What comes to anyone’s mind when they hear Germany? Beer, football, sausages, etc. As much as I would be one of the people who tries to see through stereotypes, this past weekend was probably the most German experience I have had so far. Obviously that is considering the stereotype experiences.
I and almost ten other students from my program went to Munich for Fruhlingsfest 2013 and it was probably one of the most exciting weekends of my study abroad program. People started going to the carnival around eleven in the morning and did not stop till eleven at night. It was more or less 12 hours of extreme happiness and fun. When my friends asked me how I liked it all I could say was “I felt very happy”. I know very cheesy and vague but I was certainly happy when I was celebrating spring the German way.
Apart from the Fruhlingsfest, Munich also made me realize how close I am to the end of the semester and all that I have achieved in the past few months. My exams start in a week and when we visited the Dachau concentration camp all I could think of was how the semester actually began. From Berlin where we got introduced to the atrocities of Germany’s infamous history to a place that has been notorious for their presence in World War 2, I have managed to come a long way. I have read about history and its making in writing and have wrote about them in papers but there is no way I could have known so much more if I was not there at the spot. More than just seeing these places, it was more about experiencing and feeling which got me thinking how I might have changed in the past semester.
It might still take time to see how I have developed in the past semester and I am sure to keep you updated on my hectic exam week and last few weeks in Europe. Anyone who managed to spare sometime from exams to read this, I wish you good luck on your finals.