During my freshman year at Augustana College, I declared a major in English and Modern Languages and registered for advanced Spanish and French. So when I had the opportunity to spend a quarter abroad during my sophomore year, you'd expect me to pick Spain or France, right?
No -- Germany.
It wasn't my fault. I was taking first-year German, too, and the professor kept rhapsodizing over his trips to Germany: Munich, the Black Forest, the Rhine, Neuschwanstein Castle, Wittenberg, where Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the cathedral door.
So I started packing for Germany. Six Augie students flew from Chicago to Frankfurt on August 19th, and then took the train south to the university town of Regensburg.
We all took Intensive German and The Protestant Reformation, and for my elective I chose German Myths and Legends. Classes met in the morning, so we had the afternoons free for sightseeing, and there were weekend trips to Augsburg, Munich, and Salzburg.
I had just "figured it out" a year before, and, I didn't know how to meet gay people. I didn't realize that Regensburg had several gay bars, or that Munich, an hour away by train, had a gay neighborhood full of bars, restaurants, bath houses, and community organizations. So it took me awhile to find a boyfriend, sort of
Regensburg was predominantly Catholic, so I overcome my early religious training about Catholics being evil! evil! evil! and toured all the churches. I even went to Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral -- don't tell the preacher -- where I heard the famous boys' choir, the Domspatzen.
There were about 80 members, mostly little kids, but in the back row I saw some teenagers and young adults.
One caught my eye -- the tallest of the group, broad-shouldered, probably muscular, with a shock of unruly brown hair. I thought he looked back, but I was probably imagining it.
The next day I went to the Musikgymnasium, the boarding school attached to the choir, said I was an American university student, and asked for a tour.
They summoned a boy my own age to show me around -- 18 year old Wolfgang (not his real name) -- not the one who caught my eye yesterday, darn it!
More after the break. Warning -- explicit.
