Es ist doch nicht das Ende

Prior to this summer, I had never traveled and my biggest fear was getting on an airplane for the first time. After 3 months in Europe, I am now back home in Michigan. The first piece of my trip in Europe was with my Deutsches Theater group. Looking back at this time, it is hard to believe how much we did in a mere 3 weeks. We traveled all around Germany and watched many theater shows, visited a variety of museums, got some great city tours, looked at and created some impressive art, and experienced amazing new cuisines.

Some of my favorite parts of the trip involved nature. Among all of the amazing days we had, one of my favorites was when we sat in a sunny, flowery field in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and painted, with the inspiration of the alps before us and also from the wonderful art we had just seen at the Franz Marc Museum. It was that day when I created the first painting that I actually liked. The landscape we worked in felt like it could have come out of a dream. Another special day was in Kochel, when we all hiked through a gorge. A group of us continued to hike to the top of the mountain, and there was no better feeling than being at the top. Despite lagging behind the group on our way up and requesting a break at the sight of each bench along the way, I somehow made it all the way up. Perhaps even more difficult than going up the mountain was riding the gondola on the way down (I'm not the best with heights), but I got through that as well.

I have a particular interest in the East/West dynamics in Germany, and really enjoyed that parts of our trip that incorporated this. Although our time there was brief, I absolutely loved Dresden. The architecture was some of my favorite that I've seen in my entire European trip and from looking around, it is easy to see remnants of the 'Eastern' past. I remember walking around that day and just noticing the immense happiness that I felt. And the day only got better when we saw an amazing ballet, "Sleeping Beauty." Another really powerful part of our trip exploring East Germany was when we went on a tour of a Stasi Prison, and our tour guide was one of the political prisoners when the country was still divided. Seeing the small, dark cells that so many were unjustly subjected to was a very a strong experience, and this was only compounded by the fact that a victim of the system was the one who told us about it.

My 3 favorite theater pieces that we saw took place in Berlin (which was my favorite city we visited!). The first one we saw was "The Situation" and it very effectively portrayed the life of refugees and immigrants in Germany. It was very humorous but also had some very striking and serious moments that really showed the struggle of living as an 'other' in society. Another favorite of mine was "Mermel, Mermel." The only word in the entire play was "Mermel" and the characters created a series of obscure sequences, as if they were puppets, very mechanically carrying out the roles they were meant to. It was very visually appealing and also made me think a lot. Finally, the last play we saw in Berlin was really special to me. It was about a Russian girl who constantly makes self-destructive decisions due to her tragic childhood. This one was very emotional to watch and I found that it put a perfect cap on our experience.

Overall, what made this trip most special was that it was spent with our particular group. Over the past 2 years, we have grown together and going to Germany we got to know each other that much more. We also had Janet slaving away to make this trip perfect. We have come such a long way with her, beginning with language learning, then readings, and finally, her baby, Deutsches Theater. While traveling for the first time was a very daunting experience, starting it off with this group made the experience very comfortable and set me up to be more confident through the rest of my travels throughout the summer. Prior to leaving for Europe, many people warned me that I would be home sick, but that was a feeling that I never really experienced. Instead, I now find myself feeling very Europe sick. I had an amazing journey this summer and I am very sad that is has come to an end. In the greater scheme of things, however, I know that this is not really the end, but rather, the beginning and I have so much more to look forward to.