Deutschland 2006 – Shan’s First World Cup
Before Germany 2006, I had never been to a World Cup. I was backpacking in Europe in 1998 when the World Cup was in France and got a taste of the action watching a match in a beer garden in Salzburg and being in Amsterdam for the semi-finals when the Dutch played Brazil. At the time, I was impressed by the excitement and energy that the World Cup had over the continent and felt lucky to have had a taste, but I had no idea just how big of a phenomena the World Cup really is until I experienced it in Germany.
Our month in Germany was such an incredible experience that it is deserving of its own blog entry. The tournament shaped our travel adventures in Germany in so many ways: it took us across the country and back and all around, more than once; it had us making friends with complete strangers everyday and shelling out $ for tickets without a second thought; it had us up all hours night and day; it had us completely neglecting our health and made us willing to do pretty much anything at anytime. In short, the World Cup sucked us in like a big, black hole, and there was nothing we could do about it. I know that some of you who know exactly what I’m talking about. For those that don’t I hope that you get the opportunity to experience it as there is nothing like it. For me, the World Cup consisted of a few consistent themes that really made, shaped, and characterized the experience:
The World Cup Anytime, Anywhere – Literally Our schedule in Germany revolved around the World Cup. There were games on all the time so if we weren’t watching a match, we were watching reports and highlights from the previous matches or in transit between one place to another to watch the next. The great thing was that the games were televised EVERWHERE so we watched game in bars, restaurants, parks, on the street, in old abandoned warehouses, and even in an old indoor swimming pool!
World Cup Fans Are The Best! Fans were hardly shy about showing their team support and sported team gear everywhere they went all the time – jerseys, flags, facepaint, wigs, ties, and other crazy clothing. All the local salons were running specials on World Cup Deutschland hairdo – a cut, color (red, black, and yellow of course), and style for 10 Euros. There were English fans dressed up as knights, German fans running around in their laderhosen, and Mexican fans sporting sombreros and disguised as their favorite Mexican All-Star wrestlers. I have to give props to the US fans, who were their in full force and get my vote for most creative costumes as Uncle Sam, Captain American, and the Globetrotters made it to Germany to support “The Yanks”.Fans celebrated anywhere they could bringing an incredible energy to the entire country. Every night fans danced and partied in streets and squares and drove around honking and waving their flags in every city. No matter how late it was, they never seemed to run out of steam…. particularly the Brazilians and the Germans. My favorite fans were the Koreans who cheered with so much sincere passion and emotion and were gracious to the other fans, bowing and congratulating them on a game well-played even after being beaten by Korea, and then picking up every piece of trash around to make sure they left their surroundings cleaner than when they had arrived.
Emotional Ups and Downs
I found myself cycling thru a variety of emotions everyday and during each match – the most common being hope, disappointment, happiness, fear, surprise, despair, shock, pride, hatred, and love AND found myself sharing these emotions with the players and other fans day in and out. Frankly, it was exhausting. Needless to say, supporting the US was also an emotional rollercoaster given their sad performance overall. Despite their early elimination from the tournament we were still thrilled to be able to get tickets to all 3 US matches and get a chance to see some of the players and their families up close after we found our way into their hotel before the first game.
Friends and Family
Our entire time in Germany was spent with friends and/or family either visiting them, meeting up with them, and even randomly bumping into them; all of which really made the experience special. We met up with friends who made the trip out from New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Michigan, and even Namibia! We visited friends in Wiesbaden, Berlin, Munich, and Hannover and visited Anthony’s cousin in Dresden whom he hadn’t seen in over 20 years. Special thanks to all our friends whom we crashed with and took such great care of us!!
Unity
The World Cup brought so many people from so many different countries together in one place and created an incredible karma. Seeing fans from all different countries celebrating together despite a victory or loss was beautiful and moving and illustrated how you don’t always need to come from the same background or need to speak the same language to share a special experience together. As an added bonus, it was interesting seeing how the World Cup seemed to really unite the country of Germany as they were proud, gracious and spectacular hosts to the fans from all over the world and came together in support of their own team and country in ways never seen before – many Germans told us that this World Cup was the first time they had ever sung their own national anthem or waved a German flag. There is a reason the World Cup is the world’s most watched sporting event, and we can’t wait to go to South Africa in 2010 to watch it in person once again!
Check out our pictures from the World Cup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72157594203910962/
– Shan
Tags: Europe, Germany, Travel, World Cup
Shan