My first experience studying abroad was in Karlsruhe,
Germany. Although it’s been four years,
I still manage to keep in contact with a handful of my closest friends. One of these is a francophone Swiss girl by
the name of Sophie Nuara. She and I were
friends from the very first day of orientation back in September of 2008 where
a throng of international students met on the steps to University. Stubborn as always, she insisted on speaking
German and would never let me resort to English whenever we tried to
communicate (this was either because she wanted to learn German or because her
English wasn’t so good). She’s also the
one who dragged me out of my shell to join in learning Capoeira that winter. She’s a simple girl, opting to wear the most
practical clothing and more often than not without makeup, choosing to play
sport and ride roller coasters. You
might say she’s a bit of tom boy. When I
told her I’d be coming back to Europe she didn’t skip a beat in suggesting we
should meet somewhere. We decided on
Munich and set a date. Because she was
bringing along her boyfriend and since I don’t like to play third wheel, I
asked a friend of mine from Graz (John Huber of Arkansas) to tag along.
The train to Munich passed through Salzburg which made a
short stop all too tempting. The city of
Mozart has so many shades of interesting that one could stay for a week and not
experience the entirety of it. The
cathedrals, the history, the music, the culture, and the landscape...forgive me
but all I could think of was the Sound of Music. The exorbitant amount of tourists flooding
the city were really the only detraction during our 3 hour stay. I couldn’t imagine living in a place where
every day I was asked to take a picture of/with a group of Japanese tourists on
my way to work.
We got to Munich late, rail weary and despite this nothing
could have prepared me for that sense of joy you get from seeing a long lost
friend after many years. I was sitting
in the lobby of the hostel futilely trying to connect to the internet while
John occupied himself with ideas for dinner... and suddenly, there she was,
giving me that “I found you” grin. We
immediately ran toward each other and hugged for a good 10 seconds. It’s good to know and be known. She’d matured a little and it made me think
about how I must have appeared to her.
Her usual spunk was there but it had calmed and she seemed more patient.
After a round of swift observance of customary niceties, we were off. The whole 20 minute walk to the restaurant
was primarily the two of us blabbering about good old times. The ease with which we both slipped back into
that Karlsruhe state of mind was astonishing.
It’s as if we were starting in the middle of a long lost sentence with a
full grasp of everything that had come before
At dinner that night I ordered Tyrolean cow tongue. I have to admit, it was awful! There was a point when I realized that I was
chewing on the tip of a dead cow’s tongue, feeling and tasting it with my
tongue. It’s never good when the tips
touch.
For the next 2 days it was nothing but “do you remember?”
and “what’s this person up to?” and “what are you doing now?” I think we bored Sophie’s boyfriend and John
from Arkansas to tears with our endless chatter. The passage of time touches everything but
over these two days in Munich I had the genuine feeling that I was once again an
eager 21 year old student full of life. It
makes me wonder, could I have that experience all over again at age 81 if I met
Sophie (or anyone from Karlsruhe) again?
I should like to think so.
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| Salzburg |
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| Munich |
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| John from Arkansas, Me, Sophie, Sophie's Friend |
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| Sophie and I |
