Techno in Europe: Munich PT 1

It was time to depart for Germany from the central station of Udine. My family was saying goodbye to me again, knowing they would see me again in approximately 2 months.

However, I wasn't going back earlier. My whole family was waiting for the day I would give up and return earlier than planned.

But what they didn't know was that I had just started the best time of my journey, the best month, the best adventure, the one that completely changed my essence, the one that allowed me to express myself in a world where I was never allowed to do so.

The first train took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to reach Villach HBF in Austria. Along the way, I could see the Swiss Alps and how the physical appearance of the people on board was very different from what I had seen so far in Europe.

Then, I transferred to a train heading to the central station of Munich. This train took 4 hours and 25 minutes. At one point, I started to see how the atmosphere of Germany began to inspire sensations in me that I had never felt before: long forests with trees very different from what I had seen, giant factories, much more modern architectures, and specifically in Munich, a higher standard of living than what I was used to.

After settling into the hostel and having a hamburger at McDonald's, I worked at the reception from 4 pm to 1 am.

And the moment of truth arrived: a Monday that was a public holiday in Europe and, against all odds, Google Maps showed me a techno club that was open until 6 am.

I arrived at the venue, where the people in line had a lot of style, they seemed like professional ravers.

I showed my passport, was basically checked at the entrance, and went in. I left my belongings in the cloakroom, except for my cell phone, with which I was going to "capture the moment".

I stayed inside the venue until it closed, and during that whole time, no one used their cell phones for anything at all. I felt weird holding my cell phone, as if I were carrying some kind of chains, as if I were its slave.

Since I was alone, I tried to focus on having fun on my own, responsibly, and observing the people and the place.

The music was a slightly darker tech-house than what I had heard before.

The place was small but had a lot of art on the walls, it was like being transported to a different place from what I had seen so far.

And well, for hours, I saw dancers being themselves. You could even tell from their outfits that they had a lot of style, but I don't mean they looked like they came from Instagram. It was as if each of them was being authentic, not following trends or other people.

After dancing for more than 3 hours, I finally started to open up more to the people who transmitted good vibes: dancers and people who were there to enjoy the music and the night.

I didn't want to make people uncomfortable and tried not to force conversations. Finally, I could choose to be alone and not feel uncomfortable with the stares and whispers. It was as if the place itself gradually infected me with its free expression.

All the people I met that night were kind to me. Several of them worked in Munich, others were traveling and living in Berlin. They told me how what I was seeing didn't compare to anything in Berlin, it was just a preview.

Throughout the night, I saw a girl dancing beautifully, moving with a lot of freedom and connecting too much with the music. It was almost as if she could feel what she was trying to express with her movements.

At first, I didn't want to cause any trouble and didn't want her to think I was hitting on her, so I decided not to talk to her and focus on myself.

Then, little by little, the people who didn't come to dance but to talk and drink alcohol (most of them tourists) started to leave.

When there were only a few people left, we all shared a love for the music and had good vibes. She gradually approached me, and I approached her, to talk.

Before continuing, let's make one clarification: until that moment in Europe, I had perceived that people who turn 25, even before that, engage in much more home-oriented activities, as if in Colombia they were 30-year-olds. That seemed strange to me. Even when people found out that I was 25 and still going out dancing, I felt like they thought I was immature and lost in life.

When I talked to the girl, we shared ideas about how dancing is a way to free oneself from anxiety, a form of therapy.

She told me she had never used a social network, just like the other people there. They had even older cell phones with which they communicated through calls, but they had never taken that step into technology. That day, everyone at the venue lived in Munich, so they knew the way back and, therefore, nobody had a cell phone in their hands, except me.

Among the things we talked about, she told me that she was 28 years old and that she liked to go with a group of friends to a remote place in the German forest, to dance around a bonfire completely naked for hours.

The first thing that came to my mind was: who taught me what is right and what is wrong? Do I have the right to judge her and her activities in the forest?

We said goodbye, and I headed to my hostel to rest after that night. I felt a different atmosphere from what I had experienced so far, and that made me reflect on my life.