Final Blog

First off, here is the amazing slide show that our class created. I am not entirely sure who exactly had their hands in it, but great job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xvOj8EJl8&feature=youtu.be

Why am I writing this final blog? Mainly because I always felt like this was incomplete and it was driving me nuts. I always wanted to write a final blog reflecting on the whole trip and my feelings and everything. I left for Munich over 2 years ago. It was the first time I left the US and it was the first time I went anywhere besides the northeast or Florida. 311 days later I had visited 10 countries. Things changed fast. I changed fast. I got back to the US a little over a year ago and now I feel like is a good time to reflect on everything and put my thoughts and feelings down.

When I returned from Prague I had to settle in and really focus on my exams and papers and research.  The final week of my time there, my mom came back to Germany for a second time. She helped me everything out of apartment and into that dreaded storage locker that was the bane of my existence when I arrived. If you missed that saga, feel free to click in September and take a look at my first blog in Germany. It was the worst time of my life. All year I dreaded hauling stuff back to that unit and I am infinitely grateful that my mom came to help me.

Of course, when she came it wasn't all business. We spent a fair amount of time in the beer garden next to the  Chinesischer Turm and at Hofbräuhaus. Funny story about that beer garden. I was in Boston last October I believe when I was coming back from Chicago. I was on the T and there were two Germans next to me talking to a couple of Americans. The Americans were talking to the Germans trying to explain a beer garden that they had been to in Munich. I turned to the Germans and explained to them that I think they were talking about the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten. After some more consulting with the Americans we determined that was it. I never told them that I had been there countless times and used to live in Munich, so they were probably curious as to how I knew that. It was a cool feeling

Anyway the highlight of my moms time there was when I took my mom to Salzburg to go on a Sound of Music tour. As you may recall I had been to Salzburg before so I knew of some places to eat and stuff. I took her to the same cafe we all ate at in April when we went. Anyway my mom loves Sound of Music and I found a reasonably priced tour so I decided to take her on that. It was amazing. I did not really know most of the places we went but it was all breathtaking.

Our drinks at the beloved Cafe Mozart

Overlooking a pristine lake in the Mountains and Lakes district of Salzburg 

Our tour bus was awesome

The palace used as the von Trap mansion

The gazebo from the movie

The monastery from the movie

The church from the movie

Me by the lake

Mom by the lake

Side note- Libby and I recently went to Stowe Vermont to go to Ben and Jerrys. Stowe is where the von Traps moved to after they fled Europe. So we saw their mansion and ate there. I thought that was cool. Here are some photos from that trip.

Libby and I at Ben and Jerry's

The Von Trap family Lodge. They brew beer. It's alright

Grave of Maria, the youngest Von Trap

Libby at the Stowe Brewers festival. It was a good time

My biggest failure during this trip was when my mom brought up the fact that we did not have a single photo together from her trip. Whoops. Not my best. It was still a great time though and not too many mother son duos can say they spent a week in Europe together. Side note the hotel we stay at in Munich is amazing. Its the Marriott Residence Inn Munich City East near Ostbahnhof. The rooms are great, the location is great, and the breakfast buffet is out of this world. By far the best hotel I've ever stayed at, but again, that's what happens when you lounge on your Mom's tab instead of scraping by around Europe like I'm used to.

At the end of the year we had a graduation party at a beer hall in Munich. We learned how to do traditional Bavarian dancing and had the slideshow, great beer, food, and company. It was an amazing night and a perfect way to end our journey.

Libby and I at the graduation party

Libby Blake and I. What a crew

Blake Melina me and Libby

Me Ivett and Libby. Ivett is the best JYM professor

On July 23, 2015, after 311 days away from home, I got on a plane and flew back to the US. I landed in Boston, where I was forced to sit on the runway for another grueling 30 minutes. I've made it this far, just get me home! The first thing we did was get pizza, because as I have complained about, the pizza in Europe was trash. I finally got home. A few days later my mom totally surprised me with a party. I actually had 0 idea that it was happening and it actually got me totally off guard. It was an amazing way to be welcomed home.

In Germany I was doing an independent research project that focused on how Holocaust commemoration in Germany had changed over the years and how it is currently entering a new Era. This ultimately turned into my senior thesis back at Bates, which I crushed by the way. When I got back from Germany I felt like school in the US was a million times easier just because everything is in English. I actually did all the readings and I didn't procrastinate and I just overall was a way better student, mostly because my mindset had totally changed when I got back to the US. I ended my last semester there with a 4.0, the first I had ever gotten.

I honestly feel like I can do anything now. It sounds so cheesy but its true. I look at how hard things were for me at the beginning of Germany and what it took out of me mentally and physically and it was honestly a low point in my life. I was so overwhelmed. But slowly day by day things got better. Soon by November I was having the absolute time of my life. The summer months of May June and July were truly the most fun I have ever had due to the environment and the people I had met. I look back at how tough those beginning times were and I know that few things are going to be as hard as that and that I can do pretty much anything if I hunker down.

Yet weirdly, by the end of it all I was excited to get back home. When I left Germany I was not sad about it, simply because I was so excited to get home. Now with each passing day my desire to go back is greater and greater. I remind myself though that if I went back now it would never be the same. I will never again be a student in Germany surrounded by an amazing group of people with very little responsibilities and have time just to focus on having fun and expanding my horizons. Even if I went back I would have to worry about getting a job and all of that stuff. As a student you just went to class and did whatever you wanted in your free time. I also did not have a job for the first time in college which was nice. I finally had time to focus on myself and relax, which was so nice after everything that has happened in the past 4 years.

I felt like I was so tightly wound when I went to Germany, and my time there gave me time to relax and get in a better mental place. Now I am much more relaxed, a nicer person I believe, and much more social. I love going out and meeting new people now. If Germany hadn't happened, that never would have changed.

Speaking of changes I travel all the time now. I went to Chicago 5 times this past year. What an incredible city. It is so fun to be there and oh my god the pizza. I would not mind living there. Besides that I have been to Wisconsin, Niagara Falls, Delaware 3 times, all over Pennsylvania including Gettsyburg and Philly, Vermont, and places in Maine that I have never been before.

Overall JYM was an absolutely amazing experience. I am that guy that will talk to anyone I know about it. At the same time it is frustrating because you run into people and they say how was it? The problem with America is that people ask you that but don't really care about the answer (thanks for the analysis IKK.) Therefore I end up summing up the most amazing experience of my life down to the word good. 311 days of my life and all I say is good. Kind of sad, but it is just so hard to have deep, meaningful conversations with people about it because it is an experience nearly impossible to put into words, and the ones who can relate to the feeling of it are the ones who lived the experience with you. That's why this blog was good I think, because I could just pour my thoughts and feelings out into it and you guys can read whatever you want and I feel some sort of gratification from it. Side note, I don't think I would ever be able to have a diary because no one reads it. When I write deep things I want people to read them for some reason.

What are my current plans? I graduated from Bates obviously. I dropped the whole PHd in History thing and am now trying to go to law school. I am moving to Philadelphia soon so if you are reading this and can hook me up with a paralegal or legal assistant job, send me a message or comment. Shameless plug. Just trying to make it in the world.

I applied to a few things in Germany, unfortunately the only one I heard back from was a bilingual summer camp job outside Munich. It would have gotten me back to Germany, but it would have been a prison, as in no contact with outside world and terrible pay. Ultimately not best for me so I passed on the opportunity. I still want to get back there in some regard in the next 5 years though. I have a feeling it will be via the tourist route, which is fine, I know a great hotel.