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Published: September 18th 2008
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I wasn't really planning on updating until the weekend, but I just had to write this up immediately because it was so awesomely unexpected.
So I went into town today to look for a scarf, since as I learned this week, Germany gets cold--very cold, and very fast. Today was actually pretty nice, but Monday-Wednesday were bitter and ugly. Anyway, since I finally had gotten registered and matriculated into the university (that's another story entirely, but one I will spare you for the moment), I have a bus pass that--while is isn't technically valid until October 1st--looks close enough like a valid one that the bus driver nods me on every time. I thank the Italians for uncovering this unbelievably useful flaw in public transportation.
Anyway, the bus arrived at my stop, and I descended. I stood outside for a couple seconds. Something wasn't right. Something was different. Was that...music? I followed the sounds, which led me through the outdoor walkway bisecting the student housing complex.
Funnily enough, I had already played this game once already today during my brief outing to the city. I had learned that when you follow your ears through a city filled with
go go
power rangers large, vertical structures, you can be thrown off by sound bouncing around. Earlier this phenomenon had had me convinced that there were two separate bands playing an instrumental version of Isn't She Lovely in synchrony at opposite ends of the city. This was not the case.
Anyway, using my recently honed tracking skills, I avoided the false trails and found the source of the music. It was a sports field about 200 yards from my room which had amazingly escaped my attention for the 3 or so weeks I have been here. Ten or twelve large touring buses bordered the field, and a large group of German 30-somethings were walking drunkenly, but with a clear purpose. Moreover, their purpose was my purpose. We were headed straight for the source of the sound.
All of my favorite memories about Würzburg so far started out this way. The last one had been the Weinfest taking place in the city's main plaza, with dozens and dozens of local winemakers selling their wares and happy Germans sitting, chatting, sipping. They seemed to take the whole event i stride, whereas I walked around with a huge grin on my face, amazed that something so wonderful could just happen.
The drunkest of the group of 30-somethings began yelling "eins, zwei, drei" over and over again. That stupid grin spread across my face again, and didn't leave until the whole thing was over.
I may never know exactly what the thing was. This is what I saw. The music was coming from a red-and-black marching band of about 20 members. As I approached the field, they were marching right for me, playing Hang On Sloopy. It wasn't until they veered off a little bit that I saw that they were being followed. Hundreds of happy Germans, some carrying picket signs, trailed off behind the band. I fell into rank directly behind the tubas and floated away in the stream of people. We floated past my dorm, and I waved to it. We floated past the Mensa, the library, before climbing the steps that put us on the same level as the university buildings. I still had no clue what was going on, but I was getting a huge kick out of it. You may or may not know that I was in marching band for all four years of high school, so the memories were flooding back, memories of pre-game shenanigans, in-game shenanigans, post-game shenanigans. It was like standing next to a coat rack at a family gathering and smelling each one of your relatives' jackets, one after the other. This is not only a good way to get your relatives to frown and scrunch up their faces and ask, "So how have you been?", but also a good way of remembering the things about your childhood that only smell can conjure up. Except this time it wasn't olfaction and childhood, it was music and bright red uniforms and shiny silver instruments and the a late-onset puberty.
I broke off from the crowd as they entered the Mensa, hung around to take a couple more pictures of the band and left. The whole thing last only 15 minutes, but that was enough. It was all very strange and wunderbar and it made me wonder, "What the hell is wrong with this city?" which I think is another way of asking, "What the hell is right with this city?"
Ahhh, that ended up being too long. Also this week, I met with my PI, Professor Rössler, met the people in the group, went into work a couple times, fed a cutesypiebabybeehead. To come, Robert goes to (My-Girl-Likes-to)-Party-All-the-Time-Würzburg's Strassfest + Robert does Berlin. Stay tuned and stay pumped.
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thomas
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awesome
that's sweeeettt. Also, you are really good at wordsmithing. I'm discussing it with kevin right now. he says all the English teachers in high school probably had crushes on you.