Oberammergau

Franciscan's Austria Program: "the semester of a lifetime" a spiritual slap in the face.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Oberammergau, Germany, to see the Passion play that they are so famous for. The play dates back to the the mid 1633 when the plague was making its way around the region, causing massive amounts of death as plagues tend to do. The people of Oberammergau vowed to portray the Passion of our Lord every ten years...and voila, from that moment, not one person in the town fell victim to the Black Death. True to their vow, the people of Oberammergau have been performing a play commemorating the Passion every 10 years.

Now I know people who have been planning on coming here to see the play for decades and here I just sort of went down to the office last week and said, "could I get a ticket for Oberammergau this weekend?" And they said sure and handed me one. Life is really not fair that way.

The town of Oberammergau is pretty amazing to begin with. In addition to the play, they're known for their woodworking, and for good reason; they just know how to make wood look good. There is also merit to their being known for the play. Besides it being cold and...German, it was pretty epic.

My favorite part was definitely the living images from the Old Testament that were introduced before each scene of the play, foreshadowing different parts of the Passion. Before the interrogation by Annas and the High Council, the images portrayed Daniel in the lions' den and the mocking of Job. Before the Last Supper, we saw the Paschal meal before the Israelites' exodus into Egypt. And so on. They were all rather appropriate, biblically speaking. The unity between the Old and New Testaments was incredibly tangible.

I'm so happy that I decided to go. The experience was unforgettable.

We arrived back here at 4am, and after a few hours of sleep I'm just trying to figure out the meaning of the word "midterm." As I a bio major, the concept is quite new to me. We just have tests all the time...none of this midterm nonsense. I should probably get this settled before next week.

...Next week! Have we really been here that long already?