Living in Michigan means driving a car. Preferably a Ford or at least one of the Big Three. Using the train to get anywhere is not very practical unless Chicago is the destination. During my five years in Germany the train was still a rarely used mode of transportation because I lived an “Ami” lifestyle working on an airbase. The dominant American car culture was ever present and I succumbed to it after I passed my German driver test the second time. Yes, I did fail my first German driver test. I failed that test on the exact same day which my 1996 Ford Taurus arrived on base. I had to wait a full week before retaking the test.
Regardless, I lived a predominantly American lifestyle in Germany while making minor adjustments for recycling, efficient driving, weird salads, mineral water, etc. I took an effort to rekindle my German language education from high school and even took several German language courses. The college on base offered many unique historical classes based in different European cities. One year, perhaps it was 2004 or 2005, there was a historical class on Trier: the largest, oldest, and most exciting city in the South Eifel region. I jumped at the chance to spend a week in Trier learning its specific history.
Under a very obscure regulation, I was allowed special permission to spend a whole week in Trier for this class without incurring any leave days lost. The regulation was aimed specifically at officers but I was allowed to use it. This was my first chance to escape the Ami life if only for a week. The class was structured upon 3 hours of lecture in the morning and 3 hours of site tours with an hour for lunch in between. The class lasted five days with a major report due within two weeks. I was determined to take the train to Trier everyday to make it a special experience.
Sadly there was no train station in my little village of Wilsecker. It was a “Kudorf” where animals outnumbered people, in this case horses. The train actually went into a tunnel underneath Wilsecker and popped out into the hilly town of Kyllburg on the Kyll River. Walking from Wilsecker to Kyllburg might only be 3 kilometers but it was up a steep incline and down an even steeper one. I chose convenience and comfort so I drove my Taurus to Kyllburg and hopped on the train to Trier. A necessary compromise for this Ami.
It was on the train that I felt different, more and more each day of that week. I felt German, as much as an Ami could I guess. The class was full of brutal lecture in the morning and fascinating tours in the afternoon. In a way it was the best learning experience I ever encountered. I had visited Trier over 20 times or more before this class. Historical facts can be memorized but attachment through spending time in a city is very special. There was an obligatory book but it was hardly used. None of my other college courses ever really compared to the experience of this class.
I think I began to understand the true difference between the Ami existence I was living and the ideal German experience I thought I was going to have while living there. This ideal German experience was one I had thought about ever since I visited Germany in 1998 on a school trip before I left for the military later in the summer. Full immersion in the language and culture was the key component of this experience. This would have meant not being in the military; not having the experiences I did or having this life I have now.
The train, in my mind, was the special vehicle into another type of life that I could have had. It was a special time in life where a pivot occurs, where growing thoughts manifest themselves subconsciously into a new area of life. For me, the pivot was starting to happen. After the Trier class I realized that my time in Germany was coming to an end even though I still had two years left to go. My military career was not going to progress past Germany because I had accomplished everything that I had wanted. My thoughts returned to home and wanting to have a family.
I don’t think that the impulse to recount my train trip to Trier is about regret. I am nostalgic about that time in my life. I made great friends for life and had many amazing adventures. It was a defining point of my young adult life. If I had regret I probably wouldn’t want to return. I can’t wait to go back there again, especially to the Eifel. I might rent a car and drive by my old apartments in different towns to show my family. But emotion will hit hit me hardest when we get on the train to Trier.
