Of course, I was eager to return to Mainz and Germany. Problem was, I had no money for such travel. After my senior year, I made a trip out to see a friend's cousin and have a look at Seattle. I was astounded how green the Northwest is. I think my flight was something like $300. In today's greenbacks, that's over $800. So a plane ride to Germany seemed unreachable at the time.
My plan was to make a trip to Germany and also to get a month Eurail Pass and see as much of Europe as I could afford. Let's face it, you dream pretty big when you're 20. A place few Westerners had ever heard of, Chernobyl, had a different plan. In late April of 1986, a little over a month before I hoped to travel, the nuclear plant there had a catastrophic fire and release of radioactivity. For that reason, my mother asked me to postpone my trip. Grudgingly, I agreed.
By May of 1987, I had enough credits to graduate with my B.A. in history. I booked a flight for the same day as the graduation ceremony. That way I wouldn't have to attend, since few of my friends were graduating at that time. My Iceland Air trip took me to Frankfurt and from there I headed straight to Mainz to stay with Rudiger's family once again. I planned two weeks with them, four weeks on trains, moving around the continent as I pleased, and a final week in Mainz before returning home.
One of the first things I found out is that it's not nearly as fun being in place when a dozen + of your high school friends are not also around. Rita, R's mother, complained that I "went out too much." Well, yeah! I was there to see the city once again. Fortunately, Rudiger, who was at the University of Mainz at the time, was involved with an economic's organization, although I can no longer find evidence of its existence. The reason that was good is that I tagged along to an overnight gathering in Nuremberg. It was held at an old castle, and the students sat out in the summer evening drinking beer and wine and having a good time. That evening was a highlight.
I did manage to see Funda, who was with a guy, although I don't recall his name. We met for a tea and again for lunch in Wiesbaden. One day she arranged for her boyfriend to take me to Frankfurt to see the famed museum area. We had a good time. I also remember sitting out with him, Rudiger and some of their friends in an area near the university, drinking beer and swapping tales. That was also a good night.
After Mainz, I made a whirlwind trip through Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Vienna, Verona, Italy, Florence, Mantua, Milan, Bern, Switzerland, Zurich, Freiburg, Cologne, and back to Mainz. I did so in the company of various people I met along the way. Some from the States, but also Canadians, Australians, Finns, and others I have likely forgotten. We stayed in both crowded and sparsely visited hostels and inns.
After that trip, I mostly haven't had any contact with that group of Germans at all. It would be great to see them all, or some of them, but how do you find them? I did ask Claudia and Thorsten to have go at it, but I think they don't really know how.
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