also a little shell-shocked. It's not something I'll ever forget.

The next day was my birthday, and lucky for me we were spending the day going to museums and exploring Munich for the last time. We started at a tiny dinosaur museum, where I geeked out over fossils. The true highlight of the day was the Neue Pinakothek Museum. This museum is one in a set of three – old, new, and modern – art museums among the many in Munich. The new museum holds pieces by famed artists such as Renoir, Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh. We took our time when looking at paintings that we had only ever seen in books or on TV before, and it was incredible to see new details, like brush strokes, that you can only observe in person. After starting to learn new things about how to paint on our own, it was very cool to see the masterpieces of the same medium. It was a very special afternoon.

And now we have begun the journey north! Nürnberg is turning out to be a wonderful combination of medieval history, street markets, and scenery. We have already fallen for the town, as I suspect will happen with our next two stops as well. I am excited to explore and learn more about the town, and of course see some more theater. Until then, with the Bavarian word of parting, I'll say "servus"!

-Franny :)