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.

Time to Reflect

I showed up at my parent's house a little over week ago, and left Europe a few days before that. In this time, I have had time to process what I experienced in Germany and the Czech Republic. Trying to explain what I have been thinking and feeling about this trip has been difficult, more so than I expected. Friends and family approach me with questions about the trip, and it's hard to begin. It has to be disappointing for them, as it is for myself, when I have trouble explaining what I have been doing for the last few week. Of course there is so much to say, and that's just it. But I have specific things that I want to say which are hard to being up in conversation, so perhaps writing will be a better way of sharing my thoughts.

I don't want to share about the food, art, architecture and the physical surroundings I have been in. That's what my photos are for, or ideally you should just go yourself. It was great, really. I'll add some photos into this post for you anyways, maybe you'll keep reading.

Something that has stuck with me has been quite outside what has been advertised about this trip. The people I have met during the trip have been inspired me to do much more with myself in the near and distant future. I have met many people in my travels who are doing more than I thought myself capable of. It is because of these people, I have found myself at a new job this summer that I enjoy much more than the job I had been working, with plans to move down to Ann Arbor this summer, rather than merely sticking with comfort with my family. I have things and projects in my mind that I have been working on that I never thought I would do. Of course, I was inspired by this program and its creative direction, but these people who are leading by example, have been essential to my understanding of this experience.

Before this trip, I always thought I hated modern art. I couldn't understand why anyone would enjoy, let alone buy, a piece of canvas with random lines on it, or a sculpture with no structural purpose. Modern art was something I didn't understand, and so I decided it wasn't worth my time. I was wrong.

On one of our first museum days, Kristin and Janet instructed us to walk around the exhibits and take pictures of the ones that stood out to us, or the ones we liked best. To my dismay, it was all modern art. I walked circles around and around trying to find something, anything I liked, but I fell short. When Kristin asked me which ones I liked, I clearly remember stating "I don't really like modern art, but I like the portraits." At this point, she pointed out some features of the art and why the artists made it the way they did, and I began to appreciate the art a little bit more because I finally knew the intent of the artist. 

As the days passed, and we saw more and more art, and I started to pick up on things in modern art that I hadn't realized before. I began to see how the simplicity or complexity of the piece added meaning to the work, how the colors brought out different emotions, and how I spent more time thinking about what the picture expressed rather than showed. Each visit, I was falling slowly in love with modern art, but didn't realize it.

It wasn't until Berlin when our group went to an art exhibit in a bunker, when I finally understand what modern art meant to me. The exhibit contained interactive art, art that pushed the limits, and art that made me feel happy, sad, angry, and worried. I realized that modern art makes me think more than any traditional art could. Modern art not only pushes the boundaries of what is art, but it pushes me to think of what and who I am as a human. 

Germany taught me above anything else my love for modern art. I have pushed myself to experiment in art while at hope and I thank my experience abroad for introducing me to this new passion.  

I just returned home after 6 1/2 weeks in Europe and fully expect to have some culture shock now that I am back home! I wanted to post Part II of photos from the trip to give a sense of what the day to day experience was like. Part I (posted earlier) was from May 4-17 and these shots are from our final days in Germany, starting with May 18 when we traveled from Dresden to Berlin. In Berlin, we kicked off our final week of seeing incredible performances with tickets to "The Situation" at the Theater festival. That play was about the current situation(s) in Europe and elsewhere. As with many of the plays we saw, it presented issues about identity, relationships, the refugee crisis, and globalization from multiple perspectives. It was the perfect way to start off our Berlin segment of the trip--the beginning of the end of a great study trip. By the time we reached Berlin, by far the most diverse and the largest city we visited, the group was savvy about travel. We packed in walking tours, heard personal stories, saw world-class museums, had art lessons, experienced great "ethnic" food, and saw some amazing dance and theater performances in a range of venues. Some members of the group even took part in a hip hop dance workshop! Berlin tied together all of the elements of our study trip, provided insights into everything we had been learning about in our class and in Germany.

This was the most ambitious study trip I have planned, with visits to Munich, Kochel, Murnau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nürnberg, Dresden, and Berlin. I appreciate how cooperative and enthusiastic the group was. We experienced so much in just three weeks. Whew!  Special thanks, again, to CGIS and to the RC, to several RC Alumni, who made special donations to help some of the students afford the trip, and to Asgard Press and Peter Shin. And thank you for following our blog. I know that a few more posts are likely to appear as students wrap up their own travels and share a final reflection and/or photos, so I hope that you will continue to check back.
--Janet

Oh, and here's a somewhat rare shot of Kristyn and me. I am grateful to my co-leader for the instruction and assistance she provided on the trip.

May 18. Berlin Brandenburger Tor & Kreuzberg

May 19. History tour of Mitte and a few Counter-memorials

May 19 Hackesche Höfe. This is one of the first areas that experienced gentrification.

May 20: Art lesson on portrait painting.

May 20 Walking Tour. Perspectives on the GDR

May 20 Treptower Park.

May 21 Boxhagener Platz Flea Market

May 21 Kristyn paints on a human canvas aka Max

May 22: Another lesson in portrait drawing.

May 22 Camille at the Wall.

May 22: More flea markets

May 22 Steglitz. Michelle takes every opportunity to practice her German.

May 22 Fritsch's "Murmel Murmel"--probably the last chance to experience it!

May 22 Curtain calls in Germany are long and well-deserved.

May 23. Hohenschönhausen Stasi Prison Tour by a Zeitzeuge

Telling his own amazing (film-worthy!) story.

The Jewish Cemetery at Weissensee.

May 24 Sharing at our final group reflection

May 24. Final group feast. Celebrating learning and friendships.

Fantastic food and we managed to eat it all!

May 24. The last shot I took of our group at the Gorki Theater, 

following another great show!

Post-Trip Reflection

It has been a week since I have returned home from Germany, which has given me an abundance of time to settle back into my normal routine and reflect upon all that I experienced on the trip.

I definitely have mixed emotions about returning, besides the fact that for some reason I thought Donald Trump would magically disappear by the time I came back, there are certain things I already miss about Germany. I quickly became spoiled with the phenomenal accessibility of the arts in Germany and by the end of the trip I was so accustomed to going to multiple museums and performances each day.  Each evening I had the opportunity to see a different theater performance, opera, or classical music concert at a different venue in nearly all of the seven cities we visited. Every performance I saw opened my eyes and made me question my prior perceptions of performing arts. When asked by my friends and family what my favorite performance was that we saw, it’s impossible to name only one, but instead I believe that the variety of shows made the trip truly amazing and memorable for me. Similarly, we didn’t see any “terrible” shows, and while there are some that I certainly preferred over others (Zement and Faust at Residenz, Tosca at National Theater, and Don Giovanni at Komische Oper being among my favorites) every single production we saw was thought provoking, well staged with a solid cast, and unlike anything one could experience in the US.

While I miss the constant exposure to the performing arts, I am a little glad to be able to spend hours in a practice room again. The shows I saw in Germany continue to inspire and challenge me weeks after and will continue to be influential as I tackle an abundance of new repertoire during the rest of the summer.

Will return to post more soon!

Deine,

Camille

La Bayadère- National Theater, Munich                                             Garmisch Partenkirchen

Opernhaus Nürnberg, Lieder Recital

 Semperoper Dresden, Dornröschen

                                               

Same same, but different

Germany was a wild ride. From the shows we saw to the art we made to the relationships we formed, it was truly a wonderful experience.

There is a saying that I think really applies to our trip; it is, “Same same, but different”. Whenever one travels abroad they are shown the differences and similarities between their culture and the culture they are visiting. The American culture is similar to the German, but there are also some striking differences like how quiet people are in public and the strict observance of no J-walking laws. These differences make me examine our culture to find what I like and what I’d like to adopt from German culture.

            By traveling around Germany, we were also able to see the similarities and differences between different parts of Germany. I found there were some underlying similarities that created a common Germany feeling. I can’t quite explain it. Despite this there were differences particularly between Munich and Berlin. Munich is very influenced by their Bavarian heritage, while Berlin has been deeply influenced by the Soviets presence and the East West Divide. This divide and the later fall of the fall created a huge alternative scene in Berlin which continues today through their clothes and street art. The Bavarian influence of Munich has led them to keep the Bavarian flag flying high and have very different food. Munich is know for spätzle, schnitzel and beer, while Berlin over the years has been influenced by so many cultures that it now can be hard to find traditional German food; instead, doner and currywurst are huge in Berlin.

            There are also some similarities and huge differences between our group now and before the trip. Before the trip through the play and our class we created a community where each person pulls their own weight, but also helps each other. This same attitude existed at the end of our trip, but our individual relationships are very different. In the past 3 weeks through our constant interacts, I have gotten to know the people of our group better than I have in the 2 years of knowing them. That’s why I think travel is the best way to get to know people.

Travel shows you the similarities and differences between cultures, types of food, and people and at the end you are always the same, but a little bit different.