The Abitur Trip and The Discovery of Dance

August 2014. Most of my classmates had long been studying for the Abitur. I mainly studied for the oral physics exam because I wanted to do well. I constantly came up with ideas while studying and noted them down, hoping to develop a theory someday when I understood physics better. Besides physics, I also prepared a bit for statistics, the part of the math exam that I didn't like at all. The other Abitur subjects, English and business and economics, even information technology, were all indifferent to me.

Although I diligently worked on the math Abitur tasks until the last minute, I passed it with only four points, to my amazement. In the physics Abitur exam, I got a topic about the photoelectric effect. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan, so I only got fourteen points.

After the exams in June, I went on a one-week Abitur trip to Prague with the class. There, we did boring city expeditions during the day, and in the afternoons, we had free time, which I spent mainly in various restaurants drinking with other students.

In our room, I got into a conversation with my classmate Max about women. He didn't believe that I could ask the hot receptionist of our hotel for sex and bring her to our room. So, on the penultimate day, around midnight when there were no more guests at the reception, I went to her, asking her in my broken English if she would agree to come to our room for money.

She laughed and declined my offer, saying she was already married. That was a shame because she was the last hope to make the class trip wild and exciting. Then I remembered what a teacher said when we were on Charles Bridge: "Over there is supposedly the largest club in Europe."

On the last day, I decided to visit this club. Since I didn't want to go alone, I asked the people from my room. No one wanted to come; they all just wanted to sleep and go home tomorrow. But I definitely didn't want to sleep; I wanted to party! So I asked in the other rooms. Only two of my classmates, Daniel and Niklas, who always hung out with the nerds at school, agreed.

Of course, we got lost on the way to the club. But eventually, we finally found the entrance, which we only noticed because there was a huge line of people waiting.

The club had several floors, each playing a different genre of music. Only after several alcoholic cocktails could I actually bring myself to dance. The uncertain movements on the dance floor became more and more confident. Eventually, dancing became a lot of fun, so we stayed in the club until about four in the morning.

On the way back to the hotel, Daniel gave me my first feedback on how my dancing style appeared to outsiders.

“Alex, you dance like you're having an epileptic fit.”

“Good thing we're leaving this country today,” I replied.

Continue Reading