The Final Heave

This past weekend, I made my last weekend trip of the semester. Originally, I had planned on doing several smaller trips between now and when I go home in July, but as time and circumstances unravelled from speculation into reality, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was out of time. Sure, there are still plenty of weeks left and plenty of places left to go, but what factor I now need to consider, well, a factor is that it is now time to begin writing three papers and preparing for a presentation and two tests. I have finally reached the point where, heaven forbid, I actually need to concentrate on the schoolwork I came here to do.

So I tried to make my last trip a good one: a weekend in the Swiss Alps around the small and friendly town of Interlaken. And while I cannot exactly say the trip was 100% stress-free, for what trip ever is, I can say that it was an incredible trip to call the finale. When I first got to Europe, I devoured art and history museums like someone dying of hunger or thirst, except the need the museums filled was not as tangible as that. It was a hunger to see and to experience the truly sublime of human culture. And I have found it wherever my footsteps have taken me, from the Uffizi in Florence, the Vatican in Rome, and the Louvre in Paris to the British Library in London, the Charles Bridge in Prague and the Neuschwanstein Castle outside Fuessen. The power of human accomplishments has greeted me everywhere I have turned, and I have not been disappointed.

But as my time waned, my appetite for mankind's art was finally satiated, and it was replaced with a need to see the beauty of nature, to experience phenomenons of landscape that have not been conquered by mankind, but instead have always been quite outside of human control. You can build a railway or a gondola up to Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn, but nature still rules. This is why I never got to see either place; the stubbornly thick clouds denied me every possible chance to see the wondrous secrets of those high places for the entirety of my visit. But to stand at the base and to see the mountains towering above me--making me feel my insignificance and the futility of trying to tame such surroundings--was truly a fantastic opportunity. Growing up in a very flat part of the world, there are no words in my vocabulary to do justice to the power and grace of those mountains. Even film supposedly worth a thousand words cannot capture their magnificence. The Swiss Alps are a form of the sublime completely beyond human comprehension. And depending on who you are, this can either agitate or soothe the soul.

For me, obviously, it was the latter.

So despite many snags in my perfect trip, I had a wonderfully relaxing and satisfying weekend. But the end of my ramblings may mean for you, dear readers, that the excitement has ended for you as well. There will no longer be stories of intriguingly new places, but only recounts of my 'settled life' in Erfurt. Train rides are to be replaced with hours spent pouring over books and resource articles, and weekends in unpredictable hostels with the study of the less varied people of Erfurt.

But anyone who knows me will know that this will not be a true hardship, for these things are still interesting to me. They are just another form of the same curiosity that brought me to study abroad in the first place. It just might not be as exciting for you! But I promise that, when I do find reasons to post to my blog, I will make it as entertaining, witty, and insightful as my talents will allow.

And on a personal note to Amy, Jacob, and Aunt Beth: thank you so much for continuing to read and comment on my blog! I am happy that my experiences have helped you, Jacob, to understand a very important part of our world's history, and that you, Amy, have been so supportive of my adventures and have used them for your children's benefit as well. And Aunt Beth, I am grateful that you have found time on your rainy days to write to me! I have heard about some of John's great experiences as well, which means the next family gathering will be a wonderful exchange of stories on all sides!!

Hard to believe, but I only have 5 weeks left...although, at times, it feels as though I have been here for ages and ages. Anyone read "'Europe'" by Henry James? You may not know me when I get back! ;)