Maybe I'm Crazy

Craziness. Absolute craziness. There are no other words to describe this past week. After Vienna for 4 days, a group of six lovely ladies and I traveled to Salzburg, Innsbrook, and Munich in a span of 4 days. As I travel to Hannover, I reflect upon these life-changing few days.

As we arrived in Salzburg, the beauty of the city and the surrounding mountains overwhelmed us. From the beautiful bridges and river, to the towering palaces and churches, Salzburg was by far the prettiest city I’ve ever seen. The day after we arrived, we took a trip back to my childhood by going on the Sound of Music Tour. The tour took us to the film locations of the major scenes from the “Sound of Music” and the beautiful areas of Salzburg. While slightly touristy, the sights and sounds of Salzburg were breathtaking to a point where no photos or description of the city could ever do it justice. The tour bus driver was a jolly Austrian man wearing Lederhosen named “Ferdinand”. He and the tour guide made the tour very fun with sing-alongs, jokes, and laughs along the way.

After our Sound of Music tour, we went straight to a tour into the Bavarian Salt Mines, where I learned about the “white gold” (don’t worry, I mean salt). Did you know for example that salt can eliminate fresh stains with ease? I did not have high expectations for this tour, but it came with the Sound of Music tour. However, the old “don’t judge a book by its cover” came into play here. The tour was an absolute blast (pun intended). We started off by suiting up in appropriate attire—like a miner. Then, we took a train down into the mines and along the way, took two slides down into the mines, as well as a boat to cross a salt water lake. The tour exceeded my expectations and overall, Salzburg was amazing.

The next day, we took a train to Innsbrook to go paragliding over the Alps. As I soon discovered, I have a slight fear of heights. While going up the ski lift, I had my doubts. However, the experience was one I will never forget. “Run, just run”, my paragliding instructor told me. While we did aerials in the air and got scary to close to trees, it was a rather pleasant ride. Unlike skydiving, there is no free falling; it is all just flowing with the wind. I got to see the Alps from about 2 km up in the air and the view was breathtaking. The same day (post para-gliding), we traveled to Munich. 

After some struggles finding the hostel and deciphering the maze that is the public transportation of Munich, we explored the city. Finally, we were at the city center of Munich—Marienplatz (named after the Virgin Mary). For the weekend, Marienplatz hosted “Christopher Street Day”, celebrating the LGBT community and their allies. For me, it was amazing seeing the cultural difference from Munich and College Station. There were couples of all nationalities, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, etc. in the festival. As an advocate for LGBT equality, it was refreshing to see the freedom of these couples. In College Station, I feel that the LGBT community is sometimes recognized, but not celebrated. It was interesting for me to experience a completely unique culture; we picked a great time to be in Munich! On Day 2, we took a bike tour around the city to learn important buildings, monuments, history, and of course, visit the Englisch Garten (a massive park that was incredible). Overall, I’d say the brief whirlwind tour of Munich was fantastic. It is a city with a deep history that I was curious to learn more about. From the lions’ noses that locals rub for good luck, to the famous Hofbräuhaus, to the events from WWII and the 1978? Olympic games, Munich is a fantastic city.

As I head over to Hannover and reflect on this past week, I think of how life-changing this week was. I have always been open about my personal struggles with mental illness, particularly depression. I feel otherwise, the stigma of mental illness grows. I see it like any other disease or disorder that people fight through. My tour around Europe is making me realize that there is a world outside of depression and my life as a student. Sometimes, I lose direction in my life. Life seems to be point A to point B with no purpose. This lack of direction is a fairly natural part of being a 20 year-old figuring out life. Travelling is making me realize that we live in an amazing world to explore and learn. Some of my favourite parts of the trip so far have been conversations with random strangers and hearing their stories. I love meeting new people and hearing about their hometowns, the sights and sounds, and their intentions. I love listening and having my views of the world challenged. This is what studying abroad is about for me: change.