Off the Map

Last 'Huzzah' Before the Semester Sets In

*Look to my post below this One for Photos*

This past weekend was one last bout of fun and adventure before the beginning of my semester this week (yes, for those of you grappling with Midterms, I'm only now starting - and haven't even registered yet, but more on that later this week).

With the other Americans, 5 UK kids, 8 Frenchies, and a smattering of other ERASMUS students we hopped a bus and headed to a Youth Hostel in the beautiful but odd Weimar. We spent the first day there, the next day in Erfurt, and the last day at the Bucherwald Concentration Camp.

Coming from a very prosperous West-German town to 2 East German towns with 20% unemployment rates was a palpable culture shift. The first thing I noticed after I got off the bus was the incredible amount of Graffiti. Weimar has only 60,000 residents - but more graffiti than you can imagine! I think the only buildings spared had security cameras... But when every fith person you see hasn't a job, there is collectively lots of time on people's hands. Most interesting was the degree of political graffiti - lots of anti-capitalist & anti-American art (which was fascinating and disquieting at the same time). Overall the vibe/aura of both cities was a little funky - most of the students were able to feel it, though none have as of yet been able to articulate it quite eloquently enough for description here.

That out of the way, the cities were chock-full with historically significant and beautiful buildings, statues, churches, canals, and all sorts of other stereotypical Euro-Stuff.

It was great to learn more about Schiller (the great German composer from Weimar), Goethe (the great German writer and politician from Weimar), the Weimar Republik (the first real German Democracy, also started in Weimar), and both cities experiences under the USSR government.

This trip I was fortunate enough to spend lots of time with a kid from Oxford, a kid from Cambridge and 3 other girls hailing from Great Britain. I couldn't begin to count the hours we spent hashing out cultural, political, economic and social issues. I also had a chance to test out my Aussie accent, which they said was not too shabby (the last 6 weeks I've been imitating the language of those around me, so I think that I was much more able to pick up the similar accent of the Brits, even in comparison to my month Down Under).

I'll add more in a couple hours - my battry is dead after posting too many photos!

posted by Jason @ 3:12 pm