TRAVEL VLOG | Germany, Austria, Switzerland | EF Tour '17

Filmed/Edited by Macin Sheeder, featuring highlights of the Curwensville High School travel club's overseas trip in June of 2017.

Songs:
Of Monsters and Men - Mountain Sound
Lorde - Homemade Dynamite (Clean)
Daniel Caesar - Violet
Middle Kids - Edge of Town
Rusty Clanton - Untitled
Justin Hurwitz - Summer Montage / Madeline
[I do not own the audio used in this video, all credit to their proper owners]

PERSONAL NOTE:
On June 17th, 2017, I got on a plane and landed in a dream world. For two weeks, I lived in the colorful cities and charming towns of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. When someone asks me about it though, my mind always goes blank, and I feel bad that I can't give them a proper answer. I never know how to express all the things I saw, did, and felt. When I say dream world, I mean it almost literally, because everything that happened feels like a long, blurry dream, rather than a series of concrete memories. I decided to make this video so I could solidify my experience and share it with others, specifically in a way that shows more than photos ever could. As the pieces of my "vlog" came together, so did my recollection of all the moments, big and small, that made this trip incredible. Slowly, the story I wanted to remember—the one I wanted to tell everyone about—began to reveal itself.

For two days, I stayed in the biggest hotel in Germany, where the breakfast area was the size of my entire house. Before that, I stayed in a tiny inn at the top of a mountain, where the owners put hats on every guest after dinner and made us dance. In my whole life, I'd never seen river water so clear, or drank water so warm (ice costs extra). I'd never seen impressive castles thousands of years older than my own country, or seen a place where thousands of people lost their lives because of intolerance and fear. I'd never seen The Sound of Music the whole way through, much less stood on the steps where the children learned to sing, or walked through the little pink chapel where their father married the woman who taught them. I'd never been serenaded on a bus that had magic sleeping powers, or thrown up on a plane, or watched someone be assaulted by a crazy man's hat. And the best part was I was never alone—I had the opportunity to see a new corner of the world with some of my best friends.

It didn't take long to realize that watching them find happiness in their individual experiences made my own even better. And although I planned to film our trip to show my friends and family back home, the vlog chronicles a perspective that is truly meant for the people who are in it, the ones who stayed up way too late and talked "quietly" so we wouldn't be heard through the walls. Who ran through the pouring rain to catch the subway. Who shared snacks, and laughter, and stories, and shampoo.

Love you all.