The Last of the Lahn Days

The days of infinite sun in Marburg have passed. May was probably the most beautiful month I've experienced so far in Germany. Every day we were stretched out on the Lahn practicing sloth, but lately Marburg has gone back to its old rainy self. I was talking with Rabea the other night about how I would like to just have one last Lahn Day before I leave, and sure enough... the Germanic gods granted my wish and the sun came out to play yesterday. So, we all marched down to the Lahn and occupied the grass by the river for hours. We sat around talking and drinking beer/wine, playing frisbee, and eventually took a much needed nap.


I woke up laying on my back on the grass and looking up at a perfectly blue sky. Every now and then a white frisbee would go zooming over my head as Andrew and Hayden tossed it back and forth for about an hour. These times on the Lahn have probably been one of my favorite parts about Marburg. Everyone just takes some time to relax and not worry about anything. I definitely needed this Lahn Day. I have been getting all kinds of nots in my stomach about having to go home and other people in my program have already left or are leaving in the next couple days.

After the long afternoon and evening by the Lahn we made our way back up to Studentendorf where we had yet another bonfire (which has turned into something we do on a regular basis). All night long we sat around the fire drinking, talking, playing music, and saying bitter sweet goodbyes. A huge chunk of the group are headed for Budapest tomorrow and wont be back until after I'm gone so I had to say goodbye to a lot of really fantastic people last night. It's a real shame that I'm the only one that lives in the West. Pretty much most of the group goes to Penn State or lives in Wisconsin so they are all pretty close to each other. I'll just have to make some kind of pilgrimage east one of these days.

Today I ran off to Kassel for dOCUMENTA (13). It's basically the biggest exhibition of contemporary art in the world. I couldn't afford to go in, so I just pressed my face against the glass like a creepy pauper and looked around at what I could. I came back to Marburg and sat outside at Fiona's drinking tea and reading while I waited for the bus. When I got back to my room I started packing and cleaning. I didn't realize just how many books I had bought while I was here. Basically my entire backpack is crammed full of just books... my back is going to hate me.

The Euro Cup started yesterday (European football tournament) and tonight Germany plays Portugal. It's being broadcast on a giant screen up by the castle where I'm sure more than half of Marburg will be. I hope for my sake and the rest of this country's sake that Germany wins... I've seen what happens when a favored team loses and it is not the prettiest (like when Chelsea beat Bayern... that was ugly). It should prove to be a most eventful night ending it most likely another one of these farewell bonfires.

I'm reminded of a Kerouac quote that pretty much sums up everything that's been going on the last month or so: "We were alone and mixing up our souls ever more and ever more till it would be terribly hard to say good-by."

And I leave you with that, my friends. I'm off to have more adventures until Doom's Day.