Today was hard for me. I can’t really explain why, just that it was lonely. Sometimes not being able to speak the language is a good thing, in fact it’s more of a motivation to learn. Today I just felt even more isolated and cut off from everything. I am not supposed to be alone in Germany, I am supposed to be in Egypt with all the friends I made. I miss them. I miss home. I miss my friends at home. I miss my kids more than anything. I would give anything to hug and kiss my son so I can use up some that he stores up in his pockets to use just for me and to tease my daughter because she makes that funny little fake angry face at me.
All that whining aside, it is wonderful here. The people are very kind, the six other students are great, and I couldn’t have asked for a better historical and cultural environment.
Today, as all others, I made a point of going for a walk after lunch (Lunch is the big meal here, so it is never a bad idea for physicality of any type after lunch.) I walked for about two and a half hours.
There is a castle here. The man who finally brought the Germanic tribes together was crowned here by one of the Pope’s (I don”t know which one or the name of the king beyond Henry, but I will find out.) It is a huge deal here in Quedlinburg. The castle is incredible. On the outside you can tell it was a gothic structure, but Hitler ( I believe it was him and not Himmler) decided that he too needed to be crowned in this palace and so in order to take it back to classical antiquity, he remodeled much of it to be Romanesque. From the outside it looks gothic, but I have been told that the windows visible from outside are actually boarded up on the inside. I am hoping to go inside the next time I go up there. The museum was closed today because it is Sunday.
After the castle and tons of pictures looking out over the town, I wandered around and looked at a few touristy shops and decided to go to the art gallery here. The primary artist displayed there is a man named Lionel Feininger. I want to say they have his entire collection, but I would probably end up being wrong. His work is really good. I don’t know how many people reading this have ever gotten to see Rembrandt's etchings, but the line work is incredibly similar and on a small scale like those also. Along with line drawings, Feininger did some propaganda pieces and a lot of woodblock prints. It was a very impressive collection.
One of the most impressive parts of the gallery (to me) was the presence of right around six original Kandinskys (I probably slaughtered that spelling.) I think I just stood there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot when I realized what I was looking at.
The gallery wouldn’t permit me to take photographs for my professor at home, so I bought him a book of Feininger’s work. Terry is very interested in line work, lithography, and woodblock etchings so I think he will be pleased with the book. As soon as I saw the style of the work I thought of him. I wonder if he knows Feininger’s work?
One of the biggest downfalls for me, in being here, is that I know I am intelligent and that I actually have things to say that are valuable, but I’m not able to get a single one of those thoughts out in completion and it’s very difficult. That one simple fact is reason enough for all my studying and for my singular drive to learn this language. As much as I get whiny, on here, sometimes, I really am thankful that I am having this once (literally) in a lifetime opportunity to do this. Between my family and advisors at home, the Gilman Scholarship people, the incredible family that has taken me in this semester, and a very patient professor; I am doing something incredible even when things fell apart in my original destination and before that. I worked for this trip, but there are people I am so grateful for who are still working so I can be here. This is something I will never forget.
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