When we finally arrived in Germany, we were all so tired; which could've easily been because we slept the entire way. At this point in the trip, we didn't necessarily care about performing anymore (because that's the whole reason we were there in the first place, remember?). We just wanted to do the rest of the site-seeing and fly home because a decent number of us were finally getting homesick. A little late in the trip, but whatever. Enough people were cheating on their significant others that were back in the States anyway, so it was about time that reality caught up to them and set them straight.
Anyway, we got to the first destination in our last country, Dachau. Before we went to the "main event", we grabbed lunch at this cute local restaurant that had the best hospitality (great change from Venice, that's for sure). We had some laughs and some great food and moved on to our location of choice: The Dachau Concentration Camp. Suddenly get silent? Yeah. That was us when we walked through the gates.
Not a single one of us uttered a word the entire time we were there. I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't talking because I literally couldn't find the words. I felt rage, shock, and remorse the entire time. Seeing where these people were forced to sleep, their bathrooms, their places of worship compared to what the Nazis had.. it brought tears to my eyes. The fact that the gas chambers appeared to be showers disgusted me. The Nazis were able to get these helpless people so hopeful to finally be able to shower, and they had no idea that they were about to parish. The fact that the crematories were so close made it even more unsettling.
We were able to walk around the areas of execution, where they just blatantly shot people, and see and mass graves that were around the camp. Yes. That's plural. Very. Plural.
Not that this made it any better, but when the camp was (slightly) renovated for tours, the workers made beautiful gardens on top of the graves. It was to represent that although they passed in such a horrific way, they were able to rest "peacefully" and know that they, and what happened to them, would never be forgotten.
One of the many gardenshttps://hiveminer.com/Tags/brausebad%2Cdachau
We ended up watching a documentary about what had happened at this camp specifically. The tears that shed from all of us earlier didn't compared to these. We were all heartbroken and disgusted at the fact that it went on for so long; most of it we weren't even aware of until it was too late. When the US became aware, our soldiers liberated all the camps.
A memorial was put up in the concentration camp. Not only for Dachau, but for all. This happened, despite what ignorant people say, and shouldn't be forgotten. I'll admit, the memorial is beautiful...but troubling.
Holocaust Memorial at the Dachau Concentration CampJordyn Leach
After this speechless and shocking destination, we moved on to a new place that turned everything around. I guess they planned it that way so we wouldn't go home depressed? Yeah, I'll accept that. We moved on to Rothenburg, which still had a medieval vibe to it and it was the best thing ever. Some friends and I took the Night-watchman tour, walked along the wall of the town, shopped in the plaza, and just had an amazing time. PSA: their chocolate ice cream puts ours to shame, don't @ me.
Our last performance was in the middle of the plaza and it was the best. I think it was because we were celebrating the fact that it was the end and we could give our mouths and hands a break. Peep at the (sideways) clarinet/bass clarinet section:
Best section by the way ;)Jordyn Leach
During the last night of the trip, we all separated into our bus groups and created skits. Most of them were just the buses roasting each other about things that happened during the trip, so there was non-stop laughter. I may be a little biased, but ours was the best one because we made a parody reading of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'. It was brilliant and clever and everyone loved it :) Peep at the best bus around:
Orange Bus AmbassadorsJordyn Leach
Just so happens that our bus was the orange bus. So in other words, go pokes ;)
Thanks for reading! We'll be back to normal articles next time!
