As the train approaches Spandau I come back to life, feeling the vital energy rising, as if born again. At ease with the friendly bustle, the smiling faces lining the street cafés, the funny little green and red men at the traffic lights. Ah, what a relief. I stay with Silke and Jochem, am wined and dined, meet people fluent in English who engage in talk, and notice the intensity of simple conversation after so much time spent alone. Some friends who know Goettingen from having lived there give me a perspective, describing it as a very small town with a university, provincial and conservative, where the professors are self-important snobs and the buses run every half hour at best after seven in the evening, ruling out any night life. Just having an objective viewpoint makes me feel better, a weight lifts. By the end of a six hour parade of music and dance on a beautiful sunny day, I’m ready to boogie myself.
