Introduction
Beyond Mountains was made to honor this year’s International Youth Meeting Dachau; that much is understood, but it isn’t the first IYM event, nor is it my first attendance. There are people out there who have attended IYM twice as much as I have. Some participants even become part of the IYM Team, following the footsteps of previous Teamers who share the same passion to teach! I’ve discussed much about the workshops and what I loved about them, but now I’d like to talk about what I think makes IYM unique: the people. Rather, the people I met or the friends I’ve made (also known as: the reason I sometimes don’t sleep at night). What better to do this but to look back at the 35th International Youth Meeting Dachau; because despite what this website is made for, I can’t stop looking back at 2017.
IYMD 2017
By now you probably know what IYM is like. Just in case you’re new, however, please understand that it’s a youth gathering wherein youth from around the world meet to make new friends and discuss the history of national socialism (click here to check out IYM’s website).
Each year is full of new and exciting people, as well as familiar and welcome faces that come along with exciting adventures. I was thrilled to see people from different backgrounds and beautiful cultures come together to learn more about history. Behind all the serious topics we learned in our workshops, however, and along with the weight that it chains into my heart, there were actual times for laughter. Admittedly, I can never brush-off the horrifying stories of dehumanization and topics on suffering from the Eyewitnesses and the workshops, but we were given time to breathe; to make friends and discuss the workshops we had and understand unity and the good things people can accomplish together. Here we also got to share jokes in our own languages and different ways to say “cheers” along other phrases -- which I probably shouldn’t mention.
That said, IYM 2017 is the most memorable event in my life. I had my share of travels outside Asia, but never one with a group of friends or complete strangers. I was used to being alone. A good friend of mine taught me to be a nomad, to bask at what the world has to offer and venture forth. My travels eventually took me to Germany and though I’ve met a lot of people, I’ve never completely accepted people I’ve met locally as true friends; it’s difficult for me to keep friends. However, as I felt welcome in Dachau I was willing to befriend strangers -- even letting them have a piece of my life and allowing them to help me with my personal problems. Eventually, they became my bestfriends, and they will continue to be for years to come (Mihajlo, Lea, & Ela; you guys better be reading this).
When I got to Dachau, I wasn’t sure that I’d make much friends that year. When Mihajlo came and announed that he was my roommate, the first thing we did was share food from our own country. I gave Mihajlo Filipino cornicks called Boy Bawang (which he chowed down in seconds) and he gave me addicting Serbian biscuits called Plazma. We decided to go around Dachau just to get used to the area and we managed to meet an participant from Mexico, an interesting guy named Eduardo. Our short walk around Dachau eventually led us to meet more friends, such as: Lea, Nimrod, and Nevo. I must admit I was really happy to meet Lea, because she was really interested in Asia at that time and her dynamic with Mihajlo makes for good videos. Nimrod and Nevo hail from Israel and are tough guys, they invited me to workout with them in a series of cardio exercises but unfortunately, I was too fatigued to even compete with them and ended up spraining my leg. I was grateful for the two for helping me crawl back to the youth hostel, and I think that’s when I met Ela for the first time--I think her first words to me was that I was an idiot or something, not quite sure I remember correctly; but I assure you, it was all in good fun but she still calls me an idiot though. Because of my love for music, I got to meet Maria from Slovakia, Beniamin from Poland, and Düşüm & Ali from Turkey; we’d often jam together and sing songs, but we never really got to finish anything. They taught me modern and folk songs from their countries, and I still have our recordings on my phone.
As you can see, we jumped out of our comfort zones and quickly developed friendships. I could go on and take that bittersweet trip down memory lane, but it’s just really painful for me because I love these guys so much and it hurts that they’re all so far away. We all still talk from time to time, recently I got to chat with Pedro--I mean, Miguel, our Spanish roommate. He updates me with his life, mostly we talks about how much he misses everyone; he’d tell be about the times we’d hang out by the river with everyone, especially: Ottavia, Giuliana, Giulia, & Tommaso from Italy. I’d reply and ask if he recalls the nights when Mihajlo would blast K-Pop and Serbian music at 3AM -- and how Mark illegally moved into our room just ‘cuz we had a secret stash of food that the Teamers probably confiscated. Sometimes Liza and Defne would raid our room for free food; and eventually we’d all go out to the Joker’s Pub to hang out, along with Aurely and Anais. The memories don’t end in IYM, however, some of us stayed a couple of days more in Dachau. I got to hang out in the legendary Serbian pub along with Mark, Itxaro, Konstantina, Angel, Eduardo, and Evdokia; we even got to visit Neue Pinakothek and toured around Munich.
Overall, making friends with people from around the world is amazing. I'm grateful for the fact that we were there at the right time and that we are still able to update each other in our lives.
There’s more people I met there that I didn't get to mention and a lot more stories to tell, but I know I’m just blabbering now. I may be mentioning the names of people you don’t know about, I apologize for that, but I really want to talk about these people and the memories I have with them for they are what made my IYM. I think it goes for all participants, everyone wants to remember moments with their friends. I’ve always wanted to publish my thoughts on this somewhere, but I never found the time to. I didn’t think it’d haunt me until the next year, but I can say I’ll be able to sleep at night now knowing my friends can recall those times we were by the Amper in Dachau; I’m sorry it took this long, see you guys soon.
Thank you Ela for sharing your photos with me, miss you.
Bonus:
What's IYM without Miloš? Thanks for being a good sport and for letting me mess with you. Here are some photos of when I caught him drinking god knows what.